Machine Made

Reviews

"Golway’s revisionist history chips away at Tammany Hall’s calcified reputation and reveals that the Democratic machine that produced Boss Tweed-era corruption was also a force for worthy reform." — Amy Finnerty, The New York Times Book Review

"Lively and thoughtful." — Weekly Standard

"An important but forgotten story—of how American politics once worked for the poor and weak rather than, as today, only for the rich and powerful." — Kerby A. Miller, author of Emigrants and Exiles

"Terry Golway’s Machine Made delivers a refreshingly revisionist verdict on the Irish-dominated Democratic organization whose ring reverberated mightily in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and then faded into a faint echo… If Boss Tweed and Richard Croker remain the defining faces of Tammany, Mr. Golway… advances a breezy and convincing case that Al Smith, Senators Robert F. Wagner and Herbert Lehman, and their mentors, Tom Foley and Charles Francis Murphy, deserve distinguished pedestals in that pantheon, too." — Sam Roberts, The New York Times

"A work that knowledgeably readjusts Tammany’s reputation from a nest of corruption to an important crusader for the poor and downtrodden." — Kirkus Reviews

"[A] valuable and enjoyable analysis describing how the political machine changed the role of government—for the better to millions of disenfranchised recent American arrivals… [The] legacy Mr. Golway is so passionate about is undeniable. Tammany Hall, for all the many flaws of its leaders, helped create a welcoming environment for immigrants, making New York and the United States the beacon of hope for those seeking a better life… Now, that’s a legacy worth remembering." — Steven Fulop, The New York Observer