`This vivid account of a nation in tumult and transition is absorbing, and the nexus of global and national upheaval is chillingly relevant' - Publishers Weekly
*Evocative account of America's turbulent post-war history
*Brilliant work of history filled with colourful characters
*Reveals surprising parallels with America today
Former Wall Street Journal staffer Hagedorn (Beyond the River) makes a stylish entry into the history-of-a-year genre with this account of America in upheaval in the wake of WWI. In 1919, both the world and the US were in need of reconstruction: soldiers returning from war needed jobs, and the influenza epidemic wasn't quite under control.
Two threads Hagedorn follows are middle-class Americans' fear of Bolshevism, and the struggles of black Americans. US Attorney-General Palmer instigated raids to try to root out leftist activists, and in what may have been`the State Department's first official interference in African-American politics', the agency denied black Americans' request for passports to travel to France and speak to the Paris Peace Conference about racial equality. In a year rife with lynchings in the Deep South, W.E.B. Du Bois, who had urged black Americans to shelve their grievances and fight the Germans, now argued that blacks, having served the nation, deserved to be accorded civil rights.
Still, some exciting cultural developments presaged the roaring '20s: F. Scott Fitzgerald's star rose, and the nation's first dial telephones were installed in Norfolk, Va.
About the Author
Ann Hagedorn was born in Dayton, Ohio. An author and journalist, she has written for several newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal, The San Jose Mercury News, and The Washington Post. She has taught at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism and at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. She is the author of three previous books, most recently Beyond the River: The Untold Story of the Heroes of the Underground Railroad. She lives in Ripley, Ohio.
- ISBN10 0743243714
- ISBN13 9780743243711
- Publish Date 1 May 2007 (first published 10 April 2007)
- Publish Status Transferred
- Out of Print 23 July 2009
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Simon & Schuster
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 576
- Language English