Two new authors bring fresh interpretations. Rebecca Edwards (Vassar College) and Robert Self (Brown University) have synthesized the best of new scholarship to make a highly readable and up-to-date edition of America. Edwards’s research focuses on electoral politics, Populism, and the history of women and gender roles, and Self works on urban history and the history of gender and race in American political culture since 1945. Joined and mentored by James Henretta, they’ve shaped America into the ideal brief book for today’s classroom.
A reconceived seven-part framework highlights the themes that help students learn. America’s unique part structure organizes history into seven distinct eras, each period characterized by major developments and an overarching theme. By tracing thematic connections across a period—for example, focusing on three wars of national consolidation in Part Four, the political and social experiments surrounding industrialization in Part Five, or the evolution of liberalism in Part Six—America helps students to identify the important forces shaping each period, make connections between chapters, and understand continuity and change over time.
New interpretations reflect the way you teach. Mirroring trends in the field, a new emphasis on political culture and political economy helps students understand the ways in which society, culture, politics, and the economy inform one another. A sharpened continental perspective expands coverage of the history of the West and brings in a host of new material on Native American history, the environment, and westward expansion, as well as a new interpretation of the relationship between the Civil War and the creation of a continental nation. And the authors pay increased attention to both gender and ethnicity throughout the text, including in a completely NEW chapter on the Civil Rights Movement.
Enhanced media resources give you options for saving time and improving student learning. We know that your classroom changes every year, and so do our resources. Whether you’re interested in substantive lecture and video presentation materials, free online student quizzing, plentiful upgraded test questions, free primary documents — or all of the above — we have options in PowerPoint, on DVD, or uploadable for integration with your local course management system. And if you want it all in one customizable course space, check out
HistoryClass, at
yourhistoryclass.com.