David E. Kyvig (1944–2015)
Auteur van Nearby History : Exploring the Past Around You
Over de Auteur
David E. Kyvig was distinguished research professor of history at Northern Illinois University.
Reeksen
Werken van David E. Kyvig
Daily Life in the United States, 1920-1940: How Americans Lived Through the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression (2002) 216 exemplaren
Explicit and Authentic Acts: Amending the U.S. Constitution 1776-2015 With a New Afterword (2016) 4 exemplaren
Getting Connected: Radio and the Movies in the Daily Life of Americans, 1920-1940 (2012) 2 exemplaren
Visual Documents 1 exemplaar
Explicit and Authentic Acts: Amending the U.S. Constitution 1776-2015?With a New Afterword 1 exemplaar
Exploring the past around you 1 exemplaar
Published Documents 1 exemplaar
Tagged
Algemene kennis
- Gangbare naam
- Kyvig, David E.
- Geboortedatum
- 1944-03-08
- Overlijdensdatum
- 2015-06-22
- Geslacht
- male
- Nationaliteit
- USA
- Geboorteplaats
- Ames, Iowa, USA
- Opleiding
- Kalamazoo College (BA|1968)
Northwestern University (PhD|American History|1971) - Beroepen
- historian
professor - Relaties
- Marty, Myron A. (co-author)
- Organisaties
- Northern Illinois University (Distinguished Research Professor)
American Historical Association
National Council on Public History
American Society for Legal History
Organization of American Historians
Society for History in the Federal Government (toon alle 8)
Alcohol and Temperance History Group
Phi Beta Kappa
Leden
Besprekingen
Prijzen
Misschien vindt je deze ook leuk
Statistieken
- Werken
- 17
- Leden
- 597
- Populariteit
- #42,085
- Waardering
- 3.4
- Besprekingen
- 7
- ISBNs
- 31
- Talen
- 1
The book starts off with a picture of the United States at the closing of WWI, a portrait that tries to take in as diverse situations as possible, with a heavy help form the statistics of the Census (statistics are a great part of this book, which if on one hand grounds the matter in an objective perspective, on the other comes across as dry in many places) and some anthropological studies of the period.
Because the Twenties are essentially years of big changes, regarding so many ways of life, this is where the book focuses. The first few chapters deal with the three more important innovations in the decade: the car, the radio and electricity. Things that already existed, but now became so widely common to change the way people worked as well as they used their free time. In response to this new asset of life - more free in many respects - people expectations changed as well, so that to a material change correspond a more `spiritual' one.
A couple of long chapters in the middle of the book deal with the way life moved in the short run (everyday life) and in the long run (a year around portrait of life). Here is where the true details come out: the way life changed inside the house, the way houses changed in response to new technology and new expectations, the way people behaved toward one another, the way they reacted to small and big event in life (going to school, falling in love, managing a family, dealing with life events like births and deaths). Changing behaviours toward job, changing behaviours toward entertainments, changing behaviours toward food, clothes, hairstyle, advertisement.
And to be honest, what impressed me the most about these chapters concerning the expectation of people and the way they sought to realise them, is how much it's similar to today attitude. It's true, there are so many different things between the Twenties and today, but there are also so many similarities. More, in my opinion, than with any other past decades. It's here that so many things we take for granted first entered people's life (electric appliances, the car, far and fast communication - radio and phone - but also the way people get together - parties, cinema - and look to each other - a less restrained, less rules-heavy way of relation). It's here, in a way, that the world as we know it today started.
Then in a couple of chapters, the book tries to touch all other important aspects of social life: policies, economics, law and order. These are very wide and complex matters, though, and the book only touches them by. The soar and fall of the KKK, important trials that impacted on the society's perception of themselves (Scottsboro, Sacco and Vanzetti), natural catastrophes that affected entire sections of the population (the Dust Bowl), the attitude and real situation of criminal life, the attitude toward immigration
All of these is dealt with with great essentiality and the reader is left wanting to know more. And this is a shame, although I understand the author had to make a choice about the subject matter.
The last third of the book deals with the Thirties and the Great Depression. It starts off with a very vivid description of the onset of the Depression and the way it affected people's life. It explains in a clear, simple way (maybe even too simplified, but I won't complain about that) what caused the 1929 stockmarket crash, and how the psychological and emotional reaction of people affected it as well as an objective economic difficulty. It describes in essential, but very vivid details, and with scant or no statistics, what life was for a great part of people. It was nearly more a narration than dissertation.
The last chapter then relates the work of the New Deal. It is essentially a chart of the many initiatives the government took to relief people's life, with brief dissertations of why those measures were taken and how people reacted to them. A bit dry, maybe (also because of the heavy statistics), but interesting all the same.
The last chapter is a second portrait of American society at the verge of WWII. Again statistics, again considerations, again a look to the same communities the book opened with and to the changes they had been through in the Twenties and Thirties.
Overall, a very interesting book. Maybe more valuable for people interested in the Twenties than the Thirties (the Great Depression is dealt with in an admittedly extremely essential way), but certainly enough to get a good overall grasp to life during these two decades.… (meer)