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Reeling in the years

By TIMES STAFF
Published August 21, 2005

Are some years more interesting - or pivotal to history - than others? Or are books named after a single year - like Charles C. Mann's 1491 (see review, above), whose title immediately places us at time before Columbus sailed the ocean blue - just a good sell? Either way, the shelves this season are filled with years to remember:

1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West, by Roger Crowley (Hyperion, $25.95, 304 pp)

Crowley focuses on the "one intense moment of history" that dramatically changed the relationship between Islam and the West: the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire on May 29, 1453. A New York Times Notable Book of the Year, 1453 came out in paperback this month.

1759: The Year Britain Became Master of the World, by Frank McLynn (Atlantic Monthly Press, $26, 422 pp)

The fourth year of the Seven Years' War (or the French and Indian War, as it was called in America), 1759 was called "the Year of Victories" - by the Brits, that is, whose narrowly won conquests in India, North America and the Caribbean that year assured them of global supremacy for 100 years. In 1759, published in February, Lynn attributes the British wins to luck rather than rigorous planning. In other words, but for luck, the United States most likely would not exist and these words might have been written in French.

1776, by David McCullough (Simon & Schuster, $32, 386 pp)

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough actually begins his narration on Oct. 26, 1775, in London, the day King George III went before Parliament to denounce the "rebellious war" in America and announced his determination "to put a speedy end" to the disorders. But the bulk of his book focuses on the following year, when a handful of "rebellious rebels," helped by "storms, contrary winds, the oddities or strengths of individual character," foiled the king's plans.

1912: Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft & Debs - The Election That Changed the Country, by James Chace (Simon & Schuster, $14, 323 pp)

Just out in paperback, 1912 chronicles that year's the presidential election campaign. According to Chace, the election defined the nature of the modern Democratic and Republican parties, changed the course of America's internal and external policies and created divisions within the Republican Party that still are being felt today.

1942: The Year That Tried Men's Souls, by Winston Groom (Atlantic Monthly Press, $27.50, 459 pp)

With America still reeling from the disaster at Pearl Harbor in December, 1942 began with the country unprepared for war. By June, however, with the battle of Midway, America helped turn the tide, writes Groom in 1942, which came out this spring, "so that by the end of 1942 the worldwide Axis onrush was blunted for good." Although it would take another three years to beat the Axis, 1942 would prove to be a decisive year in the war.

London 1945: Life in the Debris of War, by Maureen Waller (St. Martin's, $35, 511 pp)

Waller, author of 1700: Scenes from London Life, takes a look at another year in the life of the English capital. Beginning with New Year's Eve 1944, the historian chronicles the year 1945, when Londoners lived through bombings, V-E Day, V-J Day and the beginnings of a long process of rebuilding a city devasted by war.

[Last modified August 20, 2005, 11:16:03]