Well done history of the beginnings of the New Deal and early days of FDR's administration. Back story on some of the key cabinet members, especially Frances Perkins. I'm too young to have lived it but too old to have had this history in school. Stuff I've always heard about - good to have a better grasp. Scary how much of this history is paralleled by current events- though some of the country seems hell-bent on undoing the accomplishments of the past. ( )

An excellent book highlighting 5 of the people involved in the first 100 days of FDR’s presidency and the policies they worked for and against. It’s really well written and the author makes this potentially dry subject into a fascinating page turner.

Cohen definitely has an opinion here, but it’s the same as mine, the correct one. He’s trying to show how much that time looked like ours, but the parallels are not hard to make. It shows the different sides and gets into the debates that were going on, and how conflicted many of the people involved were in the programs they were involved in. He emphasizes how much they were just winging it for most part and were willing to try things to see if they worked.

Being from Arizona it was interesting to read the background on Douglas and AZ politics at the time. It gives some perspective on the stupidity going on there now.

Highly recommended. ( )

Numerous books are available on the topic of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s first 100 days in the White House. Nothing to Fear focuses on the people around FDR, and their influence on his opinions and programs. Raymond Moley, Lewis Douglas, Henry Wallace, Frances Perkins, and Harry Hopkins were all driven to improve conditions in the country, but they had strongly differing opinions on the most effective methods. In some cases, this led FDR to drive the economy with one foot on the gas and one on the brake, but overall this amazing team managed an impressive list of accomplishments in those first 100 days.

Cohen provides a brief biography for each of these individuals, explains their roles in the Roosevelt administration, and describes their later careers. This book has made me want to read more on each of them, especially Frances Perkins.

By 1932, industrial stocks had lost 80 percent of their value, and unemployment reached a peak of 23.6 percent. By 1937, gross national product had returned to pre-crash levels, and unemployment had fallen to 14 percent. In light of current arguments about deficit spending, it is interesting to note that Roosevelt’s effort to cut deficit spending in 1937 led to a “Roosevelt recession”, in which the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost nearly half its value, and unemployment climbed back to 19 percent.

A word on quality: I prefer hardcover books, and am willing to pay the premium price in order to obtain a book that is attractive, pleasant to read, and durable. Unfortunately, this may be the most cheaply made hardcover I have ever encountered. I am very careful with my books, but the cardboard that reinforces the spine has repeatedly fallen out, and the endpapers are separating from the cover. The main body of the book has split in several places, with pages in danger of falling out. I would not be surprised to see this type of deterioration in a mass market paperback, but it is definitely not acceptable in a first edition hardcover. I emailed The Penguin Press about the problem, and they replied that I would have to return the book to the retailer for reimbursement. Which I have done, now that I have finished the book and this review. I hope that this situation was an atypical manufacturing defect, and that I can find a replacement copy without these problems. ( )

4649. Nothing to Fear FDR's Inner Circle and the Hundred Days That Created Modern America, by Adam Cohen (read 9 Dec 2009) When I undertook to read this I did not expect much since the territory it covers seemed so familiar to me from other reading. But I was most pleasantly surprised. The author covers the time through highlighting the acts of Raymond Moley, Lewis Douglas, Henry Wallace, Frances Perkins, and Harry Hopkins and shows how great the role of the last three named was. In the final chapter he relates the path of each of the five after the 100 Days and shows the really important role played by Wallace, Perkins, and Hopkins. I found this a much appreciated account and to my surprise I am giving it what I seldom, it seems, give a book--five stars! ( )

This is the book that Obama's inner circle supposedly read. They must have missed the numerous references about FDR who fought hard to balance the budget to accomplish the American New Deal.