The Big Change

The New York Timesbestselling history of the first half of the twentieth centuryfive decades that transformed Americafrom the author of Only Yesterday. During the first fifty years of the twentieth century, the United States saw two world wars, a devastating economic depression, and more social, political, and economic changes than in any other five-decade period before. Frederick Lewis Allen, former editor of Harper's magazine, recounts these yearsspanning World War I, the Progressive Era, the Great Depression, World War II, and the early Cold Warin vivid detail, from the fashions and customs of the times to major events that changed the course of history. Politically, the United States grew into its own as a global superpower during these years, even as domestic developments altered the everyday lives of its citizens. The introduction of the automobile, mass production, and organized...