Fear Itself: The New Deal and the Origins of Our Time [Paperback]

A work that deeply reconceptualizes the New Deal and raises countless provocative questions (David Kennedy),Engrossing& It is an exhilarating pleasure to lose yourself in this old-fashioned example of original historical scholarship.Ambitious, fascinating, and slightly dark& [Katznelsons] account of how a belief in the common good gave way to a central government dominated by interest-group politics and obsessed with national security.Brilliant.A provocative look at how modern Americacreated three-quarters of a century ago by the very Southern barons who were so important a part of the New Deal was shaped. We think of history as a settled thing, tucked safely in a faraway past. This book is a reminder of how very surprising it can be.An excellent work of synthesis about the political and economic terms of the New Deal. . . . Powerful and well-paced . . . anyone wanting an intelligent guide to the ideas that still shape its place in our own fractious times should begin by reading this book.A powerful argument, swept along by Katznelsons robust prose and the imposing scholarship that lies behind it.Kevin Boyle,