Machine Made

Reviews / Votes

"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