The Brief American Pageant: A History of the Republic, Volume I: To 1877

If you think American history can’t be entertaining, think again. THE BRIEF AMERICAN PAGEANT presents a concise and vivid chronological narrative, focusing on the central themes and great public debates that have dominated American history. Colorful anecdotes, first-person quotations, and the text’s trademark wit keep you engaged and make learning America’s history an exciting and lively experience. Focus questions, chapter outlines and summaries, and marginal glossaries ensure that you understand and retain the material.

David M. Kennedy is Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History Emeritus and founding Director of the Bill Lane Center for the American West at Stanford University. He also serves as General Editor of the OXFORD HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES series. His volume in the series, FREEDOM FROM FEAR: THE AMERICAN PEOPLE IN DEPRESSION AND WAR, 1929-1945, won the Pulitzer Prize for History, the Francis Parkman Prize, the Ambassador's Prize and the California Gold Medal for Literature. He is also the author of OVER HERE: THE FIRST WORLD WAR AND AMERICAN SOCIETY, which was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and BIRTH CONTROL IN AMERICA: THE CAREER OF MARGARET SANGER, which won the Bancroft and John Gilmary Shea Prizes. He is also editor of THE MODERN AMERICAN MILITARY, and co-editor of WORLD WAR II AND THE WEST IT WROUGHT. He lives in Stanford, California.

Lizabeth Cohen is an historian of the United States in the 20th century in the Harvard History Department, where she is the Howard Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies and a Harvard University Distinguished Professor. She is the author most recently of Saving America’s Cities: Ed Logue and the Struggle to Renew Urban America in the Suburban Age, which won the Bancroft Prize in American History. Previous books include A Consumers’ Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America and Making A New Deal: Industrial Workers in Chicago, 1919-1939, which also won the Bancroft and was a finalist for the Pulitzer in History. She was Dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study from 2011-2018.

Mel Piehl is professor of Humanities and History at Valparaiso University. He served as Distinguished Visiting Professor of Catholic Studies at the University of Dayton in 2001-2002 and as Visiting Scholar in Catholic Studies at Seattle University in 2013-2014. Dr. Piehl's scholarly interests center on American intellectual and religious history, with particular emphasis on American Catholic history and the relationship between religion and social thought. His book, BREAKING BREAD: THE CATHOLIC SOCIAL WORKER AND THE ORIGIN OF CATHOLIC RADICALISM IN AMERICA, was a finalist for the Robert Kennedy National Book Award. In addition, Dr. Piehl has written numerous articles on American Catholicism and American religion and social thought. He received his Ph.D. from Stanford University.