Doris Kearns Goodwin's Wait Till Next Year

Book Reviewed by: Tabitha Kitchen

Title: Wait Till Next Year – A Memoir: Doris Kearns Goodwin

Goodwin, Doris K. Wait till Next Year - A Memoir. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 1998. History.

Book Review

In the memoir, Wait till Next Year, by award-winning author, Doris Kearns Goodwin allows readers to experience how childhood was, in New York, in the 1950’s. As the postwar era and the climb of the economy, she had the pleasures of a loving family, a neighborhood that was divided by Dodger, Giant and Yankee fans, and herself as a die-hard Dodger fan. For she had tied these different areas of her life together, including many World events, readers will have that perfect chance to be a part of that journey. Although, too young to have

The rise of demands for equality in the black populations was a turning event, leading to more actions by the activists of the Civil Rights Movement. Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr. and Jackie Robinson were all nonviolent activists; just as the Indian Civil Rights leader Gandhi was in 1947. The segregation and/or racist event that struck the most emotion and detail from Goodwin throughout the book was in Little Rock, Arkansas; where 9 black students were racially attacked and withheld from entering the school by Arkansas guard units. The reality of just how ugly the world was, she become overwhelmed and took action as she wrote to the president, demanding help for those black students. Eisenhower had sent troops to protect the black students during enrollment. A great example by the African Americans demanding equality in the United States.

Goodwin gave a couple examples throughout childhood of the effects of the Cold War. The air-raid drills that children endured while in school and McCarthyism. The Cold War was a mere power struggle between the United States demanding democracy and capitalism; and the Soviet Union demanding communism and autocracy; which had spawned fear upon the American people. Both sides of the war, threatened to use nuclear bombs to get what each side wanted. Ultimately, the U.S. and Soviet Union fought this war indirectly,

As mentioned before, a more in-depth description of the key historical events that had taken place during the postwar era would have been ideal for this type of assignment; both, general book readers or history book lovers would enjoy this memoir. I would recommend this book, to children and adults.

The content explained throughout this book review are key events while living life during the 1950’s, not only events that had taken place in New York, but events that had taken place around the world. These individual events, once put together and analyzed gives a person the realities of just how much goes on in a decade. Majority of the time, people of the U.S. don’t take other countries issues seriously or to be a prominent threat for the U.S.; but, those issues have absolutely everything to do with the people in the United States. As an American and a wife of an Army combat veteran, all world issues become my