The story picks up in 1961, and is followed by decades of turmoil in America and elsewhere. Many of the characters in the initial two volumes return to this finale. The Dewars, the Francks, the Peshkovs and the Williams all somehow manage to cross paths again. They are united in their fields of endeavor, the government, politics, journalism, and entertainment. Regardless of the distances between their countries, America, Germany, Britain and Russia, their lives co-mingle effortlessly, an accomplishment which requires great patience on the part of the reader since it stretches credibility.

The narrative is rife with the familiar names of historic personages: Martin Luther King, the Kennedys, Kruschev, Gorbachev, McCarthy, Reagan, Obama and a host of others. Familiar historic events are featured and name-dropped, like the Freedom Ride, the Civil Rights Movement, the free love, promiscuity and open drug use at a concert in Woodstock, flower children making love not war, the anti-war movement that explodes as the Viet Nam war spreads and continues, the Iran Contra scandal, the Cuban Bay of Pigs debacle and the Berlin Crisis. These are but a few of the traumatic events described in the last decades of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st. Assassinations abound, Germany reunites, the Cold War ends and begins again, and a man of color is elected President to name a few more important moments in history.

The author’s political point of view rears its head throughout the book. His left leaning bias is obvious to the point of being intrusive and annoying. Everyone lies, all of the characters are driven by thoughts and/or acts of sex, all the women become pregnant, without or without the sanctity of marriage, with or without the knowledge of their partners, all republicans are responsible for the evil in the world and the liberals are responsible for what is good, even when they are engaged in wrongful behavior, never mind the KKK or the corrupt Democrat led government in Chicago. All the blacks are disgusted with the lack of equality and the only ones with noble goals are socialists and civil rights workers.

It feels like the same old, same old theme that runs through all of this author’s recent books. The language is unnecessarily foul, the sex is unnecessarily explicit and out of place, too many women are loose, too many men are disloyal, too many successful people are corrupt and government is overpowering. America is weak, men are shallow, women appear to be stronger but somehow most fall short when dealing with men of power. In short, the world seems like an ugly place according to Follett with little hope for real change. He tells a story that is not always credible in order to include all of the important historic moments, and his view and interpretation of the history sometimes seemed highly questionable and slanted toward his political preference.

The narrative follows each family and their experiences parallel each other so closely that each scene is predictable. The author would have us believe that they are all engaged in some form of infidelity, amoral and/or unethical behavior regardless of how high up the ladder they climb, or perhaps in spite of it. It seems as if none are without a stain on their reputation. The dialogue is often hackneyed and repetitive. Each family has someone in the same age range with a job that bring them in contact with each other, even though they live in different parts of the world. This simply creates too many contrived coincidences to make this more than a beach read, but with just about 1400 pages, it is probably even too long for that!

I feel sure that many Follett fans will eagerly read and adore this book, but I was very disappointed.

Wonderful, insightful take on the 1960s-80s. The history and fictional characters were so interesting, I did
not want to put it down.