The Review of ‘The Glory and the Dream’ by William Manchester
Describe the central theme and objective of this reading. Cite examples from the reading.
Recently I’ve read the book on history called ‘The Glory and the Dream’ by William Manchester. ‘One more boring history book,’ you may say. But you shouldn’t draw any firm conclusions at once. Let me prove you that even history books can be interesting and absorbing. Are you ready? So, let’s go.
There are two volumes of this book which the author called a narrative history of America. It comprises the information about the years from 1932 to 1972. And, unlike other typical (and boring) history books where the information is usually jumbled in decades, each of the 37 chapters of this book covers only one year. I interpret that to mean like a story-telling as opposed to a list of facts. It is certainly not preaching.
Manchester told me about the Bonus Expeditionary Force, and the response of General MacArthur, and the future President Eisenhower, who was his adviser. Eisenhower's desk was separated from the Army’s Chief of Staff by a single slatted door.
In the first quarter of the book Manchester focuses on the Depression and the New Deal, showing the consequences of how one led to the other in a time of desperate need. He describes just how close the United States was to a full-scale revolution, with farmers blocking Sioux City, Iowa, and stop selling milk, pouring it onto the highways.
It is hardly a true in-depth history of this period, because even at more than 1000 pages, it is not long enough. But Manchester does a masterful job of giving the meaning to these years, and giving them names that my generation will find familiar.
Despite the obvious central theme of this reading – the history of America, I think, its main topic is to show all the bright palette of colors of what life was like at that time without a detailed focus on names, dates, and battles.
Here, I want to dwell upon The Part 1 (Prologue) and the years from 1932-1941.
It begins in the year 1932 with the Bonus Army marching on Washington D.C. The prologue begins as ‘’Rock Bottom” because the year 1932 was “rock bottom” year of the Great Depression for the United States of America. But who was that Bonus Army? It was desperate World War veterans with no money “asking their government for relief from the Great Depression” [p.1]. But in fact, all they wanted was the payment for their heroic acts. And then they appealed to President Hoover, but he ignored their cries pretending to be very busy [p.1].
I think, we can see the connection with our time in this scene. It often happens that politicians ignore the people’s opinions pretending that nothing happens. But the completely opposite situation happens just before the elections: all candidates are really responsive and understanding, they know (oh, really!) the needs of plebs and take a solemn oath to adopt all the necessary laws which would make our life better. But then the election has passed, all the candidates received our voices, and a couple of years after the elections we’ll be living the same way we’ve lived before the elections. Ok, maybe, there’ll be some improvements in our law system, but I don’t think that we’ll live completely better than before. Life experience has proven that we either live the same way and at the same level or we start to live worse because our politicians want to buy themselves one more car, mansion or an island.
Another vital problem described in the book is race discrimination. "Dark-skinned children of the South," a government guide explained, were confined to domestic service and "manual work." Department stores, movies, and government cafeterias were closed to them.” [p.6].The author adds that black people even suffered from thirsty or hunger because there were few places which could give them food and water, so they had to pass a big distance to find such places [p.6].
For now the situation hasn’t totally changed. Yes, there was the law adopted by Abraham Lincoln in 1862 which abolished the slavery throughout the USA, but we still have lots of concerns. There’re plenty of present-day examples of race discrimination, and one of the most notable events of the last years is the killing of black teenager in Ferguson some years ago by police officers. We can also remember Albert Woodfox who has been recently released from prison after more than 40 years in solitary confinement because he killed a white policeman [Amnestyusa.org]. I think, if he wasn’t black, the punishment wouldn’t have been so severe.
Cite your favorite section(s)/chapter(s)/storyline from the reading. Does it apply, or not apply to the current state of the economy.
My favorite piece in this book isn’t big. For someone it’s even of no importance, but I’d like to say a few words about it. It was a passage about the catastrophic condition in education at the time of Big Depression. For me the profession of teacher is the most honorable job. I really respect these people for all they do for us, their children, for all the knowledge they give us. And I was shocked to know that “rather than see 500,000 children remain on the streets, the teachers hitchhiked to work, endured “payless paydays” -- by 1932 they had received checks in only five of the last thirteen months -- and accepted city scrip to be redeemed after the Depression, even though Chicago bankers would not accept it.” More than 1000 teachers lost their homes, but still, they fed 11 000 pupils out of their thin pocketbooks [p.47].
