# Book recommendation:  Bill Bryson, "One Summer, America 1927"



## Bobw235 (Jul 13, 2016)

Got this from the library recently and am really enjoying it.  Learning about a very discrete period of time where so much happened.  If you're familiar with his style, this is similar.  Light-hearted, easy to read prose that is entertaining.  I never knew much about Charles Lindbergh, the 1927 Yankees, Babe Ruth, Calvin Coolidge (and others such as Harding and Hoover), the history of Sacco & Vanzetti, Al Capone, etc.  Highly recommend it.  More detail here.


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## Ameriscot (Jul 13, 2016)

Love Bryson books.  And my mother was born the summer of 1927.


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## Bobw235 (Jul 13, 2016)

Ameriscot said:


> Love Bryson books.  And my mother was born the summer of 1927.



A fascinating look at the period.  I had no idea about how much Lindbergh's life changed once he crossed the Atlantic.  He came from a really weird family.  Goes into quite a bit about the Sacco and Vanzetti case (they were executed that summer), and gives a good deal of info about Prohibition.  I'm learning a lot.


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## Ameriscot (Jul 13, 2016)

Bob, did you see the PBS series on prohibition?  Fascinating.


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## fureverywhere (Jul 13, 2016)

I would recommend every book he's ever written. I adore Bill Bryson.


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## Bobw235 (Jul 13, 2016)

Ameriscot said:


> Bob, did you see the PBS series on prohibition?  Fascinating.


No, but thanks for the recommendation.  I'll see if I can find it "on demand" or on Netflix.


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## Bobw235 (Jul 13, 2016)

fureverywhere said:


> I would recommend every book he's ever written. I adore Bill Bryson.



Really a fun read with his stuff.  I've read several.  I think my favorite (so far) was "In a Sunburned Country" talking about his travels in Australia.  Great stuff.


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## Ameriscot (Jul 13, 2016)

I was introduced to the books relating to being an expat in the UK, then the one about feeling foreign when he moved back to the US.  Then I was hooked on his other books.


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## fureverywhere (Jul 13, 2016)

My favorite scene in Sunburned is when the feral dogs are closing in on him and Oy that I shudder typing it, he falls into a huge spider web..." At Home" is a book you can read again and again. I have them all...No actually I just looked at his website. There's an African book to add to my wish list.


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## Bobw235 (Jul 13, 2016)

fureverywhere said:


> My favorite scene in Sunburned is when the feral dogs are closing in on him and Oy that I shudder typing it, he falls into a huge spider web..." At Home" is a book you can read again and again. I have them all...No actually I just looked at his website. There's an African book to add to my wish list.


The part in Sunburned that I remember is when he learns about the Sea Wasp, talking about just how painful that sting is.  I recall it being compared to having a lit cigar held against one's skin.  OUCH!


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## fureverywhere (Jul 13, 2016)

Was that the one where the guy is unconscious and is still screaming?


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## Bobw235 (Jul 13, 2016)

fureverywhere said:


> Was that the one where the guy is unconscious and is still screaming?


I don't remember that, but remember him talking about how a fisherman came in contact with part of a tentacle that had detached and still got a nasty, painful sting.  Said kids were vulnerable to the venom and it could kill them.  Also recall Bryson talking about all the deadly spiders and snakes in Australia.  Any yet, I still want to visit there one day.


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## jnos (Jul 13, 2016)

Thanks for the recommendation. I'll check it out. 

Recently watched the movie, "A Walk in the Woods," with Kevin Kostner and Nick Nolte. Good adaptation of Bryson's boook


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## BaseballGal (Jul 19, 2016)

Thanks for the recommendation. I checked my local library's online collection and they have it as both an ebook and an audio book. I think I'll try the audio book while I'm exercising. I enjoy any books that include information on the Yankees. I recently read a book on Sacco and Vanzetti but it wasn't very good, so I'll be interested in that part of Bryson's book, too.


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