4801. Fiorello H. LaGuardia and the Making of Modern New York, by Thomas Kessner (read 23 Feb 2011) This is a stunning work, and tells very well the story of the fantastic personality LaGuardia was. He was in the House from 1917 to 1933 and was a person who really made things lively there. He lost to a Democrat in 1932 and in 1933 was elected mayor of New York and re-elected in 1937 and 1941. He did superlative work as mayor in the early years but in later years became autocratic and dictatorial. But when he was mayor he kept things in New York lively and always remained personally honest. The book is a bit too long, and not quite as chronological as I like a biography to be, nor does the author appear to have made any effort to weigh the events he relates to the events which occurred in the years after 1947, when LaGuardia died, till 1989, when the book was published. But the book is well worth reading and probably will always be the definitive biography of a toweringly important figure. ( )