Other editions of book American Century

"In a style at once trenchant and easygoing, Harold Evans leads us on a walk through the century now drawing to a close, taking us back over ground that far too many of us have let slip from our memories."--Shelby Foote, author of The Civil WarThe American Century is an epic work. With its spectacular illustrations and incisive and lucid writing, it is as exciting and inspiring as the hundred years it surveys. Harold Evans has dramatized a people's struggle to achieve the American Dream, but also offers a thoughtful and provocative analysis of the great movements and events in America's rise to a position of political and cultural dominance. There are 900 photographs, several hundred brought to light for the first time, and the richly researched narrative offers many surprises.In 1889, when the United States entered the second hundred years of its existence, it was by no means certain that a nation of such diverse peoples, manifold beliefs, and impossible ideals could survive its own exceptional experiment in democracy or manage to avoid a headlong slide into oblivion. Evans describes what happened to the democratic ideal amid the clash of personalities and the convulsions of great events. Here are assessments of the century's nineteen presidents, from Benjamin Harrison, who brought the Stars and Stripes into American life in 1889, to the movie star who waved it so vigorously a hundred years later. Here are the muckrakers who exposed the evils of rampant capitalism, and the women who fought to make a reality of the rhetoric of equality. Here are the robber barons--the Carnegies, the Rockefellers, and the Morgans -- carving out great empires of unparalleled wealth, turning their millions into foundations for public benefit. Here are Al Capone and J. Edgar Hoover, Martin Luther King Jr. and the Ku Klux Klan, Joe McCarthy and Dwight Eisenhower. Here is the American heartland at peace (but on the wagon), America in two world wars, and at war with itself in the sixties.Evans analyzes the central questions of the era. Among them: How did the tradition arise that government should not meddle in business? How did anti-colonial America become an imperial power? How much was democracy threatened by the influence of money? What was the nature of American isolationism? Why did Woodrow Wilson take the United States into World War I? What caused the Great Depression, and why did it last so long? Did Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal succeed or fail? Did the protests of the sixties go too far? Was Vietnam a noble cause? Has the Watergate scandal been blown up out of all proportion? Who deserves the credit for the end of the Cold War?Throughout, Harold Evans lets us see how America prospered because of the power of an idea: the idea of freedom. The nation did not simply become the largest economic and military power, send men to the moon and jeans and consumer capitalism to Red Square--it strengthened Western society through acts of courage, generosity, and vision unequaled in history.The British may claim the nineteenth century by force, and the Chinese may cast a long shadow over the twenty-first, but the twentieth century belongs to the United States. This is America's story as it has never been told before.With 900 photographs

