SOURCE: “Parts of It Are Excellent,” in Spectator, December 20–27, 1997, pp. 77–78.

In the following review, Stone offers a positive assessment of A History of the American People, despite finding shortcomings in Johnson's cursory treatment of topics such as media bias, education, and New Deal economics.

An interesting review of this book [A History of the American People] came from Ray Seitz, a recent American ambassador in London, in the Sunday Telegraph. Yes, he said, judiciously, it was a success, in many ways a brilliant one. The first three-quarters or thereabouts had the best qualities of the best history books: curious, hitherto-unknown detail, some fun, solid work based on solid sources, balance, etc. Then it went haywire. When it reached the ultra-modern era, it became propaganda.

The discerning reader of Ambassador Seitz's review will therefore turn to that bit first. The Sixties, and especially the Seventies, saw the American Dream...