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Major Problems in American History
Major Problems in the Early Republic, 1787-1848: Documents and Essays
Each chapter's documents identify the key issues and capture the passionate spirit and conviction of the historical actors. The essay selections spotlight research in the social and cultural history of the early republic.
568 pages, Paperback
First published January 2, 1991
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About the author
Sean Wilentz
72 books84 followersSean Wilentz is the George Henry Davis 1886 Professor of American History at Princeton University. His many books include The Politicians and the Egalitarians: The Hidden History of American Politics (2016); Bob Dylan in America (2010); and The Age of Reagan: A History, 1974–2008 (2008). The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln (2005) was awarded the Bancroft Prize, and he has received two Grammy nominations for his writings on music.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 9, 2009
I bought this book for 48 cents, and it's been worth every penny. Like most anthologies this is a fairly straightforward overview of the time period (1787-1848), covering, well, major problems in the early republic. In general, the focus is on social problems, especially categorized and presented in terms of the concerns and viewpoints of sociology in 1992; I'm not particularly for or against that, but it's fairly standard material in that sense.
The exposition and summaries by the editors are easy to read and to the point, providing good orientation to the documents. The best part of this anthology, as with any good anthology, is that the primary documents take the center stage. It's always interesting to hear (I guess, read) people in their own words with their own tone and style. It gives you a much better sense of not only what they thought on a given topic, but what their opinions were based upon and what were their deeper concerns or priorities. At 568 pages there is a lot to chew on, but just about everything is brief and concise enough to give you a good taste.
The exposition and summaries by the editors are easy to read and to the point, providing good orientation to the documents. The best part of this anthology, as with any good anthology, is that the primary documents take the center stage. It's always interesting to hear (I guess, read) people in their own words with their own tone and style. It gives you a much better sense of not only what they thought on a given topic, but what their opinions were based upon and what were their deeper concerns or priorities. At 568 pages there is a lot to chew on, but just about everything is brief and concise enough to give you a good taste.
June 2, 2012
There are good essays in this book, as well as source documents. It's not always easy reading.
February 2, 2015
Excellent blend of primary documents and insightful, contrasting essays
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews