Traces the development of American industrial power and the hurdles
that threatened the country's ascendenceC
A lively tour of the United States in the first half of the twentieth
century, America Ascendant traces the development of America's
tremendous industrial power and its commercial deployment, at home and
abroad. Emphasizing the contributions of those charismatic presidents
who shaped the future of politics--Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson,
and Franklin Delano Roosevelt--the book also covers pioneers such as
Henry Ford and the Wright brothers, whose technological contributions
transformed societies the world over.
The book investigates the phenomena that threatened America's
ascendance--the Great Red Scare of 1917-20 and the rout of organized
labor, the Great Crash of 1929 and the searing depression years, and the
apartheid policies that undermined American democratic ideals. Moreover,
Sean Dennis Cashman sets the American story within the dramatic context
of the rise and fall of political empires in Europe and Asia and two
devastating world wars. Enriching the volume is an integrated account of
the American cultural scene, replete with such figures as Ernest
Hemingway, Frank Lloyd Wright, George Gershwin, Louis Armstrong, Billie
Holiday, Charlie Chaplin, and D. W. Griffith.
Imaginatively conceived, America Ascendant once again reveals Sean
Dennis Cashman's flair for bringing American history to life with all
its triumphs, drama, and ambiguities.
