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Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945 (Oxford History of the United States) (平装)
by David M. Kennedy
| Category:
American history, Depression, World War II |
| Market price: ¥ 228.00
MSL price:
¥ 248.00
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| Stock:
Pre-order item, lead time 3-7 weeks upon payment [ COD term does not apply to pre-order items ] |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
An exhaustive and masterly study spanning 16 years of crises, travails, fears, and insecurities, as suffered by the American people. |
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AllReviews |
1 2   | Total 2 pages 12 items |
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The Washington Post (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-18 00:00>
One of our most broad-gauged American historians brings us that increasing rarity: a big book about a big subject. In a compelling narrative... the Stanford scholar takes on the job of tracing the American people through three of the most important and widely written-about epochs in the century - the Great Depression, the New Deal, and World War II - and provides us with consistently original and sometimes startling conclusions. |
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Jack Beatty (Author of The World According to Peter Drucker) (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-18 00:00>
From its dramatic prelude depicting Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Adolf Hitler, and Joseph Stalin hearing the news of the end of World War I on November 11, 1918, to its moving climax on board the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945, this panoramic narrative pulses with life, color, incident, and action. We know how it all comes out, yet the fate of the nation seems to hang in the balance as Kennedy captures history's throat-catching contingency. |
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Alan Wolfe (Boston University, author of One Nation After All) (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-18 00:00>
Freedom from Fear brings together in one place the epic story of how America faced the greatest challenges in its history. At a time when we tend to bemoan our selfish preoccupations, it is bracing to read David Kennedy's moving account of our better selves. This is history the way it ought to be. |
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James T. Patterson (Bancroft Prize-winning author of Grand Expectations), USA
<2007-01-18 00:00>
David Kennedy is one of America's most distinguished historians, and Freedom from Fear is a remarkable achievement: deeply researched, insightful, and beautifully written. Fast-paced, it presents vivid portraits of major actors such as Roosevelt, Churchill, and Hitler, as well as of the hopes and fears of millions of lesser-known people caught up in the tumultuous years of the Great Depression and of World War II. |
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Library Journal (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-18 00:00>
Displaying a literary craft uncommon in survey works, he has woven together narrative, sketches of character, and critical judgment to record and analyze the economic, political, social, and military events of these epic years... This account of the crucial struggles and events of the Depression and war years will lend perspective like few others.
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Booklist (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-18 00:00>
Kennedy combines the best aspects of narrative and history. His wonderful single-volume history of the era is comprehensive and well researched, and schlars will find much that is new and informative... It is a smoothly flowing and easily digestible account of great events, and well-informed lay readers will have little difficulty in following and appreciating this saga... This is a work replete with revealing subtexts, and Rooselvelt's relations adn struggles with African American leaders are especially fascinating. It is a worthy addition to an outstanding series and an essential component to a U.S. history collection for both public and college libraries. |
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Bob von Sternberg (Minneapolis Star Tribune) (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-18 00:00>
David Kennedy's sweeping, magisterial retelling of America's story during the Depression and World War II, is a riveting, blisteringly good read... Beyond his analytical prowess, Kennedy's writing style brings to mind Mark Twain's one-liner: The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lighting and a lightning bug. Kennedy invariably picks the right word. It's the fastest 900 pages one can imagine reading. |
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Foreign Affairs (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-18 00:00>
Hoover, the Depression, Roosevelt, the New Deal, and the transformation of American industry and society all seem fresh and fascinating again... many readers should enjoy the nonpartisan, informed, and thoughtful judgements of a historian working at the height of his craft, conveying the great challenges and choices of "the greatest generation" to the present one. |
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Roger Thompson (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-18 00:00>
Despite the newfound popularity of social history, and ethnic history, and gender history, it's nice to just sit down and sink my teeth into a nice old-fashioned survey history of America. Heavy on political history, Freedom from Fear tells the story of America during the Great Depression and the Second World War. It is a survey, but it is broad and deep, running more than eight hundred pages to cover about sixteen years. David Kennedy's Pulitzer Prize winning text is worth every penny.
Given the two broad subjects, it's not surprising that the book is essentially divided into two sections. In the first, Kennedy takes us on a journey into the downward spiral of the American economy during the Hoover years. Maligned by history, Hoover could have been a better president than he was, but events overwhelmed him. Even his great success in life prior to winning the White House did not prepare him for the immensity of the task. Indeed, possibly no one could have handled it. But Roosevelt is seen here to have been up to the challenge. Not of actually fixing the problems. Kennedy is quite frank in his evaluation of Roosevelt's New Deal programs and his performance in such matters. In many places Roosevelt could have done better, perhaps by adopting a more internationalist approach to economics, or by not antagonizing and demoralizing the business community.
More broadly, we see the decline in living conditions, and at the same time the rise of labor unions and government programs both useful and not. We see the uneven performance of the economy in various parts of the country, and the desperate mobility that sometimes resulted. We see a country scared and in turmoil, unsure of itself and its destiny.
But though the Depression dragged on, waxing and waning, events elsewhere in the world did not stop to wait. Though America was among the hardest hit of countries, it was not the worst behaving on the international scene. Rumbles of war began in Europe and in Asia, and America stood aside hoping to avoid it all. Of course this was not to be, and with the Japanese attack America found itself thrust into total war. The economy was finally freed of the doldrums by massive war spending. The people were roused from stupor by the drumbeats of battle. Alliances solidified, and the enemies were targeted. And America joined the war in its own unique way. It could never be said that America takes no advantage of its industrial strength. While the countries of Europe dealt with the situation forced upon them, America armed itself and prepped for battle. It built its forces. It provided machinery and equipment to allies. It transformed factories to a war production mode. Industrial geniuses, pumped with cash, streamlined methods of mass production on a scale never imagined before. And newer and better weapons came to be. More than in most books, Kennedy makes it clear that the American effort in war was a mechanized and deliberate effort. When the Western front opened, it was run with industrial clarity of purpose.
If there is a dominant theme in Freedom From Fear, it is that America runs on its commerce. The business of America really is business. With or without government regulation, with or without organized labor, it is economy that runs Kennedy's America. But with such sweeping vision and engaging style, the reader could do much worse to learn about America in the interesting times than to read this gripping account.
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Daniel Blinka (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-18 00:00>
Freedom From Fear is David M. Kennedy's prodigious volume in the Oxford History of the United States that covers America during the Depression and World War two. It begins and ends with a bang (the stock market crash of 1929 and the dropping of the atomic bomb to end the war in the pacific). Freedom From Fear is also a most fitting title. Franklin D. Roosevelt's words of inspiration characterize the American people and their ability to persevere the depression and a second and even more deadly world war.
Kennedy is an extremely good writer and that quality makes this book enjoyable to read as you gain a tremendous amount of knowledge and information from it. Kennedy does not miss a single pivotal moment within the time period making his book the best general (yet probing) history of the period. In conclusion, whether you are cramming for your oral examinations or are simply pursuing knowledge of this important era in American history Freedom From Fear is a more than adequate book.
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