American Nation: A History of the United States, Volume 2: Since 1865

by John A. Garraty, Janice Arthur Garraty

Using the political history of the nation as the framework on which social, economic, and cultural developments depend, co-authors Carnes and Garraty describe how the voices and actions of many peoples have produced a particular political structure–the United States, a single nation–and how that nation has in turn influenced the lives of everyone. Long-renowned for its elegant narrative style, The American Nation in this Twelfth Edition retains its most significant strength–its rich and memorable prose.

In this revision, the authors have revised each chapter to incorporate recent research and scholarship, refined the prose style, greatly expanded the number of maps, selected many new illustrations to engage students visually, and written informative, new captions to encourage students to reflect on the information conveyed in the illustration. In each chapter, a new feature, “Debating the Past” presents the varying views of historians on a question related to the chapter content. The final chapter (33) carries the story of the American nation to the present with coverage of the war in Iraq and the election of 2004.

Genres: History

Paperback

First published December 1, 1994

About the author

John Arthur Garraty was an American historian and biographer. He specialized largely in American political and economic history.

Garraty earned an undergraduate degree from Brooklyn College in 1941 and completed his doctorate at Columbia University in 1948. During World War II, he served in the United States Merchant Marines as a swimming instructor. He taught at Michigan State University for 12 years before joining the Columbia University History Department in 1959. Garraty also served as the president of the Society of American Historians. He retired from teaching at Columbia in 1990.

An author of many textbooks, Garraty's works include the college and high school history textbook The American Nation, later editions of which were co-written with Mark C. Carnes. Among Garraty's other works were many biographies, and Garraty was one of the general editors of the American National Biography, a project which he completed in his retirement.