| . |
| A dazzling panorama of presidential personalities, ambitions, plots and counter-plots--and of a newly-modern America at the crossroads--grounded in solid historical research, insightful social commentary, a compelling and innovative structure, and riveting historical profiles. In 1920, a record six past, present, or future chief executives eye the great prize of the Presidency, each with a unique style and vision of the office and the nation: Theodore Roosevelt: The Rough Rider himself. President. Historian. Cowboy. Police Commissioner. Trust-Buster. Explorer. Naturalist. Big-Game Hunter. Noble Prize-winner. He has been president once--and wants the job again. Only the hand of God can keep him from the White House in 1920. Woodrow Wilson: Brilliant, eloquent, progressive, and self-confident. But also bigoted, self-centered, stubborn, and messianic. He desperately plans for a League of Nations to prevent future wars, but lacks the diplomatic and political skills to sell the idea either at home or abroad. In the bargain, he fatally compromises article after article of his Fourteen Points and sows the seeds of another war. "Woodrow Wilson is an exile from the hearts of his people," says Eugene V. Debs, "The betrayal of his ideals makes him the most pathetic figure in the world." An October 1919 stroke leaves him too crippled to lead the nation, but the nation is never told. Fantastically, he clings to hopes of an unprecedented third term. Warren G. Harding: Ohio small-town newspaper editor, Republican politician, and serial adulterer. His strengths: he looks like a president, sounds like a president (if you don't listen too carefully), and is sufficiently vague on the issues to be nominated. "America's present need," he intones, "is not heroics, but healing; not nostrums but normalcy." America agrees. Calvin Coolidge: Silent Cal. The taciturn Vermonter who became Massachusetts's coldly efficient governor. His actions during the September 1919 Boston police strike ("There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, anytime") make him presidential timber. In Chicago, the GOP convention stampedes and anoints him its vice-presidential candidate. Herbert Hoover: The Great Engineer. International gold mining adventurer. Multi-millionaire. Savior of war-ravaged Europe's starving masses. A political progressive and member of the Wilson administration. A national hero. In 1920 Hoover wants to be president but has one big problem: he can't decide if he's a Republican or a Democrat. Franklin D. Roosevelt: Wilson's ambitious, but not yet properly-seasoned, under secretary of the Navy. If the Republicans can't nominate a dead Roosevelt, the Democrats will nominate a live one--Franklin--for vice-president. |
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Links
- 1920's Cast of Characters
- 1920 in Public and Academic
Libraries - Epilog: What Happened to the Men,
Women & Institutions of 1920 - 1920 Election Chronology
- 1920 Election Links
- Calvin Coolidge Links
- Warren G. Harding Links
- Herbert Hoover Links
- Franklin D. Roosevelt Links
- Theodore Roosevelt Links
- Woodrow Wilson Links
"A rousing chronicle. . . Pietrusza . . .
adds color and dimension with smart
discussions of Prohibition, women's
suffrage, immigration, civil rights, the
League of Nations and labor strife, and
he offers animated portraits of William
Jennings Bryan, Carrie Chapman Catt,
Henry Ford, Marcus Garvey, Sacco
and Vanzetti, William Randolph
Hearst, H.L. Mencken and many
others. A hugely fascinating episode in
American history, told with insight and
great humor, by an author in command
of his subject."
--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"absorbing . . . a broad, satisfying
political and social history, in the style
of Doris Kearns Goodwin."
--Publishers Weekly
"David Pietrusza has a gift for making
the past both real and dramatically
gripping, and in 1920 he has an
extraordinary cast of characters with
which to work his magic. Imagine a
year when Herbert Hoover was a
global hero, and FDR a callow bit
player; when a repudiated and
physically broken president fantasized
about vindication at the polls; and
millions of women casting their first
votes helped elect Hollywood's idea of
a president, one Warren Gamaliel
Harding. Add those temperamental
opposites Theodore Roosevelt and
Calvin Coolidge to the mix, and you
have one helluva historical dinner party.
An unforgettable group portrait of
America on the brink of modernity"
--Richard Norton Smith
"a colorful, nonacademic account . . .
Most of all, there are the characters.
Pietrusza draws them sharply: the
imperious Wilson, the obliging Harding,
the dour and honest Coolidge and the
ambitious and dissembling Franklin
Roosevelt. Fans of political history will
enjoy this book."
