Synopses & Reviews
Connect students to the stories of history. Connect students to the experience of history. Connect students to success in history. At McGraw-Hill, we have spent the past few years deepening our understanding of the student and instructor experience. Employing a wide array of research tools including surveys, focus groups, and ethnographic studies, we've identified areas in need of improvement to provide an opportunity for greater learning and teaching experiences. Experience History is a direct result of this.
Experience History is also a first in American History. Its groundbreaking adaptive diagnostic and interactive exercises paired with its lively narrative and engaging visuals create a unique teaching and learning environment propelling greater student success and better course results. Instructors gain better insight into students' engagement and understanding as students develop a base of knowledge and construct critical thinking skills. Gripping stories keep students turning the page while the adaptive diagnostics for each chapter and a personalized study plan for each individual student help students prepare for class discussions and course work while enjoying increased course success.
Experience History emphasizes that history is not just a collection of proven facts, but is "created" from the detective work of historians examining evidence from the past. Providing the interactive environment that only an integrated solution can provide, Experience History gives students the opportunity to examine primary sources and explore specific periods and events. This leads to greater understanding as well as the building and practicing of critical thinking skills. As students uniquely experience American History, Experience History propels students to greater understanding while achieving greater course success.
Give students an experience. Improve course participation and performance. Experience History, and experience success.
About the Author
James West Davidson received his B.A. from Haverford College and his Ph.D. from Yale University. A historian who has pursued a full-time writing career, he is the author of numerous books, among them After the Fact: The Art of Historical Detection (with Mark H. Lytle), The Logic of Millennial Thought: Eighteenth Century New England, and Great Heart: The History of a Labrador Adventure (with John Rugge). He is co-editor with Michael Stiff of the Oxford New Narratives in American History, in which his most recent book appears: 'They Say': Ida B. Wells and the Reconstruction of Race. Christine Leigh Heyrman is Associate Professor of History at the University of Delaware. She received a Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale University and is the author of Commerce and Culture: The Maritime Communities of Colonial Massachusetts, 1690-1750. Her book exploring the evolution of religious culture in the Southern U.S., entitled Southern Cross: The Beginnings of the Bible Belt, was awarded the Bancroft Prize in 1998. Mark H. Lytle received his Ph.D. from Yale University and is Professor of History and Environmental Studies. he has served two years as Mary Ball Washington Professor of American History at University College, Dublin, in Ireland. His publications include The Origins of the Iranian-American Alliance, 1941-1953, After the Fact: The Art of Historical Detection (with James West Davidson), America's Uncivil Wars: The Sixties Era from Elvis to the Fall of Richard Nixon, and, most recently, The Gentle Subversive: Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, and the Rise of the Environmental Movement. He is co-editor of a joint issue of the journals of Diplomatic History and Environmental History dedicated to the field of environmental diplomacy. Michael B. Stoff is Associate Professor of History and Director of the Plan II Honors Program at the University of Texas at Austin. The recipient of a Ph.D. from Yale University, he has been honored many times for his teaching, most recently with election to the Academy of Distinguished Teachers. He is the author of Oil, War, and American Security: The Search for a National Policy on Foreign Oil,1941-1947, co-editor (with Jonathan Fanton and R. Hal Williams) of The Manhattan Project: A Documentary Introduction to the Atomic Age, and series co-editor (with James West Davidson) of the Oxford New Narratives in American History. He is currently working on a narrative on the bombing of Nagasaki.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1. The First Civilizations of North America An American Story: The Power of a Hidden Past A Continent of Cultures A Cultures of Ancient Mexico Daily Lives: Play Ball Cultures of the Southwest Cultures of the Eastern Woodlands Cultures of the Great Plains Cultures of the Great Basin Cultures of the Pacific Northwest Cultures of the Subarctic and Arctic Innovations and Limitations America's Agricultural Gifts Landscapers The Shape of a Problem Historian's Toolbox: An Ancient Calendar Animals and Illness Crisis and Transformation Enduring Cultures North America on the Eve of Contact Dueling Documents: How Many People Lived in Hispaniola in 1492? REVIEW CHART: A CONTINENT OF CULTURES CONCLUSION: THE WORLD AT LARGE SIGNIFICANT EVENTS TIMELINE CHAPTER SUMMARY ADDITIONAL READING After the Fact: Historians Reconstruct the Past: Tracking the First Americans Chapter 2. Old Worlds, New Worlds, 1400-1600 An American Story: Fishing Nets and Far Horizons Eurasia and Africa in the Fifteenth Century Europe's Place in the World Historian's Toolbox: A Witch Bottle Africa and the Portuguese Wave Sugar and the Origins of the Atlantic Slave Trade Spain in the Americas The Spanish Beachhead in the Caribbean Daily Lives: "Barbaric Dress"--Indian and European Conquest of the Aztecs Dueling Documents: How Did Spaniards and Aztecs Remember First Contact? The Columbian Exchange The Crown Steps In The Search for North America's Indian Empires Religious Reform Divides Europe The Teachings of Martin Luther The Contribution