I never did like politics : how Fiorello La Guardia became America's mayor, and why he still matters

Fiorello La Guardia was one of the twentieth century’s most colourful politicians - on the New York and national stage.

He was also quintessentially American: the son of Italian immigrants, who rose in society through sheer will and chutzpah.

Almost one hundred years later, America is once again grappling with issues that would have been familiar to the Little Flower, as he was affectionately known.

It’s time to bring back La Guardia, argues historian and journalist Terry Golway, to remind us all what an effective municipal officer (as he preferred to call himself) can achieve... Golway examines La Guardia’s extraordinary career through four essential qualities: As a patriot, a dissenter, a leader, and a statesman.

He needed them all when he stood against the nativism, religious and racial bigotry, and reactionary economic policies of the 1920s, and again when he faced the realities of Depression-era New York and the rise of fascism at home and abroad in the 1930s.

Just before World War II, the Roosevelt administration formally apologised to the Nazis when La Guardia referred to Hitler as a “brown-shirted fanatic.” There was nobody quite like Fiorello La Guardia.

In this immensely readable book, as entertaining as the man himself, Terry Golway captures the enduring appeal of one of America’s greatest leaders.