American History, Volume 2: 1877 - Present

by Thomas S. Kidd

American History  volume 2 gives a wide overview of America’s history from the end of the Civil War era, to the political and cultural struggles of contemporary times. Thomas S. Kidd employs lessons learned from his own scholarly expertise and history classes to weave together a compelling narrative of the defeats and triumphs that have defined the American national experience. Unlike many textbooks of modern American history, religion and faith remain central aspects of the book’s coverage, through present-day America. It gives detailed treatment of episodes such as America’s military conflicts, the Civil Rights movement, and the culture wars of the past half-century. Professor Kidd also considers the development of America’s obsession with entertainment, from the rise of the first movies, to the social media age. American History v olume 2 will help students wrestle with the political and cultural changes that have dramatically transformed contemporary American life

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Audiobook

368 pages, Paperback

Published April 1, 2019

About the author

Thomas S. Kidd teaches history at Baylor University, and is Senior Fellow at Baylor's Institute for Studies of Religion. Dr. Kidd has appeared on the Glenn Beck tv program, the Hugh Hewitt and Dennis Prager radio shows, and written columns for USA Today and the Washington Post. He is a columnist for Patheos.com. His latest book is Patrick Henry: First Among Patriots. Other books include God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution. His next book projects are a biography of George Whitefield, and a history of Baptists in America.

Reviews

[Jeremy Johnston · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an educational read, not only in learning about the last 150 years of US history, but also in learning how to think about historical events. Scholarly but highly readable. Kidd has become one of my favourite historians!

[Amanda]

Part 2 of history recommended by Jasmine Holmes

[Eva B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I used this with its companion volume for my homeschool co-op US History class of ninth and tenth grade students. My students found it readable and interesting. It really is a brief survey: many incidents are covered in just a passing line. For a homeschool situation, I think you would need to supplement with other books or videos. We watched the Teaching Company (now Great Courses) History of United States lectures (2003) in conjunction with the book to reinforce and expand on the material.

We only covered 28 of the 30 chapters, but the last two chapters dealing as they do with more recent times, feel more haphazard anyway, and the book ends abruptly. I would have liked an epilogue or a last chapter wrap up.

[Jason Park · Rating 5 out of 5]

A skillful, professional narrative of our history that gives ample focus to religion in America. My full review: https://medium.com/park-recommendatio...

[Christoffer · Rating 3 out of 5]

American History by Thomas S. Kidd is a pretty brief overview over the history of the lands that is now the USA. Despite it's relative shortness over two volumes it gives a reasonable amount of details to the history of America, both before and after the founding of the country itself. These types of overviews are hard to write because the author has to become either really shallow or have some kind of focus where some topics gets a bit more attention. Kidd decides to have two areas of increased focus; the struggle for racial equity and the religious history of America. Apart from these two areas, the book is pretty standard in the way it focuses on presidents and major events. I thought the focus areas were well chosen, the focus on racial tensions is a must - especially given the recent rise of white nationalism. And for me it was interesting to read relatively much about the religious history of America because I knew next to nothing about it beside the really obvious stuff.

Personally I would have preferred a bit more discussion regarding sources, their credibility and different interpretations of them. I feel this is often a bit neglected in history books of more recent history, despite it possibly being even more important than books of ancient history (everyone and their cousin knows Livy is not historically accurate when he writes about Rome's founding for example - but it's not at all a given that we understand the context and nuances of a 19th century person just because it's infinitely closer to us than say Livy...). Anyway, I'm not saying Kidd completely lacks a discussion on sources, but he could have done more in this department in my opinion.

Kidd's style as a writer is pretty casual and it makes it an easy read.

One micro detail towards the end that had me so triggered I had to include it here: Kidd writes that Hillary Clinton won the primary in 2016 vs Bernie Sanders thanks to super delegates. This is obviously false! In the real world, Hillary handily won a majority both of the popular vote and of pledged delegates vs Sanders. If you remove super delegates from the equation, Hillary still had a super solid majority of delegates. This is one sentence towards the very end of the book, but it had me screaming!

Anyway, I really enjoyed American History by Thomas S. Kidd and if you want a relatively brief history of America without getting bogged down in a series of books that will take an infinity to complete - this is the book for you. If you want a more detailed account or if you don't like the focus areas Kidd has chosen, obviously look somewhere else. But for me it was a really good read.

I give this book 3/5. (Seriously, I would have given it 4/5 if not for the falsehood regarding how Hillary won vs Bernie, I hope there are not more inaccuracies in areas where I have no clue).

[Garrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book belongs among the other great US History overviews such as The People's History of the United States, The Patriots History of the United States, and These Truths. The authors of each of these works come with their own nuance that altogether help narrate a more complete picture of events that are often overlooked in what readers may have learned in school.

Thomas Kidd places an emphasis on the role that religious movements played within the fabrics of US life. Something he makes clear about given his own religious background and belief that these movements are important in understanding US society. This emphasis does not overpower or detract from a successful overview of historical events from 1877 to 2019. This emphasis is also objective. For instance, highlighting how the Temperance movement was largely Protestant, while Catholic groups and black communities were more hesitant in supporting the banning of drinking alcohol. Such details are covered as they are.

I highly recommend this book for those looking for a wide breadth of US History in a digestible amount of pages. This book does so in a way that is more objective and less partial than that of A Patriot's History (although a Patriot's History covers more topics and has a helpful timeline at the start of each chapter). Meanwhile, I would recommend A People's History and These Truths for those who like to read more depth on the topics covered, but still want to read a broad overview of US history.

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Separately, it is unfortunate to see that a reviewer gave this book three stars after falsely accusing Kidd of getting a piece of history wrong. I am including my response to this review. I understand how the reviewer is confused by the historical event they lived through, and hope people are not swayed by their misinformed understanding.

[In response to accusations that Kidd is wrong for stating Hillary won based on super delegates]

It is important to review history, and see that it was the super delegates that pushed Hillary over the threshold to win the nomination. She clinched the delegate threshold on June 6, 2016. A date where no primary or caucus was held, and the day before six states held a primary. She could not have won without the super delegates. This is not a falsehood. She earned 2,220 delegates and needed 2,383 to win the nomination.

Those 591 super delegates (vs Bernie's 41) gave the appearance of a landslide victory for Hillary and declared that she clinched before six states voted for her. While Hillary had the majority of the popular votes, it was the super delegates that pushed her over the threshold. Look back at the numbers, and you will see that Kidd reported this factually. Without super delegates, the democratically elected delegates would have had to debate the winner at the DNC convention.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

January 19, 2013
Too character driven, too philosophical for my tastes. However, it is a great look at cultural prejudice, misunderstanding, and reconciliation, though that seemed forced for the sake of the story, so all could end well. I'm simply curious, skeptical maybe, of the possibility of what I read.

[Michael Haltom · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's good for people new to American history

American history is vast covering the colonies, revolution, slavery, American/indian wars, civil war, reconstruction, industrialization etc, etc. only a dozen thick volumes could hope to do it justice for advanced readers. I would say these two smaller volumes are good for kids in school to get a decent foundation.

[Will Dole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Volume 1 was better. The focus on race, while obviously important, sometimes get to a point where it obscures other things happening in American life. Sometimes from Kidd's writing you would think the whole country was Montgomery, Alabama.

[Teresa]

Audiobook. I think I’ll have my kids read this in high school. For me, it was a helpful overview of history with a focus on Christianity, up to the present.