Ira Katznelson , Fear Itself : The New Deal and the Origins of Our Time

Is there anything new to be said about the New Deal? As Ira Katznelson observes at the beginning of Fear Itself, 'we possess hundreds of thematic histories, countless studies of public affairs and abundant biographies of key persons during this time of great historical density'; so 'why present another portrait?', he asks. Part of the answer lies in a resurgence of interest in the 1930s in the us—especially among left-liberal scholars who, in search of Depression-era lessons for the present, are constantly drawn to comparisons between Obama and Roosevelt (usually unflattering to the former). Katznelson himself finds justification in a more refined source, citing Henry James's 1882 essay on Venice: although the city has been 'painted and described many thousands of times', wrote James, 'it is not forbidden to speak of familiar things' when a writer 'is himself in love with his theme'. Katznelson's admiration for the New Deal is plain: in an opening section larded with references to Tocqueville, he puts its achievements 'on a par with the French Revolution', and describes it as 'not merely an important event in the history of the United States, but the most important twentieth-century testing ground for representative democracy in an age of mass politics'. In his view, the Roosevelt administration 'reconsidered and rebuilt the coun-try's long-established political order', 'successfully defining and securing liberal democracy' in the process. He also insists, however, that 'esteem for the New Deal paradoxically should draw attention to its most profound imperfections'. Fear Itself seeks to shed new light on the period by dwelling on the anxiety and uncertainty that pervaded it, and especially on the close