Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945

Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945
First edition cover
AuthorDavid M. Kennedy
SeriesThe Oxford History of the United States
GenreNarrative history
PublishedMay 1999
PublisherOxford University Press
Media typePrint
Pages954
ISBN978-0-19-503834-7
Followed byGrand Expectations: The United States, 1945–1974 

Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945 is a 1999 nonfiction book by the American historian David M. Kennedy. Published as part of the Oxford History of the United States, Freedom from Fear covers the history of the United States during the Great Depression and World War II. It won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for History.[1]

Background

Book publisher Oxford University Press produces "Oxford histories", a line of book series usually intended to broadly synthesize historical topics.[2] In 1961, historians Richard Hofstadter and C. Vann Woodward began co-editing the Oxford History of the United States.[3] Hofstadter died in 1970,[4] before the series published any books.[5] The press publicly announced in 1970 that the Oxford History of the United States series was forthcoming and that a series volume about the New Deal would be written by historian Ernest R. May.[6]

By 1982, when the series published its first volume—The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763–1789—and issued another list of projected titles with their authors, historian David M. Kennedy had replaced May.[7] At the time, Kennedy was a professor of history at Stanford University and had authored the 1980 Over Here: The First World War and American Society.[8] Kennedy's own parents had lived through the Great Depression.[9] Growing up, his family had attributed the Depression to United States president Herbert Hoover, calling it the "Hoover Depression".[10]

In an interview, Kennedy explained that in writing Freedom from Fear he focused on synthesizing existing scholarship and did not travel to archives for research.[10] Chapter manuscripts for Kennedy's volume met Woodward's resounding approval, though in July 1998 he advised Kennedy to shorten certain portions of the nearly 1,000-page manuscript.[11]

Publication

Oxford University Press published Freedom from Fear as part of the Oxford History of the United States in May 1999.[12] The book is 954 pages long,[13] and it weighs approximately six pounds.[14] There are 24 maps of battles,[15] 48 halftone images,[16] a bibliographic essay,[17] and a 59-page index.[18] On release, Freedom from Fear sold for $39.95 (USD, equivalent to $73 in 2023)[19][a] or £30 (GBP, equivalent to $55 in 2021).[21]

Content

Book outline by chapters[22]
Chapters Topic
1–3 Presidency of Herbert Hoover
4–7 Early presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt
8–12 New Deal between 1935 and 1938
13–15 Foreign relations of the United States until 1941
16–22 Military history of the United States during World War II

Freedom from Fear narrates the history of the United States during the Great Depression and World War II.[23] It opens on a vignette of Adolf Hitler as a lance corporal at the end of World War I and ends by narrating a nuclear weapons test in the Soviet Union and Maoism's ascent to political power in China.[24] The book is split across two halves: the first 400 pages cover the Great Depression in the United States and the New Deal,[b] from 1929 to 1939, and the second half covers United States history during World War II across about 500 pages.[26] In historian Mark Leff's words, Freedom from Fear is "essentially… two books, each of which would require almost no revision to stand alone".[27] The book mostly focuses on high politics, statecraft, military history, and diplomacy.[28] There is one chapter about race and one chapter about labor history.[29] Freedom from Fear contains little content about social history,[30] cultural history, or the history of religion.[18]

American president Franklin D. Roosevelt predominates as the lead figure in Freedom from Fear.[31] In the book, Roosevelt appears as an active president meaningfully responsible for pulling the United States out of the Depression.[32] Kennedy depicts Roosevelt as having been a "truly brilliant politician with the skills to inspire, manipulate, and bend people", Booklist summarizes.[33]

Reception

Freedom from Fear received acclaim upon its release. According to historian William Rubinstein, the book is "a highly successful, vivid, and fair narrative account".[34] Journalist Rick Perlstein praised its "colorful details and the clanking, large-geared narrative engine" and argued that one "could even call it beach reading".[24] The Los Angeles Times averred that "[e]ven those who thought they knew it all, or who indeed lived through all or most of those years, will find illuminating information and insights on almost every page" of Freedom from Fear.[35] The New York Times Book Review declared it "the best one-volume account of the Roosevelt era currently available".[36] Historian Thomas Blantz considered it a "book for all readers", arguing lay audiences would appreciate the "absorbing story" and scholars would "find it a balanced review" of research on the era.[37] Publishers Weekly's review called Freedom from Fear "the definitive history of the most important decades of the American century".[38]

