Dreamland: America at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century

by Michael Lesy

Photographs document American daily life, development, agriculture, family life, and industry during the first decade of the twentieth century

Genres: History, Photography, Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1997

About the author

Michael Lesy’s books include Angel’s World and Long Time Coming. In 2006 he was named one of the first United States Artists Fellowship recipients, and in 2013 was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. A professor of literary journalism at Hampshire College; he lives in Massachusetts.

Reviews

[Kirsti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Astonishing photographs—some doctored, some not. My favorite one is the picture of the Cliff House in San Francisco, on the cover.

[Ramesh Abhiraman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Astounding black and white photographs chronicling America's past. From horse drawn railways against alpine Rockies, to battleships and shiny 10 inch guns, to native Americans to breathtaking national park vistas to urban architecture (early "sky"scrapers) of New york 1900 to 1910 to industrial smokestacks to playing children and African American life. There are also captains and colonels of a 19th century ilk in full ceremonial uniform and side whiskers, shipyards and boats about to be launched. A cross section of industry unique to a time and place.
A couple of shots of South Street Station Boston and Flatiron Building *without the nearby clutter that has since come up, are breath taking. The photos are all set against coal black border, type is white on black, perhaps to evoke an industrial age. The nature photographs are even more striking perhaps because of that.

[Eric Byrd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spooky and beautiful. Mystery wells deep in archives.

[Ariel · Rating 4 out of 5]

*** Random library find ***
On page 70 you can plainly see a beachside carnival area that has a very tall ride. It looks like a person with sitting thing that mirrors a boat and go up a tall shoot and spiral down.... Considering the year I'm assuming there's no seatbelts in the cart... It definitely was a different time.
This collection of postcards brought to life with the knowledge behind them with great!
Toward the end of the book there was a little less information then at the beginning but that's okay.
Your are some of my favorite things that I read. Not in order.

When Haley's comet returned a convinced hundreds of people that it was the end of the world. Some people refuse to go underground and work some people went underground to hide. Some people took comet pills to protect them my comments effects.
Mark Twain who said he'd come in with Haley's comment and would expect to go out with it died within a month of the comets passing.

Eastman Kodak sold his 1st brownie Box camera low cost ease of use and flexible film projection to the mass phenomenon of the snapshot

Booker T Washington was the 1st African American man to have dinner with the president in the White House after president Roosevelt invited him


President Roosevelt declared that Pelican island a national wildlife rushed in Florida. 1st of it's kind and I think it's really cool because that is 10 miles from my house. I wouldn't have known that without this book.

The song "You're a grand old flag" Was the 2nd most popular song in 1906

By 1910 less than half the US population over the age of 25 years old had finished grade school only 4% of the population attended college.

There was a bombing at the Los Angeles Times planted in revenge for The Times opposition to organize labor. Killing people.

In 1910 Dr. James Herrick made the 1st diagnosis of sickle cell anemia.

[Ophelia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book. Beautiful photographs. It's wild how much the world has changed. The author writes summaries of the events in the USA for each year from 1900 to 1910. Lots of historical facts about beginnings of major companies, events, and social changes.

Two facts that caught my interests- being a miner doing this time was extremely dangerous- lots of explosions and mine collapses. Also, the labor movement was very violent.

And this " in 1908 the Socialist Labor Party nominated Martin Preston (for president) even though Preston was in a Nevada penitentiary, convicted of murder." I guess time marches on, but humans remain the same.

The author has several other photography books that are on my list to purchase.

[Pearse Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first book from the Multnomah County Library! This is an oversize book of postcards, with a good introduction and a confusing essay after ~180 pages of timelines and photographs.
The photos are just magnificent. Absolutely stunning, no other way to put it.
However, the chapter titles and context for many photos (especially of marginalized groups) was insulting. A real drawback. From a graphic and historical standpoint, though, these images showeme something extraordinary. Landscapes, playtimes, architecture, etc..

[Sissy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great photos. Text was limited, little more than bulleted facts at the beginning of each year. It's incredible how much elaborate architecture was destroyed. It reminded me of Lost Chicago ( architecture of similar time period that was later demolished to erect modernist skyscrapers). I feel the loss of time so acutely through watching bygone buildings and Americans in button up shirts and slacks.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Primarily photos from 1900 to 1901. I wish they’d put the information about the photos on the same page so I didn’t have to flip back and forth. Some of the sections that had more photos seemed to be in very random order. Awful lot of tragedies with a lot of deaths.

[Kathy · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book needs a good editor. The chapter titles are insulting. White type on black background make the text nearly impossible to read.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author puts it more eloquently than I can, but dreamland is a collection of postcards of the United States at the dawn of last century, when the country seemed to pulse with opportunities and promise. The country was still young and, from this perspective, at the dawn of the latest century, the world itself was still young. It's interesting to look at the photos and see what's changed, what hasn't, and the links between here and there.

[Carmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Postcards and photos of America at the beginning of the 1900's. A fascinating look at landscapes, people, industry...The cover photo alone is mesmerizing.