--”Seattle Times
"Fascinating and compelling . . . Highly
recommended."
--Library Journal
"It will blow your mind . . . a fantastic
book."
--Glenn Beck
"I just finished 1920 and liked it a lot . .
. a fine job in capturing the
personalities of an interesting cast of
political characters and the era in which
they lived."
--”President George W. Bush
"The President passed on your book
after he finished it . . . I dipped into
1920 and found myself devouring it in
one weekend. A great read--chock full
of great insights and brilliant portraits.
Thanks for a wonderful volume . . a
great read."
--Karl Rove
"An ably popular treatment that fans of
campaign histories will enjoy."
--Booklist
"A terrific and fun read."
--”Bloomberg Radio
"More than just a story of six men who
either already had been president or
would be, this is the story of America
as it moved into the modern age."
-- Denver Post
"a very vivid portrait of each of these
presidents."
--Ann Compton, ABC News
"Pietrusza is a very gifted writer with a
marvelous eye for anecdote. Even a
reader familiar with American electoral
history will learn things from this lively
history, and a reader unfamiliar with the
politics of the period will enjoy an
engaging introduction to an unusually
complicated political cycle."
--David Frum, National Review Online
"Through a lens trained on a long-ago
election, David Pietrusza's 1920: The
Year of Six Presidents, delivers a rich
and compelling narrative of American
politics. Exploring a year when giant
figures of American history were
waxing and waning, he deftly explains
how we ended up with a presidential
showdown between two largely
unknown--yet surprisingly randy--
editors of small-town Ohio
newspapers, which Warren Harding
won principally by being "nice."
--David O. Stewart, author of
The Summer of 1787:
The Men Who Invented the
Constitution
"Sweeping and original."
--”The History Book Club
"In 1920: The Year of the Six
Presidents, writer David Pietrusza
shows the right way to pull together
disparate characters into a coherent
narrative. . . .this book portrays an
America that has stopped looking
backward and has begun to craft a
new country and a new world role."
--The Washington Times
"An absolutely wonderful book . . . I
loved [it], absolutely marvelous,
absolutely wonderful research . . . just
a great read, marvelously done,
brilliantly constructed and really
integrates the entire story of one year--
1920. . . . if I were teaching a history
class of early twentieth century
America this is the book I would use. .
. . It reads like a novel but it's fact . . .
a great book."
--John Rothmann
KGO (San Francisco)
"I just love 1920: The Year of Six
Presidents by David Pietrusza. It's not
historical fiction, but plain old history
that zips along like good fiction. I just
wish I'd read it before I wrote my
book."
--Jonah Goldberg,
National Review Online
" . . . a campaign like no other before
or since. David Pietrusza, a seasoned
crime-and-mystery writer, builds the
suspense of the 1920 campaign so
effectively that the reader easily
suspends, for the moment, knowledge
of the outcome, as if it were still about
to happen. . . [Pietrusza] organizes the
story in a way that produces high
drama."
--The Weekly Standard
"I agree with Jonah Goldberg--I wish
I had read it before I wrote my book."
--Burton W. Folsom Jr.
Author of "New Deal or Raw:
Deal?: How FDR's Economic
Legacy Has Damaged America
"With a storyteller's eye for characters
and drama, Pietrusza re-creates
America at a post-World War I turning
point, when the country wanted steady
leadership but got scandal instead."
--Washington CEO Magazine
"outstanding . . . fascinating"
--Al Kresta, Ave Maria Radio
"a fine and lively recommendation both
for high school and college collections
strong in American history and politics
in particular, or even public lending
libraries."
--California Bookwatch
"David Pietrusza's new book--1920
The Year of Six Presidents--is
awesome! David writes history with
such clarity and insights, you don't
want to put the book down. You'll feel
the same way."
--Pat Williams
Author and Vice President,
Orlando Magic
"Pietrusza's volume brings the vivid
history of the 1920 election to life.
Both entertaining and insightful, it
provides exceptionally well crafted
"mini" biographies of the Six Presidents
and how their careers intersected that
year. The narrative is rich and
compelling as it peeks into the
backrooms and describes the national
mood. Pietrusza's handling of the
personalities, issues, trends and
techniques that went on to define
American politics in the first half of the
20th century is to be recommended to
anyone with an interest in presidential
biography or U.S. political history."