Reviewers criticized the selectiveness of Freedom of Fear's coverage. The Journal of American History called the subtitle, The American People, a "curious choice" because "the 'American people' appear with conspicuous infrequency", as Freedom from Fear has "a traditional cast, encompassing women but not gender, ethnics but not ethnicity".[27] Writing for The New Leader, historian David Oshinsky wrote that "ordinary Americans… too often appear as passive victims of injustice, poverty and pain", leaving the impression that social change happened only because of leaders, without the input of the public.[39] According to historian Harvard Sitkoff, "women are all but invisible" in the book, with only twenty women named in the entire index.[18] The New York Times Book Review reported that although Kennedy does "consider minorities and women" in the book, they are "decidedly secondary to his story" in which "[d]ead white males predominate".[36] Oshinsky criticized the book's inattention to popular culture,[39] and the Book Review stated that "American culture, particularly popular culture, is all but ignored".[36]

Freedom from Fear received four book prizes in 2000. These were the Pulitzer Prize for History,[40] the Francis Parkman Prize, the Ambassador Book Award, and the Commonwealth Club of California's Gold Medal.[41]

Editions

  • Kennedy, David M. (1999). Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945 (1st ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195038347.
  • — (2003). The American People in the Great Depression: Freedom from Fear, Part One (Paperback ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195168921.
  • — (2003). The American People in World War II: Freedom from Fear, Part Two (Paperback ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195168938.
  • — (2010). Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945. Narrated by Tom Weiner (Audiobook ed.). Blackstone Audio.

Notes

  1. ^ The Library Journal and Commentary reported that Freedom from Fear sold for $45 (USD, equivalent to $82 in 2023).[20]
  2. ^ The coverage of the New Deal specifically encompass approximately one third of the total book.[25]

References

  1. ^ Pulitzer.org. "The 2000 Pulitzer Prize Winner in History". www.pulitzer.org. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  2. ^ Van Heyningen (1986, p. 298).
  3. ^ Cobb (2022, p. 264).
  4. ^ Cobb (2022, p. 374).
  5. ^ Burnard (2011, p. 410).
  6. ^ Cobb (2022, p. 374).
  7. ^ Cobb (2022, p. 375).
  8. ^ Gale Literature (2014, paragraph 2, section "Writings").
  9. ^ Perlstein (1999, paragraphs 3–4).
  10. ^ a b Kennedy (2001, p. 14.3).
  11. ^ Cobb (2022, pp. 380–381).
  12. ^ Kirkus (1999).
  13. ^ 936 are paginated with Arabic numerals and 18 (xviii) are paginated with Roman numerals. See Boyle (2000, p. 108); Davies (2000, p. 598); Rubinstein (2000, p. 60).
  14. ^ Sitkoff (2000, p. 954).
  15. ^ Ellis (2001, p. 555).
  16. ^ Publishers Weekly (1999, p. 227).
  17. ^ Story (2000, p. 87).
  18. ^ a b c Sitkoff (2000, p. 955).
  19. ^ Freeman (1999, p. 1286); Lang (2000, p. 449); Nenneman (1999, p. 16); Oshinsky (1999, p. 5).
  20. ^ Nardini (1999, p. 94); Valiunas (1999, p. 51).
  21. ^ Ellis (2001, p. 553); Rubinstein (2000, p. 60).
  22. ^ Story (2000, p. 87).
  23. ^ Zelikow (1999, p. 149).
  24. ^ a b Perlstein (1999, paragraph 2).
  25. ^ Ellis (2001, p. 553).
  26. ^ Blumberg (2000, p. 155); Davies (2000, p. 600); Sitkoff (2000, p. 955).
  27. ^ a b Leff (2000, p. 723).
  28. ^ Lang (2000, p. 450); Leff (2000, p. 723).
  29. ^ Lang (2000, p. 450).
  30. ^ Blantz (1999, paragraph 11).
  31. ^ Freeman (1999, p. 1286); Nenneman (1999, p. 16).
  32. ^ Katznelson (2013, pp. 37–38, 499n35).
  33. ^ Freeman (1999, p. 1286).
  34. ^ Rubinstein (2000, p. 60).
  35. ^ Day (2000, p. BR10).
  36. ^ a b c Gewen (1999, p. 16).
  37. ^ Blantz (1999, paragraph 1).
  38. ^ Publishers Weekly (1999, p. 227).
  39. ^ a b Oshinsky (1999, p. 6).
  40. ^ Weeks (2000, p. C1).
  41. ^ Gale Literature (2014, paragraph 3).

Bibliography

Books

  • Cobb, James C. (2022). C. Vann Woodward: America's Historian. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-1-4696-7021-8.
  • Katznelson, Ira (2013). Fear Itself: The New Deal and the Origins of Our Time. Liveright Publishing Corporation. ISBN 978-0-87140-450-3.

