Rating: 3 out of 5
I really like Bill Bryson’s writings, but this one left me cold. Perhaps it’s the subject matter — mostly the flights of Lindbergh and Babe Ruth. The most interesting characters for me here were Herbert Hoover and perhaps Al Capone and the part of the story that dealt with his downfall. Overall, this was a very minor part.
Perhaps it’s the style which I didn’t find myself overly liking — the idea of following a period of time instead of any major events sounds better than it was. In reality, of course, to get the whole set of facts to base oneself on the full past and present to that moment must also be described. There have been a few other books where a similar device has been used and I don’t think I’ve ended up rating those too highly either.