At the present time I can’t say that the situation has completely changed for better as the problem in this sphere still exists. And I can say that not everyone is able to become a teacher. And it’s not about university degree in teaching, but because this job requires the enormous self-commitment, patience and, what is the most important, - love to people.
I think that this problem applies to the problems of current state of the economy because if the economy is bad, the country has no money to pay the citizens for their work. Also the huge output of goods produced didn’t correspond to consumer buying power – that is, higher wages [p.36]. The people were desperate because they didn’t have enough money to provide for their families. So, some people, whether rich or not, began speculating in stocks and mass market persuading others to buy goods in credit. “Thus ended the New Era prosperity. The panic followed, and the country couldn't cope with it,” as the author described that period [p.37].
But what we see now? Of course, we live in more comfortable conditions than people of that time, we have an access to any goods and we can buy them for any price. I mean, if we like something, but it’s too expensive for us, we can bargain with a seller to bring down the price, or we can find a similar thing on the Internet that will be much cheaper. I mean, we have a big choice today. The choice that didn’t have our ancestors. But does this mean that our economy has become better and stronger and we’ve got more freedom of choice? I think, partially, yes.
The model of modern economy, to my mind, has become from the idea of unlimited sponging. It’s appeared from the fact that there are people who have the power and opportunity to come up with a plan which helps them to live at others' expense. Their main function is to consume while others are working on them.
I think that modern monetarist economy thought is focused on hiding and justifying the fact that the entire economy is built for the sake of one group of people living at others’ expense. I’m not going to name particular people or organizations, but the economic system as a whole.
A significant part of the book is dedicated to 32nd President of the USA Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In the presidential campaign of 1932, Roosevelt won a landslide victory over Mr. Hoover, who hadn’t succeeded in bringing the country out of the economic crisis of 1929-33. During the campaign, Roosevelt outlined the basic ideas of social and economic transformations that have received on the recommendation of his advisors called "New Deal" [p. 49].
In the first hundred days of his presidency, Roosevelt undertook a number of important reforms. The banking system was restored. Then Roosevelt signed the law creating the Federal Emergency Relief Administration for hungry and unemployed people. The law on farm debt refinancing had been adopted, as well as the Law on the rehabilitation of agriculture, which called for state control over the volume of agricultural production. Roosevelt considered the Industry Recovery Act as the most promising, which provided for a range of government measures to regulate the industry [p.50-55].
He also carried out important reforms in the field of work, social security, taxation, banking, etc.
The impressive election victory in 1936 allowed Roosevelt in 1937-38 to advance in the field of civil engineering, wage and labor laws. The laws, adopted by Congress upon an initiative of the President, were a bold experiment of government regulation to change the economy and social welfare [p.56-58].
Roosevelt’s pre-war foreign policy was different, on the one hand, because of the flexibility and realism, and on the other hand, because of contradictory and extreme caution. One of the foreign policy initiatives after Roosevelt’s coming to power in November 1933 was the diplomatic recognition of the Soviet Union. In relations with Latin America a policy of "good neighbor" had been proclaimed which contributed to the creation of the inter-American system of collective security [p.50].
Being a liberal, Roosevelt supported the trade union movement, but making concessions to the workers and blacks, he thus certainly acted in the interests of the capitalist system. I think, if he hadn’t made these concessions, the masses, full of fighting spirit, probably would have gone much further and finally forced entrepreneurs and governments undertake much more significant reforms.
Critique: Was this a meaningful work to you? Give reasoning. Did the author present the material in a logical, readable manner. Does any of this material give any insight to our present day economy?
This was a meaningful work to me because it was the first time when I found a really interesting book on history of my country. The author presented the material in a logical and readable manner, so it was a real pleasure for me to read it. To my mind, the whole book is not only about history, but also about the bad state of the economy of that time and, as we know, all the revolutions and social unrest in the country happen first of all because of unstable economy.
3 (a). What is your reaction to the work? Did you like it or not, and why? What did you learn/take away from this reading?
When I started reading the book, I thought, it was the most deep-drawn thing I’ve ever read. There are lots of corruptible things about there in the book, and I was really shocked to know the new information. Many of the things that the author said in his book I just couldn’t believe. So that sent me off hunting for the “truth”. On some things, like all historians, I didn’t think that William had the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. But upon verification I always found that if he didn’t have the whole truth, he had a good portion of it and was heading in the right direction. I guess what I liked in his book was style and passion. His feelings and intensity come through and not necessarily together with his prejudices. He is just a good writer, plain and simple.
