America's Century

by Clifton Daniel (Editor), Ralph Berens, John W. Kirshon

Beginning with 1900, four (usually) pages of text and pictures are devoted to each year of the 20th century. Lesser events have one-sentence descriptions; more important events are presented like newspaper stories (they are not, however, real newspaper articles), and are often accompanied by pictures in either b&w or color, about 1,300 in all. Three periods (1900-16, 1917-45, and 1946-99) earn one-page introductions. Appendices provide descriptions and pictures of the century's presidents, pictures of millennial celebrations around the world, selected statistics (population, immigration, etc), and profiles of the five states that joined the Union in the 20th century. As is true of most DK publications, this book is meant for the popular trade market, not for the scholar. What unfolds is a portrait of the way America likes to think of a world-leader and nation that though imperfect, realizes its mistakes. 9x11. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Genres: History

468 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2000

Reviews

[Ted Magnuson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Published at the close of the 20th Century this book is a catalogue of news articles from 1900 to 2000. For those facing a writing assignment in school or work, this book will serve as an excellent memory refresher or curiosity starting point for many events that happened over this extended period.
The book is organized into three sections, offering up an essay on each.
I Agenda for a new century 1900-1916
II Saving the Dream 1917-1945
III The Eagle Ascendent 1946-1999

In more or less chronological order, the stories we follow are: Waves of immigrants arriving in New York, First World Series game, Casey Jones-railroad engineer, the Model T, the Woolworth Building-world’s tallest (1913), Stock Market Crash (1929), humorist Will Rogers, architect Frank Lloyd Wright, Orson Welles (War of the Worlds Radio Broadcast), Global Wars, Polio vaccinations, Concord flights, the space program and other technological advancements. At the close of the book are a few statistics and graphs of growth in population, Gross National Product and education standards as well as pictures of firework displays around the world.
The book weighs a massive four plus pounds, providing ample space for text and photographs.

[Keith Peterson · Rating 2 out of 5]

OK, but got bored quickly. Did not finish.