A DREAM OF GREATNESS: The American People 1945-1963

by Geoffrey Perrett ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 1979

Geoffrey Perrett picks up the story at the point where his earlier book, Days of Sadness, Years of Triumph (1973), left off. The theme of this work--compiled from newspaper and magazine accounts for contemporaneity--is that ""From V-J Day 1945 until November 22, 1963 the people of the United States were engaged in a conscious attempt to become the greatest nation in history."" It is difficult, however, to recognize this theme in Perrett's close-up recording of the events. While he depicts McCarthyism and anti-Communist obsession as a quest for Americanism, he admits that this Americanism ""consisted of little more than the status quo."" Similarly, the growth of the American way of life typified by suburbia, technology, corporations, and affluence is the now-familiar story of isolation, alienation, conformism, and banality. And the religious revival of the Fifties which Perrett concludes was ""part of the drive for greatness"" is described in the text as ""a message of adjustment to the status quo."" This contradiction between theme and matter flows out of his failure to rise above the level of reportage in his sources. Unlike William Manchester's parallel The Glory and the Dream 1933-1972, whose strong narrative voice selects and molds the raw materials into events and personalities, this work quarantines matters of politics, culture, and spirit, while debunking personalities. In the absence of historical analysis and a guiding voice, events just happen: the generation gap of the Sixties ""came for no evident reason."" While the book is reasonably accurate and complete, it is superficial and capricious: the baby boom of 1945 may have been related to optimism, as Perrett suggests, but why did it start in 1940? Why is American literature judged ""feeble"" while Mailer is mocked; Bellow, Cheever, and Ellison are ignored; and Salinger and Updike are relegated to figures of the religious revival? Neither the whole nor the parts merit serious attention.

Pub Date: June 1, 1979

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1979

Categories: NONFICTION