Book Description
With an accessible reading style, abundant pedagogy, and reasonable price tag, Making America, Brief, is the perfect choice for inexperienced students and cost-conscious professors.
The Second Edition features a full-color design, making its pedagogy, map, and art programs more appealing and accessible than other brief texts. Chapter-opening maps, timelines, and chronology charts emphasize key developments, enhance geographical awareness, and highlight political events. Each chapter opener contains critical-thinking questions linked to major headings of the chapter, while key terms and concepts are highlighted in the text narrative and defined in a separate box at the bottom right-hand corner of each page.
Customer Reviews:
Making history, vol. 1..........2004-09-23
'Making America: A History of the United States' is a wonderful introduction to American history, written in broad strokes that goes from the earliest days of European discovery, including an overview of the Native American histories, through to modern times. This first volume traces the time of the contact of Europeans with the 'New World' to the aftermath of the American Civil War. The early chapters look in some good detail about the inter-relationships of the Native American populations in North America and the Caribbean with the European explorers, showing times of cooperation and of conflict. A little more development of Native American histories would be helpful here, but the text is honest in laying forth many of the problems of the explorers and settlers dealings with populations already present on the continent.
The complex world of the colonial settlements, each of which had its own purposes and character, is developed in some detail, outlining the personalities, events, and primary ideas that drove the historical trends. The early colonisations of the Spanish, French, Dutch and English, each dealing with Native Americans and each others, makes for a varied story, ending up ultimately in British ascendancy in North America, with all other European powers taking a back seat, until the time of the American Revolution, when the new nation formed.
Expansion of the Americans westward, dealing with issues of Native Americans as well as growing pains of the new nation, and the continuing controversial institution of slavery, make for a colourful narrative. Most American students will recognise easily the broad strokes, and the authors bring in interesting side events and perspectives.
The book is full of colour, with pictures, maps, graphs, and other design elements used to make reading easier and comprehension greater. Bold-faced words in the text are highlighted and explained in definition form in pull-out boxes at the bottom of many pages, which parallel with the useful glossary of terms at the back. There are chapter introductions and summaries, maps and timelines to set each chapter's context, and interesting features called 'Individual Voices' and 'Individual Choices' that draw the chapters together into overall topical agreement. The text is backed by a useful website.
We are using this two-volume set at the college where I tutor in history (among other topics). The students enjoy the text, and it is a good work to use from a teaching standpoint, too.
Customer Reviews:
Mr. Davis delivers again!.......2004-08-13
Mr. Davis' well-earned reputation for writing excellence on the War Between the States shows yet again in this treatise on the early days of the Confederacy, the REAL reasons for secession, and the personalities who played pivotal roles in the birth of this brief-lived nation. If you get the chance to hear Mr. Davis lecture on this subject at a Civil War Round Table meeting, go. His speaking skills are as exceptional as his writing.
Confederate government in Montgomery.......2004-08-04
William C."The writing Machine" Davis has a very readable style that is so fluid you read without realizing it! He is a very interesting writer in that he brings color to history. Davis performs wonderfully on describing the factions existing within the legislative congress that created the confederacy. He draws from the letters of a great deal of the political giants of the provisional Confederate government and also uses a chronological approach to portray events of the creation of the Confederate government in Montgomery, Alabama. He concentrates mostly on the legislative events in the first few months of 1861; although, he descriptively and almost in detail paints a verbal portrait of the view of Montgomery. This book is definitely a good buy for someone wishing to learn about the Southern Confederate Constitutional convention!
Well-written account of founding of Confederate Government.......1997-04-25
I read this book this past year not having anything more than a general idea of Confederate history although I am a lawyer and very interested in U.S. constitutional legal history. I thought Prof. Davis did an excellent job of telling the story of the people and political forces which resulted ultimately in the writing and issuance of the Confederate Constitution. Davis's writing style is engaging, fast paced yet informative. The story "flowed," and the book was a "page turner." I felt he "got inside the head" of the principals of whom he wrote. I found that I particularly liked and was interested and intrigued by the figure of Alexander Stevens ("Little Aleck"). Davis's book made me want to read more about the Confederacy and about this remarkable Southern politician who served as the South's vice president
Book Description
WINNER OF THE 1998 PETER SEABORG AWARD
The first in the trilogy, this reexamination of Confederate war aims analyzes the military policy and strategy adopted by Lee. Harsh argues that these policies helped the Confederacy to survive longer than expected and were the policies best designed to win Southern independence.