--Dr. Ron Faucheux
Author; Former Editor-in-Chief,
Campaigns and Elections Magazine
and Campaign Insider newsletter;
Former Louisiana legislator and
Secretary of Commerce
"David Pietrusza's remarkable new
book 1920: The Year of Six
Presidents is exactly the way history
should be written. It is riveting,
involving, filled with verifiable fact and
compelling anecdote. It makes the era
come alive [and] challenges
presumptions about well-known figures
. . ."
--Glenn Raucher
West Side Y's Writer's Voice
"History books walk a fine line and it’s
difficult for historians to be informative
and entertaining. Pietrusza makes it
look easy. 1920: The Year of Six
Presidents is not merely a great read;
it’s a great experience. Theodore
White’s The Making of the President
series might be the standard that books
about Presidential campaigns are
measured against, but Pietrusza’s 1920
gives White a run for his money."
--deadpresidents.com
adds color and dimension with smart
discussions of Prohibition, women's
suffrage, immigration, civil rights, the
League of Nations and labor strife, and
he offers animated portraits of William
Jennings Bryan, Carrie Chapman Catt,
Henry Ford, Marcus Garvey, Sacco
and Vanzetti, William Randolph
Hearst, H.L. Mencken and many
others. A hugely fascinating episode in
American history, told with insight and
great humor, by an author in command
of his subject."
--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"absorbing . . . a broad, satisfying
political and social history, in the style
of Doris Kearns Goodwin."
--Publishers Weekly
"David Pietrusza has a gift for making
the past both real and dramatically
gripping, and in 1920 he has an
extraordinary cast of characters with
which to work his magic. Imagine a
year when Herbert Hoover was a
global hero, and FDR a callow bit
player; when a repudiated and
physically broken president fantasized
about vindication at the polls; and
millions of women casting their first
votes helped elect Hollywood's idea of
a president, one Warren Gamaliel
Harding. Add those temperamental
opposites Theodore Roosevelt and
Calvin Coolidge to the mix, and you
have one helluva historical dinner party.
An unforgettable group portrait of
America on the brink of modernity"
--Richard Norton Smith
"a colorful, nonacademic account . . .
Most of all, there are the characters.
Pietrusza draws them sharply: the
imperious Wilson, the obliging Harding,
the dour and honest Coolidge and the
ambitious and dissembling Franklin
Roosevelt. Fans of political history will
enjoy this book."
--”Seattle Times
"Fascinating and compelling . . . Highly
recommended."
--Library Journal
"It will blow your mind . . . a fantastic
book."
--Glenn Beck
"I just finished 1920 and liked it a lot . .
. a fine job in capturing the
personalities of an interesting cast of
political characters and the era in which
they lived."
--”President George W. Bush
"The President passed on your book
after he finished it . . . I dipped into
1920 and found myself devouring it in
one weekend. A great read--chock full
of great insights and brilliant portraits.
Thanks for a wonderful volume . . a
great read."
--Karl Rove
"An ably popular treatment that fans of
campaign histories will enjoy."
--Booklist
"A terrific and fun read."
--”Bloomberg Radio
"More than just a story of six men who
either already had been president or
would be, this is the story of America
as it moved into the modern age."
-- Denver Post
"a very vivid portrait of each of these
presidents."
--Ann Compton, ABC News
"Pietrusza is a very gifted writer with a
marvelous eye for anecdote. Even a
reader familiar with American electoral
history will learn things from this lively
history, and a reader unfamiliar with the
politics of the period will enjoy an
engaging introduction to an unusually
complicated political cycle."
--David Frum, National Review Online
"Through a lens trained on a long-ago
election, David Pietrusza's 1920: The
Year of Six Presidents, delivers a rich
and compelling narrative of American
politics. Exploring a year when giant
figures of American history were
waxing and waning, he deftly explains
how we ended up with a presidential
showdown between two largely
unknown--yet surprisingly randy--
editors of small-town Ohio
newspapers, which Warren Harding
won principally by being "nice."
--David O. Stewart, author of
The Summer of 1787:
The Men Who Invented the
Constitution
"Sweeping and original."
