I remember Stephen Jay Gould's witty, mischievous book on the turning from 1999 to 2000, and whether the 21st Century really begins in the year 2001, not 2000. We are now here again as we enter the 20th year of this century. Is it the start of the 2020s or is that in 2021? The great Renaissance mind of David Brin posits decades do not begin in the cultural sense until the second or third year of a decade, and offers the example of the 1960s--The Sixties began with JFK's assassination and the advent of The Beatles phenomenon in the US--and Aughts, where the decade doesn't really culturally begin until the events occurring on September 11, 2001 (Don't believe me, ask Family Guy). For me, the timing of cultural changes is too diffused and diverse, though Brin's analysis remains important because he said don't to get too caught up in zeroes or ones.
Nonetheless, if there is one book to read for this upcoming decade, it is Frederick Lewis Allen's Only Yesterday, a book written in 1931 about the 1920s period, a century ago. What is stunning about Allen's book is how well it has held up as a cultural and historical work. It reads particularly well, owing to its witty writing style. Most importantly, Allen's insights remain profoundly accurate in a way that something many of our current pundits and historians may find themselves embarrassed for themselves at what they wrote even five years ago. Lewis wrote his book in a format that is breezy and conversational, not scholarly, which merits recommendation for readers not caught up in academic works. For those whose minds are otherwise sufficiently inquisitive, Allen provides a post-narrative section discussing various books, articles and other sources upon which he based his narrative. Lewis is comprehensive, without going into too great a length (the book is 352 pages in hardback and 302 pages in paperback), covering nearly every type of topic, from the cultural to political to economic, again with a sure, deft, and lively hand.
I tested giving a copy of this book some years ago to a staff person at my old office I worked at in Los Angeles. He was a Latino male who just turned 20 at the time, and who was completing community college and had just received entrance to UC Davis. He had been a high school wrestler, not interested in much besides sports and partying, and had realized, as he entered that ripe old age of 20, he needed to get his act together. He came from a relatively poor, hard working family, who did not think much of higher education. His working at the law firm came through a friend of the son of the boss, and was totally happenstance. As he was, at that point, in the twilight time between graduation from community college and entering the junior year at a prestigious public university, he became concerned about his lack of exposure to the type of things my wife and I exposed our children to in their formative years. He asked me to recommend something to read that would deepen his perspective, and I suggested, after a long thought, Allen's book. He took it from me, sorta interested, and then began to read it. By the time he was done, he found himself transformed and said he now much better understood rhythms in our society, and much more deeply. Reading Allen's book inspired him to begin reading newspapers online, and began to push out further beyond his own world. In fact, he read next a Stephen Jay Gould book of essays I suggested (though I now cannot recall which book of essays), and he loved that, too--especially as I told him he need not read in order or read them all in one reading. The young man kept in touch through his first semester at UC Davis, first saying he still felt overawed compared to other students, and how he never worked so hard at school in his life to keep from falling behind. He survived, however, and from there, his life took him away from me and much of his life in Southern California, at least then.
In my not humble opinion, Allen's book should be required reading for high schoolers and college age students, and even for us older folks, this coming year or next year, 2021. Only Yesterday provides perspective, and helps us realize how much has changed, how much has not, and how patterns in American society and history repeat themselves in ways that should challenge us as citizens. Allen was a respected editor at Harpers' magazine, and known for being a genial person. I let Jonathan Yardley, the famed former book section editor at the Washington Post, describe Allen and his monumental book. For those who already read and adore the book, such persons may wish to read it again, if the last time it was read was decades ago. It is also worth perusing Allen's other works, starting with Since Yesterday and The Big Change: America Transforms Itself: 1900-1950. Having read those, too, I should say I found Since Yesterday the better read compared to The Big Change. Allen really understood the FDR and New Deal era much better than most commentators in my lifetime, save perhaps Richard Hofstadter. The Big Change struck me as a bit too complacent and pedestrian compared to Allen's other two works, both of which were written with the sense that something momentous had changed from one decade to another, whether from 1929-1931, or from 1939 to 1940. As I write this, I realized it is probably time for me to go further with Allen and find his 1935 book, The Lords of Creation: The History of America's 1%. See what I mean about Allen's perspicacity and timelessness? He was talking about the top 1% in 1935.
Well, anyway, Happy 2020s, America and the world. Right now, I am more in mind of Bette Davis' famous line as the slightly fading star, Margo Channing, in All About Eve, something about fastening seat belts and a bumpy night.
