American-Made: The Enduring Legacy of the WPA: When FDR Put the Nation to Work

by Nick Taylor

Book Overview

Seventy-five years after Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, here for the first time is the remarkable story of one of its enduring cornerstones, the Works Progress Administration (WPA): its passionate believers, its furious critics, and its amazing accomplishments. The WPA is American history that could not be more current, from providing economic stimulus to renewing a broken infrastructure. Introduced in 1935 at the height of the Great Depression,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553381326
• ISBN13: 9780553381320
• Release Date: February 2009
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Length: 672 Pages
• Weight: 1.53 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.3" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Time to Apply Those Lessons Learned

It is a stirring story about America at its best. Every word, every page, is pitch-perfect. I already knew a lot about the WPA arts, architecture and public works projects, but there was much I didn't know. Hopkins was a richer human being than I realized, a complete character in the best sense: obstinate, seemingly self-effacing. And the best part was he wouldn't tolerate politics getting in his way. His understanding of the needs of the nation and its people, and his empathy and sense of urgency about what government could and should do were exemplary. He and Roosevelt seemed to communicate in short hand, minus the spoken word. Acting together, it was as if the stars all lined up behind them. For decades, upon entering older post offices I've often wondered if the murals I saw were the result of a WPA project. More often than not, they were. Sadly, we suffered a huge loss when the easel paintings produced during the same period were moved into storage, then either sold for scrap or destroyed. Considering the importance of that period in this country's art history, can you imagine how much richer we would be if those resources were still available today? Quite telling was Flanagan's comment, that ... "if they were spurred on by fear of a more literate public educated by plays on current events such as the Living Newspapers, or by fear of a better understanding between blacks and whites because many politicians found thinking people a risk," it follows that the opposition party then and now have been against providing money for education because of what they feared most; an awakened electorate. It's a sad commentary on the state of our country that because of such short-sighted thinking our system was brought to its knees. The comparisons to the present are unmistakable. Alan Z Aiches Washington, DC

An Object Lesson in How to Organize a Federal Jobs Program that Accomplishes Useful Projects

Nick Taylor has written an elegant general history of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the legendary federal agency from the New Deal created in the 1930s. We might well need something like this again in the near future to put people back to work as the U.S. sinks into an economic morass in 2009. Accordingly, this book is especially timely and perhaps will help inform public policy in the coming months and years. Taylor takes a thematic approach to assessing the history and legacy of this organization. He divides the work into interesting groupings by topic that makes accessible to a broad audience what the WPA was involved in and how it functioned. The WPA focused on the building of infrastructure--especially roads and bridges, airports and public buildings--and this was by far where the majority of the federal funding was spent. The building where the History Department is housed at LSU, where I completed my Ph.D., was built by the WPA in the 1930s, and while it is an aging structure it is a sound, useful building still in continuous use more than 80 years after its construction. The investment in this construction, and all manner of other infrastructure, had a profound effect on the development of the United States in the modern era. This story is well told in "American-Made: The Enduring Legacy of the WPA when FDR Put the Nation to Work." In addition, the WPA got involved in all manner of other work projects that was strikingly different from the roads, bridges, and buildings for which the agency had become famous. These included the WPA Writers' Project and the WPA Artists' Project, and both also had important results beyond the truly significant infrastructure contributions. As examples, and Taylor discusses these at length, are the large number of murals painted by WPA artists in post offices and other public buildings, many of which still exist, and some of the published state and river system guides and histories compiled by legions of participants employed in the writers' projects of the WPA. Many of those books went through several editions, and some have remained in print to the present because of their continuing value. The recalling of the work of WPA is useful at several levels because of the current economic situation, but even more Taylor discusses at length the sense of mission and commitment felt by those leading the WPA throughout its existence. From director Harry Hopkins, a close advisor to FDR, to it local officials, the sense that the people of the United States must work together in service both to the nation to their fellow citizens permeated the culture of the WPA. That sense of honorable service to others, of work for the good for the nation, struck me as one of the core lessons emerging from this account of the WPA. Taylor's exceptionally readable and comprehensive account does an excellent job of explaining how and why some WPA projects attracted both enthusiastic public support and vociferous politica

American Made

This is an excellent book and a great addition to history. I knew very little about the Worker's Progress Association until I saw the author speak about his book on Book TV. I was ignorant of the great works that the WPA did and had always had a negative view of the WPA. Since I have read the book I have talked with several people whose parents actually worked for the WPA and heard wonderful stories of their work. One woman told me of her widowed mother with 5 children who sewed every day for the WPA. She said her mother was able to buy food and clothes for them because of this employment. This truly is an enlightening book and very well written. I enjoyed it immensely.

Reads like a novel

I've always been fascinated by the New Deal and this book delivers. I read it over the weekend and enjoyed the story and the writer's style. Full of information, but never leaving the human side behind. The author obviously agrees with the philosophy behind the WPA and New Deal, but is also willing to confront the mistakes and errors of both.

The Legacy of the WPA

In this 75th anniversary year of the New Deal, it comes as no great surprise that the Neocons (call them John Birchers dressed all in new frocks)are using the year as a springboard for launching revisionist attacks intended to Swiftboat the worth of the programs most closely associated with FDR's administration. Nick Taylor's expertly detailed history of the Works Progress Administration should put such critics to shame. He begins with a moving section that illustrates the scope of the problems facing the nation: millions were out of work, and people all over the country were in danger of starvation. In providing "a good day's work" for millions of Americans in all 48 states, the WPA built gardens, ski resorts, golf courses, bridges and airports; paved farm-to-market roads in hundreds of rural areas; participated in flood relief and rescue efforts; and kept artists, writers, actors and circus performers alive with arts projects that entertained a nation starved for diversion. In short, the breadth and scope of the undertaking matched that of the problem, and the monuments endure and linger in our lives to this day. The sensitively selected photographs that enhance the text are poignant reminders of both the desperate face of poverty and the joys of honest work. Taylor has done good service to American history.