As soon as I started this book I was reminded of my own experiences of moving to a new city. USA starts by capturing just this complex emotion. Excitement and trepidation, opportunity and potential failure. This mix of feeling is specific to a particular zietgeist. In USA it was the boom years of the 20's which saw a huge transition in lifestyle and economics, with relocation to cities on an industrial scale. Feeling that you could change your future but also feeling that you have to battle against the innumerable others in the same position as yourself.
a very specific combination of emotions...
Some places make you walk a foot taller.
This was my experience of moving back to London. The competition and buzz that surrounded me made me straighten my back and raise my chin as I walked through the crowds with a smile on my face. This is the impression I get when I read some of the passages from 'USA'.
USA charts the American history of the first half of C20 primarily through the people who helped shape its development. There are other [more interesting] devices used to tell the story, but we will concentrate on the accounts based on real figures.
The chapters/people of interest are; Tin Lizzy - Henry Ford. The Bitter Drink - Thorstein Veblen. Adagio Dancer - Rudolph Valentino. Architect - Frank Lloyd Wright.
First I must draw attention to the seeming lack of professional diversity in this period of America. Farming and preaching were clearly the law and PR of the day, incredibly popular vocations which all of our examined characters were surrounded by and influenced them.
There are other common themes in the selection too. They all took advantage of the transient zeitgeist and prospered, drawing similarities with Faust as previously discussed; then in later life sought redemption through regression to an earlier time. Whether this was a result of their particular characters or is simply part of the human condition associated with ageing and possibly gaining a different perspective; they all returned to family farm land in their later years, except for Valentino who's entire short life in America was seeking redemption.
Henry Ford was both a Faust and a perfect Capitalist. He sought to immerse himself in something which he loved and avoid the hard manual labour of typical farm work. He was chasing the same american dream as his contemporaries and helped to change the industrialised world. He was such an efficient capitalist and pragmatist that he owned every part of the assembly process and even owned the raw materials. A quite unbelievable 81 hour process could see ore mined from the surrounding hills turn into a finished Model T driving off the assembly line. This kind of efficiency makes little sense to a Socialist as huge compromises must be made in relation to workers conditions to make this possible.
'every ounce of life was sucked off into production and at night the workmen went home grey shaking husks.'
Ford took the necessary decisions, not the decisions which benefited the workers. A Faustian developer. Further evidence of this is when the delusional pacifist who was intent to send a ship into WWII to stop the war by showing the futility of their actions started to manufacture munitions for the war effort. He was also a anti-Semitic who blamed the Jews for myriad problems.
The chapters/people of interest are; Tin Lizzy - Henry Ford. The Bitter Drink - Thorstein Veblen. Adagio Dancer - Rudolph Valentino. Architect - Frank Lloyd Wright.
First I must draw attention to the seeming lack of professional diversity in this period of America. Farming and preaching were clearly the law and PR of the day, incredibly popular vocations which all of our examined characters were surrounded by and influenced them.
There are other common themes in the selection too. They all took advantage of the transient zeitgeist and prospered, drawing similarities with Faust as previously discussed; then in later life sought redemption through regression to an earlier time. Whether this was a result of their particular characters or is simply part of the human condition associated with ageing and possibly gaining a different perspective; they all returned to family farm land in their later years, except for Valentino who's entire short life in America was seeking redemption.
Henry Ford was both a Faust and a perfect Capitalist. He sought to immerse himself in something which he loved and avoid the hard manual labour of typical farm work. He was chasing the same american dream as his contemporaries and helped to change the industrialised world. He was such an efficient capitalist and pragmatist that he owned every part of the assembly process and even owned the raw materials. A quite unbelievable 81 hour process could see ore mined from the surrounding hills turn into a finished Model T driving off the assembly line. This kind of efficiency makes little sense to a Socialist as huge compromises must be made in relation to workers conditions to make this possible.
'every ounce of life was sucked off into production and at night the workmen went home grey shaking husks.'
Ford took the necessary decisions, not the decisions which benefited the workers. A Faustian developer. Further evidence of this is when the delusional pacifist who was intent to send a ship into WWII to stop the war by showing the futility of their actions started to manufacture munitions for the war effort. He was also a anti-Semitic who blamed the Jews for myriad problems.
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