Reddit mentions of American-Made: The Enduring Legacy of the WPA: When FDR Put the Nation to Work

There's two books off the beaten path I recommend for insight that are outside the norm and provide good perspective on this:

American Made, which discusses the end of Hoover's administration in GREAT detail in the best of ways for the first couple of chapters and focuses how people on the ground interpreted it as well as explaining just how big a deal the WPA/CCC were. This book is GREAT for context. If you've heard chapo talk about the Bonus army, the book really helps put it in perspective among other things.

and

The Great Depression by David Shannon which is only about 180 pages or so, but is absolutely perfectly constructed. It's a combination of op eds and articles from DURING the great depression as well as context over what each article talks about. The combination of context along with a primary source is invaluable imo. You'll see things like the NYT trying to downplay the intense effects of the period, approaching on downright denial, the Great Depression in the midwest and West coast which often gets ignored, and articles on related issues like agricultural changes and such.

I'm still not fully decided and have to read more. Can't say I've seen like a definitive piece on it unfortunately, but I definitely recommend reading up on the WPA to see a glimpse of what massive jobs programs have looked like in America in the past. Here are a couple of books about it.

https://www.amazon.com/Soul-People-Writers-Uncovers-Depression/dp/0470403802

https://www.amazon.com/American-Made-Enduring-Legacy-When-Nation/dp/0553381326

And below is a book I recently read that is a product of the WPA writer's program. It's a collection of oral histories and stories from New Mexican women in the 30s. It's the kind of invaluable historical resource that there's just no financial incentive to produce.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/155885312X/ref=x_gr_w_glide_bb?ie=UTF8&tag=x_gr_w_glide_bb-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=155885312X&SubscriptionId=1MGPYB6YW3HWK55XCGG2