Some Luck by Jane Smiley

This is the first of the "hundred years trilogy" of books which follows multiple generations of the Langdon family.  In this book, every chapter is one year beginning in 1920 and ending in the Cold War era of the early 50's.  Walter and Rosanna Langdon have five children and worry about the ups and downs of their farm life in Iowa.  From multiple voices and perspectives we observe a single family dealing with life and death, the introduction of electricity and mechanization, depression, war - all of it.  Every family member contributes to the story - even the very very young.  The new generation doesn't all stay in the farm so a much broader scope of history is shared.  There is no single defining moment of high drama but there are many family issues that any reader would relate to. The title of the second book is Early Warning and the third which ends in the year 2020 is entitled The Golden Age.  Gently written, it is certainly an interesting way to explore the last 96 years and think about the future.