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Only Yesterday  By  cover art

Only Yesterday

By: Frederick Lewis Allen
Narrated by: Grover Gardner
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Publisher's summary

Jazz, flappers, flasks, rumbleseats, and raccoon coats; Mah Jong, crossword puzzles, marathon dancers, and flagpole sitters; Red Grange, Rudolph Valentino, and Lucky Lindy.

These were the catch words of the roaring, irrepressible '20s. But so were the Boston Police strike, the K.K.K., women's suffrage, Sigmund Freud, Sacco and Vanzetti, Teapot Dome, and Black Tuesday.

In this span between armistice and depression, Americans were kicking up their heels, but they were also bringing about major changes in the social and political structure of their country. Only Yesterday is a fond, witty, penetrating biography of this restless decade, a delightful reminiscence for those who can remember and a fascinating firsthand look for those who've only heard.

©1931 Frederick Lewis Allen (P)1989 Blackstone Audiobooks
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

Critic reviews

"A perfectly grand piece of historical record and synthetic journalism." (Chicago Daily Tribune)

What listeners say about Only Yesterday

Average customer ratings
Overall
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Loved this book

Fascinating review of the 1920s. I enjoyed the entire book. Much of the story concerning youth rebellion, religion and sex could have come right out of the 1960s. Well worth a listen.

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Twenty-three-skidoo, small change

This is simply the best social history of the Roaring Twenties in the United States I’ve ever read, better than the recently published One Summer by Bill Bryson. Written in effortless, flowing prose, published in the early 30s with the decade still fresh in the author’s memory (writing as an anti-depressant after his wife and daughter died), re-published for decades, reading it this time was better than my first time as a boy in the 1960s. It is striking how perceptive and prescient Allen is about events. He sorts through them, giving their why and wherefore as an authentic voice from out of the decade. Although a fine writer, Bryson cannot compete with such finely-tuned descriptions set down just after the era passed. Allen has a wonderful eye for detail: dress, hairstyles, morals, slang. Topics range from inventions, books, the League of Nations, crime, tent evangelism, to the American public’s emotional flip-flops of support and rejection, which at publication were recent phases and fads. The book’s phraseology isn’t antiquated and its objectivity doesn’t creak. Only Yesterday is fresh and entertaining nearly a century after it was written, and the best popular social history of America in the 1920s that I know of.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Escape the Now

If you’re sick of politics now, this wonderful book is for you. The title suggests nostalgia, but it’s really political, social, and cultural history, written in a very accessible way. I had no idea there were so many similarities between the 20’s and the present, so much political skulduggery, so much sex and fashion, so much media hype. My only quibble is that there are lots of statistics thrown in, but there’s plenty of plain colorful information and good gossip too.How much do you know about President Harding and his wife? Listen and learn! I absolutely loved almost every minute, and the narrator does a good job, except for an occasional mispronounciation. If you enjoy mental time travel, take this trip.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Al
  • 03-23-10

Good history

I read this years ago and was impressed by the practical, everyman approach to a vast, fascinating decade. Listening to it only enhances the experience. How much have we progressed in 90 years?

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Very dry - not as expected

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

I love history, however, this presentation was very dry and made it difficult to stay engaged.

What do you think your next listen will be?

I love reading history books - will look for something that is a little more engaging.

How could the performance have been better?

Monotone voice was difficult to pull me in.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Only Yesterday?

N/A

Any additional comments?

The text would probably be interesting for me to read in book/e-book form. The narration definitely contributed to the difficulty I experienced in staying engaged. I ultimately abandoned this book and wasted the credit.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

1920's brought to life

Would you consider the audio edition of Only Yesterday to be better than the print version?

n/a

Who was your favorite character and why?

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Which character – as performed by Grover Gardner – was your favorite?

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Any additional comments?

If you want to feel the 20's this is the book. If I had known it was written in or near 1934 I probably wouldn't have bought it. But, that would have been my loss and incorrect assumption. I find that when I read reviews it is best to also read reviews on books I have already read and liked since that gives me a gauge for future reviews, especially on the negative ones.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Probably a classic

This book presents primary sources of what was going on contemporarily in the United States of America in the 1920s. People are funny, it’s not that they repeat mistakes because they ignore history but they just ignore history and think that they’ve invented everything and fail to realize that there’s really nothing new under the sun. Life back then was harsh, It was only 60 years after the end of the Civil War so it would be like comparing today its relationship to the 1960s. Lynchings abounded Women could not vote until 1920 so racism and sexism were completely ingrained in society. I got news for you nobody was a hero back then. Woodrow Wilson was a non-reconstructed racist so I was teddy Roosevelt. Poor Coolidge was a stupid supply sider and Warren Harding was a good time Eddie. Hoover was smart but did fly fishing in the suit and completely misunderstood the depression.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

The background echo becomes distracting

Decent for a review of the times. As mentioned, it reads like a textbook.

That narration reverb becomes distracting with more listening.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Good listen and so relevant to our current today

Very well done and the narrator is A+.

This book clearly relates the path that slowly led to the great depression. I fear that the last 100 years have erased our memories to the point that we are again going down this same perilous path.going

Dawg!


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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Lousy audio mix

The story is fine, albeit a little “this happened and then this.” But the audio file is mixed poorly. With headphones you can clearly hear a subtle echo in the pauses of the narrator reading ahead. Like it’s out of sync with itself.

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1 person found this helpful