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The Good Years: From 1900 to the First World War
This New York Times bestseller by the author of A Night to Remember explores America in the years between the Gilded Age and the beginning of the Great War. Though remarkable in their own right, the first fifteen years of the 1900s had the misfortune of being sandwiched between—and overshadowed by—the Gilded Age and the First World War. In The Good Years, Walter Lord remedies this neglect, bringing to vivid life the events of 1900 to 1914, when industrialization made staggering advances, and the Wright brothers captured the world’s imagination. Lord writes of Newport and Fifth Avenue, where the rich lived gaily and without much worry beyond the occasional economic panic. He also delves into the sweatshops of the second industrial revolution, where impoverished laborers and children suffered under unimaginable conditions. From the assassination of President McKinley to the hot and lazy “last summer” before the outbreak of war, Lord writes with insight and humor about the uniquely American energy and enthusiasm of those years before the Great War would forever change the world. From the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of Incredible Victory and Day of Infamy, this is an “informative and entertaining” journey through an often-overlooked period of history at the beginning of the twentieth century (The New York Times).
371 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1960
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About the author
Walter Lord
63 books204 followersWalter Lord was an American author, best known for his documentary-style non-fiction account, A Night to Remember, about the sinking of the RMS Titanic.
In 2009, Jenny Lawrence edited and published The Way It Was: Walter Lord on His Life and Books.
In 2009, Jenny Lawrence edited and published The Way It Was: Walter Lord on His Life and Books.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
January 25, 2022
I enjoyed this book, which surprised me because I had read another book by this author, The Miracle of Dunkirk, that I didn’t think was very good. He writes a narrative history by using original sources such as letters and diaries to tell the history though the voices of the participants and observers. (The book was published in 1960 so he was also able to interview several individuals connected with these events.)
Each chapter is devoted to some historical event or period during the years from 1900 to 1914. The chapters were interesting and informative. I have a casual understanding of these histories, but here the book helped place them in context.
In this book you can read chapters about:
There is a very interesting chapter about the battle between James J. Hill and Edward H. Harriman for control of the railroads in the northern states. The fight for control of the railroads linking the northern states and the West Coast is liken to a good old fashioned gunfight. It’s a battle between Hill and Harriman, and their proxies, for control of a railroad linking Chicago to their railroads, the Union Pacific and the Great Northern. Once they reached an agreement to form a trust, Roosevelt decided, to the dismay of J. P. Morgan and his fellow business barons, to file an anti-trust case under the Sherman Antitrust Act. Here is Roosevelt using his “Big Stick”, and the government takes on a new, more activist role. As a newspaper editor noted: “Wall Street is paralyzed at the thought that a President of the United States would sink so low as to try to enforce the law.”
My favorite chapter was on Woodrow Wilson’s rise to the democratic presidential nomination. Political conventions used to have a lot of drama and this one may have been the granddaddy of them all. After days of negotiations, intrigue and 45 ballots Wilson won the nomination. These were the days when a candidate was chosen by the political bosses. The nasty Republican convention is mentioned where Roosevelt left the party to run as a third party candidate, probably ensuring the Democrats victory.
The book is titled “The Good Years”, and although the author notes that “all too many people still labored in darkly dangerous mines, dreary mills and even filthier sweatshops — and every year thousands of new immigrants were dumped into the city slums” America had confidence that this could be changed. Reform movements were moving ahead and gaining strength. Many things had already been accomplished.
However, the last chapter describes the onset of World War I. The war came as a shock to most people and put a halt to many of the reform movements.
This book and the last chapter make a nice transition for me into my next history books. My history reading now moves into the World War and America’s involvement and its consequences.
Each chapter is devoted to some historical event or period during the years from 1900 to 1914. The chapters were interesting and informative. I have a casual understanding of these histories, but here the book helped place them in context.
In this book you can read chapters about:
-the Boxer Rebellion, which initiated America’s rise to a world power, and also encouraged imperialism, although Americans saw it more as assimilation, an attitude that we were helping the less fortunate of the world.
-the San Francisco earthquake, which because of the way that the people of San Francisco worked together to stop the fires and rebuild the city gave evidence of the indestructibility of the American spirit.
-Robert Peary’s trip to the north pole adding to America’s pride.
-the Wright brothers successful flight of the first airplane, which did not generate that much interest until the military thought it might be useful.
