by Sean Wilentz
First published 2009
Herbert Hoover enters the presidency riding high on his reputation as the efficiency expert who fed starving Europe after World War I. His engineering background and economic optimism define the booming 1920s spirit he embodies. Then America's economy crashes into the Great Depression, the first major crisis of the twentieth century. Hoover's faith in private sector solutions and voluntary cooperation crumbles as unemployment soars and businesses fail. His deep suspicion of government intervention blinds him to the scale of the disaster unfolding across the nation. Private sector leaders he recruits prove powerless against the economic catastrophe. Franklin Roosevelt crushes him in the 1932 election, sending Hoover into decades of exile at Stanford University. From there, he wages a long campaign against Roosevelt's New Deal and expanding federal power until his death. William Leuchtenburg delivers an honest examination of this dedicated public servant who found himself overwhelmed by forces beyond his understanding or control.
Genres: biography, history, 20th-century, american-history
Vibes: thought-provoking
Tropes: political-thriller
Setting: America, Europe, Stanford University, United States
Period: 1920s, 1932, Great Depression, World War I
208 pages · Kindle Edition · Times Books