PAUL V. MCNUTT AND THE AGE OF FDR

Name: PAUL V. MCNUTT AND THE AGE OF FDR
Author: Dean J. Kotlowski
ISBN: 978-0-253-01468-9

by Dean J. Kotlowski ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 2, 2015

No amount of scholarly work is likely to raise McNutt in the public consciousness, but it’s not for want of trying in this...

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Sturdy biography of a political stalwart of the past, largely forgotten now.

Paul McNutt (1891-1955), writes Kotlowski (History/Salisbury Univ.; Nixon's Civil Rights: Politics, Principle, and Policy, 2002, etc.), was a politician through and through; he “embodied change and continuity,” a neat trick, and he managed to upset conservatives and liberals alike in his various guides as governor, federal administrator and New Deal proponent. Moreover, he was one of those now-fabled politicos who worked both sides of the aisle, not just in order to solidify power and win favor, but also because bipartisanship was the right thing to do. One of the many virtues of Kotlowski’s book is that it covers the necessary ground—a challenge, given McNutt’s many careers and accomplishments—yielding a book that is overlong but not unnecessarily padded. Another of its virtues is that it demonstrates ably that though McNutt indeed lived in a different time, with his heyday in the 1930s, it was most certainly not a more innocent one: If FDR played McNutt hard in several Machiavellian episodes, McNutt returned the favor by working his own political machine to his advantage. In doing so, he managed to alienate FDR further, all but guaranteeing that Henry Wallace would appear on the ticket, even though Wallace was considered “too liberal and idealistic in his politics, eclectic in his intellectual pursuits, and standoffish in his manners.” Another little-known aspect of McNutt’s work involved his efforts, while working as high commissioner in the Philippines, to secure the safe passage of many hundreds of Jews from Nazi Germany. Kotlowski also considers his subject’s contributions in many other venues, including his service as dean of the Indiana University School of Law.

No amount of scholarly work is likely to raise McNutt in the public consciousness, but it’s not for want of trying in this capable, readable biography.

Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2015

ISBN: 978-0-253-01468-9

Page Count: 600

Publisher: Indiana Univ.

Review Posted Online: Nov. 19, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014

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THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS

FROM MEAN STREETS TO WALL STREET

by Chris Gardner with Quincy Troupe ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2006

Well-told and admonitory.

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Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.

Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.

Well-told and admonitory.

Pub Date: June 1, 2006

ISBN: 0-06-074486-3

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006

Categories:

GENERAL BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | BUSINESS

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BLACK BOY

A RECORD OF CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH

by Richard Wright ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 28, 1945

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This autobiography might almost be said to supply the roots to Wright's famous novel, Native Son.

It is a grim record, disturbing, the story of how — in one boy's life — the seeds of hate and distrust and race riots were planted. Wright was born to poverty and hardship in the deep south; his father deserted his mother, and circumstances and illness drove the little family from place to place, from degradation to degradation. And always, there was the thread of fear and hate and suspicion and discrimination — of white set against black — of black set against Jew — of intolerance. Driven to deceit, to dishonesty, ambition thwarted, motives impugned, Wright struggled against the tide, put by a tiny sum to move on, finally got to Chicago, and there — still against odds — pulled himself up, acquired some education through reading, allied himself with the Communists — only to be thrust out for non-conformity — and wrote continually. The whole tragedy of a race seems dramatized in this record; it is virtually unrelieved by any vestige of human tenderness, or humor; there are no bright spots. And yet it rings true. It is an unfinished story of a problem that has still to be met.

Perhaps this will force home unpalatable facts of a submerged minority, a problem far from being faced.