Monday, October 4, 2010

FDR's Alphabet Soup - Tonya Bolden

FDR'S Alphabet Soup by Tonya Bolden
Bolden's newest book, takes a look at FDR's new deal in hopes of ending the great depression. The book begins just prior to FDR's first term in 1928 and goes though 1939, the end of his second term and the beginning of WWII.

It's a little scary how much what's going on now relates to what happened with the Great Depression

"After that flop, Hoover signed off on a bill that created a new government agency, the RFC (Reconstruction Finance Corporation). Its mission to lead money to businesses on the brink of collapse, most especially financial institutions. The RFC was funded with $500 million of taxpayers' dollars. The idea behind the RFC was that bailouts for businesses would trickle down to workaday folks. As for them, Hoover felt it folly for the federal government to bail out people on the brink. That's what charities, family and friends were for."

The author takes a great impartial look at FDR's New Deal. She looks at all the agency that were started by Roosevelt in hopes of ending the great depression. Bolden spells out the agencies names only once then uses the acronyms.

FDR's Alphabet Soup is very readable and informative. The author uses the sidebar to effectively to explain various terms or government deparments. There are several photographs and slogan buttons included from that time period.

Bolden on C-SPAN 2 Book TV discussing FDR's Alphabet Soup.

I've linked this post to NonFiction Monday , which can be found at Madigan Reads today.

1 comment:

Madigan Mirza said...

Hello my fellow Atlantan! Thanks for participating in NonFiction Monday today.

I adored Tonya Bolden's biography on George Washington Carver (he is one of my heroes.) I have no doubt this book will be just as interesting as well... especially, as you said, in these times.