Journals

  • Blumberg, Barbara (Fall 2000). "The Oxford History of the United States. Volume IX, Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945. By David M. Kennedy". The Historian. 63 (1): 155–156. JSTOR 24450878.
  • Boyle, Kevin (February 2000). "Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945, David M. Kennedy". Labor History. 41 (1): 108–109. ISSN 0023-656X.
  • Burnard, Trevor (August 2011). "America the Good, America the Brave, America the Free: Reviewing the Oxford History of the United States". Journal of American Studies. 45 (3): 407–420. doi:10.1017/S0021875811000508. hdl:11343/33008. JSTOR 23016778.
  • Cate, Alan (Spring 2000). "Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945. By David M. Kennedy". Book Reviews. Parameters. 30 (1). doi:10.55540/0031-1723.1965.
  • Davies, Gareth (June 2000). "Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945. By David M. Kennedy". The Historical Journal. 43 (2): 598–600. JSTOR 3021046.
  • Ellis, Mark (October 2001). "Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945. By David M. Kennedy". History: The Journal of the Historical Association. 86 (284): 553–554. JSTOR 24425566.
  • Lang, Clarence (Autumn 2000). "Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945 by David M. Kennedy". Political Science Quarterly. 115 (3): 449–451. doi:10.2307/2658129. JSTOR 2658129.
  • Leff, Mark (September 2000). "Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945. By David M. Kennedy". The Journal of American History. 87 (2): 723. doi:10.2307/2568880. JSTOR 2568880.
  • Nardini, Robert F. (15 March 1999). "Kennedy, David M. Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945". Library Journal. 124 (5): 94.
  • Rauchway, Eric (July 2019). "The New Deal Was on the Ballot in 1932". Modern American History. 2 (02): 201–213. doi:10.1017/mah.2018.42.
  • Sitkoff, Harvard (September 2000). "Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945. By David M. Kennedy". The American Historical Review. 105 (3): 954–955. doi:10.2307/2651898. JSTOR 2651898.
  • Story, Ronald (March 2000). "The Great Transformation". Reviews in American History. 28 (1): 87–95. JSTOR 30031131.
  • Van Heyningen, E. B. (1986). "The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763–1789. By R. Middlekauff". Boekbesprekings/Book Reviews. South African Historical Journal. 18: 298–300. doi:10.1080/02582478608671616.

Magazines

  • Doenecke, Justus D. (November–December 2004). "Hoover to Hiroshima: So You Think American History from the Great Depression Through World War II Holds No Surprises? Read on". Books & Culture. Vol. 10, no. 6. pp. 24–26.
  • "Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War". Kirkus Reviews. 15 April 1999.
  • "Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945". Publishers Weekly. Vol. 246, no. 14. 5 April 1999. p. 227 – via Gale.
  • Freeman, Jay (15 March 1999). "Kennedy, David M. Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945". Booklist. Vol. 95, no. 14. p. 1286 – via Gale.
  • Gewen, Barry (23 May 1999). "Do Something—Anything!". The New York Times Book Review. pp. 16–17. ProQuest 217294251 – via Proquest.
  • Oshinsky, David M. (14–28 June 1999). "History from the Top Down". The New Leader. Vol. 82, no. 7. pp. 5–6. ISSN 0028-6044.
  • Perlstein, Rick (24 May 1999). "David Kennedy: The National Experience". Publishers Weekly. Vol. 245, no. 21. p. 50.
  • Rubinstein, William D. (September 2000). "Untitled review of Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945 and America Divided: The Civil War of the Sixties". History Today. Vol. 50, no. 9. p. 60. ISSN 0018-2753.
  • Valiunas, Algis (April 1999). "Hard Times". Commentary. Vol. 107, no. 4. pp. 51–53. ISSN 0010-2601.
  • Zelikow, Philip (November–December 1999). "Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945. By David M. Kennedy". Foreign Affairs. Vol. 78, no. 6. p. 149. doi:10.2307/20049569. JSTOR 20049569.

Newspapers

  • Day, Anthony (30 April 2000). "The Trial of the Century". Los Angeles Times. p. BR10. ProQuest 421496263 – via Proquest.
  • Kennedy, David M. (11 February 2001). "Big-picture History Author David M. Kennedy Talks About Writing Freedom from Fear". Chicago Tribune (Interview). Interviewed by Elizabeth Taylor. p. 14.3 – via Proquest.
  • Nenneman, Richard A. (27 May 1999). "Becoming a Superpower". Christian Science Monitor. p. 16 – via Gale.
  • Weeks, Linton (11 April 2000). "For Lahiri, First Time A Charm at Pulitzers; Young Novelist Among Winners in the Arts". Washington Post. p. C1. ProQuest 408588334 – via Proquest.

Online

  • Blantz, Thomas E. (June 1999). "Blantz on Kennedy, Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945". H-Pol. H-Net. Archived from the original on 11 April 2024.
  • "David M. Kennedy". Gale Literature: Contemporary Authors. 24 October 2014.

External links

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