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Title details for 1932 by Scott Martelle - Available

1932

FDR, Hoover, and the Dawn of a New America

by Scott Martelle
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A fascinating behind-the-scenes look at a year in American history that still resonates today, 1932: FDR, Hoover, and the Dawn of a New America tells the story of a battered nation fighting for its own future amid the depths of the Great Depression.
At the start of 1932, the nation's worst economic crisis has left one-in-four workers without a job, countless families facing eviction, banks shutting down as desperate depositors withdraw their savings, and growing social and political unrest from urban centers to the traditionally conservative rural heart of the country.

Amid this turmoil, a political decision looms that will determine the course of the nation. It is a choice between two men with very diferent visions of America: Incumbent Republican Herbert Hoover with his dogmatic embrace of small government and a largely unfettered free market, and New York's Democratic Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his belief that the path out of the economic crisis requires government intervention in the economy and a national sense of shared purpose.

Now veteran journalist Scott Martelle provides a gripping narrative retelling of that vitally significant year as social and political systems struggled under the weight of the devastating Dust Bowl, economic woes, rising political protests, and growing demand for the repeal of Prohibition. That November, voters overwhelmingly rejected decades of Republican rule and backed Roosevelt and his promise to redefine the role of the federal government while putting the needs of the people ahead of the wishes of the wealthy.

Deftly told, this illuminating work spotlights parallel events from that pivotal year and brings to life figures who made headlines in their time but have been largly forgotten today. Ultimately, it is the story of a nation that, with the help of a leader determined to unite and inspire, took giant steps toward a new America.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    November 28, 2023

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9780806541877

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9780806541877
      • File size: 1458 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Kirkus

      October 1, 2023
      A compelling account of a pivotal year in U.S. history. Veteran journalist Martelle, author of The Madman and the Assassin and Blood Passion, among other titles, provides a fine account of the run-up to "one of the most consequential elections in U.S. history." He begins many chapters with excerpts from contemporary diaries, and readers will squirm at the level of suffering they reveal. The fact that many sufferers were white and middle class was a shock in a country historically indifferent to the sufferings of Black and working-class people. Inaction against the economic crisis was fostered by a political status quo long predating 1932, in which progressives and conservatives vied for influence in the Republican Party, and Democrats, who were strong in industrial northern states (including Franklin Roosevelt), frequently deferred to the reactionary South. Although the Depression and 1932 election feature prominently, Martelle's coverage of lesser-known events enhances his vivid account. Like abortion today, Prohibition was so controversial that many politicians, including FDR, tried to avoid the subject. Conservatives (Hoover included) seemed unaware that Americans were growing tired of it, and Martelle delivers a long account of the repeal movement, largely led by the same women who fought for suffrage. Even readers aware of how badly Black Americans were treated in the Jim Crow South will be dismayed by the details. For example, Southern cities faced with growing unemployment fired their Black employees and replaced them with white workers, and white mobs attacked building sites and businesses to drive off Black workers and take their jobs. Martelle's admiring depiction of FDR is appropriate for the president who faced and surmounted one of the nation's greatest crises. Like many other historians, he portrays Hoover as an energetic technocrat with poor political skills overwhelmed by the economic collapse. An expert portrait of a national turning point.

      COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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