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This book was really interesting, I had no idea all of these things happened in one summer and how huge and impact a lot these events had. In covering the events of 1927, Bryson discusses events before and after 1927 that have a relevant impact on the story giving us a more complete view of the individuals who played such a large role in our social climate. While I appreciated a more complete view, I found the way this story was written to be a bit disjointed at times and slow. I think that some of the more in depth information wasn’t wrapped into the book well which added to the slow feeling (the section on Fordlandia comes to mind, it’s interesting but feels like it doesn’t belong in the book).

I listened to this on audiobook in two sessions and I think if I had read this book in smaller chunks reading one person’s story then setting it down and coming back to it I think I would have enjoyed this more.

Bill Bryson always does a great job of weaving little oddities into larger, often rambling tales. I really liked these interesting glimpses into such a fascinating few months of American history... and it's a good reminder that every time and place is rich with stories, if only we look for them.

There was a review, a long one. A really, really good one, that would tell you exactly what you want to know about the book, but nothing more. Apparently I failed to save that review. My apologies to you and to Mr Bryson, who really deserved that review.

The sixteen-year-old and I read this simultaneously, and we both dearly loved it. Bryson is always amusing, which is why we both read him, but he's also really good and including the sort of details you want to know. This is essentially all the big news stories of this one summer: a sensational murder trial, baseball records being set, movies, international news. He manages to pass along the juicy tidbits in context, and an appalling context is often is. The racism, sexism, fascism, etc. is just gross, but Bryson doesn't shirk from revealing those warts in his portrait. It is a book that will rule your small talk for the duration: "Hey, did you know...?" I felt so well informed while I was reading it.

Sadly, my memory is going, and two months later I'm hard-pressed to remember anything specific, except that I really enjoyed reading the book

Library copy

From Goodreads: 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, 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 ordert

 

I love Bill Bryson's travelogues. I first picked up In a Sunburnt Country when I was in college (and obsessed with Australia) and instantly fell in love with the mix of facinating facts about science and history and everything in between and Bill Bryson's sidesplitting sense of humor. My most vivid memory of reading In a Sunburnt Country is nearly giving myself a stroke from trying not to laugh out loud too wildly while reading a passage of Bryson falling asleep in the car during his travels.

So far though, I have been less than impressed with Bill Bryson's non travel writing. His childhood memoir was enjoyable and his other books were interesting enough but there was something missing. So I went into One Summer with guarded expectations. 

Although there were not any laugh out loud, probably shouldn't read this in public, moments, I found myself thoroughly enjoying this book. I'm not much of a history buff, so I had no idea how much stuff went on during such a short amount of time. A lot of the people involved with the events I had heard of, but not in a very detailed way so it was nice to actually get a better idea of who they actually were and why they were so significant in history.

I was very satisfied with this read, and I think it would be a good starting point for someone wanting to explore history a bit more. I can't say it was a quick read (because there was so much to process throughout) but something that would be worth the investment.