Frances Perkins, F.D.R.'s Secretary of Labor, and the first female member of a Presidential cabinet, was a key architect of the New Deal, guiding F.D.R. to enact some of his most lasting labor legislation.  Social Security, unemployment compensation, minimum wage, child labor laws, and the forty-hour workweek. Downey's biography traces Perkins's career from its beginnings (volunteer work with Jane Addams's Hull House) and vividly conveys her subject's determination and political savvy. Perkins faced many difficulties: the arrival of the Second World War shut her out of the President's inner circle; she supported a mentally ill husband and had trouble balancing work and family life. In addition, her contribution to American history has often been overshadowed by the criticism she drew as a woman in power.

May 4, 2010

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Stieg Larsson

Mikael Blomkvist, a once-respected financial journalist, watches his professional life rapidlycrumble around him. Prospects appear bleak until an unexpected (and unsettling)offer to resurrect his name is extended by an old-school titan of Swedish industry. The catch--and there's always a catch--is that Blomkvist must first spend a year researching a mysterious disappearance that has remained unsolved for nearly four decades. With few other options, he accepts and enlists the help of investigator Lisbeth Salander, a misunderstood genius with a cache of authority issues. Little is as it seems in Larsson's novel, but there is at least one constant: you really don't want to mess with the girl with the dragon tattoo.