Books reviews, current events, and other musings

Here are three of the better books that I've read over the last few months, all concerning different aspects of 20th century American history.

Frederick Lewis Allen's Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920's is a breezy overview of that decade written in 1931. Some chapters cover conventional political history: Wilson dealing with the aftermath of the Great War, the Harding scandals, and the business-friendly Coolidge Presidency. He also outlines the major business developments, culminating in the Bull Market of 1928 and the Crash of 1929. The most entertaining portion of the book describes the culture of the era: the Red Scare, Prohibition and the gangsters, the rise of radio, fads such as Mah Jong and crossword puzzles, the flappers, and the Florida real estate frenzy. Though a more recent book would provide better accuracy and perspective, Allen's account possesses the liveliness and immediacy that comes from describing events that you've recently experienced.

George Packer's Blood of the Liberals is an excellent political family memoir. Packer's maternal grandfather was a Congressman from Birmingham, Alabama from 1915 to 1937 who viewed himself as a Jeffersonian Democrat, started off Progressive, but had mixed feelings about the New Deal. Packer's father was a Jewish legal scholar who, as a Stanford administrator, dealt with student unrest in the late 1960's, which eventually led to a stroke and his suicide. Packer himself drifted between college, the Peace Corps, construction work, socialism, and journalism. With his family history as a backdrop, Packer explores the evolution of liberalism, and the tensions and changing circumstances that forced it to change. For example, Thomas Jefferson envisioned a nation of yeoman farmers with minimal government interference. However, subsequent developments, such as massive wealth and power inequities, required substantial changes in that vision, with the government playing a major role in addressing those inequities. Blood of the Liberals contains the best analysis I've read of American liberal thought.

In The Clinton Wars, journalist Sidney Blumenthal, one of Bill Clinton's senior advisors during his second term in office, describes the Clinton Presidency, focusing on administration scandals. Blumenthal, who greatly admires Clinton, provides a very thorough account. The relentless Republican attacks on Bill Clinton are infuriating, once you take in their cumulative intensity, viciousness, and lack of substance. Of course, Blumenthal isn't an unbiased observer, but hardly anyone can view Clinton from an impartial perspective. Almost half of the 800-page book describes the Lewinsky scandal and impeachment hearings in incredible detail. Blumenthal tries to highlight Clinton's accomplishments, but their meagerness weakens the characterization of Clinton as a great President. The book concludes with Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign and, in a chapter called The Stolen Succession, the 2000 Presidential race. The Clinton Wars is the book to read about Bill Clinton, at least for liberal politics junkies.


posted by Julian at 10:40PM