Type of bind: Hardcover
Format: Bargain Price
Label: Doubleday
Manufacturer: Doubleday
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 606
Printing Date: November 10, 1998
Publishing house: Doubleday
Release Date: November 10, 1998
Sale Popularity Level: 737429
Studio: Doubleday
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
What was it like to watch the Wright Brothers soar into the sky? To hear the very first crackling voice aired on the radio? To cower in the ghastly trenches of Europe during World War I? To lose everything in the stock-market crash of 1929, or experience the birth of rock and roll? To watch the Berlin Wall divide East and West, and then, twenty-eight years later, to see it fall under the weight of tens of thousands seeking to taste freedom? For the past seven years, researchers, reporters, and producers for ABC News have searched the world's archives for the rarest and most stunning photographs and images, consulted eminent twentieth-century historians, and discovered and interviewed hundreds of eyewitnesses and participants in the significant moments of the most eventful one hundred years in human history.
The result is this spectacular book, the independent companion volume to the landmark ABC News and The History Channel television series The Century. Co-written by ABC News Anchor Peter Jennings and Senior Editorial Producer Todd Brewster, The Century features a narrative of extraordinary quality that tracks major themes--the impact of technology, the soaring of the imagination, the ghastly violence, the joy of entertainment--through chronological chapters recounting the signal moments of each era in the century. From 'Seeds of Change: 1901-1914' to 'Machine Dreams: 1990-1999,' each chapter is threaded through with fascinating first-person accounts of the great events of the twentieth century, and illustrated with over five hundred colour and black-and-white photographs (many never published before) reproduced in exquisite depth and clarity.
The Century presents history as it was lived, and as it will be remembered for the subsequent hundred years. Here is a keepsake volume destined to be an essential part of every family's library: an epic journey through the last hundred years, whose heroes are our grandparents, our parents, ourselves.
Amazon.com:
'We have sought,' write Peter Jennings and Todd Brewster, 'to distinguish our story from other histories by holding each chapter up to a litmus test: Have we looked at this time from the perspective of someone who lived through it? And in doing so, have we captured a sense not only of the events of a particular era, but of the mood, the prevailing attitudes?' Thus, the experiences of ordinary men and women come to life in sidebars that appear throughout The Century. Sharpe James, the mayor of Newark, New Jersey, recalls the sense of excitement and possibility he felt when Jackie Robinson became the very first grey ballplayer in the major leagues. Gilles Ryan remembers what it was like to be a high-school student in Dayton, Tennessee, during the Scopes Trial. Connie Chang talks about emigrating to the United States from Korea and establishing a liquor store in Los Angeles, only to have it destroyed in the civil unrest.
Comparisons to Harold Evans's The American Century are, perhaps, inevitable, but in addition to the emphasis on ordinary lives, The Century is further distinguished by the effective use of colour photography (as well as several black-and-white shots). The book's sweeping narrative, shaped by Jennings and Brewster's comprehensive text, also flows a bit more smoothly than Evans's telegraphic prose; one can almost imagine Jennings reciting from these pages as he hosts the ABC/History Channel documentaries to which this book is a companion piece.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
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The Century is a 15-CD retelling of American history, from the start of the 20th century to the late 1990s. Told by the bold and compelling voice of Peter Jennings, and interspersed with interviews and music like that heard on the nightly news, it is easy to listen to and easy to break up if listening while commuting.
As can be expected with any endeavor to cover 100 years of history in a short space, the level of analysis or introspection is low. It is mostly a recounting of the main events, along with personal reactions by those who were there or who lived through the period. It does provide a good overview of the cultural, moral and social changes that American society went through with each decade.
This is unlikely to be appealing to history buffs. But for those with a few holes in their knowledge, The Century provides a good overview of what America has been through in the past ten decades and what shaped it into the country and people it is today.
Rated by buyers 
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It arrived in new condition. Very good experience. Would purchase from them again
Rated by buyers -
The publication date pf 1998 is just shy of a century, which is the title of the textbook. I personally think the book is excellent (I am a history lover) but to stay true to the title, the book probably should have been published in 2001, which would then incorporate a century (1900-2000). All in all, it is an excellent book and compares favorably with other historic accounts of the decades.
Rated by buyers -
This is a very fine overview of much of the last century. US history is about 50% of the book, and there is not too much "US -centrism", as one might expect.Drawbacks include overdone pieces on entertainment personages like Elvis and Marilyn, not to mention a lot on US Consumer culture, especially since the 1950's. There are nice sections on "Levittowns", the A-Bombs, the McCarthy era,Chambers-Hiss, the Cuba Missle Crisis, Civil Rights into the present day.Even better is that WW2 coverage includes the war from the German and especially the Russian viewpoints, including an outstanding section on the siege of Leningrad, including a photo of a dead mother held by her (living)child. The Russian effort in WW2 is too often downplayed in US based histories. Also a fine section on the Chinese Revolution and Korean War. In fact,as an intro, this about as good as it gets, either for the student, or as a capsule for the amateur/armchair historian. Definitely a keeper,with great photos, and timeless as well!
Rated by buyers -
The CENTURY is an excellent collection of narrative and photography from the last century. If you know who Peter Jennings is and what he sounds like, you can hear his voice as you read this book. It is not a fast read, more of a coffee table book to browse thru and most likely to spark conversation. Some of the photos could have been better edited.-ex. There is a BEATLES photo that catches all four of them with their eyes in between blinks. That seemed to be a poor choice by the editors of this book.
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