One Summer: America, 1927 was published by Doubleday (UK) in October 2013 and focuses on a single season — the summer of 1927 — during which an extraordinary concentration of events reshaped American culture: Charles Lindbergh flew the Atlantic solo; Babe Ruth hit sixty home runs; the first talking picture (The Jazz Singer) was released; Sacco and Vanzetti were executed; the Mississippi flooded catastrophically; Al Capone consolidated power in Chicago; and Mount Rushmore was conceived.
Bryson weaves these threads into a portrait of America at a moment of explosive energy — prosperous, confident, technologically adventurous, culturally innovative, and deeply troubled by racial inequality, nativism, and organized crime. The book is structured as a narrative history, with chapters alternating between storylines, building toward a portrait of a country that was, in 1927, simultaneously the most exciting and the most dangerous place on Earth.
The Lindbergh Story
The Lindbergh narrative is the book’s spine: Bryson’s account of the solo Atlantic crossing — the sleeplessness, the ice on the wings, the navigational uncertainty, the landing at Le Bourget — is among the finest short accounts of the flight ever written. Lindbergh’s subsequent life (the kidnapping, the Nazi sympathies, the environmentalism) is handled with characteristic Bryson nuance.
Collecting One Summer
First edition (Doubleday, London, 2013): Boards with dust jacket.
Approximate market values:
- Fine in dust jacket: $30–$75
- Very good: $15–$30
Projected values (2026–2036): Moderate appreciation. The book is considered one of Bryson’s finest and should appreciate steadily.