Eyewitness to America: 500 Years of America in the Words of Those Who Saw It Happen - Softcover

Colbert, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0679442243 ISBN 13: 9780679442240

Publisher: Pantheon, 1997

Synopsis

Thomas Jefferson complains about haggling over the Declaration of Independence ... Jack London guides us through the rubble of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake ... Langston Hughes visits the Scottsboro Boys on death row ... Andy Warhol paints the scene at Studio 54 ... John Seabrook receives e-mail from Bill Gates. Three hundred eyewitnesses -- some famous, some anonymous -- give their personal accounts of the great moments that make up our past, from Columbus to cyberspace, and infuse them with a freshness and urgency no historian can duplicate.

David Colbert has brought together a multitude of voices to create a singularly rich American narrative.  Here are the vivid impressions of men and women who were witnesses to and participants in these and other dramatic moments: the first colony in Virginia, the Salem witch trials, the Boston Tea Party, the Oklahoma land rush, the Scopes Trial, the bombing of Nagasaki, the lunch-counter sit-ins at the outset of the civil rights movement, New York City's Stonewall Riot, the fall of Saigon, and the 1992 Los Angeles riots.

With unparalleled and thrilling immediacy, these excerpts from diaries, private letters, memoirs, and newspapers paint a fascinating picture of the evolving drama of American life.

About this title

About the Author

David Colbert is a writer and former Editor at HarperCollins.  He lives in San Francisco and New York.

From the Inside Flap

rson complains about haggling over the Declaration of Independence ... Jack London guides us through the rubble of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake ... Langston Hughes visits the Scottsboro Boys on death row ... Andy Warhol paints the scene at Studio 54 ... John Seabrook receives e-mail from Bill Gates. Three hundred eyewitnesses -- some famous, some anonymous -- give their personal accounts of the great moments that make up our past, from Columbus to cyberspace, and infuse them with a freshness and urgency no historian can duplicate.

David Colbert has brought together a multitude of voices to create a singularly rich American narrative. Here are the vivid impressions of men and women who were witnesses to and participants in these and other dramatic moments: the first colony in Virginia, the Salem witch trials, the Boston Tea Party, the Oklahoma land rush, the Scopes Trial, the bombing of Nagasaki, the lunch-counter sit-ins at the outset of the civil rights movement, New York

Reviews

YA. Through 300 firsthand impressions gathered from sources such as diaries, letters, interviews, and memoirs, this title looks at many facets, innovations, and changes that have shaped our society. Rather than just presenting the cold, hard facts that so many reference sources offer students, this text allows them to see and hear the emotions of such events as a Salem "witch" begging for mercy, a Native American's account of the massacre at Wounded Knee, and Rosa Parks's account of her arrest. Each entry begins with brief background information including the role of the author. The index provides access through topics, authors, and key people. Although somewhat similar to Jerome Agel's Words That Make America Great (Random, 1996), which presents over 200 excerpts from documents, this title has more entries of a social nature and impressions of an event or document. Presented in chronological order from Columbus's discovery of America to the sending of the first e-mail, this is an excellent resource and an interesting text to read for pleasure.?Anita Short, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

It's a book I'll turn to often for research, and more often for pleasure. Eyewitness to America is the best Americana collection on my shelf.

There is merit in having books on the bedside table that . . . inform and amuse. Collections of familiar short stories and essays--Somerset Maugham, John Updike on golf--can fit the bill well. . . . Eyewitness to America comes into the same category. . . . There are some lovely literary gems.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

