Based on the idea that you can't cover (and don't want to) everything in a survey course, H.W. Brands and a team of award-winning historians present the story of American history in a refreshing new way.
American Stories: A History of the United States concentrates on the topics most commonly taught in an American history survey course, with a focus on the major themes and the connections between them. A unique pedagogical program developed and implemented by instructional designers provides a consistent structure for students as the story of American history unfolds.
Table of Contents:
1. New World Encounters, Preconquest-1608.
Clash of Cultures: The Meaning of Murder in Early Maryland.
Native Americans Before the Conquest.
Conditions of Conquest.
West Africa: Ancient and Complex Societies.
Europe on the Eve of Conquest.
Spain in the Americas.
The French Claim Canada.
The English Take Up the Challenge.
Conclusion: Campaign to Sell America.
2. England’sNew World Experimentsm 1607-1732.
Profit and Piety: Competing Visions for English Settlement.
The Chesapeake: Dreams of Wealth.
A “New” England in America.
Diversity in the Middle Colonies.
Planting the Southern Colonies.
Conclusion: Living with Diversity.
3. Putting Down Roots: Opportunity and Oppression in Colonial Society, 1619-1692.
Families in an Atlantic Empire.
Social Stability: New England Colonies of the Seventeenth Century.
The Challenge of the Chesapeake Environment.
Race and Freedom in British America.
Blueprint for Empire.
Colonial Political Revolt.
Conclusion: Foundations of an Atlantic Empire.
4. Experience of Empire: Eighteenth-Century America, 1680-1763.
Constructing an Anglo-American Identity: The Journal of William Byrd.
Tensions in the Backcountry.
Spanish Borderlands of the Eighteenth Century.
The Impact of European Ideas on American Culture.
Religious Revivals in Provincial Societies.
Clash of Political Cultures.
Century of Imperial War.
Conclusion: Rule Britannia?
5. The American Revolution: From Gentry Protest to Popular Revolt, 1763-1783.
Moment of Decision: Commitment and Sacrifice.
Structure of Colonial Society.
Eroding the Bonds of Empire.
Steps Toward Independence.
Fighting for Independence.
Conclusion: Preserving Independence.
6. The Republican Experiment, 1783-1788.
A New Political Morality.
Defining Republican Culture.
Stumbling Toward a New National Government.
“Have We Fought for This?”
Whose Constitution? Struggle for Ratification.
Conclusion: Success Depends on the People.
7. Democracy and Dissent: The Violence of Party Politics, 1788-1800.
Force of Public Opinion.
Principle and Pragmatism: Establishing a New Government.
Hamilton's Plan for Prosperity and Security.
Charges of Treason: The Battle over Foreign Affairs.
Popular Political Culture.
The Adams Presidency: Politics of Mistrust.
Conclusion: Danger of Political Extremism.
8. Republican Ascendancy: The Jeffersonian Vision, 1800-1814.
Limits of Equality.
The Republic Expands.
Jefferson as President.
Race and Dissent Under Jefferson.
Embarrassments Overseas.
The Strange War of 1812.
Conclusion: The “Second War of Independence.”
9. Nation Building and Nationalism, 1815-1825.
A Revolutionary War Hero Revisits America in 1824.
Expansion and Migration.
Transportation and the Market Economy.
The Politics of Nation Building after the War of 1812.
Conclusion: Adams and the End of the Era of Good Feeling.
10. The Triumph of White Men's Democracy, 1824-1840.
Democratic Space: The New Hotels.
Democracy in Theory and Practice.
Jackson and the Politics of Democracy.
The Bank War and the Second Party System.
Heyday of the Second Party System.
Conclusion: Tocqueville's Wisdom.
11. Slaves and Masters, 1793-1861.
Nat Turner's Rebellion: A Turning Point in the Slave South.
The World of Southern Blacks.
White Society in the Antebellum South.
Slavery and the Southern Economy.
Conclusion: Worlds in Conflict.
12. The Pursuit of Perfection, 1800-1861.
Redeeming the Middle Class.
The Rise of Evangelicalism.
Domesticity and Changes in the American Family.
Reform Turns Radical.
Conclusion: Counterpoint on Reform.
13. An Age of Expansionism, 1830-1861.
The Spirit of Young America.
Texas, Manifest Destiny, and the Mexican-American War.
Internal Expansionism.
Conclusion: The Costs of Expansion.
14. The Sectional Crisis, 1846-1861.
Brooks Assaults Sumner in Congress.
The Compromise of 1850.
Political Upheaval, 1852-1856.
The House Divided, 1857-1860.
Conclusion: Explaining the Crisis.
15. Secession and the Civil War, 1860-1865.
The Emergence of Lincoln.
The Storm Gathers.
Adjusting to Total War.
Fight to the Finish.
Effects of the War.
Conclusion: An Organizational Revolution.
16. The Agony of Reconstruction, 1863-1877.
Robert Smalls and Black Politicians During Reconstruction.
The President versus Congress.
Reconstructing Southern Society.
Retreat from Reconstruction.
Reunion and the New South.
Conclusion: Henry McNeal Turner and the “Unfinished Revolution.”
Appendix A-1.The Declaration of Independence.
The Articles of Confederation.
The Constitution of the United States of America.
Amendments to the Constitution.
Presidential Elections.
Presidents and Vice Presidents.
Glossary G-1.
Credits C-1.
Index I-1.
