Covering an eventful period in Herbert Hoover's career--and, more
specifically, his life as a political pugilist from 1933 to 1955--this
previously unknown memoir was composed and revised by the 31st president
during the 1940s and 1950s--and then, surprisingly, set aside. This work
recounts Hoover's family life after March 4, 1933, his myriad
philanthropic interests, and, most of all, his unrelenting "crusade
against collectivism" in American life. Aside from its often feisty
account of Hoover's political activities during the Roosevelt and Truman
eras, and its window on Hoover's private life and campaigns for good
causes, The Crusade Years invites readers to reflect on the factors
that made his extraordinarily fruitful postpresidential years possible.
The pages of this memoir recount the story of Hoover's later life, his
abiding political philosophy, and his vision of the nation that gave him
the opportunity for service. This is, in short, a remarkable saga told
in the former president's own words and in his own way that will appeal
as much to professional historians and political scientists as it will
lay readers interested in history.