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Summary: America is still humanity's last best hope.
Review: Paul Johnson has once again lucidly touched on the social, political, economic, and technological threads of a nation which has become home to people from throughout the world. One of the major themes of the book is the constant enrichment of the American cultural matrix, with what started as English colonies with a heavy mix of religious dissenters to our goulash of nationalities, creeds, and races.Be forwarned that Johnson approaches his subject from a perspective that must considered center-right. The traditional American hagiography of Franklin Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy is missing. Supporters of the William Jefferson Clinton will likely be concluding that Johnson is a member of their "vast right-wing conspiracy" by the time they reach the final chapters. However, the author's emphasis on the strengths and weaknesses of America is on target. This is a country that gets things done and still offers the remainder of the world its best, albeit imp! erfect, existing example of liberty and democracy in action
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Summary: Johnson proves that history need not be boring.
Review: Paul Johnson's book is a wild ride through American history. But after surviving the antiseptic and utterly boring manner in which history is taught today (e.g., the tendency to put everything in opaque economic terms), Johnson proves that history is also the result of highly flawed but fascinating people. Many of his insights can be argued with, but I doubt that many readers were bored by this great book. Yes, there were factual errors (Joe Johnstun and Albert Sidney Johnstun were not the same person--but perhaps his book will lead to a new conspiracy theory that Albert Sidney really survived his wound at Shiloh), but the brilliant insights easily overcome them. His theories about the role of religion in our nation's history appear to be both insightful and true. Yet, references to religion have unfortunately been surgically removed from our textbooks out of some fear that to do so will run afoul of the "establishment" clause. Johnson has no fear of the! PC police and speaks his mind courageously. While I found myself questioning some of his views (was Coolidge really such a good president and was Watergate really just a minor event orchestrated into a scandal by the evil eastern media?), I found that I agreed with far more of his views than I questioned. The best parts of the book were his efforts to breath life into the characters of history (I never realized that Warren Harding was so interesting). I loved the book so much that I'm on my way to buy "Intellecuals". If he does to them what he has done for American history, it will be both irreverent and illuminating. Read this book--it will make you love history again.
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Summary: An excellent one volume summary of US history
Review: The organization of the book is sound, the prose excellent. In short, one of the most readable American histories available. Highly recommended for those who want a good overview of U.S. history. While Mr. Johnson's views may be controversial to some, it is a good balance to other interpretations of our history. In short, even if one believes in America as an oppressor, they must read this book to get another perspective. (By that token, reading A People's History of the United States, is a good balance to this book.) While there are some errors, many can be clarified by reading the footnotes, which are very extensive. In some cases, the editing needed to be better. (After reading the New York Times Book Review's article on proofreading, this problem is not unique to this book. One of my favorite editing mistakes was a highly acclaimed book on Medieval history that said Marco Polo was Florentine! The next printing corrected that error.) In that light, the n! ext edition of A History of the American People, with updates and corrections, will serve future generations well. To ensure the best product possible, I hope those who believe they have noted errors will take Mr. Johnson up on his offer, cited in page xv of the preface, to write him with their comments. He stated "Such a fact-filled and lengthy volume as this is bound to contain errors. If readers spot any, I would be grateful if they would write to me at my private address..." The published results of this feedback, if any, could also be an interesting book.
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Summary: Sweeping prose, rife with factual errors
Review: Johnson is an effective and erudite writer, making it easy for the reader to be swept along. His use of example and anecdote, and his ability to weave stories make this an enjoyable read. Unfortunately, astounding lapses in fact checking make me wonder whether any of Johnson's prose can be trusted. Take, for one example, just two pages on the US Civil War. Johnson apparently believes that Confederate Generals Joe Johnston and Sidney Johnston were one and the same person, that Lee was Stonewall Jackson's subordinate, and that Jefferson Davis became an exile in Canada after the war. Later, in describing the Presidential elections of 1876 and 1880, Johnson would have us believe that the number of US voters quintupled in the space of four years. Small errors in the grand sweep of American history, perhaps, but so basic that they call into question Johnson's grasp of facts -- and if the facts are wrong, then what of the conclusions on which they are based? Johnson seems to admire the history of America, and would like us to admire it, too. Pity he couldn't stop first for the basic research.
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Summary: OUTSTANDING!!!!
Review: Finally, a history of the American experience, without apologizing for our forefather's decisions and actions. This book should be placed in all middle schools throughout the country, before the "PC" history crowd sterilzies their minds. A must read for all serious history students.
