As this most tumultuous century draws to a close, the need for a concise and trustworthy history is clear. Recent decades have seen the publication of American histories that are either bloated with unnecessary detail or infused with a polemical purpose that undermines their authority. InTwentieth-Century America, Thomas C. Reeves provides a fluidly written narrative history that combines the rare virtues of compression, inclusiveness, and balance. From Progressivism and the New Deal right up to the present, Reeves covers all aspects of American history, providing solid coverage of each era without burying readers in needless detail or trivia. This approach allows readers to grasp the major developments and continuities of American history and to come away with a cohesive picture of the whole of the twentieth century. The volume stresses social and well as political history, emphasizing the roles played by all Americans--including immigrants, minorities, women, and working people--and pays special attention to such topics as religion, crime, public health, national prosperity, and the media. Reeves is careful throughout to present both sides of controversial subjects and yet does not leave readers bewildered about which interpretations are most strongly supported or where to explore these issues more thoroughly. At the conclusion of each chapter, the author cites ten authoritative volumes for further study. The bibliographies, as well as the text, are refreshing in their lack of ideological bent. "Objectivity," Reeves suggests, "is an illusive but worthy goal for the historian." For anyone wishing to achieve a lucid historical overview of the past 100 years, Twentieth-Century America is the best place to start.

More than any other nation, the United States has shaped the course of world history during the twentieth century which has been called "the American century." In this absorbing and accessible book, a group of leading scholars of American history examine the century as a coherent whole, highlighting the continuities underlying the cyclical change and apparent diversity that have marked America's development since 1900.

Argues that the United States' founding myths no longer apply, and explains why Americans must reconsider the facts of their history.

From the settlement of the earliest peoples in the Americas to the close of the seventeenth century, enormous changes took place in what was to become the continental United States. To help students understand this sweep of history, this unique resource provides detailed description and expert analysis of the ten most important events through the seventeenth century: First Encounters, c. 40,000 BCE - 1492 AD; The Expedition of Coronado, 1540-1542; The Founding of St. Augustine, 1565; Early English Colonization Efforts, c. 1584-1630; Early European-Native American Encounters, 1607-1637; The Introduction of Slavery into America, 1619; The Surrender of New Amsterdam, 1664; King Philip's War, 1675-1676; The Glorious Revolution in America, 1688-1689; and The Salem Witch Trials, 1692. Each event is dealt with in a separate chapter. The examination goes beyond traditional textbook treatment of history by considering the immediate and far-reaching ramifications of each event. Each chapter features an introductory essay that presents the facts of the event in a clear, chronological manner that makes complex history understandable. This essay is followed by an interpretive essay, written by a recognized authority in the field in a style designed to appeal to a general readership and promote critical thinking, that places the event in a broader context and assesses it in terms of its political, economic, sociocultural, and international significance. With an illustration and an annotated bibliography for each event, a glossary of names, events, and terms of the period, a timeline of important events in American history through the seventeenth century, Events That Changed America Through the Seventeenth Century is an ideal addition to the high school, community college, and undergraduate reference shelf, as well as excellent supplementary reading in social studies and American history courses.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1971.

This is the first major study to comprehensively analyse English encounters with the New World in the sixteenth century and their impact on early English understandings of America and changing approaches to exploration and settlement. The book traces the dynamism of early English encounters with the Americas and the many cultural influences that shaped English understandings of the new lands across the Atlantic. It illustrates that rather than being a period of inconsequential colonial failure in the Americas, the sixteenth century was in fact an era of assessment, adaptation and application that culminated in the survival of the first Anglo-American colony at Jamestown. Encountering early America will appeal to students and scholars working on early English colonialism in North America and European cultural encounters with the New World.