of John Calvin French Huguenots and the Birth of Spanish Florida The English Reformation England's Entry into America The Ambitions of Gilbert, Raleigh, and Wingina A Second Roanoke--and Croatoan REVIEW CHART: EUROPEAN EXPLORATIONS CONCLUSION: THE WORLD AT LARGE SIGNIFICANT EVENTS TIMELINE CHAPTER SUMMARY ADDITIONAL READING Chapter 3. Colonization and Conflict in the South, 1600-1750 An American Story: Outlandish Strangers Spain's North American Colonies The Founding of a "New" Mexico The Growth of Spanish Florida Pope and the Pueblo Revolt Dueling Documents: What Caused the Pueblo Revolt? English Society on the Chesapeake The Virginia Company Reform and a Boom in Tobacco The Founding of Maryland and the Renewal of Indian Wars Changes in English Policy in the Chesapeake Chesapeake Society in Crisis Bacon's Rebellion and Coode's Rebellion From Servitude to Slavery Africa and the Atlantic Slave Trade Historian's Toolbox: Hip Mask from Benin A Changing Chesapeake Society From the Caribbean to the Carolinas Paradise Lost Daily Lives: A Taste for Sugar The Founding of the Carolinas Carolina, Florida, and the Southeastern Slave Wars White, Red, and Black: The Search for Order The Founding of Georgia REVIEW CHART: SOUTHERN COLONIES CONCLUSION: THE WORLD AT LARGE SIGNIFICANT EVENTS TIMELINE CHAPTER SUMMARY ADDITIONAL READING Chapter 4. Colonization and Conflict in the North, 1600-1700 An American Story: Bears on Floating Islands France in North America The Origins of New France New Netherlands, the Iroquois, and the Beaver Wars The Lure of the Mississippi Historian's Toolbox: A French Map The Founding of New England The Puritan Movement The Pilgrim Settlement of Plymouth Colony The Puritan Settlement at Massachusetts Bay Stability and Order in Early New England Communities in Conflict Goodwives and Witches Daily Lives: A World of Wonders and Witchcraft Dueling Documents: Accusations and Defenses in the Salem Witchcraft Trials The People in the Way Metacom's War The Mid-Atlantic Colonies English Rule in New York The Founding of New Jersey Quaker Odysseys Patterns of Growth Quakers and Politics Adjustment to Empire The Dominion of New England Royal Authority in America in 1700 REVIEW CHART: NORTHERN COLONIES CONCLUSION: THE WORLD AT LARGE SIGNIFICANT EVENTS TIMELINE CHAPTER SUMMARY ADDITIONAL READING Chapter 5. The Mosaic of Eighteenth-Century America, 1689-1768 An American Story: The Tale of a Tattooed Traveler Crisis and Transformation in Northern New Spain Defensive Expansion into Texas Crisis and Rebirth in New Mexico Spanish California Dueling Documents: The Founders of Spanish California Women and the Law in New Spain and British North America Eighteenth-Century New France Colonial Compromise France on the Gulf Coast Slavery and Colonial Society in French Louisiana Forces of Division in British North America Immigration and Natural Increase Daily Lives: Transatlantic Trials Moving into the Backcountry Social Conflict on the Frontier Eighteenth-Century Seaports Historian's Toolbox: A Woman's Cupboard Social Tension in Seaports Slave Societies in the Eighteenth-Century South The Slave Family and Community Slavery and Colonial Society in French Louisiana Slave Resistance in Eighteenth-Century British North America Enlightenment and Awakening in America The Enlightenment in America The First Great Awakening The Aftermath of the Great Awakening Anglo-American Worlds of the Eighteenth Century English Economic and Social Development The Consumer Revolution Inequality in England and America Politics in England and America The Imperial System Before 1760 REVIEW CHART: EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY NORTH AMERICA CONCLUSION: THE WORLD AT LARGE SIGNIFICANT EVENTS TIMELINE CHAPTER SUMMARY ADDITIONAL READING Chapter 6. Toward the War for American Independence, 1754-1776 An American Story: The General, the Trader, and the Missing Allies The Seven Years' War Origins Years of Defeat A Shift in Policy Years of Victory Historian's Toolbox: John Singleton Copley's Watson and the Shark Postwar Expectations The Imperial Crisis Pontiac's Rebellion George Grenville's New Measures The Beginning of Colonial Resistance Riots and Resolves Repeal of the Stamp Act The Townshend Acts The Resistance Organizes Daily Lives: Street Theater The International Sons of Liberty The Boston Massacre Dueling Documents: Who Was to Blame for the Boston Massacre? Resistance Revived The Empire Strikes Back Toward the Revolution The First Continental Congress The Last Days of the British Empire in America The Fighting Begins Common Sense REVIEW CHART: PARLIAMENT AND THE ROAD TO REVOLUTION CONCLUSION: THE WORLD AT LARGE SIGNIFICANT EVENTS TIMELINE CHAPTER SUMMARY ADDITIONAL READING Chapter 7. The American People: The American Revolution, 1775-1783 An American Story: "Will He Fight?" The Decision for Independence The Second Continental Congress The Declaration Dueling Documents: Abigail and John Adams Spar on Women's Rights American Loyalists The Fighting in the North The Two Armies at Bay Daily Lives: Radical Chic and Revolutionary Women Laying Strategies Capturing Philadelphia Disaster at Saratoga The Turning Point The American Revolution Becomes a Global War Winding Down the War in the North War in the West The Home Front in the North The Struggle in the South The Siege of Charleston The Partisan Struggle in the South Greene Takes Command African Americans in the Age of Revolution Historian's Toolbox: Runaways The World Turned Upside Down Surrender at Yorktown REVIEW CHART: BRITISH AND AMERICAN FORCES COMPARED CONCLUSION: THE WORLD AT LARGE SIGNIFICANT EVENTS TIMELINE CHAPTER SUMMARY ADDITIONAL READING Chapter 8. Crisis and Constitution, 1776-1789 An American Story: "These United States" Republican Experiments The State Constitutions From Congress to Confederation The Temptations of Peace The Temptations of the West Foreign Intrigues Disputes among the States The More Democratic West The Northwest Territory Slavery and Sectionalism Wartime Economic Disruption Republican Society