One Summer

Bill Bryson brings his deft style to his latest book, One Summer.  In this book he goes into extraordinary detail about the events going on in America during the summer of 1927.  It is a fascinating look at life in America during what is indubitably an incredibly busy time.  Bryson’s writing style is generally very appealing to me & he continues that trend here.  He has a knack for picking out small humorous elements when he writes that generally leaves me chuckling.  Let me quote from a section where he is describing Jacob Rupper (owner of the Yankees at the time) as an example:

“He spoke with a German accent – he called Ruth “Root,” for instance – which was a little puzzling because he had lived his whole life in America, as indeed had his parents.  He collected jade, books, ceramics, dogs, horses, and art, and had what was called “America’s finest collection of small monkeys.” …Ruppert’s most arresting peccadillo was that he kept a second home in Garrison, New York, where he maintained a shrine to his mother in the form of a room containing everything she would need if she came back to life.  This may go some way toward explaining why he never married.”

This is a book I would recommend to lovers of in depth history without hesitation.