Fear itself

This is a revelatory history of the New Deal era, focusing on the surprisingly pivotal role of Southern Democrats in shaping those policies. Katznelson really focuses on the US political landscape, detailing how the outsized power of Southern Democrats, due to their stranglehold on congressional seats and electoral votes due to Jim Crow, first shaped the environment for FDR's rise and then steered it in very specific directions, continuing on through the Truman and Eisenhower administrations. The case he lays out is extremely compelling, and makes the seemingly strange gaps in New Deal policies clear by detailing the goals of these segregationist players. Given that the New Deal is one of the US's signature historical achievements, this history unfortunately shows how even that is stained with compromises that continue to warp our society. Highly recommend