Like its corresponding full-size version, The Enduring Vision, Concise, features an engaging, elegantly written narrative that emphasizes political, social, and cultural history within a chronological framework. The Enduring Vision was the first U.S. history survey text to incorporate sustained attention to cultural history, and is also known for its innovative coverage of the West and the environment.
Paul S. Boyer is a U.S. cultural and intellectual historian (Ph.D., Harvard University, 1966) and is Merle Curti Professor of History Emeritus and former director (1993-2001) of the Institute for Research in the Humanities at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He has held visiting professorships at UCLA, Northwestern University, and William & Mary; has received Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundation Fellowships; and is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Society of American Historians, and the American Antiquarian Society. Before coming to Wisconsin in 1980, he taught at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst (1967-1980).