The American Century : People, Power and Politics - An Illustrated History - Softcover

Although most of this sprawling book is set in the 20th century, it begins on April 29, 1889, when Benjamin Harrison commemorated the first centennial of American government. This 11-year jump-start allows Harold Evans to write about the last major push to settle the Western territories, the gradual dwindling of Native American societies, the rise to prominence of William Jennings Bryan, and other quintessentially American moments of the 19th century.

But make no mistake about it--The American Century is very much rooted in the modern world. Evans's tight, journalistic prose marks the significant events and personages in America's rise to superpower status and offers several educational surprises, such as a two-page spread on too-little-known naval historian Alfred Mahan, whose The Influence of Sea Power upon History shaped foreign policy in America and several European nations. His treatments of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s and the Watergate crisis are substantial highlights. Juxtapositions such as Ralph Nader and Rachel Carson or Jimmy Hoffa and Cesar Chavez make for a lively overview. The book essentially ends with the inauguration of George Bush in 1989, although brief mention is made to some of what has happened since then. Filled with photographs and contemporary editorial cartoons, The American Century is an excellent one-volume chronicle of a rather momentous 100 years.

Praise for The American Century


"A sumptuous memory-book of an astonishing time. Like the crowded era it chronicles, The American Century is sometimes heroic, sometimes harrowing, but always compelling and relentlessly eventful. The brisk text breathes new life into even the best-remembered episodes, and the choice of historic photographs is superb."
--Geoffrey C. Ward, author of A First-Class Temperament: The Emergence of Franklin Roosevelt, and co-author of The Civil War

"Harold Evans, historian, gives us a riveting panorama of the story of the last century that shaped today's America. Observations as insightful as de Tocqueville's, matched with remarkable photos, tell the exciting story of who we are, how we got here, and where we might be headed. A book every family should have."
--General Colin L. Powell, U.S.A. (retired)

"This is history to enjoy, engagingly written, splendidly illustrated."
--Neil Sheehan, author of A Bright and Shining Lie

"A wide-ranging, politically detached view of the shaping events of the century. Excellent prose, with wonderful pictures. I much enjoyed it, as I think will all."
--John Kenneth Galbraith

"The American Century brilliantly captures the magnitude and complexities of the century itself. Harold Evans's authoritative and vividly written book is not only history at its best, but it promises to serve as a guide to the future."
--Stanley Karnow, author of Vietnam: A History

"A great rich survey of the best and the worst of centuries: how it looked, how it sounded, how it killed, how it created. This lavish book gives us much to remember, and unflinchingly reminds us of what we'd rather forget."
--Edmund Morris, author of The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt

"The American Century is a major and inspiring synthesis and overview of our history. The scope and breadth are very impressive. It is destined to become an indispensable feature in libraries across the country."
--Vartan Gregorian, Professor of History, Brown University, and President Emeritus, New York Public Library