I'm still wading through the collection of Bill Bryson books I've found. After the one about Australia, I opened 'The Lost Continent' which is about the states of the US which were first settled by Europeans; I didn't find it particularly interesting but I'm not American and have no investment in knowing their history.
'Shakespeare' sounded like a better proposition. He wrote this on the request of his publisher who was bringing out a series of "Eminent People". Bryson found that most of the subjects who interested him were already taken so fell back on Shakespeare. It was interesting enough but you can have too much of a good thing and I soon moved on to One Summer, 1927 which was a snapshot of America at that time.
It's been worthwhile reading: it focuses on the aftermath of WW1, the growth of industry and particularly aviation and Charles Lindbergh. I'm in a section now which deals with Herbert Hoover. I find I'm learning more about these households names than I feel I need. I might skip over this section and see if there are any more revelations about American life which I haven't heard before. It's all a bit too self-congratulatory for me.
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