In Our Times: America Since World War II (6th Edition)

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Summary: Some good information with no extras
Review: Recent (post-WWII) American history is a highly interesting and frequently-overlooked genre under the overall umbrella of American history study. Many tend to simply forget about it -- after all, it's hard to step back from the times in which one lives and analyze them objectively -- or shrug it off as not important. After all, we LIVED that, right? -- How can it possibly stand up as history? This overlooks the self-evident but rarely-ackwnoledged fact that merely living through something does not mean you understand it -- or, as with one aspect of contemporary American history covered in this book, the counterculture, if you remember it, the saying goes, you weren't there. Certainly, recent history is as interesting and vital as any other era to the objective historian -- and it is certainly the most applicable to our current social and political climate. One can read ancient Greek texts and see how that great society laid the foundation for what is going on at the moment -- but it is much more cognizable, not to mention jolting, when reading about something that happened much more recently, which we can clearly discern as sowing the seeds for the present day. What one often forgets when reading histories of the days of yore is that all histories are inherently prejudiced -- and even, as Oscar Wilde pointed out, autobiographical. When reading about events that one has actually lived through, this oft-forgotten fact becomes apparent.

Though individual parts of post-1945 American history have inspired volumes upon volumes, and even mini cottage industries, general, overarching texts of the period are not abundant. In Our Times is one of the most prevalent. Though this book is often used as a college textbook, it works better as a single reading than as a textbook or a reference. Certainly, it contains a wealth of good information -- but it is presented in the driest, most unimaginable way possible. Chapters are long, with little to no break in text: no captions, graphics, or eye-catching features whatsoever, and very few pictures (none in color) or graphs. Chapters are broken up only by bold typeheadings, and quite rarely at that, making it very difficult to look things up or search for something quickly; this renders the book almost useless as a reference and quite limited as a textbook. As a sit-through read, though, it is quite adequate. This book lends itself more to the historically-curious individual reader than to the student or scholar.

Rating:
Summary: Skidmore's Administration Text
Review: The book reads a lot like an encyclopedia. It contains a lot of good information about social work administration, but is quite dry reading.