A Century Turns by William J. Bennett

The subtitle of this book is "New Hopes, New Fears". I haven't read too many history books in the last few years. But this one caught and kept my attention. For one thing, it describes a lot of events that I lived through. For another, it is written in an easily readable form that drew me in.

This book is a follow on to two other books (America: The Last Best Hope) that Mr Bennett has written that have been used in teaching history in colleges and secondary schools. A Century Turns covers the time from the elections in 1988 to the elections in 2008.

Overall A Century Turns enlightens and illuminates a strange and in some ways frightening time in our world. From the fall of the iron curtain to the rise of the Internet to the fall of the Twin Towers to the election of Barak Obama, the two decades covered have been a time of drastic and rapid change.

We tend to get focused on what is going on in our immediate lives on a daily basis. As I read this book I was struck by just how much I missed during this time period. Not the big things, but the little things that influenced the big events in both the United States and the world.

The author was involved in many of the incidents he describes either as a central player with inside access or an ancillary character viewing events from the outside of the power circles. And therein lies my only complaint about the book: I do not always follow some of the conclusions that the author draws. Occasionally it seems that he adds one plus one and gets one and half (in other words, not quite two). But this is a minor complaint and definitely not a fatal flaw.

I recommend A Century Turns, New Hopes, New Fears to anyone interested in discovering the background of the events that are influencing our nation and world today.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”