"In a style at once trenchant and easygoing, Harold Evans leads us on a walk through the century now drawing to a close, taking us back over ground that far too many of us have let slip from our memories."--Shelby Foote, author of The Civil WarThe American Century is an epic work. With its spectacular illustrations and incisive and lucid writing, it is as exciting and inspiring as the hundred years it surveys. Harold Evans has dramatized a people's struggle to achieve the American Dream, but also offers a thoughtful and provocative analysis of the great movements and events in America's rise to a position of political and cultural dominance. There are 900 photographs, several hundred brought to light for the first time, and the richly researched narrative offers many surprises.In 1889, when the United States entered the second hundred years of its existence, it was by no means certain that a nation of such diverse peoples, manifold beliefs, and impossible ideals could survive its own exceptional experiment in democracy or manage to avoid a headlong slide into oblivion. Evans describes what happened to the democratic ideal amid the clash of personalities and the convulsions of great events. Here are assessments of the century's nineteen presidents, from Benjamin Harrison, who brought the Stars and Stripes into American life in 1889, to the movie star who waved it so vigorously a hundred years later. Here are the muckrakers who exposed the evils of rampant capitalism, and the women who fought to make a reality of the rhetoric of equality. Here are the robber barons--the Carnegies, the Rockefellers, and the Morgans -- carving out great empires of unparalleled wealth, turning their millions into foundations for public benefit. Here are Al Capone and J. Edgar Hoover, Martin Luther King Jr. and the Ku Klux Klan, Joe McCarthy and Dwight Eisenhower. Here is the American heartland at peace (but on the wagon), America in two world wars, and at war with itself in the sixties.Evans analyzes the central questions of the era. Among them: How did the tradition arise that government should not meddle in business? How did anti-colonial America become an imperial power? How much was democracy threatened by the influence of money? What was the nature of American isolationism? Why did Woodrow Wilson take the United States into World War I? What caused the Great Depression, and why did it last so long? Did Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal succeed or fail? Did the protests of the sixties go too far? Was Vietnam a noble cause? Has the Watergate scandal been blown up out of all proportion? Who deserves the credit for the end of the Cold War?Throughout, Harold Evans lets us see how America prospered because of the power of an idea: the idea of freedom. The nation did not simply become the largest economic and military power, send men to the moon and jeans and consumer capitalism to Red Square--it strengthened Western society through acts of courage, generosity, and vision unequaled in history.The British may claim the nineteenth century by force, and the Chinese may cast a long shadow over the twenty-first, but the twentieth century belongs to the United States. This is America's story as it has never been told before.With 900 photographs

"The American Century is an epic work. With its spectacular illustrations and incisive and lucid writing, it is as exciting and inspiring as the hundred years it surveys. Harold Evans has dramatized a people's struggle to achieve the American Dream, but also offers a thoughtful and provocative analysis of the great movements and events in America's rise to a position of political and cultural dominance. There are 900 photographs, several hundred brought to light for the first time, and the richly researched narrative offers many surprises." 710 pages.

The amazing adventure that is the American century begins -- and what an adventure it is! The Land Rush sweeps thousands of settlers into the Great Plains, devouring Indian land. Carnegie, Rockefeller, and the Vanderbilts build their empires. Henry Ford builds his Model Ts., W.e.b. Du Bois and Marcus Garvey fight for blacks, Susan Anthony and Margaret Sanger for women, and Samuel Gompers and Joe Hill for working stiffs. Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan do battle in the Scopes monkey trial, and the Treasury Department battles Al Capone.Beyond our borders, Panama falls under American sway. We go to war against Spain in Cuba and the Philippines. When the Maine explodes and sinks, she becomes our battle cry. And when our policy of isolation ends in 1917, millions of Yanks are drafted and sent "over there" to save the world for democracy. A parade of presidents passes before us: McKinley, Teddy Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson, Harding, Coolidge, Hoover -- men both great and flawed who will change the world forever.Harold Evans, picture researcher Gail Buckland, and historical researcher Kevin Baker worked diligently to ensure accuracy throughout this landmark work. This audio program intrigues and involves, vividly bringing to life the power and passion of the American century, a century like no other.

Celebrate 100 years that made history with the American Century complete, including volumes I-IVAs we embark upon this new millennium, we look back .at .the incredible last 100 years, 1889–1989, an amazing adventure that was uniquely and unforgettably all-American. Now, The American Century, Volumes I-IV, is available as a boxed audiotape set.Magnificently written by Harold Evans, these stunningly powerful audiobooks dynamically portray the events that altered the course of America and the world. From the opening of volume 1, and the westward drive of the settlers, through the coda of volume 4 with Vietnam and the Reagan years, The American Century sweepingly documents the greatest century in history. It was an adventure that included:• two World Wars and Allied victories in the name of freedom• the Great Depression and the rebirth of America• the Cold War and America’s rise to superpower status• the noble and intense struggle for civil rights• Vietnam, the specter of assassination, and the turbulent, mind-expanding ’60sThis wonderfully accessible four-part audio series vibrantly brings the achievements and strife of the past 100 years to life! Don’t miss this box set and relive all the power and passion of the past century!