Cheap The Glory and the Dream: A Narrative History of America, 1932-1972 (Book) (William Raymond Manchester) Price

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Customer Reviews of The Glory and the Dream: A Narrative History of America, 1932-1972

Manchester's best
As a history teacher and historian who has read and previewed hundreds of history titles, I can say without resevation that "The Glory and the Dream" ranks up among the top 5 history books I have ever read. Covering a span of time when America went through so much upheavel and doubt, patriotism and arrogance, Manchester weaves a tale of American life that leaves nothing out. Focusing on the four themes of history (social, political, domestic, foreign) he manages to bring together all of the personalities, events, disasters, fears, and triumphs that have made America what she is today. At over 1300 pages, it is a massive volume but one that grabs the reader from the very start with its chapters on the Great Depression and the rise of FDR. From there Manchester takes the reader on a wonderful trip through time as he covers World War II, The Cold War, Truman, Ike, the 50's, 60's, sex, music, Vietnam, art, entertainment, and everything else that went on during the 50 year time span the book covers. I was sad that the book had to end, but found myself reading it again in less than four months, reliving the journey again and finding out new things that I had missed before. If you love American history then this book is an absolute must for your library. For those who lived through the history of which Manchester writes, it will stir memories. For those too young to remember that far back, it will give you a wonderfully frank account of your nation and its 20th century heritage. Read this book, you will not be disappointed.

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Simply wonderful
This book is exactly what its title says: a history of American from 1932 through 1972. The book is thorough and long, and yet fluently readable. You certainly won't be aware that you're reading a book of more than a thousand pages. Manchester strikes a good balance between the major political events and the lives of ordinary Americans.

Most impressive is Manchester's political even-handedness. He regards no one as a villain or a hero (well, FDR comes close, but almost everyone who lived through those years considered FDR a hero).

Having been written in 1973, the book does show some effects of the Viet Name debacle; there is a tendency to assume a moral equivalence between the communist countries and the democracies. Nowadays only the most mindless America-haters believe that any such equivalence ever existed, but remember that in the aftermath of Viet Nam, such feelings were easy to adopt. But Manchester never loses his objectivity or his ability to take the long view. In examining the Red Scare - McCarthy era, for example, he manages to treat each individual case on its own merits, something very few writers have been able or willing to do.

Manchester's choice of topics is invariably apt: the things which seemed important at the time are the things which he treats as important. The only event which struck me as deserving of more attention than he gave it, was the Hungarian uprising of 1956.

Manchester doesn't completely understand the music of the 60's but no one over 35 (at the time) did! The book was written at a time when faith in big government solutions to all social and economic problems was taken for granted. Also, Watergate had not yet played itself out when the book was written, although he gives it plenty of attention.

But all of my reservations are minor. I don't know of any single book which is so effective in telling the reader what it was like to live in America during those 40 years, and also so effective in describing America's role and behavior in the international community during those same years, as this one. The next time you're tempted to read a self-help book by the latest anointed guru whose insights might justify a short magazine article, read this book instead. You'll walk away with a much better understanding of the world you live in, and how it got that way.

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One of the Best by One of the Best
Manchester is really phenomenal, and this is an amazing example. To be able to not only hold interest, but literally nail the reader to the floor is a talent rarely held by historians. His portrait of the Depression and Roosevelt is great, including the much anticipated, and yet desperate end of FDR. Totally disagree with the other reviewer who claims that Civil Rights excuse Tonkin and Vietnam. LBJ deserves little to no credit for Civil Rights, that was the result of MLK and a large contingent in the Congress and it would have passed with or without him. Anyway, if you want to read a book that covers this period beautifully and makes you wonder how history ever got a reputation as boring, this is the one.