2 Books Like The Last Manager

This sweeping yet deeply readable book offers a wonderful blend of political, military, social, cultural, and intellectual history. My biggest takeaway was Evans’s argument that democracy and democratic institutions contained within them the seeds of their own destruction—an idea that foreshadows the rise of fascism and, unfortunately, resonates again in our own century. Coming from Evans, whose earlier work focused on the Third Reich, that perspective is especially revealing. Alongside the big themes, I found countless fascinating details I hadn’t known: that Lord Acton’s famous line about power corrupting referred to the papacy; that dueling in late nineteenth-century Germany became largely a middle-class affair; and that the average temperature in one early industrial spinning factory exceeded eighty degrees. Evans consistently moves beyond generalizations to show how social change unfolded in lived experience. Even after reading numerous accounts of the July Crisis of 1914, I found new insights in his analysis—especially… show more.

I loved this book because it captures not only the making of a classic film but the cultural moment that gave rise to it. Stratton gives readers all the behind-the-scenes detail they could want—the grueling conditions, the colorful cast of characters, and the creative chaos surrounding Sam Peckinpah—while situating the film within the broader transformation of Hollywood and American society in the late 1960s. I had no idea what a daredevil William Holden was, or how many near-suicidal stunts he pulled in real life, and those stories alone are worth reading. But what makes the book unforgettable is the way it mirrors the period’s turbulence and rebellion: Peckinpah’s fight with the old studio system feels like a metaphor for the cultural upheavals reshaping the country. It’s also beautifully researched and written, equally rewarding for film buffs, historians, or anyone fascinated by art and defiance. I’d recommend reading the first half… show more.