Machine Made

History casts Tammany Hall as shorthand for the worst of urban politics: graft and patronage personified by notoriously crooked characters. In his groundbreaking work Machine Made, journalist and historian Terry Golway dismantles these stereotypes, focusing on the many benefits of machine politics for marginalized immigrants. As thousands sought refuge from Irelands potato famine, the very question of who would be included under the protection of American democracy was at stake. Tammanys transactional politics were at the heart of crucial social reformssuch as child labor laws, workers compensation, and minimum wages and Golway demonstrates that American political history cannot be understood without Tammanys profound contribution. Culminating in FDRs New Deal, Machine Made reveals how Tammany Hall changed the role of governmentfor the better to millions of disenfranchised recent American arrivals (New York Observer).