The Glory and the Dream, William Manchester
The Glory and the Dream, William Manchester
3 Rating(s)
List: $29.95 | Sale: $20.97
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The Glory and the Dream
A Narrative History of America, 1932–1972

Author: William Manchester

Narrator: Jeff Riggenbach

Unabridged: 57 hr 23 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/01/1994


Synopsis

This great time capsule of a book captures the abundant popular history of the United States from 1932 to 1972. It encompasses politics, military history, economics, the arts, science, fashion, fads, social change, sexual mores, communications, graffiti—everything and anything indigenous that can be captured in print.Masterfully compressing four crowded decades of our history, The Glory and the Dream relives the epic, significant, or just memorable events that befell the generation of Americans whose lives pivoted between the America before and the America after the Second World War. From the Great Depression through the second inauguration of Richard M. Nixon, Manchester breathes life into this great period of America’s growth.

About Jeff Riggenbach

Jeff Riggenbach (1947-2021) narrated numerous titles for Blackstone Audio and won an AudioFile Earphones Award. An author, contributing editor, and producer, he worked in radio in San Francisco for more than thirty years, earning a Golden Mike Award for journalistic excellence.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Painted Desert Dreamer on January 09, 2009

This two-volume book was one of my first non-fiction reads. I read everything written by William Manchester for the next six months. Up to that point, I had read only historical fiction. I had not had any formal education since the sixth grade, and because of books, such as this, I have been able to......more

Goodreads review by John on August 05, 2010

WHAT IT IS: A left-leaning "narrative history" of the United States from 1932-72. WHAT I LEARNED: I learned what I already knew from the Preacher in Ecclesiastes: "... there is nothing new under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 1:9). The "National Indignation Conventions" in Dallas in 1961 and 1963 sound a lot......more

Goodreads review by Chris on November 03, 2021

Time for some non-fiction and judging from the ratings this was a good choice. This is another found/rescued book - from where I don't know. I've read into it a bit - last night - and it's pretty damned good so far. The Depression, The New Deal, World War II, post-war prosperity and growth, Korea, C......more

Goodreads review by Erik on April 29, 2013

This is probably the best social history of the United States of America I have ever encountered. It begins with the radio listings for a typical evening in 1932, proceeds to the Bonus Marchers and through the Depression and the wars, hot and cold, until 1972, its time of composition. So impressed h......more

Goodreads review by Piker7977 on January 03, 2015

Wonderful. Just wonderful. Having been born in the 1980s it is nice to read a narrative history of the generations who came before me. This is an engrossing history beginning with the start of the Great Depression and ending with Watergate. The histories enclosed in the chapters include military, econ......more


Quotes

“Magnificent.”

New York Times

“Manchester has an uncanny ability to give his readers an almost tactile sense of the past and to make them feel, ‘So that’s how it was!’”

Christian Science Monitor