-the assassination of President McKinley which resulted in Teddy Roosevelt becoming President. It was a President Roosevelt that probably set the tone for the years covered in this book.
-a description of the Gilded Age where due to the economic circumstances at the time — no taxes, no depressions, and low living costs — meant the problem for the wealthy was not making money, but spending it. Leading to obscene displays of conspicuous consumption.
-there is a rather weak chapter on the women’s suffrage movement. Many names are mentioned but little of the political work that established the groundwork for the eventual passage of the 19th Amendment.
There is a very interesting chapter about the battle between James J. Hill and Edward H. Harriman for control of the railroads in the northern states. The fight for control of the railroads linking the northern states and the West Coast is liken to a good old fashioned gunfight. It’s a battle between Hill and Harriman, and their proxies, for control of a railroad linking Chicago to their railroads, the Union Pacific and the Great Northern. Once they reached an agreement to form a trust, Roosevelt decided, to the dismay of J. P. Morgan and his fellow business barons, to file an anti-trust case under the Sherman Antitrust Act. Here is Roosevelt using his “Big Stick”, and the government takes on a new, more activist role. As a newspaper editor noted: “Wall Street is paralyzed at the thought that a President of the United States would sink so low as to try to enforce the law.”
My favorite chapter was on Woodrow Wilson’s rise to the democratic presidential nomination. Political conventions used to have a lot of drama and this one may have been the granddaddy of them all. After days of negotiations, intrigue and 45 ballots Wilson won the nomination. These were the days when a candidate was chosen by the political bosses. The nasty Republican convention is mentioned where Roosevelt left the party to run as a third party candidate, probably ensuring the Democrats victory.
The book is titled “The Good Years”, and although the author notes that “all too many people still labored in darkly dangerous mines, dreary mills and even filthier sweatshops — and every year thousands of new immigrants were dumped into the city slums” America had confidence that this could be changed. Reform movements were moving ahead and gaining strength. Many things had already been accomplished.
However, the last chapter describes the onset of World War I. The war came as a shock to most people and put a halt to many of the reform movements.
This book and the last chapter make a nice transition for me into my next history books. My history reading now moves into the World War and America’s involvement and its consequences.
October 15, 2018
Non-fiction series of vignettes, each representing a significant event in the early years of the 20th century. Walter Lord’s vivid narrative explores what life was like in America in a simpler time when people were confident that any challenge could be resolved. The author examines how these events influenced society as a whole by focusing on its parts, including the Boxer Rebellion, McKinley’s assassination, Theodore Roosevelt’s enforcement of anti-trust, the Wright Brothers’ flying machine, elaborate parties of New York socialites, the San Francisco fire and earthquake, the rise of labor laws, the momentum toward women’s suffrage, the 1907 financial panic and J. Pierpont Morgan’s role of rescuer, Henry Ford’s Model T, Robert Peary’s dash to the North Pole and the controversy over Frederick Cook’s claim of precedence, the 1912 convention that nominated Woodrow Wilson, and the last peaceful summer before World War I.
As in many collections of stories, some will be more to a specific reader’s interest than others, but all are thoroughly researched and distinctively written. Published in 1960, the author interviewed many of the actual participants. These certainly are not all “good years.” Imagine a time before air conditioning, when most people wore heavy woolen clothing, no internet, no movies, no television, even radio was still several years away. I think Lord’s point is that these years were less complicated, when people were optimistic that problems could be easily solved. Unfortunately, World War I shattered the illusions of security and easy answers.
I have always admired Lord’s writing style and his ability to bring history to life, and this book is no exception. Recommended to history buffs or anyone interested in learning more about the major events of the early years of the 20th century in the United States.
As in many collections of stories, some will be more to a specific reader’s interest than others, but all are thoroughly researched and distinctively written. Published in 1960, the author interviewed many of the actual participants. These certainly are not all “good years.” Imagine a time before air conditioning, when most people wore heavy woolen clothing, no internet, no movies, no television, even radio was still several years away. I think Lord’s point is that these years were less complicated, when people were optimistic that problems could be easily solved. Unfortunately, World War I shattered the illusions of security and easy answers.
I have always admired Lord’s writing style and his ability to bring history to life, and this book is no exception. Recommended to history buffs or anyone interested in learning more about the major events of the early years of the 20th century in the United States.
