The Glory and the Dream

A Narrative History of America, 1932 - 1972

By: William Manchester

Narrated by: Jeff Riggenbach

This great time capsule of a book captures the abundant popular history of the United States from 1932 to 1972. It encompasses politics, military history, economics, the lively arts, science, fashion, fads, social change, sexual mores, communications, graffiti...everything and anything indigenous that can be captured in print.

The Glory and the Dream chronicles the progress of life in the United States, from the time William Manchester and his generation reached the beginning of awareness in the desperate summer of '32 to President Nixon's Second Inaugural Address and the opening scenes of Watergate. Masterfully compressing four crowded decades of our history, Manchester relives the epic, significant, or just memorable events that befell the generation of Americans whose lives pivoted between the America before and the America after the Second World War.

©1974 William Manchester (P)1994 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

So glad I pulled through this

This was a really enjoyable read throughout the entire book. Although the author clearly leans to the left, it was still overall a fact based history of 42 years in America, and the amount of history I learned from this 1 book is immense.
The narrator, while dry and to the point, was none the less fantastic, and I want to purchase more books that he reads.

Manchester is a great writer

This is an excellent book by a great history writer. William Manchester loved the English language and it shows in his writing. In this social history he spent a paragraph during each era covered and he would write out a scenario using only the slang of the era. It was a fun thing to hear.

In this overly long book, the author’s notation not mine, William Manchester covers everything that impacted American culture or at least tries to. This book is a great survey history of this era. The covering of this particular 40 years can be seen as a history of the growth and height of the liberal movement. With Franklin D. Roosevelt as the beginning, and Richard M. Nixon as the beginning of the end for it.

Manchester’s work is a great history by a writer who clearly had fun writing. The phrasing and transition sentences show a sheer pleasure in finding a right way that was entertaining to the author and therefore the reader. This large book is worth the reading for any history student especially for the heart of the twentieth Century.

LONG but a must-read

No matter where you live in the world, understanding American history and politics can be useful, and if you're an American it should be a must. this book does an amazing job at condensing the most relevant aspects of politics, culture, and war from the 30s through the 1970s. so many gaps in my knowledge have been filled thanks to this book and new doors opened for me to explore.

Great overview of re ent US history

As always Manchester writes well. Great blend of politics culture and foreign affairs! I'm not sure there is a good way to get such an overview so quickly. ,,,;). If you can call 55 hours quick.

Amateur production of a masterpiece.

This book deserves to be redone by Audible. The author, William Manchester, gave us a masterpiece work. The book stands on its own despite the weak narration and unforgivable recording errors. This is the worst production I have heard in my 20 years of listening Audible recordings. But despite the very tedious narration and amateur production I still give it five stars. No regrets.