Becoming Madam Secretary by Stephanie Dray

February 3, 2024

Becoming Madam Secretary by Stephanie Dray

Frances Perkins was the first female cabinet member in U.S. history, serving under Franklin D. Roosevelt. She was also the longest serving Secretary of Labor. But before that, she fought for workplace safety laws after witnessing the horror of the fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. But her first priority was developing a safety net for the elderly, which became the Social Security system.

Frances was responsible for the creation of many of the programs that we take for granted today: Social Security, unemployment benefits, workplace safety regulations, child labor laws, public works and infrastructure support, an eight hour workday and a five day work week. Life in the United States would be very different today without her efforts. She also worked to help Jewish refugees escape from Hitler's Germany. Frances kept her personal life very private. She was married to a brilliant man named Paul Wilson (who was part of the Marshall Field family) who suffered from depression and bipolar disorder (known as manic depression at that time), and her daughter unfortunately inherited her father's malady. 

Dray does an excellent job of keeping the focus on Frances and not letting Roosevelt and his dominant personality overshadow her story. Well-researched like all of the author's previous books (I recommend My Dear Hamilton and Ribbons of Scarlet). Recommended for readers of historical fiction or as a crossover into fiction for those who enjoy American history.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labor

Sleepwalk by Dan Chaon

September 12, 2022

Sleepwalk by Dan Chaon

Will Bear (one of his many aliases) has lived off the grid for most of his adult life. He is a 50 year old man who basically does not exist: he doesn't have a regular job, home address, telephone, credit card, bank account, or even a Social Security number. All transactions are cash. He does jobs for a shady organization, mostly delivery cargoes, both human and inanimate, and he regularly doses himself with a variety of legal and illegal drugs. His closest relationship is with his rescue dog, Flip, who suffers from PTSD (so does Will). He is on a job to drop off a prisoner in Utah when he starts receiving calls on his many burner phones from a woman who claims to be his biological daughter. He tries to get rid of her but she persists, although he can't figure out how she found him or continues to trace him. But the more she talks to him, the more he believes that they are caught up in a much larger conspiracy.

Futuristic, dystopian, wonderfully paranoid, full of dark humor, and noir-ish. Will isn't a traditional noir hero, more of an antihero: he does questionable work, he gets involved with women he should avoid, he lives by his own code of ethics, he is loyal to his friends, he lives in a dark world. I enjoyed this offbeat novel very much (and yes, the dog is okay at the end of the book). I listened to the audiobook and the narrator had the perfect stoned-out hippie intonation.

Dystopia artwork (hero frequently has a dog in dystopian fiction)