A Century Turns: New Hopes, New Fears by William J. Bennett

A Century Turns

New Hopes, New Fears

by William J. Bennett

A Century Turns details 20 years of political history from the 1988 election of President George H.W. Bush through to the 2008 election of President Barrack Obama. The book is obviously a factual timeline of political events, but also includes a narrative of other things going on at the time, such other major events and even how the press played a role in the event. For me this was an interesting writing style and made it much more than a simple history of the 20 years.

In 1988 I was in high school and until recently had absolutely no interest in politics. Then I married a man who is a history buff and listens to nothing but talk radio, I would say following politics is his hobby! I, on the other hand, am only generally aware of events as they occur and thought this book would be a great refresher to catch up on those years. The book certainly brought me up to date, but unfortunately for my husband has not made me much more interested in history or politics. Overall the book was well written and interesting but for me it was not a page turner.

As a final note, although the author is a Republican and worked closely with Republican presidents, I found the book to be fair to both sides. In fact, many footnotes are provided that state his direct involvement, and perhaps bias opinion, in certain situations. Again, it is a well written book and I would recommend it to anyone interested in political history.



Disclosure: Thomas Nelson Publishers provided me with a complimentary copy of this book as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program.