A Life in the Twentieth Century, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.
A Life in the Twentieth Century, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.
7 Rating(s)
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A Life in the Twentieth Century
Innocent Beginnings, 1917-1950

Author: Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.

Narrator: Nelson Runger

Unabridged: 27 hr 58 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 08/03/2012

Synopsis

Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, is one of the finest historians of our age. A former special assistant to President Kennedy, he received the National Humanities Medal in 1998. In this first volume of memoirs Schlesinger turns a keen eye on his own remarkable life--from his Midwestern upbringing, through his days at Harvard, to his involvement with World War II. The engrossing story of his life reads like a timeline of the twentieth century. With anecdotes featuring the major politicians, intellectuals, and entertainers of the era, it is easy to see why Dr. Henry Kissinger called this work "one of the definitive histories of the period." Schlesinger's shrewd observations and sharp wit have long helped Americans understand who they are and where they've come from. Now his own story comes to life with a lucid, often humorous narration by Nelson Runger.

About Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.

Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., (1917-2007) was the preeminent political historian of our time. For more than half a century, he was a cornerstone figure in the intellectual life of the nation and a fixture on the political scene. He won two Pulitzer prizes for The Age of Jackson (1946) and A Thousand Days (1966), and in 1988 received the National Humanities Medal. He published the first volume of his autobiography, A Life in the Twentieth Century, in 2000.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Bob

I expected a lot more from this book, especially since Schlesinger was a famous historian and worked in the Kennedy administration (he wrote celebrated biographies of John and Bobby Kennedy. This memoir only covered the first 33 years of his life, so maybe a book on his latter years would be better.......more

Goodreads review by Sydney

An autobiography peppered with historical references. Well written, but dry. I could not relate to Schlesinger's experiences which made it difficult to stay interested in the book. I still want to read his historical analyses, as I think he is probably a better historian than memoir writer.......more

Goodreads review by Dennis

As historians go, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr, was purported to be an excellent one, with two Pulitzers won before his death. However, this memoir has precious little historical value; he brushed briefly with a lot of figures in this part of his life but, as they say, he wasn’t in the room where history......more

Goodreads review by Brian

I was mostly disappointed with this book, which I found to be too self laudatory for my taste, and chock full of descriptions of 20th Century events which, somehow, the author just knew in advance would turn out the way they did. I liked his descriptions of his early education and his interests in b......more

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