Great history of the period following the Progressive era.

Not quite as good as America Enters The World, much more focus on authors, poets, etc... rather then regular people, but very interesting none-the-less.

I really enjoy this series by Page. I've ordered the first 2 volumes, about the revolution, and looking forward to reading them.

I like that it covers several aspects of life and not just political/government focused, which most US history books tend to do. And the writing is most often interesting without getting bogged down in recitation of facts, he generally brings the story to life. ( )

4159 Redeeming the Time A People's History of the 1920s and the New Deal Volume Eight, by Page Smith (read 9 May 2006) Reading this book completed a reading project started in February 1993: reading Page Smith's 8 volume people's history of the USA. The volumes are:
2494 A New Age Now Begins: Volume One, by Page Smith (read 28 Feb 1993)
2495 A New Age Now Begins: Volume Two, by Page Smith (read 6 Mar 1993)
2584 The Shaping of America: Volume Three, by Page Smith (read 24 Feb 1994)
2596 The Nation Comes of Age: Volume Four, by Page Smith (read 17 Apr 1994)
2649 Trial by Fire: A People's History of the Civil War and Reconstruction Volume Five, by Page Smith (read 25 Sep 1994)
2781 The Rise of Industrial America: A People's History of the Post-Reconstruction Era Volume Six, by Page Smith (read 4 Sep 1995)
2963 America Enters the World: A People's History of the Progressive Era and World War I Volume Seven, by Page Smith (read 8 Mar 1997)
4159 Redeeming the Time A People's History of the 1920s and the New Deal Volume Eight, by Page Smith (read 9 May 2006)
Smith covers USA history from the Revolution till Pearl Harbor in 7,973 pages and most of those pages were fun to read, with maybe 1000 pages dull, leaving about 7000 great reading. This final volume, published in 1986 is full of interesting chapters, e.g., the Sacco-Vanzetti case, the 1924 election, Lindbergh, the 1928 election, the Depression, the 1932 Democratic Convention, the Scottsboro case, the CIO, the WPA, etc. He has no footnotes and minimal bibliography, which is a defect, but I suppose if he had such his page total would have been 1000 more. Completion of this reading project is a source of satisfaction. ( )