Description
Book SynopsisBernie Sanders’ tilt at the US presidency has come under fire from an establishment that derides his social democratic policies as alien to the American way. But, as Ted Hamm reveals in this engaging and concise history, the sort of socialism Bernie advocates was commonplace in the Brooklyn where he grew up in the 1940s and 50s.
Policies like free college tuition, rent control, and infrastructure projects including extensive public housing, parks and swimming pools were part of the New Deal city run by a progressive Mayor, Fiorello La Guardia, and supported by FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt. While Arthur Miller, resident in Brooklyn Heights, was staging Death of a Salesman, a play with which Bernie’s dad closely identified, Woody Guthrie was penning his paeans to the American worker in Coney Island and Jackie Robinson was breaking the color bar on Ebbets Field in a Dodgers team yet to be relocated in California.
Drawing deeply on interviews with his brother and friends, and delving skillfully into the history of the borough, Bernie’s Brooklyn shows how, far from being an anomaly in US politics, Sanders’ 2020 platform is rooted firmly in the progressivism of the New Deal.
Trade Review“A wonderful tour of a different political time that is directly shaping our own. Hamm's book is a beautiful, loving, and easy-to-read exploration of the texture of politics in Brooklyn while Sanders was a child, Bernie's Brooklyn brings politics and culture and context to life.” —Zephyr Teachout
“A treasure trove for Sanders fans.” —Liza Featherstone, columnist for Jacobin and The Nation
“An insightful exploration of the radical politics that dominated Brooklyn throughout the mid-20th century - politics which have taken root in the borough again in recent years.” —New York State Senator Jabari Brisport
Table of ContentsIntroduction
1
PART ONE
11
Chapter One: FDR and LGA
13
Chapter Two: Flatbush at War
37
Chapter Three: Eleanor’s Brooklyn
62
Chapter Four: Fiorello’s Farewell
79
PART TWO
97
Chapter Five: Brooklyn at the Forefront
99
Chapter Six: The Ebony Express
116
Chapter Seven: The Salesman
128
Chapter Eight: Mermaid Avenue
144
Chapter Nine: Cold War Brooklyn
165
Chapter Ten: Track Star
183
Conclusion
197
Bibliography
212
Acknowledgments
219
