New World Coming

The 1920s and the Making of Modern America

By: Nathan Miller

Narrated by: Lloyd James

Jazz. Bootleggers. Flappers. Talkies. Model T Fords. Lindbergh's history-making flight over the Atlantic. The 1920s was also the decade of the hard-won vote for women, racial injustice, censorship, social conflict, and the birth of organized crime.

Chronicling what he sees as the most significant decade of the past century, the author vividly portrays the 1920s, focusing on the men and women who shaped this extraordinary time, including three of America's most conservative presidents. New World Coming is an incisive, thoroughly readable account of an age that defined America.

©2002 Nathan Miller (P)2003 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"Miller quite eloquently illuminates the United States as it existed under presidents Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover....This volume comprises an excellent chronicle of that turbulent, troubled, and tempestuous decade called 'the roaring '20s'." (Publishers Weekly)
"Considering this work's density of data and personalities from Klansmen to jazzmen to evangelists, Miller's structuring is notably skillful. A suave, entertaining survey." (Booklist)
"Miller's asides are gemlike....[a] spellbinding account of growing pains in an often-gullible society." (Kirkus Reviews)

Starts great, then tapers off some

This book is written by a journalist, and as you hear it, that fact becomes more evident. And as a former journalist, I believe that's both good and bad.

Miller does a very nice job of telling the story of the 1920s. His research is extensive. He effectively sets the scene by describing the mid- to late-1910s, and his epilogue about the 1932 election is a nice way to end the book. I also loved the short biographical sketches that he wrote about all the key figures, from the politicians and writers to the crime bosses and sports stars. It is a very informative, easy-to-read account of this most fascinating decade.

The book is very thematic in that Miller spends most of the early part of the book on politics, from Harding to Coolidge. He then hits on one key aspect of the era's social history after another, including prohibition, immigration, religion, sports, art, etc. He later ties it together with the 1928 election and the Stock Market crash. It's impossible to read this book and not learn plenty about the period, unless you were already an expert.

The downside of Miller's journalist background is that, in writing the book like a massive feature/news story, he failed to include a central argument or theme. He opines a few times that the stereotypes of the 1920s are largely myths, and the title indicates that a case will be made for the decade as the time when the modern world really began to take shape. But I didn't find there to be a main theme. I just found it to be an enjoyable story of an interesting decade. And to be honest, that's OK with me.

Fast paced and entertaining

Very well written, broad-ranging history of the 20s written by a journalist. It has the pace and depth you would expect from an investigative reporter, but not necessarily all the detail and docs you would expect from a historian.

partisan left in ways that mar veracity

This isn't a neutral treatment. Its purpose is not to tell the story of the 1920s, but to misrepresent the '20s to malign the post-1994 Republican resurgence. In this sense it has three disadvantages at the beginning of the new '20s: it's not correct history; it's didactic in what have become intensely boring ways; and it's deeply dated, which is a weird accomplishment for something that purports to be a history.

Fascinating history

I loved this book. I started it with only mild curiosity, because I'm on an F. Scott Fitzgerald obsession currently... but wow - this book amazed me by unfolding so many aspects of American history in the 1920's without boring my socks off. The narrator did a very good job. This book makes me want to read more about America between the wars and the vibrant personalities I met in this book. I know I will listen to it again - one time was not enough.

Just the Facts

Straightforward style, this book gives you exactly what happened from 1918-1933. It covers all elements of society, and is completely amazing for someone who is unfamiliar with this time in American History.