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Bernie 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.
List of contents
Introduction
| 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
|
About the author
Theodore Hamm is editor of
Frederick Douglass in Brooklyn. He writes about New York City politics and culture for
The Indypendent and
Jacobin. Hamm is chair of journalism and new media studies at St. Joseph's College in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn.
Summary
Bernie 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.
Additional text
“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
