SINCE YESTERDAY

by Frederick Lewis Allen ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 9, 1939

Everyone is going to have a lot of fun with this book, for like its predecessor, Only Yesterday, Fred Allen casts a microscopic eye over the foibles of the the decade, bringing them into sharp relief against the events which paralleled them. The pace and substance of the years 1929-1939 are of such different character from the 1920's of the other volume, that the period emerges as a time of change and chaos and shifting sands, of economic and political upheaval, of international unrest, leading up to the declaration of war with Germany. He has introduced subjects at the moment of their inception, with a forward look as to later developments, that may seem at first confusing, but that ultimately ties a great many loose ends together. He crystalizes our memories for us, showing how successive steps of the New Deal grew, the one out of the other: of the reasons back of much that happened too fast for ordinary consumption. He does not attempt any profound interpretation of the period, but simply presents it as a swift moving panorama, of events and personalities and points of view. He is gently satirical, he pokes fun at household gods, he makes us see ourselves as others see us, and he has a good time doing it. The book is a sure best seller, I should say, on the basis of the success of the other, and on everyone's egotistic interest in reviewing the things which are already part of life.

Pub Date: Feb. 9, 1939

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harper

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1939

Categories: NONFICTION