Lexile = ???
Reading this book in January, 2017. Inauguration. Trump. One Summer made be feel better.
Bryson has selected the summer of 1927 as representative of the age... between the wars, before the depression, the era of everything done BIG! There is a big section on Charles Lindbergh and the race to be the first to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. Babe Ruth is here. Al Capone and Henry Ford make appearances. Mount Rushmore was started in 1927. It is truly amazing to see all the memorable moments that happened in this little slice of time. But here is why I feel better:
Herbert Hoover. He didn't become President until 1929, so we see here just the "run up" to his election and not his eventual failure as a President. He was the Trump of the early century! Had there been a Twitter then, he would have been all over that. Instead, he sent out quirky and self-aggrandizing press releases. Then, if any news organization criticized or questioned Hoover, he wrote long letters of rebuke and indignation. Sound familiar? He took credit for events that he had no part of. Although he claimed to be the champion of the common man, he privately complained about those he had aided in crisis and surrounded himself with only those of his wealthy class.
So I feel a little better about the newest administration in Washington because we survived 1927. America has elected charlatans and buffoons before. American citizens have turned out in droves to watch a person sit on pole for days. And we have survived.
One Summer allowed me to look back, laugh at what Americans found entertaining, cheer for the amazing accomplishments of the era, and wonder what people 90 years from now will find amusing about US!
Short video summary with related images can be found HERE!
No comments:
Post a Comment