America: A Concise History, Volume 1: To 1877

Brief and affordable, yet careful not to sacrifice elements vital to student learning, America gives students and instructors everything they want — and nothing they don’t. The authors’ own abridgement preserves the hallmark explanatory power of the parent text, helping students to understand not only what happened but why — so they’re never left wondering what’s important. A unique seven-part narrative structure highlights the crucial turning points in American history and explores the dynamic forces shaping each period, facilitating students’ understanding of continuity and change. The narrative is enriched and reinforced by vibrant full-color art and carefully crafted maps, which provide invaluable tools for student comprehension and enrichment. Two primary-source features in every chapter ensure that students understand historical events as they were viewed nationally and internationally. The result is a brief book that, in addition to being an excellent price, is an excellent value.

JAMES A. HENRETTA is Priscilla Alden Burke Professor of American History at the University of Maryland, College Park. His publications include The Evolution of American Society, 1700–1815: An Interdisciplinary Analysis; "Salutary Neglect": Colonial Administration under the Duke of Newcastle; Evolution and Revolution: American Society, 1600–1820; The Origins of American Capitalism; and an edited volume, Republicanism and Liberalism in America and the German States, 1750–1850. His most recent publication is a long article, "Charles Evans Hughes and the Strange Death of Liberal America," (Law and History Review, 2006), derived from his ongoing research on The Liberal State in New York, 1820–1975.

 

DAVID BRODY is professor emeritus of history at the University of California, Davis. He is the author of Steelworkers in America; Workers in Industrial America: Essays on the 20th Century Struggle; and In Labor’s Cause: Main Themes on the History of the American Worker. His current research is on labor law and workplace regimes during the Great Depression.