100 Turning Points in American History by Alan Axelrod

 

BOOK REVIEW - FIVE STARS

100 Turning Points in American History by Alan Axelrod

Fascinating, enlightening. and well-written. The fast moving book takes you across the wide spectrum of eventful happenings that brought the world to where it is.

I loved the engrossing presentation of facts which complemented historical pivotal points making this a pleasant and memorable reading experience.

EXCERPTS:

America had declared its independence, a turning point in the history of the world itself. Within it, however, was a turn not taken. For the “unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America” proclaimed those states, commitment to liberty and the inalienable human rights for everyone” with the exception of those they chose to enslave.

The electric light gave birth to a whole new utility, and Edison invented every part of the system. It transformed America, the world, and civilization itself. Thanks to Edison, the United States was at the core of this great transformation.

Crown’s acknowledgment of the full and absolute independence from the British Empire of its lower thirteen American colonies. On November 30, 1782, a provisional treaty was ready to be ratified by the belligerents, and, on September 3, 1783, the Treaty of Paris was concluded. The United States, bloodied, took its place among the world’s family of nations.

1914. Most historians of technology credit the Highland Park facility as the first fully developed moving line ever installed. The idea was to move the work-in-progress from one worker to another until it emerged as a complete assembled dramatically decreased costs of production brought the price of a Model T to within the range of the working class. In 1908, Ford had turned out 10,607 cars. In 1916, 730,041, priced at $360 each. By 1927, the last year the Model T was made, Ford had produced fifteen million of them. Mass assembly line production transformed America into a consumer society, but it profoundly altered the relation of labor and management by changing the very nature of industrial work.