"If I did not give him true answers, he would blow my brains out." From: Lanterns In The North Church Steeple / Paul Revere / April 18, 1775 [Revere wrote this account in a 1798 letter to Dr. Jeremy Belknap, one of America's first historians.]
. . . We had got nearly half way. Mr. Dawes and the doctor stopped to alarm the people of a house. I was about one hundred rods ahead when I saw two men in nearly the same situation as those officers were near Charlestown. I called for the doctor and Mr. Dawes to come up. In an instant I was surrounded by four. They had placed themselves in a straight road that inclined each way; they had taken down a pair of bars on the north side of the road, and two of them were under a tree in the pasture. The doctor being foremost, he came up and we tried to get past them; but they being armed with pistols and swords, they forced us into the pasture. The doctor jumped his horse over a low stone wall and got to Concord. I observed a wood at a small distance and made for that. When I got there, out started six officers on horseback and ordered me to dismount. One of them, who appeared to have the command, examined me, where I came from and what my name was. I told him. He asked me if I was an express. I answered in the affirmative. He demanded what time I left Boston. I told him, and added that their troops had catched aground in passing the river, and that there would be five hundred Americans there in a short time, for I had alarmed the country all the way up. He immediately rode towards those who stopped us, when all five of them came down upon a full gallop. One of them, whom I afterwards found to be a Major Mitchel, of the 5th Regiment, clapped his pistol to my head, called me by name and told me he was going to ask me some questions, and if I did not give him true answers, he would blow my brains out. He then asked me similar questions to those above. He then ordered me to mount my horse, after searching me for arms. He then ordered them to advance and to lead me in front. When we got to the road, they turned down towards Lexington. When we had got about one mile, the major rode up to the officer that was leading me, and told him to give me to the sergeant. As soon as he took me, the major ordered him, if I attempted to run, or anybody insulted them, to blow my brains out. . . .

"The President lay, extended on a bed, breathing heavily . . ." From: The Death of Lincoln / April 1865 / Washington, D.C. / Gideon Welles [Welles was secretary of the navy.]
. . . As we descended the stairs, I asked Stanton what he had heard in regard to the President that was reliable. He said the President was shot at Ford's Theatre, that he had seen a man who was present and witnessed the occurrence. The streets were full of people. Not only the sidewalk but the carriageway was to some extent occupied, all or nearly all hurrying towards 10th Street. When we entered that street we found it pretty closely packed. The President had been carried across the street from the theatre to the house of a Mr. Peterson. We entered by ascending a flight of steps above the basement and passing through a long hall to the rear, where the President lay, extended on a bed, breathing heavily. Several surgeons were present, at least six, I should think more. Among them I was glad to observe Dr. Hall, who, however, soon left. I inquired of Dr. H. as I entered the true condition of the President. He replied the President was dead to all intents, although he might live three hours or perhaps longer. The giant sufferer lay extended diagonally across the bed, which was not long enough for him. He had been stripped of his clothes. His large arms, which wer e occasionally exposed, were of a size which one would scarce have expected from his spare appearance. His slow, full respiration lifted the clothes with each breath that he took. His features were calm and striking. I had never seen them appear to better advantage than for the first hour, perhaps, that I was there. After that, his right eye began to swell and that part of his face became discolored. Senator Sumner was there, I think, when I entered. If not he came in soon after, as did Speaker Colfax, Mr. Secretary McCulloch, and the other members of the Cabinet, with the exception of Mr. Seward. A double guard was stationed at the door and on the sidewalk, to repress the crowd, which was of course highly excited and anxious. The room was small and overcrowded. The surgeons and members of the Cabinet were as many as should have been in the room, but there were many more, and the hall and other rooms in the front or main house were full. One of these rooms was occupied by Mrs. Lincoln and her attendants, with Miss Harris. About once an hour Mrs. Lincoln would repair to the bedside of her dying husband and with lamentation and tears remain until overcome by emotion. . .

"My rackets are run on strictly American lines . . ." From: An Interview with Al Capone, Patriot / 1929 / Chicago / Claud Cockburn [Cockburn was a reporter for the Times of London.]
. . . He stood up as he spoke, cooling his finger-tips in the rose bowl in front of him. He sat down again, brooding and sighing. . . My remarks about the harsh way the world treats barefoot boys in Brooklyn were interrupted by an urgent angry waggle of his podgy hand. "Listen," he said, "don't you get the idea I'm one of these goddam radicals. Don't get the idea I'm knocking the American system. The American system. . . ." As though an invisible chairman had called upon him for a few words, he broke into an oration upon the theme. He praised freedom, enterprise and the pioneers. He spoke of "our heritage." He referred with contemptuous disgust to Socialism and Anarchism. "My rackets," he repeated several times, "are run on strictly American lines and they're going to stay that way."

Edition details

• Publisher: Pantheon
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0679442243
• ISBN 13: 9780679442240
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 599