Customer Reviews:
Southern Strategy just didn't happen.......2007-08-19
This is the second book Joseph Harsh wrote on the Antietam Campaign and Southern strategy in 1861 -1862. Again, the reader's knowledge of the Civil War is challenged by series logical well-supported ideas. This book sets the stage for "Taken at the Flood" by establishing the strategy and events that resulted in the Antietam Campaign. This book can be read as a stand-alone history or with "Taken at the Flood". If read together, this is best read first even considering the review of Southern strategy at the start of the second book.
Beginning with an overview of CSA war aims, we are walked through the first months of the war learning how events shape strategy. When Lee assumes command of the Army of Northern Virginia, the author details how the victories in the summer of 1862 change strategy and lead to the invasion of Maryland in September. This is the heart of the book, showing Lee simultaneously both directing and being trapped by events. Once again, we are placed in real-time seeing events not as history but as happening now. This allows us to understand what they knew and why the acted as they did. Often, they had the wrong, incomplete or misleading information but something had to be done.
Lee and Davis Making Southern Strategy.......2003-06-11
Joseph Harsh, the author, analyzes Confederate war strategy from Fort Sumter through the Battle of Second Manassas stating that it was not true that the all the South wanted was "to be left alone." Declaring independence did not guarantee independence, and the author states the South thus "pursued three closely related but distinct war aims: independence, territorial integrity and the union of all the slave states."
The text notes that statistically the South could not win. To overcome the odds, the Confederacy needed to conserve its resources while inflicting unacceptable casualties on the North. The text explains the doctrines of the Swiss military theorist Jomini, the probable basis for Jefferson Davis's doctrine of the "offensive-defense." Davis's doctrine provided a firm strategic framework within which Confederate generals in the field could work. By October 1861, pursuing the offensive-defense considerable progress toward achieving Confederate war aims was made; followed next by reversals of Southern fortunes resulting in part from the failure to continue the policies/strategies that yielded early successes.
On June 1, 1862 Robert E. Lee took command of the Army of Northern Virginia, when Joseph Johnson was wounded. The offensive-defensive policy was already in practice and was not initiated by Lee as some contend. By "late May 1862, the South had nearly lost the war. Lee knew that Jefferson Davis expected him to go on the offensive to save Richmond and to reclaim Virginia. Harsh also notes "Lee chose the offensive because he wanted to win the war, and he thought it offered the only chance. He believed the defensive was the sure path to defeat." His first response was the Seven Days Battle, whose strategy/execution contained errors, but nevertheless relieved the pressure on Richmond.
The author gives an excellent account of the strategic/tactical problems during the Seven Days Campaign and the events leading to the Battle of Second Manassas. Richmond was a major railroad center, banking center, manufacturing center, milling center and its lost would have been serious. It was important that the city is not captured and that Virginia is reclaimed. After the Seven Days Campaign Lee lost the initiative and was in a strategic stalemate that didn't end until Union General McClellan's Army of the Potomac was ordered back to Washington thereby ending the threat to Richmond.
The text gives an excellent account of the development of Lee's field strategies before and throughout the Battle of Second Manassas. The author notes as the battle neared its climax "Lee desperately wanted to finish the task at hand by destroying the army of.... Pope." However a frontal assault was the only option; and Lee couldn't afford the losses a frontal assault would incur. Nonetheless the author notes following the Second Manassas "Through chance, risk and much bloodshed, he and the Army of Northern Virginia were cobbling together the series of rapid victories that might lead to Northern demoralization and Confederate independence." The text ends with the Battle of Second Manassas and closes with six appendixes that discuss strategy questions.
