Great Times: An Informal Social History of the United States, 1914-29

by J.C. Furnas

The daily thoughts & attitudes of America in the years between the eve of WWI & the eve of the Great Crash. An informal discursive study of the good old, bad old days of 'Over There', Flaming Youth & the Model A. The years of which he writes were indeed Great Times & in this wide-ranging volume he captures both their flavor & their essence.

Genres: History

576 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Full name: Joseph Chamberlain Furnas.

Reviews

[Erik Graff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Furnas, a child of the 20th century, has composed a trilogy outlining the social history of the United States from colonial times until Pearl Harbor. As is my wont, I came upon his work by chance, both in the bookstores where I purchased the third and first volumes and in selecting 'a fun book', the third volume, off the shelves for leisure reading. So good was this final volume that I was delighted to find that I also owned the first, moving into it immediately. This, the second volume, I only obtained owing to the kindness of a close friend who, having heard me speak glowingly of the author (and perhaps feeling pity because of my complaints about not having received any Christmas books), purchased both it and the author's autobiography over the web. Indeed, he took the autobiography 'on loan' as soon as it arrived. Since Furnas was apparently present during much of what he describes in the period of ca. 1910-1941 I intend to read that as well when it becomes available.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really disliked the author's breezy prose style. The book consists of very long chapters that cover many different topics as in a magazine article.
There were so many important social changes in the period 1914-1929 it seems strange that this book is so uninvolving and filled with subjective descriptions and clumsy phrases.
Nor recommended.

[M Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the sequel to The Americans and it is much, much worse. While The Americans maintained coherence as it moved from topic to topic, Great Times descends into word vomit as Mr. Furnas' editor seems to have had a nervous breakdown under the strain of his relentless flow of unstructured observations.

The book is unreadable if one intends to go from start to finish. Using the index and dipping in and out is a much better strategy.

[Tim Basuino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Back in 2007, I read Furnas' "A Social History Of The United States 1587-1914", one of the most enjoyable reads I've ever had (unless you're a Southerner who takes their region seriously :P)... in spite of the title, the book dove into the who, what, where, when, why and how the political history worked out the way it had. It took me awhile, but I finally tracked down the followup on Amazon. While by definition the length of time is considerably less, the detail is just as rich, and Furnas flows easily from topic to topic, leaving the reader to think ole J.C. seriously did his research.