July 31, 2018
Another very good non-fiction book by Walter Lord. This time he tackles the early 20th century, a time that many referred to as the good times. Lord takes us chapter by chapter through events from 1900-1914. Throughout all these good times there were certainly a lot of bad times mixed in. He also has a fascinating way of analyzing a topic through preliminary events. For instance instead of the election of Woodrow Wilson, we spend the chapter dealing with the Democratic convention and all its political shenanigans. By the end Wilson secures the nomination in the 45th ballot and only after he had previously agreed to concede the nomination to Speaker of the House, Champ Clark, only to back out of that position a few hours later. We also get a wonderful chapter of the summer of 1914 when the main issue that was reported in the US papers was the end of the Mexican revolution, with little attention paid to the the assassination of Arch Duke Ferdinand. We have a chapter on the race to the North Pole, the San Francisco earthquake, the women's suffragette movement, as well as those whom he calls the Cosmopolites who were the elegant socialites who flitted from here to there and most of whom ended up as passengers on the Titanic!
A wonderful book reviewing the history of the early 20th century, written in such a style that makes it an easy and enjoyable read and a book you can put down, if need be, to do other reading since each chapter is a new event in The Good Years!
A wonderful book reviewing the history of the early 20th century, written in such a style that makes it an easy and enjoyable read and a book you can put down, if need be, to do other reading since each chapter is a new event in The Good Years!
November 20, 2018
Walter Lord is sort of the Normal Rockwell of the literary world; that is, while he writes very engaging prose that "regular folks" can really get into, appreciate, and learn from, he has often been pooh-poohed by the professional class of historians (perhaps precisely for those reasons) just as Rockwell was largely dismissed in his day by "true artists."
Lord was actually a prodigious researcher, and it shows as his accounts always have a "you are there" feeling to them, with fascinating anecdotes about real people (the non-famous as well as more well-known) behaving in ways both familiar, humorous, and sometimes amazing.
An example from this book, The Good Years, would be his account of the horrendous 1906 San Francisco earthquake and subsequent devastating fire, one of the chapters covering significant events in the years from 1900 to the outbreak of the First World War. Since the earthquake had devastated infrastructure, including water pipes, when the subsequent fire first started fire fighters found to their horror that the fire hydrants were dry. One of the consistent threads of his tale thus becomes one persistent troupe of firefighters as they, in growing weariness, trundle their hose and pumping gear (this was before there were motorized firetrucks) hither and yon, searching for a viable fire hydrant.
There are also numerous brief glimpses of a wonderful variety of human beings: stranded opera singers being forced to move from one once-thought safe hotel to another as the flames steadily crept ever closer; a merchant frantically piling a wagon high with material from his threatened store, only to lose it all because he could not find a horse to pull it; an anonymous figure high in a church steeple successfully batting down flying embers before the church could be set aflame; working folk laboring frantically to carry precious works of art out of the houses of the rich on Nob Hill, saving them for future generations; and a wealthy man woefully showing a friend his own treasures, including his wife's treasured china collection and an antique piano, only moments before his house was set aflame and all was consumed.
His other chapters are all like this: glimpses of the Wright brothers, president McKinley as a person and then in the course of his assassination and slow death, and blustering Teddy Roosevelt.
This IS history, but it is also one heck of a tale told well.
Lord conveys a real sense of a lost America as it was, with all of its naïveté, bustling confidence, brutal life for many workers and immigrants, constant inventiveness, and an optimism regarding the future that -- after a subsequent century of two world wars and a disturbing return to the false promise of nationalist populists -- is hard to recapture in our own day.
I think even professional historians would really enjoy getting into Lord's books, because his masterful way of telling stories really gets into the reader's head.
Lord was actually a prodigious researcher, and it shows as his accounts always have a "you are there" feeling to them, with fascinating anecdotes about real people (the non-famous as well as more well-known) behaving in ways both familiar, humorous, and sometimes amazing.
An example from this book, The Good Years, would be his account of the horrendous 1906 San Francisco earthquake and subsequent devastating fire, one of the chapters covering significant events in the years from 1900 to the outbreak of the First World War. Since the earthquake had devastated infrastructure, including water pipes, when the subsequent fire first started fire fighters found to their horror that the fire hydrants were dry. One of the consistent threads of his tale thus becomes one persistent troupe of firefighters as they, in growing weariness, trundle their hose and pumping gear (this was before there were motorized firetrucks) hither and yon, searching for a viable fire hydrant.
