Places in Time: A New Atlas of American History - Hardcover

Leacock, Elspeth; Buckley, Susan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0395979587 ISBN 13: 9780395979587

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2001

Synopsis

Takes readers to twenty sites that have shaped America's national story by following a character who experienced it first-hand, including General Benedict Arnold at Saratoga and a founding father's view of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

About this title

About the Author

Susan Buckley grew up in a family of storytellers in Louisiana. Susan has developed more than ten elementary social studies programs and has written many history and geography books for children and teachers.

Elspeth Leacock is an educator and writer. She helped to develop an award-winning series of textbooks for inner-city children. She has also written several books, numerous textbooks, and articles for children's magazines, and she has even created a game --- Geography Brainquest

Randy Jones was trained as an artist in Canada, where he created award-winning illustrations for books for children and adults. Since he moved to New York, his work has appeared in major publications such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and Newsweek.

Reviews

Gr 5-8-In the first book, a winning blend of facts, maps, and the drama of a well-written story results in an unusual and exciting view of this country's past. Some of the 20 individuals highlighted are well known, such as Daniel Boone, Ben Franklin, and Louis Armstrong. Others are more obscure, like Dame Shirley, a New England woman in the Gold Rush, and Venture Smith, an enslaved six-year-old African prince. Each double-page spread features an introduction, a story with numbered paragraphs relating to the map or illustration, a fact box, and colorful illustrations. All information is carefully researched and includes many primary resources. Any fictionalizing is marked with single quotation marks, while statements with actual historical evidence have double quotes. The second title uses the same format to present 20 sites in American history at the moment of their historical significance, beginning in 1200 (Cahokia) and ending in 1953. Places and times include New Plymouth-1627, Charlestown-1739, Saratoga-1777, Philadelphia-1787, Abilene-1871, and Chicago-1893. The detailed cutaway views of homes, forts, and mills are impressive enough to keep readers looking again and again. These fascinating slices of life stir the imagination and lead to questions and further research. Neither title has a bibliography, but scholars, historians, libraries, and museums are credited in the notes sections. While the books are perfect for individual perusal, educators will delight in the curriculum potential.

Pamela K. Bomboy, Chesterfield County Public Schools, VA

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Reviewed with Elspeth Leacock and Susan Buckley's Journeys in Time.

Gr. 4-6. A companion to Leacock's Journeys in Time, this book frames our country's history in visits to 20 significant historic places, from the bustling ancient North American city of Cahokia and colonial battlefields of Saratoga and Gettysburg to Ellis Island and an early 1950s suburban tract house. Remarkably every one of the incidents or episodes is recast from actual historical accounts, usually of an eyewitness or participant. The painted illustrations are also careful reconstructions: either uncluttered maps on which a red line traces each journey, or elevated or cutaway views of the featured places showing accurately rendered landforms, buildings, and even individual rooms. A key matches significant events or locations in pictures and texts, and a box of background facts ends every spread and helps to create a wider perspective. As the source notes show, Leacock and Buckley have drawn their information not just from published documents but from archives and their own interviews as well. A great way to get readers interested in the U.S.'s past and people. GraceAnne DeCandido
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0395979587
• ISBN 13: 9780395979587
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Jones Randy
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 48