The book details both social history and political machinations in the period with a focus on how the New Deal, the Second World War and the Cold War influenced American culture.

[1] Special attention is paid to Roosevelt's New Deal and the lasting effect it had on the U.S. government.

[2] The book's title is taken from William Wordsworth's poem "Ode: Intimations of Immortality": "Whither is fled the visionary gleam?

"[3] The Glory and the Dream was listed as a New York Times bestseller in 1975.

[4] In The Scotsman, Michael Aitken called it "a collossal piece of nostalgia that brings to mind G.K. Chesterton's insight that the real American is all right: it is the ideal American who is all wrong.