There are also numerous brief glimpses of a wonderful variety of human beings: stranded opera singers being forced to move from one once-thought safe hotel to another as the flames steadily crept ever closer; a merchant frantically piling a wagon high with material from his threatened store, only to lose it all because he could not find a horse to pull it; an anonymous figure high in a church steeple successfully batting down flying embers before the church could be set aflame; working folk laboring frantically to carry precious works of art out of the houses of the rich on Nob Hill, saving them for future generations; and a wealthy man woefully showing a friend his own treasures, including his wife's treasured china collection and an antique piano, only moments before his house was set aflame and all was consumed.
His other chapters are all like this: glimpses of the Wright brothers, president McKinley as a person and then in the course of his assassination and slow death, and blustering Teddy Roosevelt.
This IS history, but it is also one heck of a tale told well.
Lord conveys a real sense of a lost America as it was, with all of its naïveté, bustling confidence, brutal life for many workers and immigrants, constant inventiveness, and an optimism regarding the future that -- after a subsequent century of two world wars and a disturbing return to the false promise of nationalist populists -- is hard to recapture in our own day.
I think even professional historians would really enjoy getting into Lord's books, because his masterful way of telling stories really gets into the reader's head.
January 22, 2017
An absolute amazing read about a time period so often forgotten and glossed over in our history books. What a shame it is to skim through these years, for so much happened...so much changed...so much was created!
Beginning with the celebrations of the new century and culminating at the brink of World War I, Walter Lord takes the reader on a journey through time -- learning about how these first 14 years of the century helped to shape the rest. From the bumbling actions and decision of our quest to bring American culture to China to the world coming together to fight the war that would end all wars, there are countless stories and lessons that are shared.
Topics include: the McKinley assassination, the Wright brothers' first flight, Teddy Roosevelt's battle against big business and trusts, the Wall Street crisis and near depression of 1907, the rise of a new cosmopolitan population, the beginnings of the powerful women's movement, the election of Woodrow Wilson, child labor laws, & much more!
These are the stories that should be history books! These are the stories that we can learn from. These are the stories that are worth studying and reading!
Beginning with the celebrations of the new century and culminating at the brink of World War I, Walter Lord takes the reader on a journey through time -- learning about how these first 14 years of the century helped to shape the rest. From the bumbling actions and decision of our quest to bring American culture to China to the world coming together to fight the war that would end all wars, there are countless stories and lessons that are shared.
Topics include: the McKinley assassination, the Wright brothers' first flight, Teddy Roosevelt's battle against big business and trusts, the Wall Street crisis and near depression of 1907, the rise of a new cosmopolitan population, the beginnings of the powerful women's movement, the election of Woodrow Wilson, child labor laws, & much more!
These are the stories that should be history books! These are the stories that we can learn from. These are the stories that are worth studying and reading!
July 27, 2020
Walter Lord was a prolific nonfiction writer of the 20th century and all of his books that I have read have been extremely enjoyable. In The Good Years he selects stories such as the Boxers Rebellion, Women's Suffrage, the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire, the Wright Brothers and others. This is not a comprehensive look at the years of the twentieth century before World War I but a nice survey of topics of American History.
I felt at times the title of the book was ironic because most of the events were tragic and for the people involved not good. We get a story of William McKinley's death and how it did not need to happen plus the other tragedies mentioned above. Lord does a great job of making the reader feel that they are at the event especially well done is the race for the North Pole and Woodrow Wilson's nomination.
One personality that dominates the era is Theodore Roosevelt and is mentioned in many of the chapters. Not comprehensive but very enjoyable. Highly recommended.
I felt at times the title of the book was ironic because most of the events were tragic and for the people involved not good. We get a story of William McKinley's death and how it did not need to happen plus the other tragedies mentioned above. Lord does a great job of making the reader feel that they are at the event especially well done is the race for the North Pole and Woodrow Wilson's nomination.
One personality that dominates the era is Theodore Roosevelt and is mentioned in many of the chapters. Not comprehensive but very enjoyable. Highly recommended.
February 20, 2010
O.K., I realize I show 5-7 books as current reading, but let's be honest with ourselves: Everyone has a read-aloud book, a book of poetry, an office book, and family room book, a bathroom book and a bedtime book or two going simultaneously. Right? Anyhoo, this is our lunch reading book, but only when we are in town and not rushed. So it may take us the first 14 years of the 21st century to read about the the first 14 years of the 20th century. Interesting, and we find out all sorts of things we never knew (or forgot).
