These United States: The Questions of Our Past, Combined Concise Edition (2nd Edition)

Written by a Pulitzer Prize winning author, this “concise” survey explores the many and varied threads of American history—social, intellectual, cultural political, diplomatic, economic, and military—from the arrival of the first native American inhabitants thousands of years ago through the crisis following the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001. Inclusive of all the diverse groups that are and have been part of the American fabric, it shows how the story of America is a human story revealing the imperfections, as well as the triumphs of human endeavor and the human spirit. Using a unique “inquiry approach,” each chapter is built around a specific question or theme designed to challenge readers to consider the complexity of America's past. Considers questions such as: How Did Old World Life and Culture Change the Wilderness? What Made the American Economic Miracle Possible? What Was Jacksonian Democracy and How Did It Change Political Life? Was the Mexican War and Expansionism Greed, Manifest Destiny or Inevitability? What Were Americans before the Civil War Really Like? What Is Myth and What Was Real Regarding the Old South? What Went Wrong in Reconstruction? What Were the Causes, What Were the Costs of Industrialization? How “Gilded” Was the Gilded Age? World War I: Idealism, National Interest, or Neutral Rights? The Twenties: Happy Adolescence or Decade of Stress? The New Deal: Too Far or Not Far Enough? World War II: Blunder, or Decision in the National Interest? The “Reagan Revolution” : What Was It? What Did It Accomplish? Would Diversity and the Cold War's End Change America? For anyone interested in American history.