One Summer

by Bill Bryson

English language

Published Nov. 7, 2013 by Doubleday.

ISBN:: 978-0-385-60828-2

View on OpenLibrary

(34 reviews)

10 editions

allanderek reviewed One Summer: America 1927 by Bill Bryson

Gripping, informative and a great ride

5 stars

I pretty much loved this from start to finish. I am a slow reader, but found myself frequently picking this book up whenever I had a spare ten minutes.

He also uses a trick, that John Irving uses, which really hooks me. At the end of several chapters, he gives a spoiler about the current topic, but then the next chapter is on a different topic. The spoiler just teases you enough to want to keep reading now to get closer to when the teaser is fully expunged.

His voice and style is the same as with pretty much all Bill Bryson books, if you love Bill Bryson, there is no good reason not to read this one. That said, if you aren't a fan this will likely be a long slog. If you've never read any Bill Bryson, perhaps start with a shorter one as a taster.

harmonizer reviewed One Summer: America 1927 by Bill Bryson

Review of 'One Summer: America 1927' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

This book from a favorite author of mine, Bill Bryson, touches on all of interesting events that occurred during the summer of 1927 and how they shaped the way the United States is today, including baseball and human flight.

Overall an interesting read.

Eduardo Santiago reviewed One Summer by Bill Bryson

Review of 'One Summer' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Promising starting point but what a slog. There’s this unfortunate tendency among modern editors to turn meek when writers get too famous, and it looks like Bryson has arrived in those ranks. This is a great book made mediocre by uncut verborrhea: winding digressions, long laundry-list enumerations of names and cities and baseball stats, and a confusing timeline. Largely enjoyable, because the source content is interesting, but overall tedious, and Bryson’s voice here is muffled — not his usual sparkle.

Matthew Royal reviewed One Summer: America 1927 by Bill Bryson

Review of 'One Summer: America 1927' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

One Summer takes a look at headlines from 1927, and Bryson fleshes out the stories with background information in order to explain the story. Lots of little vignettes on Babe Ruth and Charles Lindbergh, but the only common thread is the year.

If you love Bill Bryson's voice and style, it doesn't matter what he writes -- you'll love it. I am not one of those people, so while I enjoyed his story of hiking the Appalachian Trail, I have not loved his other books. Stopped reading this one halfway through, and I don't regret it.

gimley reviewed One Summer: America 1927 by Bill Bryson

Review of 'One Summer: America 1927' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Bryson suggests calling the times about which he writes (summer of 1927 but including its influences from earlier and it's later consequences) the "Age of Loathing," a term which seems equally applicable to the present. Indeed, the levels of hatred by those professing to be Christians is reminiscent of those professing "values" today. It was a time of corruption in high places, or moral posturing, of anti-immigrant sentiments, of racial and religious casual and not so casual discrimination with no attempt to pretend otherwise. And yet, this was the time of heroic aviators, inventors, and sports champions. This is when America was great.

Often when reading this book, I felt the human races was hopeless--not a pleasant thing to feel, but that's not why I denied the book a fifth star. I did that because I felt manipulated by the way the Sacco and Vanzetti story was told, frontloaded with …

pithypants reviewed One Summer: America 1927 by Bill Bryson

Review of 'One Summer: America 1927' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

If Bill Bryson wrote history textbooks, my knowledge on the topic would likely be improved ten-fold. He’s such a great storyteller, he’s able to suss out the interesting details that make people, places and times come to life.

In One Summer, he specifically focuses on the events of 1927, though - in honesty - it seems like that’s kind of an excuse for him to write about whatever he found interesting in the first quarter of the century, since he often backtracks to provide back-story leading up to the events of 1927. Regardless, it’s a great ride. One of the reviews I read criticized the book for being disjointed because Bryson hops from topic to topic without a clear plan. That might bother some people, but I didn’t find it distracting.

This book touches on:

* Babe Ruth
* Lou Gerhig
* Charles Lindbergh
* Aviation
* Henry Ford (in …

Didactylos reviewed One Summer: America 1927 by Bill Bryson

Review of 'One Summer: America 1927' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I love Bill Bryson books.... this one was a bit different.

I skimmed over the baseball and boxing stuff - I know its very important to the American psyche, but my mind just could not take it in.

However, I have a picture of the USA now that is VERY different to before I read this book. I guess my impression of the fun loving democracy comes from post war and WW2 knowledge, the 1920's was a new area to me. Stunning and savage at times the level of graft, hypocrisy, racism and downright nastiness exposed.

Very entertaining, very enlightening.

Heather reviewed One Summer: America 1927 by Bill Bryson

Review of 'One Summer: America 1927' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Who cares about the summer of 1927? If the author was anyone other than Bill Bryson, I would have been skeptical. He uses the summer of 1927 as a jumping off point for well-researched stream of consciousness discussions about topics as diverse as air travel, boxing, baseball, fear of immigrants, economic policy, crime, and Herbert Hoover. Herbert Hoover is always around. It is sort of creepy.

I love all of Bill Bryson's books and I especially like listening to them on audio.