June 8, 2023
Good but not great. Not what I thought it would be either. I expected a broad, sweeping narrative on the world before WWI, this was just about the United States, which wasn’t bad, just not what I thought it would be. I find the period before WWI, the Belle Epoque, very interesting and a great mental exercise is to think about what the world would have been like without the war.
It was a period of optimism, colonialism, insane wealth, and one where people felt that something like a global conflict with millions and millions dead could never happen. But then of course it did. We know what these people didn’t know, and that’s both haunting and interesting.
I found the parts about the Boxer Rebellion and Theodore Roosevelt and McKinley’s assassination most interesting. Some parts were just nearly unreadable though. This is an older book, but Lord’s other books hold up much better. The last few pages did provide a succinct narrative on the last summer before WWI, and it’s one of the best I’ve ever read. Summer 1914 was truly a hot, sleepy summer and in no way could one have imaged that two world wars, the Spanish flu, the Great Depression, Nazism, and Bolshevism were just around the corner.
It was a period of optimism, colonialism, insane wealth, and one where people felt that something like a global conflict with millions and millions dead could never happen. But then of course it did. We know what these people didn’t know, and that’s both haunting and interesting.
I found the parts about the Boxer Rebellion and Theodore Roosevelt and McKinley’s assassination most interesting. Some parts were just nearly unreadable though. This is an older book, but Lord’s other books hold up much better. The last few pages did provide a succinct narrative on the last summer before WWI, and it’s one of the best I’ve ever read. Summer 1914 was truly a hot, sleepy summer and in no way could one have imaged that two world wars, the Spanish flu, the Great Depression, Nazism, and Bolshevism were just around the corner.
October 11, 2018
A somewhat nostalgic look back on the early years of the 20th century prior to World War I, covering the prominent political, social and economic developments of the period. A great work of popular history.
June 24, 2018
This book was slightly different in format than I expected—rather than dealing with everyday American life at the turn of the century (e.g. manners, customs, occupations, small town life and city life, etc.), each chapter is devoted to a particular notable event taking place in one of the fourteen years covered. The siege of Peking, McKinley's assassination, Peary's polar expedition, a panic on Wall Street, the San Francisco earthquake, and so forth. Plenty of these chapters are quite interesting and engagingly written, especially if you're not too familiar with the event already. So it's rather a nice primer for fleshing out certain events of the period that may just be a name and date to most readers. What soured it a little for me, though, is that Lord frequently seems to write with a rather lofty, condescending attitude when describing the customs and convictions of the past. I'm not saying a historian shouldn't have opinions, but covert sarcasm doesn't seem like the best way to deliver them. And he seems to reserve a particular sneer for anyone who professes—genuinely or not—to be religious (William McKinley being the notable exception).
One other specific quibble is that the chapter on the San Francisco earthquake, after a vivid description of the earthquake and fire itself, ends fairly abruptly after just a few paragraphs stating that rebuilding began immediately and summarizing some of the resources devoted to it. Given that the name of the chapter is "The Town That Would Not Die," I'd expected to hear more about the rebuilding. Of course this is only a one-chapter treatment of the event, so one can't expect as full a coverage as a full book would have provided, but I'd have liked to see a little more even balance between event and aftermath.
One other specific quibble is that the chapter on the San Francisco earthquake, after a vivid description of the earthquake and fire itself, ends fairly abruptly after just a few paragraphs stating that rebuilding began immediately and summarizing some of the resources devoted to it. Given that the name of the chapter is "The Town That Would Not Die," I'd expected to hear more about the rebuilding. Of course this is only a one-chapter treatment of the event, so one can't expect as full a coverage as a full book would have provided, but I'd have liked to see a little more even balance between event and aftermath.
September 3, 2023
Good year by year study
Walter Lord's history of the United States during the years 1900 to 1914, is an interesting review of an age of America's innocence. Progress was being made towards a progressive utopia that with time, reason and good will fix all our problems as well as provide a model for the world. I wish the book had covered race relations. No mention is made of horrific lynchings taking place as reported by Ida B Wells and others. Still this was an interesting and informative book.
