Making America: A History of the United States, Volume 1: To 1877, Brief

by Carol Berkin, Christopher Miller, Robert Cherny

MAKING AMERICA: A HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, BRIEF FIFTH EDITION, presents history as a dynamic process shaped by human expectations, difficult choices, and often the surprising consequences. With this focus on history as a process, MAKING AMERICA encourages students to think historically and to develop into citizens who value the past. The clear chronology, straightforward narrative, and strong thematic structure emphasize communication over intimidation, and appeal to students of varied learning levels. The Brief Fifth Edition retains a hallmark feature of the MAKING AMERICA program: pedagogical tools that allow students to master complex material and enable them to develop analytical skills. Every chapter has chapter outlines, chronologies, focus questions, and in-text glossaries to provide guidance throughout the text. A new feature called Investigating America gets to the heart of learning history: reading and analyzing primary sources. The text's new open, inviting design allows students to access and use pedagogy to improve learning.

376 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Katya Epstein]

Tries to cover too much material in too few pages. The resulting text is dry, with each person and concept introduced and then dropped again so quickly that I still feel little understanding of even major decisions, like why the colonists chose independence from Britain, or why the North chose to go to war to keep the South from seceding. Only two pages are devoted to describing the philosophy and debate that went into the drafting of the Constitution. Also, the maps were disappointing. They seem to have been created without any reference to the text they accompany. For instance, often the text would name a particular river to define a location, but when I looked up to the map on that page, that river was not labelled.

That said, the sections on "social fabric" and "human dimensions" were interesting.

[Marc]

This is a college freshman survey book of American History. It reads well, but moves too quickly over any given period and works best when complimented by additional academic texts. Overall it moves in a logical fashion and serves the purpose of providing a brief and general overview of American history through the Civil War and re-construction. The section on the Civil War was far too light. The Revolutionary War generally received the bulk of the text. Other books I supplemented my reading with include The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution, Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States, and for fun - The Gangs of New York.