While this an excellent work, my major criticism is an almost total lack of suitable maps. I read the chapters on the Battle of Second Manassas with a copy of Hennessy's book on Second Manassas at hand for its maps. While much can be gained from this book without prior study of the first eighteen months of the Civil War, prior reading of history about the period covered by this book will greatly aid the reader in comprehending Harsh's text.
Excellent Book but requires some prior knowledge.......2003-01-06
I've had the pleasure of knowing Dr. Harsh for several years after taking a class on the Civil War with him at George Mason University.
This book came out of the seperation into three books of a manuscript he wrote on Gen. Lee and the campaign just prior to the Maryland campaign and then the Maryland campaign itself. This book is immensely readable and quite detailed. Dr. Harsh is quite blunt when there is a lack of clear evidence on a subject and the reasons for his judgment are well reasoned and sound. My opinion of Confederate strategy and the role of Jefferson Davis in the formation of that strategy changed a great deal after reading Confederate Tide Rising. While he is not the subject of this book, my view of Gen. Jackson also changed as the result of reading this book. Due to his performance in many of the battles and lead up to the battles discussed in this book, it's obvious to me that Jackson has been overrated by historians and could have been much more criticized by Gen. Lee than he was. That he did not do so postwar and only midly criticized Jackson in the action discussed in this book says a lot about Gen. Lee the man.
There are only a few drawbacks to this book. The first is that Dr. Harsh sometimes I think assumes knowledge of minor engagements and also political developments which were important but not directly germaine to his discussion that the reader may not possess. He would have been better served to not just mention these engagements and political developments and leave the reader wondering but to further discuss these developments and their importance, such as the Trent affair which he mentions twice before discussing what it was.
My second gripe with this book has been noted by a previous reviewer. There is a woeful lack of maps, which I think is simply unforgivable in any military history book. As Dr. Harsh clearly demonstrates, terrain and locations are particularly important in civil war battles and helped determine the tactics and strategy employed by Gen. Lee, Gen. McClellan and Gen. Pope. I have a working knowledge of some of the places discussed in the book because I live near many of them, however many readers in other parts of the country who do not have an extensive knowledge of the Civil War yet, may not. The lack of maps would really hamper their understanding of Dr. Harsh's points.
However, one thing that helps this book despite all that is Dr. Harsh's discussion of several terms and their uses in books on the the Civil War as well as how the Civil War generals themselves would have understood those terms such as strategy and tactics. This sort of a discussion is absent in most works on the war and I believe really hampers the understanding of many who look to gain knowledge on the war.
Overall, this book is essential for any Civil War bookshelf and should be accompanied by Dr. Harsh's other two books, Taken at the Flood and Sounding the Shallows.
Interesting Book.......2001-06-19
An overview of the war to the summer of 62. The ideas presented are well grounded and provoke real thought. Not a book that will sit well with many readers but a worthwhile addition to any Civil War Library. Read this and than read "Taken at the Flood".
In Consideration of Lee and Davis.......2000-09-23
I had the pleasure of taking Dr. Harsh's Civil War History course at George Mason University. Much of his basis for lectures for that course was the same material used to write this book and its sequel - Taken at the Flood. Dr. Harsh is nothing if not a thorough researcher - with the help of his industrious graduate students of course, serving their terms of indenture in the tombs of the National Archives and the Center of Military History and other suitable manuscript repositories. He has truly wiped the slate clean and started from the point of "What did they know and when did they know it?" He often refers to Lincoln's standard wire to his generals in the field "How does it look now?" He applies that method to analyzing Civil War principals - how did the situation present itself, what information was known or guessed at and when and how did they react to it? You may not agree with all of his conclusions - I certainly do not agree with all of the high praise that he heaps on Jefferson Davis and George McClellan. However, you will have to take his statements under serious consideration, since they are based on solid, academic application of the historical method. He succeeds in stimulating the student to think. He has a special interest in historiography and he makes every effort to avoid preconceptions which are not supported by available facts. This book is certainly a key contribution to understanding the first year of the war from the Confederate strategic perspective. His Taken at the Flood will rapidly become the standard for future studies of the Maryland Campaign of '62. The goods news is that Dr. Harsh will next turn his attention to the Federal side and we will be offered his insight on Lincoln, McClellan et al.
