War, Peace, and All That Jazz 1918-1945: For Middle School and High School Classes (History of Us, 9)

Rating:
Summary: The Great Depression and World War II in one volume
Review: "War, Peace, and All That Jazz" is the ninth and second to last volume in Joy Hakim's series A History of US, and it covers a lot of ground. It starts with the end of the First World War and ends with the end of the Second World War. In between it throws in the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, and the New Deal. Even though it starts on November 11, 1918, Hakim sets up this book as covering the start of a new century, establishing the idea that after World War I everything was different. The preface even underscores the point with a photograph showing a public gathering in Munich on August 1, 1914 when a crowd cheered Germany's decision to go to war; among those photographed in the mob in an enlarged circle was a smiling mustached 25-year-old Austrian watercolor artist named Adolf Hitler.

This volume basically breaks down into three main sections. The first deals with the complete transformation of the United States after World War I, with Prohibition, Women's Suffrage, and the Red Scare. The Scopes "Monkey Trial" gets an extended sidebar and chapters are devoted to both Babe Ruth and the Negro Leagues (with references to Jesse Owens and Joe Louis as well). Modern technology is represented by the achievements of Edwin Hubbel, Albert Einstein, Robert Goddard, and Charles Lindbergh. The second section sets up "The Prosperity Balloon" that popped when the Stock Market crashed. Having established the problem, Hakim presents Franklin AND Eleanor Roosevelt as the solutions, devoting a half dozen chapters to each of them before FDR runs for the White House.

The final section deals with World War II, starting with the idea of Hitler, Francisco Franco, Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin, and even America's Father Coughlin, as 20th-Century monsters. Hakin deals with the Nazi's Final Solution to exterminate the Jews in Europe and the scientists who warned FDR of the threat of Germany developing the atomb bomb, before Pearl Harbor draws the United States into the war. While dealing with the high points of the two-ocean war, Hakim also devotes chapters to the interment of Japanese-Americans as "Forgetting the Constitution," and the death of FDR before final victory. After the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan and the arrival of peace, the final chapter, "Picturing History," ends the book with works of art including paintings by Edward Hooper, Georgia O'Keefe, Joseph Stella, Grant Wood, Thomas Hart Benton, and others.

In "A Note from the Author" Hakim talks about the first half of the 20th century in terms of the famous opening lines of "A Tale of Two Cities," where Charles Dickens declares: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness..." The emphasis here is on the idea that there are lessons to be learned from the horrible things that happened during this period by the young students reading this book today.

This series remains ideally suited for children who are being home schooled because Hakim brings the same sort of involvement to her historical narrative that you would want to see provided by a teacher in a classroom. This book pays as much attention to Louis Armstrong's jazz as it does to Babe Ruth's home runs and consistently relates things back to the thesis that these three decades full of optimism and despair, progress and Depression, and war, peace and all that jazz, forever changed the United States. In response to the twin challengs of the Great Depression and World War II, Franklin Roosevelt essentially set the stage for the United States that emerged in the second half of the 20th century.

Rating:
Summary: The Great Depression and World War II in one volume
Review: "War, Peace, and All That Jazz" is the ninth and second to last volume in Joy Hakim's series A History of US, and it covers a lot of ground. It starts with the end of the First World War and ends with the end of the Second World War. In between it throws in the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, and the New Deal. Even though it starts on November 11, 1918, Hakim sets up this book as covering the start of a new century, establishing the idea that after World War I everything was different. The preface even underscores the point with a photograph showing a public gathering in Munich on August 1, 1914 when a crowd cheered Germany's decision to go to war; among those photographed in the mob in an enlarged circle was a smiling mustached 25-year-old Austrian watercolor artist named Adolf Hitler.

This volume basically breaks down into three main sections. The first deals with the complete transformation of the United States after World War I, with Prohibition, Women's Suffrage, and the Red Scare. The Scopes "Monkey Trial" gets an extended sidebar and chapters are devoted to both Babe Ruth and the Negro Leagues (with references to Jesse Owens and Joe Louis as well). Modern technology is represented by the achievements of Edwin Hubbel, Albert Einstein, Robert Goddard, and Charles Lindbergh. The second section sets up "The Prosperity Balloon" that popped when the Stock Market crashed. Having established the problem, Hakim presents Franklin AND Eleanor Roosevelt as the solutions, devoting a half dozen chapters to each of them before FDR runs for the White House.

The final section deals with World War II, starting with the idea of Hitler, Francisco Franco, Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin, and even America's Father Coughlin, as 20th-Century monsters. Hakin deals with the Nazi's Final Solution to exterminate the Jews in Europe and the scientists who warned FDR of the threat of Germany developing the atomb bomb, before Pearl Harbor draws the United States into the war. While dealing with the high points of the two-ocean war, Hakim also devotes chapters to the interment of Japanese-Americans as "Forgetting the Constitution," and the death of FDR before final victory. After the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan and the arrival of peace, the final chapter, "Picturing History," ends the book with works of art including paintings by Edward Hooper, Georgia O'Keefe, Joseph Stella, Grant Wood, Thomas Hart Benton, and others.

In "A Note from the Author" Hakim talks about the first half of the 20th century in terms of the famous opening lines of "A Tale of Two Cities," where Charles Dickens declares: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness..." The emphasis here is on the idea that there are lessons to be learned from the horrible things that happened during this period by the young students reading this book today.

This series remains ideally suited for children who are being home schooled because Hakim brings the same sort of involvement to her historical narrative that you would want to see provided by a teacher in a classroom. This book pays as much attention to Louis Armstrong's jazz as it does to Babe Ruth's home runs and consistently relates things back to the thesis that these three decades full of optimism and despair, progress and Depression, and war, peace and all that jazz, forever changed the United States. In response to the twin challengs of the Great Depression and World War II, Franklin Roosevelt essentially set the stage for the United States that emerged in the second half of the 20th century.