It is an interesting and excited story to read, but I don’t know what the moral of it is. It is both fun and sad. Is it the author’s endeavor to show the present generation what life was like at that time or maybe the author wanted to warn us about the mistakes which our ancestors had made and which we mustn’t repeat? I guess the unhappy fact is that it is just a true story - with an opinion here and sarcasm there and maybe even a misinterpretation or two.
Describe the author: writing specialties, accomplishments, awards, and other works. Describe his background and other occupations if any.
William Manchester is a historian who wrote not only this above-mentioned work, but also significant works about American President John F. Kennedy and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. William was born on April 1, 1922 in n Attleboro, Massachusetts. From his childhood he had problems with health and that’s why spent most of the time indoors. As a result, he read a lot and succeeded in writing. At 7 he wrote his first poems and by the time of 11 he was already cranking out short stories [Biography.com].
After his father’s death, the family moved to Springfield, Massachusetts, where William graduated from Classical High School in 1940. That autumn he entered the University of Massachusetts, but had to interrupt his studies in 1942 to follow a family tradition and join the Marines and served in the Pacific during the Second World War. Manchester was wounded and earned a Purple Heart [Biography.com].
During his recovery William met another injured soldier John F. Kennedy who became his good friend.
After the discharge, Manchester got back to the university where he completed his English degree and graduated first in his class in 1946. In 1948 he graduated with master’s degree from the University of Missouri and married Julia Marshall [Biography.com].
During the next several years William was working as a reporter in a newspaper before he applied as a secretary for writer H. L. Mencken who was the mentor of Manchester’s master’s thesis. Mencken then encouraged him to try writing books and in 1959 Manchester’s first nonfiction book ‘A Rockefeller Family Portrait’ was published [Biography.com].
As Manchester was in a friendship with John Kennedy, William often visited Kennedy’s compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. In 1962, he published ‘Portrait of a President: John F. Kennedy in Profile’, which was strongly criticized by some experts for its too adoring tone. Manchester was the one who Jacqueline Kennedy, the former First Lady, chose to write about John Kennedy because of their good relationship. But soon Jacqueline’s opinion of Manchester began to worsen as she started to fear that William would write too honestly about her disdain for President Lyndon B. Johnson. Their relationship became even more deteriorated when Look magazine offered Manchester about $650,000 to publish serially the book, inducing John’s widow to publicly blame him for commercial motives [Biography.com].
Soon Manchester stopped working with Kennedy’s family and concentrated on editing the book. Finally, ‘Death of a President’ was a success with more than 1.3 million hardcover copies after its publication in the spring of 1967. Notwithstanding that the book was dismissed by some critics as hagiography, it won Dag Hammarskjold International Literary Prize and was considered a landmark [Biography.com].
Manchester’s later work was the same success. His later books included ‘The Arms of Krupp, 1587-1958’ (1968); ‘American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur 1880-1964’ (1978); and the first two volumes of ‘The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill’ biography: Visions of Glory, 1874-1932 (1983) and Alone, 1932-1940 (1988), and ‘The Glory and the Dream: A Narrative History of America, 1932-1972,’ which was published in 1974 [Biography.com].
The reason why Manchester’s books are so absorbing is that he writes with his own interest, passion and power. "Power is the one thing that has fascinated me ever since I was a kid in Springfield, Mass.," he once said. "What exactly is power? Where are its roots? How do some people get it and others miss it entirely? How do they hold it or lose it?" [Biography.com].
Manchester died at his home in Middletown, Connecticut, on June 1, 2004 after a series of debilitating strokes that weakened his writing ability [Biography.com].
I really want to thank William Manchester. For what? Because he made me like reading history. I’ve always dreamed to read such a history book where all the characters are alive and tell you their life stories. And you can’t, but throw yourself into their stories, one is more interesting than another. So, I’ve not only learned all the dates, names and important events, but also got a big pleasure while learning.
Work Cited
Biography.com Editors. William Manchester Biography. The Biography.com website. A&E Television Networks. Web. 22.03.2016
˂http://www.biography.com/people/william-manchester-9396919#early-years˃
Albert Woodfox Released! Amnestyusa.org, 2016. Web. 23.03.2016
˂ http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/cases/usa-the-angola-3 ˃
Manchester, William. The Glory and the Dream. Boston: Little, Brown & Co.,1974. Print
