The Woman Behind the New Deal: The Life and Legacy of Frances Perkins, Social Security, Unemployment Insurance,and the Minimum Wage

Until I heard of this book on the Thom Hartmann radio show, I had never heard of Frances Perkins. FDR is certainly my favorite past U.S. President, with Jimmy Carter as a close second, and both of them for so many reasons.This book focuses on Frances Perkins, who was the driving force behind our social safety net programs during the Republican Great Depression... and yes, it used to be called that, until the Reagan years changed textbooks to call it the "Great Depression," that is, if you even had civics classes beyond the 1980's in America. The FDR years saw a rejection of the greed of the rich, a rallying and recovery before, during, and after World War II, and then a massive mobilization to install social safety net programs and the fastest and strongest building of a middle class greater than the world has ever historically documented.Today, the richest 1% is destroying what was built, and we're doomed to repeat the first Republican Great Depression unless we learn the plain history such as in this book about this incredible and driven woman and the policies she helped to create.After 30 years of Reagan/Bush (and to a lesser extent, Clinton) "trickle down" economics, we're seeing what happens when we continually destroy our social safety nets and the 60-year-strong middle class of America. So many "conservative" efforts to destroy the middle class have occurred: NAFTA/CAFTA/SHAFTA etc., along with repeated tax cuts for the 1%, lack of enough aggressive progressives, and a record-breaking number of Republican filibusters against President Obama's efforts to rebuild our economy... and that's just a partial list.How did it happen? When and how did the initial building of the middle class occur, and who were the key players? How is history repeating itself over and over, and getting worse each time after the Reagan years? Answers are in this book, articulated in a very storytelling yet accurate prose that anyone with a high school reading level (you know, a level that less than half of America has as of now) or above can understand and follow.In reading this book, you'll understand the impetus and origins of social programs and why it has nothing to do with "handouts" or "lazy people who would rather not work." You'll read factual, verifiable history that most of us haven't ever heard of, and be told true tales of when America worked together and rejected the rich, greedy, and obsessive-compulsive and/or sociopaths that care about anything except... MORE.Combined with Thom Hartmann's book SCREWED: The Undeclared War on the Middle Class, you'll likely learn more facts and well-told history than all of college and likely high school-- both of the books are simply essential reading if you want to be forewarned and forearmed against the lies being fed to us by the 1% and their cronies. Note: be careful to get the Hartmann book, not the one with a similar title written by the conservative shill. Also, I understand that there are many historical references and books that are also essential, but this one and the Hartmann book are great companions.Buy this book today for yourself or anyone who needs the truth about what really made America great in the 20th century, and why we must revitalize and protect it, and remember Frances Perkins for all she did and who she was.

Very well-written, with enormously detailed research. Kirsten Downey has written a remarkable book and deserves full credit for drawing attention to powerhouse, force-of nature Frances Perkins. Frances Perkin's life work has probably done more good for more people than any person who has ever lived. She deserves to be elevated to sainthood.So moving that such a good person actually died alone. An amazing book, about an amazing woman!David O'Donoghue

I ran across this fascinating, well researched book almost by accident and recommend it to anyone who considers themselves a feminist or a social progressive. I don't remember reading anything about Frances Perkins and can't think how I missed knowing about her influence on the social and political direction of the country during a time of great social change in the 1920's through the 40's. She was the first woman in U.S. history to serve as a Cabinet member, as Secretary of Labor, from 1933 through most of the 40's and few women have made such an impact on social and economic policy; and yet in these times she is almost completely off the radar.We have Ms. Perkins largely to thank for Social Security, the 8 hour work day, child labor laws and workplace safety - according to this book she was the single greatest influence on Roosevelt's New Deal - and, had she had a little more time before WWII, we would not have the ongoing decades-long health care disaster that is a current tragedy and disgrace. That many of these issues are front and center today speaks to the insight and vision of Perkins and some of her contemporaries.Perkins was informed by 19th century practices and behaviors as well as the social movements of Jane Addams and others. One can't help but believe she must have been brilliant - the author quotes some of her male colleagues and friends referring to her "keen mind" - but was limited by the deep biases toward women. But her political sophistication and social skills - though often disparaged by her male counterparts - allowed her to to have an enormous impact. She influenced not only legislation but also the selection of Cabinet members, heads of government agencies and two of Roosevelt's vice presidents.She was not without pride, and was much less successful with family relationships than in the civic and political arenas, but the author portrays her as being primarily driven by principle and social idealism, and she certainly was successful, if unrecognized, by most standards except perhaps her own.

Frances Perkins is not a household name in America, but the things she accomplished affect nearly every household today. The author explores the ordinary life of an extraordinary woman who had the ideas, the energy, and the power to enact many laws we take for granted. While Presidents tend to get all the glory (or the blame) for what happens in their term of office, Mrs. Perkins is an example of the "real people" behind the face of government. In this time when many of the laws she generated are in danger, it is meaningful to review the beginnings of these initiatives and realize that their end could bring a huge change to our lives.While the first and last parts of the book are intensely personal, the middle section tends to be an historical review of the labor movement. While important, this part loses the personality of the woman in the avalanche of work she was involved with. Nevertheless, a good and important read.

Great read. Fast delviery

probablement la meilleure biographie de Frances Perkins, à ce jour

We have this woman to thank for so much of what western democracies now take for granted. Yet her story is known to so few, including me, until this excellent account of both the woman and her times.

I think that in this exeptional womans work, still lies the solution for the USA to solve most of its problems. But I fear the nation has become too much like nazi-Germany to welcome her humanistic Points of wiew!(?)!

Interesting story on an interesting woman.