--”The History Book Club
"In 1920: The Year of the Six
Presidents, writer David Pietrusza
shows the right way to pull together
disparate characters into a coherent
narrative. . . .this book portrays an
America that has stopped looking
backward and has begun to craft a
new country and a new world role."
--The Washington Times
"An absolutely wonderful book . . . I
loved [it], absolutely marvelous,
absolutely wonderful research . . . just
a great read, marvelously done,
brilliantly constructed and really
integrates the entire story of one year--
1920. . . . if I were teaching a history
class of early twentieth century
America this is the book I would use. .
. . It reads like a novel but it's fact . . .
a great book."
--John Rothmann
KGO (San Francisco)
"I just love 1920: The Year of Six
Presidents by David Pietrusza. It's not
historical fiction, but plain old history
that zips along like good fiction. I just
wish I'd read it before I wrote my
book."
--Jonah Goldberg,
National Review Online
" . . . a campaign like no other before
or since. David Pietrusza, a seasoned
crime-and-mystery writer, builds the
suspense of the 1920 campaign so
effectively that the reader easily
suspends, for the moment, knowledge
of the outcome, as if it were still about
to happen. . . [Pietrusza] organizes the
story in a way that produces high
drama."
--The Weekly Standard
"I agree with Jonah Goldberg--I wish
I had read it before I wrote my book."
--Burton W. Folsom Jr.
Author of "New Deal or Raw:
Deal?: How FDR's Economic
Legacy Has Damaged America
"With a storyteller's eye for characters
and drama, Pietrusza re-creates
America at a post-World War I turning
point, when the country wanted steady
leadership but got scandal instead."
--Washington CEO Magazine
"outstanding . . . fascinating"
--Al Kresta, Ave Maria Radio
"a fine and lively recommendation both
for high school and college collections
strong in American history and politics
in particular, or even public lending
libraries."
--California Bookwatch
"David Pietrusza's new book--1920
The Year of Six Presidents--is
awesome! David writes history with
such clarity and insights, you don't
want to put the book down. You'll feel
the same way."
--Pat Williams
Author and Vice President,
Orlando Magic
"Pietrusza's volume brings the vivid
history of the 1920 election to life.
Both entertaining and insightful, it
provides exceptionally well crafted
"mini" biographies of the Six Presidents
and how their careers intersected that
year. The narrative is rich and
compelling as it peeks into the
backrooms and describes the national
mood. Pietrusza's handling of the
personalities, issues, trends and
techniques that went on to define
American politics in the first half of the
20th century is to be recommended to
anyone with an interest in presidential
biography or U.S. political history."
--Dr. Ron Faucheux
Author; Former Editor-in-Chief,
Campaigns and Elections Magazine
and Campaign Insider newsletter;
Former Louisiana legislator and
Secretary of Commerce
"David Pietrusza's remarkable new
book 1920: The Year of Six
Presidents is exactly the way history
should be written. It is riveting,
involving, filled with verifiable fact and
compelling anecdote. It makes the era
come alive [and] challenges
presumptions about well-known figures
. . ."
--Glenn Raucher
West Side Y's Writer's Voice
"History books walk a fine line and it’s
difficult for historians to be informative
and entertaining. Pietrusza makes it
look easy. 1920: The Year of Six
Presidents is not merely a great read;
it’s a great experience. Theodore
White’s The Making of the President
series might be the standard that books
about Presidential campaigns are
measured against, but Pietrusza’s 1920
gives White a run for his money."
