Skip to main content

The Moral Conscience of FDR

 
One of the more interesting persons to emerge from Von Drehle's narrative was Frances Perkins, who is the subject of this well received book, The Woman Behind the New Deal.  Would make for a nice continuation of our discussion of the Triangle Fire.  Nice to see she was honored with a stamp back in 1980.

Comments

  1. It appears that this is the next reading. Therefore, I sent a request form to my local library. I hope the print size will be large so that it can be readable.

    In truth, this appears to be a good read.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This looks interesting, The Roosevelt I Knew by Frances Perkins,

    http://us.penguingroup.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/1,,9780143106418,00.html.

    Apparently not very many pictures of FDR with Perkins.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The Roosevelt I Knew by Frances Perkins will be available June 28 in paperback and ebook. I'm going by Amazon's information.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You can get the 1946 edition at abebooks for as little as $5,

    http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=frances+perkins&bi=0&bx=off&ds=30&recentlyadded=all&sortby=17&sts=t&tn=the+roosevelt+i+knew&x=61&y=6

    ReplyDelete
  5. Do we have a quorum for "The Woman Behind the New Deal?"

    ReplyDelete
  6. I think I"m the only one _not_ in, Gintaras. If I can squeeze it in, I will -- but I'm a little over extended at the moment.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'll pick up a copy of the book at the library tomorrow and check as to whether I can read its print.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I've looked at the paperback in a store and the print was rather tiny for me. Not sure yet if I will be joining you, but if I do, I'll buy the kindle version.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Reading glasses, Marti. I had to give in a couple years ago.

    ReplyDelete
  10. ^ Reading glasses don't work for me ~ makes me dizzy!

    As for Downey, I'm in - just got my copy & will start on it right away.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I've been wearing reading glasses since my early 30's. I probably need new lenses. I wear them for reading on kindle as well as on everything else.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Sorry to say, didn't like the book and returned it to the library after reading about 90 pages or so. It was a bit too dry and wordy. Small print didn't help but that's my problem, not anyone else's.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Any interest in William Clark? We once talked about picking him up at some point. I still have this one on my stack:

    http://www.amazon.com/William-Clarks-World-Describing-Unknowns/dp/0300139012/

    In fact, I have a whole stack on my stack....

    ReplyDelete
  14. Sorry to hear that Trippler. I'm still waiting on my copy. Maybe To Kill a Mockingbird?

    Reading that Santorum felt that things were better before 1965, the year Medicare was created, makes it a good time for a "reality check."

    ReplyDelete
  15. I think I read that when I was in jr. high school, and still remember Boo Radley. It's amazing how a fictional character (and even his name) can stick with you after all those years.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Ouch - now I feel kinda guilty about returning the Perkins book. But if enough people want to read it, I can always get it back.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Nothing to feel guilty about, trip. I was planning on buying the Perkins book anyway. Seems only you and I had committed to the book. If there is a consensus for Mockingbird or some other book, would be glad to read along.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

O Pioneers!

It is hard not to think of Nebraska without thinking of its greatest writer.  Here is a marvelous piece by Capote, Remembering Willa Cather . I remember seeing a stage production of O Pioneers! and being deeply moved by its raw emotions.  I had read My Antonia before, and soon found myself hooked, like Capote was by the simple elegance of her prose and the way she was able to evoke so many feelings through her characters.  Much of it came from the fact that she had lived those experiences herself. Her father dragged the family from Virginia to Nebraska in 1883, when it was still a young state, settling in the town of Red Cloud. named after one of the great Oglala chiefs.  Red Cloud was still alive at the time, living on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, in the aftermath of the "Great Sioux Wars" of 1876-77.  I don't know whether Cather took any interest in the famous chief, although it is hard to imagine not.  Upon his death in 1909, he was eulogi

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

  Welcome to this month's reading group selection.  David Von Drehle mentions The Melting Pot , a play by Israel Zangwill, that premiered on Broadway in 1908.  At that time theater was accessible to a broad section of the public, not the exclusive domain it has become over the decades.  Zangwill carried a hopeful message that America was a place where old hatreds and prejudices were pointless, and that in this new country immigrants would find a more open society.  I suppose the reference was more an ironic one for Von Drehle, as he notes the racial and ethnic hatreds were on display everywhere, and at best Zangwill's play helped persons forget for a moment how deep these divides ran.  Nevertheless, "the melting pot" made its way into the American lexicon, even if New York could best be describing as a boiling cauldron in the early twentieth century. Triangle: The Fire That Changed America takes a broad view of events that led up the notorious fire, noting the gro

Colonel

Now with Colonel Roosevelt , the magnum opus is complete. And it deserves to stand as the definitive study of its restless, mutable, ever-boyish, erudite and tirelessly energetic subject. Mr. Morris has addressed the toughest and most frustrating part of Roosevelt’s life with the same care and precision that he brought to the two earlier installments. And if this story of a lifetime is his own life’s work, he has reason to be immensely proud.  -- Janet Maslin -- NY Times . Let the discussion begin!