The Free and the Unfree: A New History of the United States

by Peter N. Carroll, David W. Noble

Although European expansion was the driving force that first opened up the frontier land called America, the growth of the new nation would be forged over the centuries by the diverse peoples who struggled to make it their home. But not everyone who made a home in the country was accepted as an American. When the democratic, humanitarian principles were retested by the native Americans, blacks, immigrants, religious minorities, and women, these principles were too often found wanting. "The Free and the Unfree" documents the dynamic relationship between these outgroups and the power-holders as it weaves in a broad tapestry the threads of social, cultural, political and economic developments of a vigorous nation. The book conveys with a keen sense of participation, the unfolding of the United States through four historical eras.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History

477 pages, Paperback

First published September 29, 1977

Reviews

[Federica]

’flagging the homeland daily’
... this reminding is so familiar, so continual, that it is not consciously registered as reminding. The metonymic image of banal nationalism is not a flag which is being consciously waved with fervent passion; it is a flag hanging unnoticed on the public building.
(Billig, 1995: 8)

[Adrian Colesberry · Rating 5 out of 5]

A revisionist history of the US from a populist POV. Quite salutary to read about eras with which you are familiar from a different angle.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Erudite but overreaching treatise on how the disenfranchised have been mistreated in the US.