American Vistas

by Leonard Dinnerstein (Editor), Kenneth T. Jackson (Editor)

Offering balanced and up-to-date coverage of America's social, political, and diplomatic past, this two-volume anthology of articles by nationally renowned scholars and journalists introduces readers to the excitement of American history. With fifteen new selections, the sixth edition has
been substantially revised to examine such topics as the relationship between Native Americans and early colonists, the experience of women in colonial America and the early republic, the Northwest Ordinance, slavery on the western frontier, reconstruction, the experience of African-Americans,
Italian immigrants, and women in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the psychiatric, political, and social responses to sex crimes, the influences of television on American life, the FBI's actions against the student anti-war protests of the 60s and early 70s, and the War-Powers Act under the
Nixon and Johnson administrations.

Genres: History

384 pages, Paperback

First published February 22, 1971

Reviews

[Lobstergirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a small paperback college-level "textbook" with previously published essays (or book excerpts). In keeping with the times (1995), this edition added essays related to gender and sexuality. Topics include the Puritans and sex; Anne Hutchinson; the Indians vs. the colonists; witchcraft and sexuality; black women slaves and their gender and sexuality; adolescents in Vermont; republican ideals; American Catholics and the First Amendment; virtue and the republican wife; Indian policy in the Jackson era; women in the Lowell mills; how the Oregon Territory became American; Florida's slave codes; what took the Union so long to win the Civil War; and Eric Foner's abridged thoughts on reconstruction. Some of these were snoozefests, others mildly interesting.

The two essays I found most interesting were "Public vs. Private Education: The Neglected Meaning of the Dartmouth College Case" and one on slavery and freedmen in antebellum Illinois. The editors say that the Supreme Court's decision in the Dartmouth case in 1819 "is often regarded as the single most important judicial decision in all of American history." I had never heard of it. The state of New Hampshire had tried to turn private Dartmouth College into a state university, to be called Dartmouth University. "The state argued that Dartmouth was essentially a public corporation whose powers were exercised for public purposes and were subject to public control." Daniel Webster (class of 1801) argued on behalf of the College. Chief Justice John Marshall ruled in the College's favor "that Dartmouth's charter was a contract within the meaning of the ... Constitution and that as a contract it could not be repealed or altered by legislation." This court case explains why although Dartmouth has long been a de facto university, with professional and graduate schools, they hung onto the name "Dartmouth College" which they had fought so hard to preserve.

The book contains an absolutely risible number of typos. What's going on over there, Oxford University Press?

[Cade · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of various writtings from American history. A good primer in the founding of this country and our modern thoughts.