Walter Lord's history of the United States during the years 1900 to 1914, is an interesting review of an age of America's innocence. Progress was being made towards a progressive utopia that with time, reason and good will fix all our problems as well as provide a model for the world. I wish the book had covered race relations. No mention is made of horrific lynchings taking place as reported by Ida B Wells and others. Still this was an interesting and informative book.
February 26, 2020
Found this one on a bookshelf in my own house. Had never heard of it or the author before. Mine looks like a first edition from 1960 but I can see why it keeps getting reprinted. A fascinating and balanced explanation concerning the key events of the first 15 years of the 20th century. Having never made it past Reconstruction in high school or college, my knowledge of American history past 1870 has always been minimal. This book fills in the gaps with broad strokes and minute detail!
March 16, 2020
This book was okay, but way below the standard Walter Lord set with his books on Pearl Harbor, Midway and the Alamo. Each chapter is self-contained on a particular aspect of social history during the years before World War I. There were some interesting things in each chapter, but it was VERY superficial, barely skimming the surface. I wanted to quit while reading the chapter on the nominating convention which placed Woodrow Wilson on the Democrat ticket. Walter Lord is an outstanding author, but if this were the first Lord book I had read, I would not pick up another.
December 26, 2020
The cover image of my paperback from 1962 is not shown. I pulled this one off the shelves in search of some non-fiction(for a change). Walter Lord is a good writer - I read A Night to Remember(about the Titanic) many years ago and still remember the vivid reading experience. This book begins with another disaster right after the turn of the 20th century; the Boxer Rebellion. The movie 55 Days at Peking was a blockbuster from back in the day that covered the same event, cinema-wise. Like I said, Mr. Lord is a good, straightforward writer who makes those long ago events come alive in a succinct and compelling fashion.
As time marches on through the post-1900, pre-WWI history of the USA the author maintains the format of taking on various specific events at a year-by-year pace. Some of this stuff is somewhat familiar to me and some not. Last night I read about labor troubles out west in mining territory, and a big trial in Idaho. Organized Labor has waged a long and righteous war against the captains of industry and rapacious, exploitative, destructive capitalism while getting little help from the prevailing American mythology of big man individualism - i.e. that Ayn Rand crap. It is still a struggle today to get people the see and think clearly about this stuff.
As time marches on through the post-1900, pre-WWI history of the USA the author maintains the format of taking on various specific events at a year-by-year pace. Some of this stuff is somewhat familiar to me and some not. Last night I read about labor troubles out west in mining territory, and a big trial in Idaho. Organized Labor has waged a long and righteous war against the captains of industry and rapacious, exploitative, destructive capitalism while getting little help from the prevailing American mythology of big man individualism - i.e. that Ayn Rand crap. It is still a struggle today to get people the see and think clearly about this stuff.
February 23, 2020
If you can find a copy, read Walter Lord's "The Good Years: From 1900 to the First World War." It is an almost mystical anti-mirror of our own times, " The Bad Years. "
In those 14 years, America routed the plutocratic tyranny of the Golden Age of the robber barons. Reformers took control of government, from city halls to state houses, up to Teddy Roosevelt's White House, and sent money-corrupted politicians to jail. Today the plutocrats and Republicans label reformers radicals and socialists and communists.
San Franciscans, earthshaken, half the city burned, a quarter million homeless overnight, fought fires street by street, then pulled themselves up from the ashes. An awestruck William James labeled them "natural ordermakers." Today Trump calls that sparkling city a slum and threatens to take it over. Neither God nor San Franciscans will not help him should he try.
Today is so grim, it is easy to forget how this country can rise to the most ferocious challenges, cleanse itself, right itself, improve itself.
There will be Good Years again.
If We, The People make it so.
In those 14 years, America routed the plutocratic tyranny of the Golden Age of the robber barons. Reformers took control of government, from city halls to state houses, up to Teddy Roosevelt's White House, and sent money-corrupted politicians to jail. Today the plutocrats and Republicans label reformers radicals and socialists and communists.
San Franciscans, earthshaken, half the city burned, a quarter million homeless overnight, fought fires street by street, then pulled themselves up from the ashes. An awestruck William James labeled them "natural ordermakers." Today Trump calls that sparkling city a slum and threatens to take it over. Neither God nor San Franciscans will not help him should he try.
Today is so grim, it is easy to forget how this country can rise to the most ferocious challenges, cleanse itself, right itself, improve itself.
There will be Good Years again.
If We, The People make it so.
