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.

Great book - recording needs to be fixed though

Would you listen to The Glory and the Dream again? Why?

I might listen to it again in the future- as some of the details could need refreshing, and I found the experience relaxing.

What other book might you compare The Glory and the Dream to and why?

I'd compare it to the podcast "Whistlestop" from John Dickerson (of Slate's Political Gabfest and Face the Nation - I purchased this at his recommendation) - it has the same sort of appreciation of the multiple perspectives of history from the big events to the little cultural details that just belies a love of history that becomes infectious.

Which scene was your favorite?

I really enjoyed the section on the Bay of Pigs invasion - I had never understood JFK's decision until I heard the whole story here.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

This is audiobook was practically it's own hobby - it's a great value for 1 credit.

Any additional comments?

There were some damaged areas of the audio files, and my attempts to address them with audible support were failures. (Support basically didn't closely read my comments after asking me where to detail the issues with the audio book

10/30/13 - Simpy one of the best

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This book is really great. I was skeptical about some of the reviews where the listener heard audio glitches. They must have fixed that because I only ever heard one noticible glitch in a book that is two whole volumes.

I first read Manchester's The Last Lion Pt. 2 - Alone, and I thought he was a great author but this book blew me away. It is a narrivitve history and one that everyone should read and listen to.

I plan on listening to it again down the road, it was that good.

Who was your favorite character and why?

No favorites, there are hundreds.

Great book but....

The narrator seemed to want to finish the book as fast as possible! It was only listenable at 3/4 speed!

G&D

If it were possible I would have listened to the whole book NON-STOP. How the book was written it's self is excellent and then only made better by the way it was read. Actually a 5+ in my book. The occassional insertion of interesting asides really added to how it was read.

So Incredibly interesting!

Unbiased History Lesson! Stuff you've forgotten from those Jr. High & HS lesson, recapped here. Fabulous to look back at the lives and times of leaders in years gone by. Hours and hours of interesting stories. Makes you wish, you could've lived 100 years ago to see all the amazing things that have happened over time.