The Great Mayor: Fiorello La Guardia and the Making of the City of New York

In The Great Mayor, author Alyn Brodsky presents the first comprehensive and accessible biography of Fiorello H. La Guardia. Prior to becoming New York’s pre-eminent mayor, La Guardia was a distinguished U.S. congressman, a commander of the U.S. air forces during World War I, and a rambunctious member of the U.S. Consular Service. La Guardia was one of our nation’s most incorruptible politicians ever, a paradigm of honesty and virtue in American political history.

As a progressive Republican New York congressman, La Guardia supported women’s suffrage, child labor regulations, and was a major proponent of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, establishing himself as an energetic, effective, and dedicated politician. He brought these same qualities to his three terms as New York City’s mayor, transforming the five independent boroughs into today’s unified city. He expanded relief and social services, undertook the construction of parks and public housing, updated mass transit, cleaned up corrupt city departments, and much more.

Brodsky effectively captures the boundless energy and zest for accomplishment that led La Guardia to leave his indelible print on our nation’s political history and, most significantly, today’s modern New York City.