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Summary: One Of the most challenging, Absorbing and Challenging His
Review: Paul Johnson is one of the truly great Historians of our time. Wheather one agrees with Him or not He challenges the Reader to think critically about historical events and personalities,And that is the ultimate definition of a great Historian. The first thing that this book tells us about it's Author is that He genuinely loves America and Americans. It is truly refreshing to read a modern work of American History in which our country is not portrayed as the focus of evil in the World. Johnson clearly demonstrates that America's Founders were not a gaggle of Secular Humanists, But rather a group of convinced Christians. He portrays the American Re- volution and the formation of the U.S, Consti- tution as being among the most influential events in the History of Mankind, And presents our first President George Washington as indispensible to these two events.Thomas Jefferson is presented as a great political Philosopher but not much of a President. Johnson venerates Abraham Lincoln call- ing Him ''A moral Genius of the type very seldom encountered in life, Much less at the summit of politics.'' Johnson admires Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. He thinks Calvin Coolidge, Harry Truman and Ronald Reagan were the greatest Presidents of this century. He gloriously debunks The Kennedys and He valiantly attempts to rehabilitate Richard Nixon,though not very convincingly. The Book's only real failure are some factual errors. But that is no reason not to enjoy this compulsively readable Book.If You love History don't miss this Book.
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Summary: A delicious treat!
Review: I have been savoring this book in small bites for the past several weeks--it is my treat to look forward to after a long, hard day at work! I first discovered Paul Johnson's "Intellectuals" when I was in college, and the fierce, debunking portraits he painted of the movers and shakers of modern civilization were a revelation to me. His "Modern Times" was equally informative, entertaining, and shocking, because Johnson fearlessly subverted long-cherished truisms and backed up his "wild" assertions with a straightforward historicism that was a pleasure to read. So when I heard about this book, I couldn't wait to take a second look at my own country's history through this man's eagle eye and unflinching perspective. But none of Johnson's previous works led me to anticipate the buoyant, at times bubbly tone he takes on as he describes America's natural, political, moral, economic, and cultural bounties. Paul Johnson loves America! Who would have thunk? Yes, I am aware that he brings a conservative perspective to his analysis, but that has never stopped him from using his judgemental, acerbic tone to great effect in any of his previous works. But when he considers the effects of economic hope and political self-determination on millions of "ordinary" (as opposed to intellectual or connected) people, he loses all former traces of stern acidity. It's a beautiful thing to witness! If you want to learn about your country, have your biases challenged, and savor juicy tidbits about the movers and shakers of our land, this book is a must-read!
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Summary: WOW!!!
Review: A much needed remedy to the apotheosis of JFK, a comprehensive survey of 400+ years of history, a vindication of Nixon, and a very flowing narrative from a marvelous writer/historian.
It also includes much needed light on just how important a role traditional religion has played in the shaping of America.
Every student in our public school system should be required to read this book.
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Summary: too inconsistent and biased to be taken very seriously
Review: I actually enjoyed this book for the first 850 pages or so. Mr. Johnson is obviously much more politically conservative than I am and a few of his remarks made me flinch, but that was ok. In general I found it quite refreshing to read a history of the US that did not portray us all as savage murderers and slave barons. It was an enjoyable read. However, beginning with his treatment of the Kennedy administration and from that point on, Mr. Johnson loses it, abandons nearly all pretense to even a modicum of historical objectivity and launches into a wild screed reminiscent of the sort of hogwash one reads in ultra-conservative publications like the American Spectator. For example, the juxtaposition of his brutalizing of the Kennedy's while simultaneously extolling the absolutely angelic virtue of Richard Nixon is hysterical. And there is all kinds of the usual ultra-conservative tripe about how the "east coast media" has screwed up the country and how everything has gone downhill since the mixed-up '60s, etc. etc. Ultimately, Mr. Johnson's book ends up with the same tired right wing clap trap and complaining that we've been subjected to for years now. In short, the book ends up on an extremely sour note after a promising beginning. Don't bother.
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Summary: Not a textbook, but an important personal view.
Review: The work is huge, idiosyncratic and immensely entertaining. Johnson covers what he wants to cover, but in the process he takes on most of the revisionist controversies of the last twenty years, from the role of slavery to the reality of the Western frontier. The only thing the book lacks is a proper summing up. He realizes that the "declinist" school that had influenced his book "Modern Times" no longer holds much water, but he seems at a loss to know what to do with the current spate of good news about American society.
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