Synopses & Reviews
American Horizons is the only U.S. History survey text that presents the traditional narrative in a global context. The seven-author team uses the frequent movement of people, goods, and ideas into, out of, and within America's borders as a framework. This unique approach provides a fully integrated global perspective that seamlessly contextualizes American events within the wider world. The authors, all acclaimed scholars in their specialties, use their individual strengths to provide students with a balanced and inclusive account of U.S. history.
Presented in two volumes for maximum flexibility, American Horizons illustrates the relevance of U.S. history to American students by centering on the matrix of issues that dominate their lives. These touchstone themes include population movements and growth, the evolving definition of citizenship, cultural change and continuity, people's relationship to and impact upon the environment, political and ideological contests and their consequences, and Americans' five centuries of engagement with regional, national, and global institutions, forces, and events. In addition, this beautifully designed, full-color book features hundreds of photos and images and more than one hundred maps.
American Horizons contains ample pedagogy, including:
* America in the World, visual guides to the key interactions between America and the world
* Global Passages, which feature unique stories connecting America to the world
* Visual Reviews providing post-reading summaries to help students to connect key themes or events within a chapter
* Maps and Infographics that explore essential themes in new ways
The concise version of American Horizons has:
* 10% fewer words than the comprehensive
* 35% fewer images than the comprehensive
* More compact size and design than the comprehensive
Review
"The greatest strength of this text's global approach is that it comes without sacrificing depth, analytical breadth, or attention to those key figures and events central to more nation-based histories of the U.S. This is global history, plus."--Nico Slate, Carnegie Mellon University
"This is a wonderful and much-needed approach to the survey. It is exceptional and will force students to engage with American history from a fresh and relevant perspective."--Jeffrey Kosiorek, Hendrix College
"I can honestly say that this textbook not only presents the information in a new light, but does it so much so that I would seriously consider changing textbooks."--Robin Henry, Wichita State University
"The scholarship is particularly strong. I am impressed with how well the authors have managed to link the global concepts to virtually every area of American history."--Bill Wood, University of Arkansas at Batesville
"American Horizons does a great job connecting American history to world events, and showing how American and world history play off of one another."--Cynthia Counsil, Florida State College at Jacksonville
"An exceptional book for instructors wishing to globalize American history."--Kurt Troutman, Muskegon Community College
"The 'Global Passages' features are wonderful-more of those micro-histories I incorporate so often in my courses, and which students find so helpful."--Brenda Jackson-Abernathy, Belmont University
About the Author
Michael Schaller, University of Arizona
Robert Schulzinger, University of Colorado
John Bezis-Selfa, Wheaton College
Janette Thomas Greenwood, Clark University
Andrew Kirk, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Sarah Purcell, Grinnell College
Aaron Sheehan-Dean, West Virginia University
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: North America Encounters the Atlantic World
Chapter 2: Colonists on the Margins, 1565-1640
Chapter 3: Forging Tighter Bonds, 1640 to the 1690s
Chapter 4: Accelerating the Pace of Change, c. 1690-1730
Chapter 5: Battling for Souls, Minds, and the Heart of North America, 1730-1763
Chapter 6: Empire and Resistance, 1763-1776
Chapter 7: A Revolutionary Nation, 1776-1789
Chapter 8: A New Nation Facing a Revolutionary World, 1789-1815
Chapter 9: American Peoples on the Move, 1789-1824
Chapter 10: Market Revolutions and the Rise of Democracy, 1789-1832
Chapter 11: New Boundaries, New Roles: 1820-1856
Chapter 12: Religion and Reform, 1820-1850
Chapter 13: A House Dividing, 1844-1860
Chapter 14: The Civil War
Chapter 15: Reconstructing America, 1865-1877