Book Description
The history of slavery is central to understanding the history of the United States. Slavery and the Making of America offers a richly illustrated, vividly written history that illuminates the human side of this inhumane institution, presenting it largely through stories of the slaves themselves. Readers will discover a wide ranging and sharply nuanced look at American slavery, from the first Africans brought to British colonies in the early seventeenth century to the end of Reconstruction. The authors document the horrors of slavery, particularly in the deep South, and describe the slaves' valiant struggles to free themselves from bondage. There are dramatic tales of escape by slaves such as William and Ellen Craft and Dred Scott's doomed attempt to win his freedom through the Supreme Court. We see how slavery engendered violence in our nation, from bloody confrontations that broke out in American cities over fugitive slaves, to the cataclysm of the Civil War. The book is also filled with stories of remarkable African Americans like Sergeant William H. Carney, who won the Congressional Medal of Honor for his bravery at the crucial assault on Fort Wagner during the Civil War, and Benjamin "Pap" Singleton, a former slave who led freed African Americans to a new life on the American frontier. Filled with absorbing and inspirational accounts highlighted by more than one hundred pictures and illustrations, Slavery and the Making of America is a gripping account of the struggles of African Americans against the iniquity of slavery.
Customer Reviews:
Companion to a television documentary on PBS.......2007-03-27
"Slavery and the Making of America" by James Oliver Horton and Lois E. Horton
This companion text to the PBS television documentary is a riveting account of the taking of African slaves for trade in the Americas. This is a historical account of human suffering and exploitation, and the social impact of slavery upon the Americas.
I have three criticisms of the text concerning its accounts.
First, the text does not elaborate upon the Abolitionist movement as a fundamental religious movement.
Second, the book does not elaborate enough on the role of religion in elevating former slaves.
Third, the book gives no account of early voices in America protesting the practices of slavery. Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams were all opposed to slavery and attempted to abolish its practice in the drafting of the Declaration of Independence. For lack of sufficient votes from the southern colonies, the clause was stricken from the Declaration.
Notwithstanding, the text is higly informative and thorough. It does enter into detail concerning the nature of slavery and the economoic and social forces which drove it, and it is an excellent resource.
An invaluable study of inclusion and influence of the African culture arising from conditions of slavery in the American south.......2006-06-04
Deftly co-authored by James Oliver Horton (Benjamin Banneker Professor of American Studies & History at George Washington University, and Historian Emeritus at the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian) and Lois E. Horton (Professor of History at George Mason University), Slavery And The Making Of America is the companion volume to the PBS television miniseries of the same name and is an invaluable study of inclusion and influence of the African culture arising from conditions of slavery in the American south. Informing the reader with vivid and descriptive pictures, as well as providing precise understandings and accounts of historical occurrences and happenings from the African slave culture with stories from fugitive slaves, Civil War soldiers and many more engaging stories from the lives of many historical figures. Slavery And The Making Of America is very strongly recommended to all students of the African-American slave trade, and the emancipation of slaves in American cultural and political history.
The USA Did Not Exist Until 1776 Blues.......2005-05-25
Fact check: Legally protected Human bondage only existed in the USA from 1776/1789 until 1/31/1865. The 13 "Original" North American colonies were the property of the British Crown from 1619 until 7/4/1776. It was the King of England that allowed human bondage in those colonies.
The Horton's "fact-based" reflections on the major impact that Negro ethnic people's had in shaping - the North American colonies - into the USA is a first rate and well-researched piece of history.
But this is a story that has been told by many other historians over that past 50 years.
This critic would have preferred seeing the Horton's explore the reasons...
1) Why African Negro ethnic slaves in-bondaged in West/Central/South/East Africa or Arabian North Africa - from 1000 ce until 2005 ce - have not had a similar effect in the expansion of human freedom on those regions of the Africa?
2) What was it about the USA (and its pale-skinned citizenry) that allowed the USA Negro bondman/bondwoman and USA Negro freedman/freedwoman to play such a role in the expression of human freedom in the USA - which still remains unknown in most of Africa if not most of the non-Western world?
