The Glory and the Dream
Encyclopedia
The Glory and the Dream: A Narrative History of America, 1932-1972 is a 1400-page social history
by William Manchester
. Sometimes sold as two volumes, it describes the history of the United States
between 1932 and 1972. The Glory and the Dream was listed as a New York Times bestseller in 1975. The book details both social history and political machinations in the period with a focus on how the New Deal
, the Second World War and the Cold War
influenced American culture. Special attention is paid to Roosevelt
's New Deal and the lasting effect it has had on the U.S. government. Manchester simplifies the complex political maneuvers and opaque terminology that pervaded Cold War politics to more accessible language.
The book's title is taken from William Wordsworth
's poem "Ode: Intimations of Immortality
": "Whither is fled the visionary gleam? / Where is it now, the glory and the dream?"
Social history
Social history, often called the new social history, is a branch of History that includes history of ordinary people and their strategies of coping with life. In its "golden age" it was a major growth field in the 1960s and 1970s among scholars, and still is well represented in history departments...
by William Manchester
William Manchester
William Raymond Manchester was an American author, biographer, and historian from Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, notable as the bestselling author of 18 books that have been translated into over 20 languages...
. Sometimes sold as two volumes, it describes the history of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
between 1932 and 1972. The Glory and the Dream was listed as a New York Times bestseller in 1975. The book details both social history and political machinations in the period with a focus on how the New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
, the Second World War and the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
influenced American culture. Special attention is paid to Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
's New Deal and the lasting effect it has had on the U.S. government. Manchester simplifies the complex political maneuvers and opaque terminology that pervaded Cold War politics to more accessible language.
The book's title is taken from William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads....
's poem "Ode: Intimations of Immortality
Ode: Intimations of Immortality
Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood is a poem by William Wordsworth, completed in 1804 and published in Poems, in Two Volumes . The poem was completed in two parts, with the first four stanzas written among a series of poems composed in 1802 about childhood...
": "Whither is fled the visionary gleam? / Where is it now, the glory and the dream?"