A Chicago Tribune Noteworthy BookA GoodReads Reader’s ChoiceIn One Summer Bill Bryson, one of our greatest and most beloved nonfiction writers, transports readers on a journey back to one amazing season in American life.The summer of 1927 began with one of the signature events of the twentieth century: on May 21, 1927, Charles Lindbergh became the first man to cross the Atlantic by plane nonstop, … man to cross the Atlantic by plane nonstop, and when he landed in Le Bourget airfield near Paris, he ignited an explosion of worldwide rapture and instantly became the most famous person on the planet. Meanwhile, the titanically talented Babe Ruth was beginning his assault on the home run record, which would culminate on September 30 with his sixtieth blast, one of the most resonant and durable records in sports history. In between those dates a Queens housewife named Ruth Snyder and her corset-salesman lover garroted her husband, leading to a murder trial that became a huge tabloid sensation. Alvin “Shipwreck” Kelly sat atop a flagpole in Newark, New Jersey, for twelve days—a new record. The American South was clobbered by unprecedented rain and by flooding of the Mississippi basin, a great human disaster, the relief efforts for which were guided by the uncannily able and insufferably pompous Herbert Hoover. Calvin Coolidge interrupted an already leisurely presidency for an even more relaxing three-month vacation in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The gangster Al Capone tightened his grip on the illegal booze business through a gaudy and murderous reign of terror and municipal corruption. The first true “talking picture,” Al Jolson’s The Jazz Singer, was filmed and forever changed the motion picture industry. The four most powerful central bankers on earth met in secret session on a Long Island estate and made a fateful decision that virtually guaranteed a future crash and depression.
All this and much, much more transpired in that epochal summer of 1927, and Bill Bryson captures its outsized personalities, exciting events, and occasional just plain weirdness with his trademark vividness, eye for telling detail, and delicious humor. In that year America stepped out onto the world stage as the main event, and One Summer transforms it all into narrative nonfiction of the highest order.
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This was wholly original and it was terrific to see how all of the events that Bryson covered tied together and changed the world even into the current day.
I had no idea so many big events hinged around a single summer in a single country. It’s packed with aviation, sports, entertainment, crime, and basically the history of a little bit of everything.
Everything from Bryson is exceptional. OK, I couldn’t get through “The Body”, but that’s my fault. Whether he’s writing about his experiences in other countries, the history of everyday items, his youth, or his failed attempt at the AT, it’s always entertaining and insightful. I’ll confess that I never picked up his Shakespeare book either, but again, that’s on me.
This is the one that made me a Bill Bryson fan for life!
Because of genealogy, I’d studied some of 1927 and had already found is fascinating. The photo shows the kids in the family, the oldest boy Delbert became so enamored of Charles Lindbergh that summer. Bryson’s history of the happenings in sports, in gangsters, popular culture, etc., was a delightful way to learn history and back story.
A lot happened in the summer of 1927. Baseball fans all think of Babe Ruth’s great year but that was only a part everything that went down. Bryson does a great job telling the story of the summer.
Didn’t like nor finish the book and that’s not like me
Just love Bill Bryson; he’s both witty and informative. Enjoyed this coming of age memoir.
I think this might be the best thing Bill Bryson has ever written. It is a fascinating account of 1927, mainly the summer of that year, but what a year it was! It was the year Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs and also the year of Lindbergh’s flight across the Atlantic. As always, Bryson’s writing style is witty and entertaining.
I was not around in the 1920 ‘s.It is so much more than what my parents talked about.
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Who knew 1927 was so pivotal to the rest of the century.
Amazing history of an amazing year
Bryson tells of the remarkable events of the Summer of 1927 with wit and thoroughness, giving background and casting forward. Many of the events of that Era have eerie resonance for today: the gangsterism of AL Capone, the amazing aeronautical feats of Lindbergh and others, the precarious economic situation, corrupt politics, big news movies, racism and so on. Sort of cold comfort for our own times.
Bryson is simply the drollest writer of the last half-century. You have to be alert for every sentence because he packs subtle humor in nearly every paragraph. A delight.
Bill Bryson is a master of presenting a situation in an entertaining and enlightening way. He is able to draw the pathos out of relationships and the humor out of the mundane.
Enjoyable, entertaining, educational and numerous – one of my very favorite authors.
If you love History this is a great read. What a year 1927!
Bill Bryson has a great style and the subject matter was fascinating!
I love Bill Bryson and all of his erudite, funny, clever books
Not that crazy about it. Didn’t finish.
This is Bill Bryson at his best! Incredibly well researched, cleverly written, laugh out loud funny, filled with all the ironies and incredible personalities of 1927. Who would guess how engaging this historic time could be and how much there is to learn. I recommend it highly as both worthwhile and fun to read!