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 general, but also the Model T, the Model A and - most interestingly - Fordlandia, which was new to me)
* The mafia (specifically Chicago and Al Capone)
* Prohibition
* Hollywood