A People and a Nation

by Mary Beth Norton, David W. Blight, David M. Katzman

A People and a Nation offers a spirited narrative that challenges students to think about American history. The authors' attention to race and racial identity and their inclusion of everyday people and popular culture brings history to life, engaging student readers and encouraging them to imagine what life was really like in the past. The Eighth Edition offers highly readable stories and the latest scholarship throughout.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Textbooks, American, College, School, American History

1088 pages, Hardcover

First published November 28, 1990

Reviews

[Cyndi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two stars makes it look like I didn't like the book much but it was pretty good for a history book except it could be a whole lot more concise. I had difficulty getting through several chapters but it did explain in a pretty fair manner both sides to the story of the settling of America, The Revolutionary War, Slavery, life for the poor and the rich, economic, political and other issues, The Civil War, and Reconstruction. I do give credit to the book not telling me how to feel about different issues in order to be politically correct. Covers a very large part of history so of course it couldn't get in too much detail but any specific event but gave the highlights necessary to have a grasp of the issues and norms of the period of time covered.

[Shoshana · Rating 1 out of 5]

i read this whole book. so done with APUSH

[Gena Lott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Used for a history class, this book contained wonderful information, ideas from many cultures and demographics and was an all-around great book for expanding understanding and tolerance. Glad I took the time to read it.

[Zahra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got an A in US History 110, so I’d call this a success.

[Brown Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

finished - ish. book for my degree, have finished that semester and read most of it. keeping it for further reference

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

In full disclosure, I was assigned this book in a general American history class. We were assigned the 2nd half of the book, from about 1900 onward. I included it here on good reads, because I was assigned to read a little more than one half of the whole book. So I thought, why shouldn't I included in the books I read for this year 2022?
In the beginning I foolishly had hopes that this book would be better than a typical undergraduate college or high school history textbook. I had stupidly hoped that they had improved the writing of these textbooks, since the last time I had to read one anyway. After all, it does seem that writers of history books have improved the techniques and styles that they use to write their texts. I have read and am reading a lot of really engaging nonfiction history books lately. Prit Buttar, The Knife Edge, Rick Atkins' Liberation Trilogy, the books of David McCullough, are just 3 of numerous examples. I had thought that this improvement in the writing of history books generally would have spread by now to the writing of history textbooks, but very sadly I was wrong of course. I now think I should've known better. :-( Having explained this, I can honestly say that this book is absolutely no better or worse than any other undergraduate history 'textbook.' It's a good undergraduate textbook absolutely no more and absolutely known as, absolutely no difference from any other book of its sad type. Again, it's a history textbook, emphasis on the word 'textbook' so, what do you want? What do I need to say other than that. It's boring to the same degree that all other such textbooks are boring, no more no less. Thus it deserves a rating of no more or less than only 3 completely average stars. Sorry about that. I wanted to give it more but cannot! :-)
My advice is, if you want to study the history of the 20th century as ideas. Pick out 7 books, that's the usual amount of books that is assigned in a good upper-level undergraduate college class, pick out 7 books, one on all the various major events of the 20th century, starting with the first world war, and read them. This will give you about 2 weeks to read each book. That's about 50 pages a day for 14 days, if the book is typical length, you will be better off.

[Ella · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good, but I often disliked the wording. Also, it did not have the best organization. Bolding of key words and inclusion of a glossary would have been nice. It was often easier to google my homework questions than trying to find them in here. Read the colonial era chapters for leisure reading before the course started

[Bridget · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh, Norton. How I love thee.

[Melainebooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Le meilleur livre d'histoire sur les Etats-Unis ! Une véritable mine d'or d'informations.

[Shoshana Klein · Rating 1 out of 5]

i read this whole book. so done with APUSH

[Madison Salem]

One of my AP US History textbooks.