FDR's Alphabet Soup: New Deal America 1932-1939 - Hardcover

Bolden, Tonya

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 037585214X ISBN 13: 9780375852145

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2010

Synopsis

FDR’S New Deal, which followed the 1929 stock market crash, was a hugely influential moment in the history of the United States, encompassing everything from the arts to finance, labor to legislation, and some think it helped bring the country out of the Great Depression. Here, Tonya Bolden, writing in her trademark accessible style, creates a portrait of a time that changed American history both then and now.

FDR’s First 100 Days and how the United States was changed by it then are closely examined, especially now. The 2009 financial situation is eerily mirrored by that of the late 1920s, and this is a perfect book to help teens understand history and its lasting impact on current events.

About this title

About the Author

Tonya Bolden is the author of more than 20 books for young readers. She lives in the Bronx, New York.

From School Library Journal

Grade 6–9—Bolden uses the myriad programs of the New Deal, collectively called "alphabet soup" because they were known by their initials or acronyms, as a metaphor to describe how Roosevelt's policies and legislation gave vital nourishment to the American people and created permanent changes in the government and economy. She opens with a discussion of the unprecedented crisis of the Great Depression and Roosevelt's subsequent election, but devotes most of the book to the creation and implementation of New Deal agencies and programs, and includes quotes and primary-source excerpts to show how different segments of the population, such as workers and investors, viewed Roosevelt and his policies. The author views the New Deal positively, but does discuss how it polarized the American people and drew opposition from both the left and the right. The narrative is supplemented by numerous sidebars and facing-page inserts that provide additional information and well-captioned, high-quality reproductions of period photos and artifacts. Bolden's writing style is contemporary, with brief sentences, short paragraphs, and vocabulary that uses slang and abbreviations that may not win adult approval but will appeal to teens. The book is more focused on the New Deal than Edmund Lindop and Margaret J. Goldstein's America in the 1930s (21st Century Bks., 2009), which offers a more comprehensive overview of American life during the decade.—Mary Mueller, Rolla Junior High School, MO
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About this edition

• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 037585214X
• ISBN 13: 9780375852145
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 136