Reviews for The Britannica Guide to Political and Social Movements That Changed the Modern World (Turnin...

The average rating for The Britannica Guide to Political and Social Movements That Changed the Modern World (Turnin... based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-07-08 00:00:00 Jaime Profit I really finished out 2018 strong with this one. I didn't read nearly as many books as I wanted to this past year, but I also feel like I read a higher frequency of 5-star capital-G Great books than I can ever remember. I think I'm figuring out what I really like/need in books! This one, for example, is the best book I've yet read on the New Deal era. I've been interested in researching this period ever since Donald Trump became President and I realized that we were entering a period of political crisis similar to the New Deal 30s or the Reaganite 80s - might as well figure out how the American Left won big last time, right? While I love the first volume of Roger Daniels' FDR biography for giving me a thorough look at the New Deal President who was such a unique figure and Liz Cohen's "Making a New Deal" for a look at the everyday life of Depression workers (particularly in my hometown Chicago), this book is the most thorough examination of how the politics of the time unfolded. It is endlessly fascinating, and Bernstein explores every interesting angle of his subject. His prose is vividly engaging and descriptive, a mix of narrative/biography/quotes/historical account that honestly might be one of my favorite history books ever. I was sending people passages from this the whole time I was reading it, and I've already told friends about it. Highly recommend if you're at all interested in 30s politics or the history and politics of unions.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-02-02 00:00:00 Random Guy An absolute tome, but it's all here. Some is grating--Bernstein covers a great deal of factional warfare within unions and government. Some is more exciting than fiction, like when Toledo pickets trapped industrialists in a factory, and those industrialists used an airplane to resupply them with teargas on the roof. More than anything, though, this book is a thorough recount of the industrial union movement, the birth of the CIO, the sit-down strike in America, the terrible position of blacks who could only find work as strike breakers, the roles of various Marxist organizations, and the intense personalities who dominated the industrial union movement. I wouldn't trust anyone's take on the Great Depression who hasn't read this book.