Reima Ratti, created art to lift himself and those around him out of the gloom of the 1930's Great Depression. His artistic contributions to the CCC, the most popular New Deal work program and greatest conservation movement in US history, placed him on a path of history. Sixty+ pieces of Ratti CCC art illustrate this historic New Deal art story.

The 1930¿s was the era of the Great Depression, Dust Bowl and governement work programs. Unemployment was staggering, adversity was widespread and the beardless youth of America faced a bleak future. The first and most successful New Deal work program was The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Millions of unemployed boys from the cities, farms and plains joined ¿Roosevelt¿s¿ Tree Army¿. With shovels and axes, they planted billions of trees, fought forest fires and advanced the conservation movement by a generation in many sections of the US. Between 1933 - 1940, they toiled along the cliffs of the Palisades and the marshes of the Meadowlands. They worked, they played, they grew up and in the process became a generation of young men with a newfound respect for conservation and patriotism. They were "The Boys of Bergen".

The book highlights the extensive role of women in the programs and operations of the New Deal under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It was prepared for a two-day conference, "Women and the Spirit of the New Deal," held in Berkeley, California on October 5-6, 2018. The conference was jointly sponsored by The Living New Deal, The National New Deal Preservation Association and The Frances Perkins Center. The brief biographies of approximately 100 women include some individuals who were known to the public and remembered by historians, while others operated behind the scenes and have been virtually forgotten. Some were prominent during the period 1933-1945 while not formally linked to government programs. Most played significant roles in the numerous agencies, projects and programs of the federal government during a dozen years when the relationship between the government and American citizens was profoundly reshaped. The women include politicians, administrators, lawyers, social workers, authors, journalists, painters, sculptors, musicians and scientists. The book begins a process of identifying hundreds if not thousands of women whose roles during this eventful period were of consequence in contributing to the transformations that took place through the initiatives of the Roosevelt Administration. Our hope is that readers of this book will contribute the names and descriptions of additional women (including modifications and/or elaborations of the biographies contained herein) to the websites of the three sponsoring organizations where they will be available to students, scholars and interested citizens: The Living New Deal www.livingnewdeal.org The National New Deal Preservation Association www.newdeallegacy.org The Frances Perkins Center www.FrancesPerkinsCenter.org