May 28, 2020
Walter Lord is such a good writer of history that he makes it look effortless. The Good Years, covering American history in the years between the turn of the 20th Century and the outbreak of World War I, is actually an episodic collection of essays--each chapter covers a different topic, from the siege of foreign embassies during the Chinese "Boxer" Rebellion to President McKinley's assassination to the San Francisco Earthquake (and subsequent three-day fire) to the Wright Brothers' first flight to Peary's reaching the North Pole, to the rise of Woodrow Wilson (the chapter on Wilson's election surprised me--I never thought I would find such an in-depth account of an old-style national political nominating convention interesting, much less riveting). But Lord segues from chapter to chapter so seamlessly that the reader comes away with the impression that the book is one big tapestry rather than a patchwork quilt. I think the secret to the quality of Lord's writing is in large part the vast amount of sources used to construct his history--I am a little bit awed when I read his list of sources at the end of the narrative.
I have read other works by Walter Lord--A Night to Remember, about the sinking of the Titanic, and Incredible Victory, the story of the Battle of Midway, and Day of Infamy the story of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor--and they all share the same wealth of detail that makes them all so compelling.
I have read other works by Walter Lord--A Night to Remember, about the sinking of the Titanic, and Incredible Victory, the story of the Battle of Midway, and Day of Infamy the story of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor--and they all share the same wealth of detail that makes them all so compelling.
October 4, 2021
We all learned about these historical events, often in a sentence or two.:McKinley’s rise to presidency and his assassination; fights over child labor; the struggles to create unions and earn voting rights for women, foreign affairs, Wall Street antic, the”dash to the pole,” the Wright brothers, the impact of Theodore Roosevelt, the San Francisco fire, and more.
The author has presented a well-detailed collection of stories that come alive. Each and every story could be made into a miniseries. Not only are characters fleshed out but the chapters/stories have suspense, and represent important insights into a changing or a challenged world and the American belief that the US would rise as a leader of the world.
While many of the main characters may be familiar as persons who influenced the direction of the nation, the author does not neglect the poor, the marginalized, the manipulated. One can see some of the same social and economic issues arising today, which adds to the book’s intrigue.
The author has presented a well-detailed collection of stories that come alive. Each and every story could be made into a miniseries. Not only are characters fleshed out but the chapters/stories have suspense, and represent important insights into a changing or a challenged world and the American belief that the US would rise as a leader of the world.
While many of the main characters may be familiar as persons who influenced the direction of the nation, the author does not neglect the poor, the marginalized, the manipulated. One can see some of the same social and economic issues arising today, which adds to the book’s intrigue.
September 26, 2021
Written and published in 1960, this book focuses on one big story from each of the first 15 years of the last Century. Lord is at heart a story-teller, not a historian, and thus his analysis of events is painfully thin. But man, I was fascinated by the tales of the Boxer Rebellion told entirely from the point of view of Americans in Peking, of McKinley's assassination, of the trial of Big Bill Haywood, of the Panic of 1907 from the point of view of J.P. Morgan, of Admiral Peary's trip to the North Pole, of the Democratic Convention of 1912, and more. His chapter on high society ends with a surprise twist that I really should have seen coming considering he also wrote A Night to Remember. His research into events was thorough for his time, and this made for a truly interesting and engrossing read.
September 12, 2019
Great book but somewhat limited.
But in a very good way. This was written only a few decades after the events that it covers. As result what you get is lot of first hand sources and fairly light analysis. Too much had not yet been researched. But what emerges is what contemporaries thought about these events. Even down to most American papers not realizing what was happening in Europe in the summer of 1914.
This is a real slice of Americana that gives you feel for those days, if not every fact now known.
But in a very good way. This was written only a few decades after the events that it covers. As result what you get is lot of first hand sources and fairly light analysis. Too much had not yet been researched. But what emerges is what contemporaries thought about these events. Even down to most American papers not realizing what was happening in Europe in the summer of 1914.
This is a real slice of Americana that gives you feel for those days, if not every fact now known.
December 21, 2019
The book was published about 60 years after the turn of the last century, so the reader is only a couple of generations removed from the events from 1900 up to the first World War. If there is one take-away from this book, it is the fact that although politics may appear hectic and acrimonious in the country/world today it was the same back then. This was a good read, however there were chapters that were somewhat a tad tedious, but overall great information on what the nation was like during the first decades of the previous century.