--deadpresidents.com
David Pietrusza's
1920:
The Year of the Six Presidents
A Selection of the History Book Club
Kirkus Reviews "Best Books of 2007"
Basic Books ISBN # 0786716223
1920:
The Year of the Six Presidents
A Selection of the History Book Club
Kirkus Reviews "Best Books of 2007"
Basic Books ISBN # 0786716223
| Featured on C-SPAN (BookTV)'s After Words, interviewed by ABC News Correspondent Ann Compton Order a DVD |
| . |
| . |
| From the Publisher: The presidential election of 1920 was among history's most dramatic as six once-and-future presidents--Wilson, Harding, Coolidge, Harding, Hoover, and Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt--jockeyed for the White House. With voters choosing between Wilson's League of Nations and Harding's frontporch isolationism, 1920's election shaped modern America like no other. Women won the vote. Republicans outspent Democrats by 4 to 1, as voters witnessed the first extensive newsreel coverage, modern campaign advertising, and results broadcast on radio. We had become an urban nation--automobiles, mass production, chain stores, and easy credit transformed the economy. 1920 paints a vivid portrait of America, beset by the Red Scare, jailed dissidents, Prohibition, smoke-filled rooms, bomb-throwing terrorists, and the Klan, gingerly crossing modernity's threshold. |
1920 By the Numbers :
- 100,000 Members of the Ku Klux Klan
- 556 radicals deported to Russia
- 531 Electoral votes
- 61 lynchings
- 44 Ballots at the Democrat National Convention
- 14 Points
- 10 Ballots at the Republican National Convention
- 7 First Ladies
- 6 Presidents in the Running
- 4 Presidential Mistresses
- 2.7% Beer
- 2 Constitutional Amendments
- 2 Handbills Alleging the Next President was
Black - 2 Italian anarchists arrested for a murder in South
Braintree, Massachusetts - 1 President of Africa
- 1 Attorney General's home bombed
- 1 Wall Street bombing
- 1 Presidential candidate residing in Atlanta
Federal Penitentiary - 1 Catholic Placed in Nomination for the
Presidency - 1 Commercial Radio Station on the air
- 1 Illegitimate Child
- 1 Lawsuit by a Vice-Presidential Nominee
- 1 Presidential Son-in-Law
- 1 Fraudulent Pulitzer Prize
- 1 League of Nations
- 1 World War
"a book that I simply loved . . . fascinating, filled with
intimate details . . ."
--France Kessing, KDVS Radio
"amazing . . .For anyone seriously interested in seeing
today's Iowa Caucuses/ New Hamp. Primaries/Super
Tuesdays, they MUST, as a student of yesterday's
political intrigue, read "1920".
--dennismansfield.com
"Pietrusza . . . doesn't play favorites . . . a
multi-faceted--and somewhat tragic, given the ultimate
fates of Wilson, Harding, and Hoover--view of a
stormy epoch in 20th century American history.
Highly recommended"
--Dr. Christopher Barat, Villa Julie College
"fast paced highly readable"
--Caffeinated Politics Blog
"grabs you from the first sentence"
--Coy Barefoot, WAMI Radio
"detailed and insightful"
--Ohio Valley Educational Cooperative
"a compelling narrative . . .well-written,
well-researched . . . well worth the time of anyone
interested in American political history."
--belowthebeltway.com
"a wealth of data"
--Perspectives: A Journal of Political Inquiry
"Pietrusza does an excellent job of painting colorful
and surprising portraits of these six men."
--William L. Wunder, suite101.com
"Fascinating"
--The LuLace Political Report
"a pertinent read"
--Kara Watts
"wonderful, in-depth"
--newsvine.com
"A good read"
--Bill Gruver, The Arizona Report
intimate details . . ."
--France Kessing, KDVS Radio
"amazing . . .For anyone seriously interested in seeing
today's Iowa Caucuses/ New Hamp. Primaries/Super
Tuesdays, they MUST, as a student of yesterday's
political intrigue, read "1920".
--dennismansfield.com
"Pietrusza . . . doesn't play favorites . . . a
multi-faceted--and somewhat tragic, given the ultimate
fates of Wilson, Harding, and Hoover--view of a
stormy epoch in 20th century American history.
Highly recommended"
--Dr. Christopher Barat, Villa Julie College
"fast paced highly readable"
--Caffeinated Politics Blog
"grabs you from the first sentence"
--Coy Barefoot, WAMI Radio
"detailed and insightful"
--Ohio Valley Educational Cooperative
"a compelling narrative . . .well-written,
well-researched . . . well worth the time of anyone
interested in American political history."
--belowthebeltway.com
"a wealth of data"
--Perspectives: A Journal of Political Inquiry
"Pietrusza does an excellent job of painting colorful
and surprising portraits of these six men."
--William L. Wunder, suite101.com
"Fascinating"
--The LuLace Political Report
"a pertinent read"
--Kara Watts
"wonderful, in-depth"
--newsvine.com
"A good read"
--Bill Gruver, The Arizona Report
| Named by Richard Norton Smith on C-SPAN as one of his favorite presidential campaign books. |
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| #1 Amazon Sales Ranking in Three Non-Fiction Categories |
A Selection of the:
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