The Glory and the Dream: A Narrative History of America 1932-1972, Volume One

by William Manchester

845 pages

Genres: History, American History

845 pages, Hardcover

About the author

William Raymond Manchester was an American author and biographer, notable as the bestselling author of 18 books that have been translated into 20 languages.He was awarded the National Humanities Medal and the Abraham Lincoln Literary Award.

Reviews

[Brian Eshleman · Rating 5 out of 5]

C.S. Lewis cautioned writers, "Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say 'infinitely' when you mean 'very'; otherwise you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite."

I know what he meant, because after reading a work like this, I question most of the times I have given other authors a they-hit-what-they-were-aiming-at five-star rating. William Manchester's "aim" is sweeping, a narrative history of the years between 1932 and 1972, the first 20 of which are covered in what I deem the first volume. He leaves himself a lot of room to either bore the reader with too much material or leave him or her discontent because something was left out, but he shows himself, again, to be a writer of exquisite taste and pacing.

He can trace trends to keep the reader from getting lost in details, for instance connecting adolescent rebellion in the 30s to it's not altogether different manifestations in the 40s and to its near absence in the 50s. Conversely, he can rivet the reader's attention by re-creating a world of detail and texture right before seminal events like Pearl Harbor or the death of FDR. He can put the reader in Truman's company as the new president prepares for his first day with monumental presidential responsibilities, and he can deftly remind the reader whose attention, whose comprehension he so dearly regards that while these world-shaping events were going on, this or that future great personage was eight, or 10, or 12 and was being shaped by events just as much as he or she would later shape them.

For almost 30 hours in Manchester's literary company, (Okay, it was significantly less than that because I can listen at triple speed.) I was never bored, and, if anything, I experienced odd regret that we had come so far and wouldn't transverse the same ground again. I'm a literary dilettante, and I already gave this author his share of attention reading the third volume of hits Winston Churchill biography and his dirge on the tragic weekend of the Kennedy assassination recently, but I'm fairly well convinced I would be content and even enlarged if I read nothing but William Manchester, Will Durant, and Barbara Tuchman. He's in that pantheon, and I'll be back again for his second "volume" covering the 1960s that already captivate me and then again for his tome on the subject of Douglas MacArthur that clearly captivates Manchester.

[Hank Hoeft · Rating 4 out of 5]

William Manchester's "narrative history" is just that--it reads like a novel, telling the cultural and political history of the United States in the forty years between the election of Franklin Roosevelt and the reelection of Richard Nixon. This first of two volumes ends with fall of Dienbienphu and the very first beginnings of American involvement in Vietnam.

Manchester's slant is definitely to the left of center, but not oppressively so. I was especially impressed by his recounting of Richard Nixon's famous "Checkers speech." All accounts I'd ever read of that event always hinted that Nixon had been caught doing something underhanded and sleazy, but his maudlin performance on live TV snowed the country into forgiving him. But Manchester, who doesn't seem at all like a Richard Nixon fan or apologist, nonetheless firmly and squarely states that Nixon in fact did nothing illegal or unethical, and was the victim of a smear campaign. This objectivity is to be applauded.

I do have some criticisms. First, there is the left-wing viewpoint, but once that is recognized, it isn't so extreme that it kept me from enjoying the narrative.

I did, however, notice a few factual errors in his recounting of World War II. This surprised me, especially when the errors dealt with the Pacific war, because Manchester was a Marine veteran. But the small errors didn't strike me as someone who didn't know what he was talking about as much as someone who didn't seem to place a huge importance on that part of his story, and was in a hurry to move on.

Another criticism is that sometimes I thought he got bogged down in the political minutia of a period. This may just be personal preference--I enjoyed the cultural history much more than the political--but this is the main reason I gave this half of his narrative only four stars and not five.

The first William Manchester book I ever read was The Arms of Krupp, way back in the eighth grade. Since them I've read Gather, Darkness, his personal memoir of his time as a Marine scout in World War II, and American Caesar, his biography of Douglas MacArthur. I thoroughly enjoyed those three previous books, and I enjoyed the first part of The Glory and the Dream and hope the second volume will be just as engaging.

[Shalene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow incredible! The best book I’ve read about the Great Depression and WWII + 1950s. It’s incredibly chonky though (30 hours) and I’ve still still got volume 2 (another 30 hours).

I am also glad I read this after The Price of Peace, a book about the life John Maynard Keynes, which goes more in depth about the economic crash of the Great Depression and his involvement helping FDR boost the American economy again. Though it was mentioned in this book too, it was helpful having that additional background beforehand to get the full picture.