Neither Snow nor Rain: A History of the United States Postal Service

Leonard, a staff writer at Bloomberg Businessweek, briskly and ably revisits the origins of the U.S. Postal Service and traces its myriad changes up into the 21st century. He covers the institution's major figures, including founder Benjamin Franklin, who introduced home delivery; President Benjamin Harrison, who first suggested the ideas of rural delivery and a postal bank (ideas that respectively came to fruition under the Theodore Roosevelt and Taft administrations); Anthony Comstock, a zealous anti-vice crusader; and Winston Blount, Nixon's postmaster general and the man who made jobs merit-based at the USPS, long a bastion of patronage. Of note are the chapter on the introduction of air delivery, which features anecdotes of the enormous risks early postal pilots took, Leonard's recounting of the short but devastating postal strike of 1970, and his examination of how the USPS has survived significant challenges from both private delivery companies and the growth of online bill-paying. What currently helps keep the USPS afloat is delivering about 40% of Amazon's packages. Readers may expect is an institutional history of a vast governmental organization (now a semi-private corporation) to be a bit dry, but Leonard is a sure-footed writer who has produced a well-researched work that uncovers some colorful characters and reflects basic dynamics of American democracy. Agent: Adam Eaglin, Elyse Cheney Literary. (May)