by Bill Bryson
First published 2013
Bill Bryson examines the summer of 1927, a pivotal season in American history. He begins with Charles Lindbergh's solo Atlantic flight on May 21, which made the pilot instantly famous worldwide. Bryson traces the months through Babe Ruth's pursuit of his sixtieth home run, achieved on September 30. Between these landmarks, he explores the Ruth Snyder murder trial that captivated tabloids, Alvin Kelly's twelve-day flagpole sitting record in Newark, and devastating Mississippi basin floods that Herbert Hoover managed. Calvin Coolidge took a three-month vacation in South Dakota's Black Hills. Al Capone expanded his bootlegging empire through violence and corruption. The Jazz Singer introduced talking pictures to cinema. Four central bankers met secretly on Long Island and made decisions that would trigger the Great Depression. Bryson weaves these events together with his characteristic wit and eye for detail, showing how America emerged as a global power during these transformative months.
Genres: history, 20th-century, biography-memoir, american-history
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: cultural-snapshot, historical-narrative
Setting: Atlantic Ocean, Newark, Mississippi, Black Hills, Long Island
Period: 1927
545 pages · Kindle Edition · Anchor