The Century by Peter Jennings, Todd Brewster Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Century
Book Review: Most excellent!
Summary: 5 Stars
I enjoyed reading the one page excerpts from people's lives. For example: Eva Krutein's experiences of a young woman with a small child surviving in a destroyed Germany is heart wrenching and enlightening. The pictures are inspiring. The history is a wonderful recap. I look forward to Mr. Jennings' TV show on this book.Book Review: My favorite Christmas present!
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is sooooo cool! I'm 17 years old and love the book! It is a must for anyone who loves American history.Book Review: NearPerfect CoffeeTable 20th Century History!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a very fine overview of much of the last century. US history is about 50% of the book, and there is not too much "US -centrism", as one might expect.Drawbacks include overdone pieces on entertainment personages like Elvis and Marilyn, not to mention a lot on US Consumer culture, especially since the 1950's. There are nice sections on "Levittowns", the A-Bombs, the McCarthy era,Chambers-Hiss, the Cuba Missle Crisis, Civil Rights into the present day.Even better is that WW2 coverage includes the war from the German and especially the Russian viewpoints, including an outstanding section on the siege of Leningrad, including a photo of a dead mother held by her (living)child. The Russian effort in WW2 is too often downplayed in US based histories. Also a fine section on the Chinese Revolution and Korean War. In fact,as an intro, this about as good as it gets, either for the student, or as a capsule for the amateur/armchair historian. Definitely a keeper,with great photos, and timeless as well!Book Review: Not Bad
Summary: 4 Stars
A fair job on content, a great job on photography. This isn't the definitive work on the century, but it has its strong points. I bet Paul Johnson liked the pictures.Book Review: Not Quite a Century
Summary: 3 Stars
The Century surely can spark discussion of what was covered and what was not, but it should be complimented for much of what it does include. The narrative is well-written, the photos are wonderful, and the individual anecdotes give real meaning to what it was like to experience these historical events. The effort to include the African-American experience was noteworthy. The volume also seemed to capture the overall tone for most decades; for example, the Fifties' coverage of suburbia and Little Rock. It was impossible to include everything, even when limiting scope to an American perspective. However, my list of omissions would include the Depression era for rural and agricultural America; Latin America and Hispanic immigration; South Africa; and women in our society. I also question the authors' judgment in calling Reagan's contribution "significant" and then totally ignoring President Clinton,the eight years of prosperity and the growth of global trade we have experienced during his leadership. Perhaps, the book should have been called "Not Quite a Century."