3/5

Much more cohesive than The Republic for Which It Stands but lacking some of the character of Battle Cry of Freedom, this entry in the Oxford History of the United States is hard to evaluate. On one hand the telling seems to be almost a straight forward political history of the period, but on the other hand it is an exhaustive account of changes in American life during this tumultuous period.

It avoids many pitfalls of history written about the Second World War and presents a compelling series of questions about the meaning The New Deal and The ‘Good’ War and the inherent tension between the two. The New Deal’s own contradictions are the subject of much of the authors editorial position here and I think it works. The uncertain meaning behind these events make it harder to truly absorb the setting of this time period the way you can in Battle Cry of Freedom.

I think perhaps this could have been longer even, but that too poses risks into becoming a much more meandering text. Overall, this is good, but not the first text I’d recommend to anyone on Roosevelt or the 30s more generally.