manner for the reader. This is probably one of the two or three most important periods of American history and one where many details get somewhat glossed over in schools due its recentness and due to the fact that it is easier to ...more Freedom From Fear is David Kennedy's Pulitzer Prize winning 850+ page dense and detailed look at the United States during the years 1929-1945*. In the book, Kennedy does an admirable job of dissecting the 17 year period of American history in a lively and non-laborious manner for the reader. This is probably one of the two or three most important periods of American history and one where many details get somewhat glossed over in schools due its recentness and due to the fact that it is easier to focus on just a few major events. Before I read this book, I basically knew 10 things about this time period (and for the record I got a 5 on the AP US History test in 1992, and yes it was out of 5)**: 1. The 1920s in the US was called the "Roaring 20s" because it featured profligate spending, a boom in consumer products, a spike in consumer lending, and apparently many lions. 2. In the Great Depression, people weren't just sad and depressed, they were also poor and had no jobs and apparently were forced to survive by eating dust out of bowls. This was a large percentage of the population and occurred because the stock