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The Enduring Legacy of the WPA: When FDR Put the Nation to Work
by Nick Taylor
When President Roosevelt took the oath of office in March 1933, he was facing a devastated nation. Four years into the Great Depression, a staggering 13 million American workers were jobless and many millions more of their family members were equally in need. Desperation ruled the land.
What people wanted were jobs, not handouts: the pride of earning a paycheck; and in 1935, after a variety of temporary relief measures, a permanent nationwide jobs program was created. This was the Works Progress Administration, and it would forever change the physical landscape and the social policies of the United States.
"Starred Review. Vividly rendered—a near-definitive account of one of the most massive government interventions into domestic affairs on American history…. The book is filled with plucky, fast-talking characters who by dint of charm and grit pulled themselves up by their bootstraps to participate." - Kirkus Reviews.
"Starred Review. Eloquent and balanced…. A splendid appreciation of the WPA." - Publishers Weekly.
This information about American-Made was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Nick Taylor is a best-selling author and served as President of the Authors Guild, the oldest and largest organization of published writers in the United States, and an advocate of copyright and fair contracts.
Taylor has published or collaborated on nine non-fiction books, including the bestsellin gJohn Glenn: A Memoir with astronaut and former Senator John Glenn. He has also written numerous articles for magazines including Esquire and The New York Times Magazine.
Taylor is a native of North Carolina and has resided in New York City since 1984 with his wife, television reporter Barbara Nevins Taylor.
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