Quick! Who Was Frances Perkins?

If you work a 40-hour work week, have ever received unemployment benefits (or felt safer because it would be available), have a restroom available to you at work, know anyone collecting Social Security or are 65 yourself, were injured at work and received payments until you could
return to work, are protected by occupancy and fire laws, and 8-year-olds no longer work in dangerous mills instead of going to school, that's who Frances Perkins is...and more.

This long overdue biography is now available. The Woman Behind the New Deal: the Life of Frances Perkins, FDR's Secretary of Labor and his Moral Conscience by Kirstin Downey is a fascinating story of a woman who is no longer a household name, but should be. Her influence touches or will touch every household.

Ms. Downey researched archives and new documents for eight years to produce the story of the first woman cabinet secretary who fought to improve the lives of ordinary Americans while moving in the rarified circles of society and government.