March 2, 2025
The Innocent Times before 1914
A look at the innocence of the years beforehand WW One! Before Radio, Movies, Ait planes, automobiles, electricity, and air conditioning! Newspapers and magazines were the main means of mass communications! The telegraph and undersea cables did speed up communications around the world, but still limited for most people! The majority of people did not travel much beyond 20 miles from home! Different world altogether! This book portraits that time very well!
A look at the innocence of the years beforehand WW One! Before Radio, Movies, Ait planes, automobiles, electricity, and air conditioning! Newspapers and magazines were the main means of mass communications! The telegraph and undersea cables did speed up communications around the world, but still limited for most people! The majority of people did not travel much beyond 20 miles from home! Different world altogether! This book portraits that time very well!
October 28, 2018
Awesome!
I thought I only liked reading about ww2 and the 1920s but I am now really interested in the 1900s. I was curious as to how society celebrated the turn of the century. He is such a great writer even the topics I would never be interested in were ok. I wish he could have written more books like this for the following years. It makes me think which event from the years Ive been alive would I write about.
I thought I only liked reading about ww2 and the 1920s but I am now really interested in the 1900s. I was curious as to how society celebrated the turn of the century. He is such a great writer even the topics I would never be interested in were ok. I wish he could have written more books like this for the following years. It makes me think which event from the years Ive been alive would I write about.
April 18, 2019
Enlightening
I purchased this book thinking it was another take on early flight. Instead it was a highlight of major events in the first decade plus of the century. Before reading this book, the Boxer Rebellion was just a term I did not understand. The Great While Fleet was unknown, and the seeds of suffrage missing from my knowledge. Walter Lord did a fine job of making history interesting.
I purchased this book thinking it was another take on early flight. Instead it was a highlight of major events in the first decade plus of the century. Before reading this book, the Boxer Rebellion was just a term I did not understand. The Great While Fleet was unknown, and the seeds of suffrage missing from my knowledge. Walter Lord did a fine job of making history interesting.
March 2, 2021
Different. A good read on the social issues from 1900 to 1914
This is not a classic history of the times, but a look at some of the peripheral issues not tied to a hard and fast timeline. A really good read about the Boxer Rebellion, first flight, TR, an American awakening, child labor, women's suffrage and other issues from 1900 to 1914. A little different than your classic periodic history book with interesting and not well known subjects
This is not a classic history of the times, but a look at some of the peripheral issues not tied to a hard and fast timeline. A really good read about the Boxer Rebellion, first flight, TR, an American awakening, child labor, women's suffrage and other issues from 1900 to 1914. A little different than your classic periodic history book with interesting and not well known subjects
June 1, 2022
A dozen or so chapters organized roughly by the years 1900 to 1914 dealing usually with a central topic such as the Wright Brothers' first flight, the San Francisco earthquake etc. Written in 1960 (can that really be nearly 60 years ago?) still, despite it's folksy style, very readable even to my modern inner ear. One of those books that was an unexpectedly pleasant 'find" and I looked forward to spending a half hour with every evening.
September 2, 2020
I only read the "1907:Panic" chapter about J. P. Morgan single-handedly brokering an end to the Panic of 1907, which led to the eventual creation of the Federal Reserve. Really interesting what the financial world looked like with very little regulation. And how extaordinarily large outcomes sometimes hinge on a very few small but critical decisions.
September 25, 2020
This was really good. I knew nothing about how good the years from 1900-1014 were. But they were amazing. A time of invention, a time of morality, a time of excess, a time of runaway capitalism, a time of government change and leadership. Well worth the time. I've been recommending this book.
Why do times of plenty always lead to emptiness and pain?
Why do times of plenty always lead to emptiness and pain?
December 10, 2025
This is among the most fascinating of history books, written from the standpoint of those who actually lived the first ten years of the 18th century. I could hardly put the book down as each chapter represents a year within the ten year time span. Each encapsulates the leading story in history from particular year.
December 31, 2017
Quite interesting. So much more than the few paragraphs we read in history textbooks. Especially enjoyed the chapter on William McKinley, such a fine man.
January 30, 2018
Good read!
A really enjoyable read, giving one the flavor of the first 15 years of the twentieth century, with a little something for everyone, sports, tech, politics, society, etc.
A really enjoyable read, giving one the flavor of the first 15 years of the twentieth century, with a little something for everyone, sports, tech, politics, society, etc.
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