INSIDE U.S.A.

John Gunther's 'Inside' series were among the most popular books of reportage in the 1930s and 1940s. For 'Inside U.S.A., ' Gunther set out from California and traveled the entire country. His frank, lucid observations along the way -- on race relations, labor, the Tennessee Valley Authority, farm life, the politics of the big cities, and much else -- yield fascinating insight into life many years ago. Now on the brink of the millennium, this fiftieth anniversary edition of 'Inside U.S.A.' provides an invaluable picture of America as it was then, both for those old enough to remember it and for young people who may be astonished to see the ways the country has changed.