Blues to you
Complete History of America's Peculiar Institution.......2005-03-09
Slavery began in the United States in 1619, before the Pilgrims landed. It lasted until 1865, almost 250 years. Originally not just a southern institution, New York City had as many as 10,000 slaves at the end of the 1700's.
The stories of slave holding has been told many times, from the movies like Uncle Tom's Cabin, to Roots, to Ken Burns series The Civil War. This book brings a concise overall view to slavery and seems to draw on a wealth of original schlorship. The photographs are not those commonly seen in such histories.
This book covers more of the slave rebellions than most. The famous incidents like the Dred Scott case, the Harpers Ferry raid of John Brown and so on are covered, but so are rebellions of a smaller and much less well known nature. Some of the slaves brought to the US had been military leaders in Africa. They had the martial thoughts and training to forment true rebellion of a type that absolutely terrified the Southern slave owners.
The book basically ends at the end of the Civil War when slavery as a legal institution ended. The story of the continuing African American struggles to find equality belong in other books.
One final thought. Slavery existed in the South because of cotton, and particularily the difficulty of separating the cotton seed from the fiber. By the mid 1800's slavery was still in power, but the impact of the cotton gin was beginning to make slavery uneconomical. An interesting what if -- would slavery have ended within a few years even if the Civil War had not been fought.
Greed and the making of America.......2004-12-23
Much more than an expose of slavery. The Hortons highlight frightening political machinations which turned a blind eye to atrocities, all while furthering another agenda. Even Abraham Lincoln escapes unscathed. An important read for anyone who cares about the history of America. Negro President by Garry Wills makes interesting complemental reading.
Book Description
America and Its Peoples, Fourth Edition presents American history in an exciting way, with a spirited narrative, vivid character sketches, and colorful anecdotes. The book highlights the rich ethnic diversity of the American people. Social history-with an emphasis on sports, leisure, and popular culture-is integrated with more traditional coverage of military history, politics, and diplomacy.
MARKET Appropriate for anyone with an interest in American history.
Customer Reviews:
THIS is a great book.......2003-08-27
Fresh with quotes from the actual events, this literature makes you forget that you're reading an assignment. Even though it gets to the point because of the quantity of subjects, this volume still manages to make humans out of historical heroes and villains with only several paragraphs. Plenty of surprising humor as well.
Average customer rating:
- What a waste...
- Excellent service, Fast delivery.
- Excellent service
|
America and Its Peoples: A Mosaic in the Making : To 1877 (America & Its Peoples)
James Kirby Martin ,
Randy Roberts ,
Steven Mintz ,
Linda O. McMurry , and
James H. Jones
Manufacturer: Longman Publishing Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 General
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
World
| History
| Subjects
| Books
| 17th Century
| 18th Century
| 19th Century
| 20th Century
| 21st Century
| Byzantine
| Expeditions & Discoveries
| General
| Islamic
| Jewish
| Medieval
| Renaissance
| Revolution
| Slavery & Emancipation
| Transportation
| Women in History
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A Patriot's History of the United States: From Columbus's Great Discovery to the War on Terror
ASIN: 067398074X |
Book Description
America and Its Peoples, Fourth Edition presents American history in an exciting way, with a spirited narrative, vivid character sketches, and colorful anecdotes. The book highlights the rich ethnic diversity of the American people. Social history-with an emphasis on sports, leisure, and popular culture-is integrated with more traditional coverage of military history, politics, and diplomacy.
MARKET Appropriate for anyone with an interest in American history.
Customer Reviews:
What a waste..........2007-03-04
This text is the worst I've ever read. The narrative is dull, the language antiquated. Worst of all, it's so poorly organized it leaves a student utterly frustrated and confused of dates and events. There are over twenty pages in between when it mentions the Missouri Compromise and who actually engineered it. If you're looking for a good history text this is not it. If you've signed up for a history course that requires this text as its primary reference source, I'd recommend dropping it.
Excellent service, Fast delivery........2002-10-18
I received my book very fast and the book is in good condition as described.
Excellent service.......2002-10-18
I received my book very fast and it is in good condition as described. Thank you.
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