Joseph Swidler (1907 1997) was one of the last New Dealers, part of a generation of talented professionals including Harry Hopkins, Harold Ickes, and Morris Cohen who devoted their energies to serving public, not private interests. In a career spanning six decades, he helped craft and administer the nation s energy policy while witnessing most of the signal events of the modern age: the Great Depression, World War II, the Cold War, and America s emergence as a superpower. Swidler s memoir is filled with insights on this transformative period of U.S. history and includes anecdotes about key...