The limits of symbolic reform: the New Deal and taxation, 1933-1939.

The Limits of Symobolic Reform: The New Deal and Taxation, 1933-1939.

By Mark H. Leff. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1984. x 308 pp. $32.50.)

In the past fifteen years revisionist interpretations of the New Deal have become increasingly prevalent--for example, those by Ellis Hawley, Paul Conklin, and William A. William. Instead of being seen as a vehicle for revolutionary reform, the New Deal is now viewed by some as a defender of the main features of the capitalist system, exerting only a feeble impact on the existing distribution of power and wealth.

Mark Leff in this volume endorses and develops this position in his own way. He argues …