My Goodreads and Amazon review of The Woman Behind the New Deal: The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR’S Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience by Kirstin Downey (Rated 5) – New Deal’s Midwife. The Woman Behind the New Deal: The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR’S Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience by Kirstin Downey comprises multiple historical narratives in a single biography: the personal history of a pioneering woman committed to social and economic justice; a legislative history of the Roosevelt era during the Great Depression and Second World War; a post-suffrage but pre-second-wave feminist account of the stereotypes and discrimination that held back women; and an inside view of the rivalries and in-fighting among the elites of New York and Washington, DC. What emerges from this thoroughly researched volume is a portrait of a complex woman, whose determination served her well in overcoming roadblocks, but whose domineering personality could also work against her in a male-dominated society. Perkins was further hampered by the fact that her own husband and daughter were plagued my bipolar disorder, conditions she hid from the public as a matter of political survival as well as personal pride and shame. Perkins also adapted to her fickle boss, the “midwife” who birthed FDR’s most significant policies while being left behind as a battlefield casualty. Downey admits when her subject’s own prejudices and naivete led to her defeat. As a writer of character-driven historical fiction (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), I admire Downey’s forthright presentation of her subject’s flaws as well as strengths. What is remarkable is how, despite many personal and societal setbacks, Perkins succeeded in pushing through legislation that changed the face of government in her time and that persists, albeit now under threat, in the U.S. today.
A pioneering woman fights for social and economic justice in the halls of government
Why writers read: “Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no libraries.” – Anne Herbert
