The American Century - Softcover

Evans, Harold; Buckland, Gail; Baker, Kevin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 037570938X ISBN 13: 9780375709388

Publisher: Alfred a Knopf Inc, 2000

Synopsis

Available for the first time in paperback, a readable volume of the events that transpired in America from 1889 to 1989 is presented in an accessible format and is complemented by 900 illustrations. Reprint.

About this title

Review:

Although most of this sprawling book is set in the 20th century, it begins on April 29, 1889, when Benjamin Harrison commemorated the first centennial of American government. This 11-year jump-start allows Harold Evans to write about the last major push to settle the Western territories, the gradual displacement of Native American societies, the rise to prominence of William Jennings Bryan and other quintessentially American moments of the 19th century.

But make no mistake about it--The American Century is very much rooted in the modern world. Evans's tight, journalistic prose marks the significant events and personages in America's rise to superpower status and offers several educational surprises, such as a two-page spread on too-little-known naval historian Alfred Mahan, whose The Influence of Sea Power upon History shaped foreign policy in America and several European nations. His treatments of the civil rights movement of the fifties and sixties and the Watergate crisis are substantial highlights. Juxtapositions such as Ralph Nader and Rachel Carson, or Jimmy Hoffa and Cesar Chavez make for a lively overview. The book essentially ends with the inauguration of George Bush in 1989, although brief mention is made to some of what has happened since then. Filled with photographs and contemporary editorial cartoons, The American Century is an excellent one-volume chronicle of a rather momentous 100 years.

Book Description:

America's story as it has never been told before - and an inspiring perspective on the most momentous century in modern history.

About this edition

• Publisher: Alfred a Knopf Inc
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 037570938X
• ISBN 13: 9780375709388
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 710