| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 111.5

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to the AHR online. About 292 words from this article are provided below; about 553 words remain.

If you are a individual member of the American Historical Association, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time. AHA members can go to the AHA individual membership section to locate their member numbers.
If you are not a member of the American Historical Association, you can:: • Join the AHA and receive many member benefits including print and electronic issues of the American Historical Review.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of the American Historical Review (104.3-present). Note: the Research Pass does not provide access to JSTOR's holdings of the American Historical Review.
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to this journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 111.5 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Canada and the United States

Brian M. Downing. The Paths of Glory: Social Change in America from the Great War to Vietnam. Christchurch, New Zealand: Cybereditions. 2003. Pp. 320. $22.95.
A pretty strong argument can be made that war in the twentieth century was a primary instrument of social change. Proving it, however, is an entirely different matter. That is the problem that Brian M. Downing is up against in his book. Downing begins by taking his readers to 1917, a time when the United States was confident and optimistic, generally disengaged from European entanglements. It was a progressive nation on the move, and its people could look ahead to a bright future. The Great War, Downing argues, brought an end to all that. The impact of the war weakened religious convictions, brought on a new youth culture, changed the role of women, destroyed the small town, and weakened the family structure. "The war, then, changed the country" (p. 56).	1
Certainly, American society changed rapidly after the war. It is more difficult, however, to show that the war was the direct cause of those changes. Was it the war that caused the breakdown in religious practices and family values; did it somehow bring an end to the Our Town type of small-town life, as Downing argues at great length? Or were other forces of change at work, such as the proliferation of the automobile or broad economic changes? Possibly there was no specific catalyst at all. Perhaps American society was simply caught up in a natural process of change that had begun decades before, simply becoming "modern," as it was called at the time. The direct cause of change is not always easy to identify.	. . .

There are about 553 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.