Centenarians: The Story of the Twentieth Century by the Americans Who Lived It

Joining Harold Evans's The American Century and Peter Jennings's The Century on the centennial stock-taking shelf, this history takes the form of 71 interviews with people 100 years old or older. The portrait of America it paints is basically flattering, evoking the enterprise, gumption, tolerance and diversity that have made the U.S. a crucible of progress. In chapters on topics such as ""Hearth and Home"" and ""The Red Menace,"" respondents offer plainspoken reminiscences on homesteading, Prohibition, the Great Depression, two world wars, the advent of telephones (and automobiles and television), women's suffrage (and the entry of women into the workplace), McCarthyism and civil rights. Photojournalist Edelman, who edited Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam, profiles an eclectic bunch of old-timers, from Victor Mills, the inventor of Pampers, to Auschwitz survivor Sari Muller. Many bear valuable witness to historic events. Rose Freedman, who was an 18-year-old Manhattan seamstress in 1911, recalls her narrow escape from the notorious Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire, which killed 146 women. Others offer priceless nuggets of Americana, like Chester Hoff, who, as a 20-year-old rookie pitcher, coolly struck out his first major league hitter, a fellow by the name of Ty Cobb. This tapestry of American identity closes on an upbeat note, with sections distilling the respondents' ""Secrets of Longevity"" and ""Wisdom for the Ages"" (""Behave yourself, but flirt whenever you get the chance""). Photos. (Feb.)