A concise history of the United States of America PDF
Preview A concise history of the United States of America
AConciseHistoryoftheUnitedStatesofAmerica Bornoutofviolenceandtheaspirationsofitsearlysettlers,theUnited StatesofAmericahasbecomeoneoftheworld’smostpowerfulnations, even as its past continues to inform its present and to mold its very identityasanation.Thesearchfornationhoodandtheambiguitieson which the nation was founded are at the root of this intelligent and forthrightbook.Takingabroadlychronologicalapproach,itbeginsin colonial America as the first Europeans arrived, lured by the promise of financial profit, driven by religious piety, and accompanied by the diseases that would ravage and consume the native populations. It explores the tensions inherent in a country built on slave labor in the nameofliberty;oneforcedtoassertitsunityandreassessitsidealsinthe faceofsecessionandcivilwar;andonethatstruggledtoestablishmoral supremacy,militarysecurity,andeconomicstabilityduringthefinancial crisesandglobalconflictsofthetwentiethcentury.Woventhroughthis richlycraftedstudyofAmerica’sshiftingsocialandpoliticallandscapes arethemultiplevoicesofthenation’shistory:slavesandslaveowners, revolutionariesandreformers,soldiersandstatesmen,immigrantsand refugees.Itistheirvoices,togetherwiththoseoftoday’smulticultural America,thatdefinetheUnitedStatesatthedawnofanewcentury. Susan-MaryGrantisProfessorofAmericanHistoryatNewcastleUni- versity. She is the author of North over South: Northern Nationalism and American Identity in the Antebellum Era (2000) and The War foraNation:TheAmericanCivilWar(2006),andeditorofLegacyof Disunion:TheEnduringSignificanceoftheAmericanCivilWar(2003) and Themes of the American Civil War: The War Between the States (2010). CAMBRIDGE CONCISE HISTORIES This is a series of illustrated “concise histories” of selected individual countries,intendedbothasuniversityandcollegetextbooksandasgen- eral historical introductions for general readers, travelers, and members ofthebusinesscommunity. OtherTitlesintheSeries: AConciseHistoryofAustralia,3rdEdition stuart macintyre AConciseHistoryofAustria steven beller AConciseHistoryofBrazil boris fausto, translated by arthur brakel AConciseHistoryofBolivia,2ndEdition herbert s. klein AConciseHistoryofBritain,1707–1975 w. a. speck AConciseHistoryofBulgaria,2ndEdition r. j. crampton AConciseHistoryoftheCaribbean b. w. higman AConciseHistoryofFinland david kirby AConciseHistoryofFrance,2ndEdition roger price AConciseHistoryofGermany,2ndEdition mary fulbrook SerieslistcontinuesfollowingtheIndex. OtherTitlesintheSeries(continuedfrompageiii) AConciseHistoryofGreece,2ndEdition richard clogg AConciseHistoryofHungary miklo´s molna´r, translated by anna magyar AConciseHistoryofModernIndia,2ndEdition barbara d. metcalf and thomas r. metcalf AConciseHistoryofItaly christopher duggan AConciseHistoryofMexico,2ndEdition brian r. hamnett AConciseHistoryofNewZealand philippa mein smith AConciseHistoryofPoland,2ndEdition jerzy lukowski and hubert zawadzki AConciseHistoryofPortugal,2ndEdition david birmingham AConciseHistoryofSouthAfrica,2ndEdition robert ross AConciseHistoryofSpain william d. phillips jr. and carla rahn phillips AConciseHistoryofSweden neil kent AConciseHistoryofWales geraint h. jenkins For Peter A Concise History of the United States of America SUSAN-MARY GRANT NewcastleUniversity cambridgeuniversitypress Cambridge,NewYork,Melbourne,Madrid,CapeTown, Singapore,Sa˜oPaulo,Delhi,Tokyo,MexicoCity CambridgeUniversityPress 32AvenueoftheAmericas,NewYork,ny10013-2473,usa www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9780521612791 (cid:2)C Susan-MaryGrant2012 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements, noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublished2012 PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica AcatalogrecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationdata Grant,Susan-Mary. AconcisehistoryoftheUnitedStatesofAmerica/Susan-MaryGrant. p. cm.–(Cambridgeconcisehistories) Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. isbn978-0-521-84825-1(hardback)–isbn978-0-521-61279-1(paperback) 1.UnitedStates–History. I.Title. e178.g734 2012 973–dc23 2011031552 isbn978-0-521-84825-1Hardback isbn978-0-521-61279-1Paperback CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyofurls forexternalorthird-partyInternetWebsitesreferredtointhispublicationanddoesnot guaranteethatanycontentonsuchWebsitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate. Contents Figures pageix Tables xiii Acknowledgments xv Introduction:TheMakingofaNewWorld 1 1 NewFoundLand:ImaginingAmerica 10 2 ACityonaHill:TheOriginsofaRedeemerNation 39 3 TheCauseofAllMankind:FromColoniesto CommonSense 71 4 Self-EvidentTruths:FoundingtheRevolutionaryRepublic 105 5 TheLast,BestHopeofEarth:TowardtheSecond AmericanRevolution 137 6 WestwardtheCourseofEmpire:FromUniontoNation 172 7 APromisedLand:GatewaytotheAmericanCentury 205 8 TheSoldier’sFaith:ConflictandConformity 242 9 BeyondtheLastFrontier:ANewDealforAmerica 276 10 ALandinTransition:AmericaintheAtomicAge 313 11 ArmiesoftheNight:Countercultureand Counterrevolution 346 Notes 381 GuidetoFurtherReading 397 Biographies 409 Index 433 vii
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