My book of the year, I've just spent a fortnight reading this and loved everyone of the 972 pages involved.
It starts with the arrival of the first settlers and ends at the end of the Clinton administration.
Johnson take on things is right wing, something that he has never disguised and upsets some, not me, but his detail is astonishing so anyone ignoring his works for his politics is doing themselves a major disservice .The amount of information packed onto a page is enough to send the reader seguing off to find several more books.
One of his most interesting take is with the breaking up of Standard Oil ,Carnegie's steel empire and several others the government did the public a disservice. Once these business's were broken up prices increased for the consumer. This is relevant today as calls were made just last week to end Amazon's dominance in online retailing.
There are several more examples of Government interference being bad for the people, prohibition obviously and poor handling at the beginning of the great depression, Johnson's contention is it may have ended earlier if Hoover had let the markets correct themselves.
Its not all politics with plenty on social history as well, fantastic.
A riveting read without a dull page.
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