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American Passages: A History of the United States

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AMERICAN PASSAGES, SECOND EDITION examines U.S. history the way people live--in the flow of time. Rather than pursuing one topic (such as politics, culture, society, reform, the military, or economics) at a time, each chapter of the text interweaves important themes and issues into one interrelated narrative. Through this method of presentation, students can observe the many ways that events, movements, and groups of people have served to shape history and can learn to make connections between these themes and issues. References to the book's fully integrated Web site and to AMERICAN JOURNEY ONLINE DATABASE--a cross-referenced, hyperlinked library of primary sources that are organized by topic--allow students to experience history from the vantage of those who lived it.



AMERICAN A HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, SECOND EDITION is available in the following split American Passages, Comprehensive, Second Edition (Chapters 1?32) 0534607411; American Passages, Volume To 1877, Second Edition (Chapters 1?16) 053460742X; American Passages, Volume Since 1863, Second Edition (Chapters 15?32) 0534607438.

1008 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1999

33 people want to read

About the author

Edward L. Ayers

107 books48 followers
Edward Ayers is President Emeritus of the University of Richmond, where he now serves as Tucker-Boatwright Professor of the Humanities. Previously Dean of Arts and Sciences at the University of Virginia, where he began teaching in 1980, Ayers was named the National Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in 2003.

A historian of the American South, Ayers has written and edited 10 books. The Promise of the New South: Life After Reconstruction was a finalist for both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. In the Presence of Mine Enemies: Civil War in the Heart of America won the Bancroft Prize for distinguished writing in American history and the Beveridge Prize for the best book in English on the history of the Americas since 1492. He was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2013.

A pioneer in digital history, Ayers created "The Valley of the Shadow: Two Communities in the American Civil War," a website that has attracted millions of users and won major prizes in the teaching of history. He serves as co-editor of the Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States at the University of Richmond's Digital Scholarship Lab and is a co-host of BackStory with the American History Guys, a nationally syndicated radio show and podcast.

Ayers has received a presidential appointment to the National Council on the Humanities, served as a Fulbright professor in the Netherlands, and been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

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Profile Image for Haneeboy.
8 reviews
July 14, 2017
As a whole, it is a very good book for going throughout American history from beginning to present, though in some sections, the Author seems to have a very, very obvious bias against certain Presidents and people, notably being against President Reagan and President George H. W. Bush.

Things to Note:
In Chapter 31: "From Reagan to Clinton
-No discussion on Reagan's role in the fall of the Berlin Wall
-Little discussion on the substance of Reagan's speeches, contrary to others such as FDR
-Glosses over the overwhelming landslide for Reagan in the 1984 Presidential Election, just a mere few sentences
-Seems to overplay the Iran-Contra Affair
-Seems to neglect Reagan's popularity during much of his term, rather focusing on his policies and how they "ended badly"

Overall
-Tends to not use official names of treaties, rather just using a date and stating that "a treaty" was signed...
-etc.

It goes to say that in sections like these, though they do not seem prevalent, it would do a reader well to read through another source on that area rather than this book. It is a good book as a whole, just, a reader would have a much better understanding of American History as a whole with using readings other than just this book while reading this
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