Inside U.S.A [Paperback]

John Gunther (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1997

John Gunther's Inside series were among the most popular books of reportage of the 1930s and 1940s. For Inside U.S.A., Gunther set out from California and traveled the entire country. His frank, lucid observations along the way--on race relations, labor, the Tennessee Valley Authority, farm life, the politics of the big cities, and much else--yield fascinating insight into life fifty years ago.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"America," Winston Churchill said, "stands at this moment at the summit of the world." The moment was August, 1945. Nazi Germany had fallen, the atomic bomb had been dropped, imperial Japan was about to surrender, the European Allies were battered and spent, and the United States bestrode the narrow world. It was a new America, hardly known to the world--or to itself. This was the America that John Gunther portrayed in the vivid and acute reportage of Inside U.S.A., which is to be reissued this month by the New Press.

This book, now half a century old, is an astonishing tour de force. It presents a shrewd, fast-moving, sparkling panorama of the United States at this historic moment of apparent triumph. . . .

Inside U.S.A. does not pretend to be a profound analysis of American civilization, in the manner of Tocqueville and Bryce. But Gunther had his own quiver of penetrating questions. His objective was to identify the forces that made "this incomparable Golconda of a country" move. Wherever he went, he asked, Who runs this state or city? What are the basic and irreversible sources of power--social power, economic power, political power? He interviewed more than 900 people and emerged with more than a million words of notes. And he did it all himself, without professional researchers or stringers. . . .

Inside U.S.A. is far from a panegyric. Gunther listed "the worst American characteristics--covetousness, ignorance, absence of esthetic values, get-rich-quickism, bluster, lack of vision, lack of foresight, excessive standardization, and immature and undisciplined social behavior." America was still "an enormously provincial nation," he wrote. "I do not know any country that is so ignorant about itself." Have we improved noticeably in the half century since? -- The Atlantic Monthly, Arthur Schlesinger Jr.

A superb compendium. The whole picture is true and to describe such a vast complex and get anywhere near the truth is a magnificent achievement. -- Rebecca West

By far the best of the Inside series. . . If any book can tell us what it means to be an American, this is it. -- Clifton Fadiman

The richest treasure-house of facts about America that has ever been published, and probably the most spirited and interesting. -- Sinclair Lewis

Product Details

• Paperback: 1004 pages
• Publisher: New Press, The; Fiftieth Edition,Anniversary Edition edition (April 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565843584
• ISBN-13: 978-1565843585
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,052,797 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating look at America 50 years ago, March 17, 1998

By 

Michael B. Crutcher (Seattle, WA and Bonita Springs, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Inside U.S.A (Paperback)

John Gunther's INSIDE U.S.A. comes as close to time travel as we are likely to get, hurling us back to the America of 1947, as he explores, state by state, the people, politics, issues, passions and fads that make up our country. Written with great energy and insight, Gunther captures an America justly proud of its WWII success, still unsure of its role in the world, and populated by fascinating characters like Mayor LaGuardia of New York, Governor Saltonstall of Massachusetts and Boss Hague of Jersey City. Gunther describes regional characteristics that persist today. He captures aspects of America that are gone,l never to return (an "industrial" nation based on coal, iron ore and steel.) And he foresees issues that dog America to this day -- the "Negro problem" (actually, the "White problem.") He condemns the segregationist society he finds in America, so inconsistent with its lofty ideals. As you can tell, I loved this book. It's very hefty -- but every time you are about to put it down, Gunther comes up with another amazing fact or interesting sidelight that keeps you reading. All this said, Gunther does concentrate on the (a) historical, (b) political and (c) economic side of things. You won't find much here about the arts or science. But it is amazing a single individual could have compiled this much data and presented it so interestingly.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The USA that was, and reportage for the angels, December 16, 2007

By 

David Perry "David M Perry, Huntington Beach" (the road to the next big thing) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Inside U.S.A (Paperback)

My parents were WW2 era, my mom graduating high school in 1942 just in time to go off to war with my dad. Their journey is the story of another day (perhaps one I will write) but now that they are gone, we have the archaeological evidence of the world they lived in. Old shellac 78 rpm records, souvenirs bought dear by a soldier's wife, an E for excellence pin. My dad kept photos of warplanes by the dozens, in neatly arranged albums, old letters and postcards and sheet music and newspapers from VE and VJ day, now nearly dust after all these years.

But I can touch a match to a lamp that will illumine that all important era any time by opening and reading from this book. John Gunther writes with a prose style filled with some kind of inner courage that is rare in today's reportage. He goes for the throat and he finds it--traveling all forty eight states in the USA of 1947. Issues come up again and again, Home rule for DC, Interstate rail tariff, Lend Lease, racism, land reform, interstate highways, social security.

The USA that John Gunther describes is no more, but in many, possibly even most cases it is the seed and reason of the world we inhabit today. This is one of those books you read and reread and sit to wonder about the giants that built America. The Henry Kaisers and David Sarnoff, the Fiorello La Guardia and the Wendell Wilke, the shop steward and the NYC cab driver all have a place in his amalgam, and it all makes halcyon sense.

John Gunther does not fix the USA in amber like a dead insect, he opens a window into another era---once the reader has traveled in the other America found there, he will always find this one changed.

Pray for peace
Fight for freedom
persevere,

Merry Christmas, 2007

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inside USA, June 3, 2005

By 

Terence R. Day "Bay Reader" (San Mateo, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Inside U.S.A (Paperback)

If you have not read John Gunther's "Inside U.S.A.", you are in for a real treat. It is like taking a journey across America where Gunther's sense of the present and knowledge of the local environments is hard to rival. Perhaps the most striking aspects of the 1947 tour is how much each State has changed.

Gunther's tour of post war America is a must read for anyone interested in US History or for that matter, their individual States. For me it was striking to see how much my native California has changed. In my case, it was a picture of what we have lost in the last 50 years.

I loved "Inside U.S.A" so much that I ended up getting "Inside Africa", "Inside Europe" and "Inside Asia". Gunther's work has no rivals.