The New Deal era is hard to define with precision—in time or in ideology. Some historians use New Deal to designate the intense period of domestic reform legislation of the first Franklin Delano Roosevelt administration, 1933–37. Others confine discussion of the era to the legislation of 1933, and identify another wave of legislation in 1935 as a Second New Deal. Most of the essays in this book focus on the prewar period, with glimpses that look forward to the rhetoric of the approach to and engagement in World War II.

Sweeping into power in the grim depression days of 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt led the nation along a road of economic experiment that changed the course of America's political and social thinking. His first "Hundred Days" were a swift transformation into the new age of social security, FDIC, and a host of other reforms.

Scarcely had the New Deal become a part of American life, however, when World War II broke out, and America became a global power leading the Allies to victory, began development of the atomic bomb, and laid plans for the United Nations organization.

In the opinion of many historians, F.D.R.'s thirteen years are the most important era in twentieth-century American history. Now Dexter Perkins takes an objective look at Roosevelt and his times—the great depression, the great social experiment, the great war—and presents a balanced evaluation of America from the Blue Eagle days of NRA to the shocking April afternoon of Roosevelt's death.

"A fair-minded, clear, and brief guide to that complex man and even more complex era."—Frank Freidel, Christian Science Monitor