Synopses & Reviews
The Oxford History of the United States is by far the most respected multi-volume history of our nation. In this prize-winning, critically acclaimed addition to the series, historian Daniel Walker Howe illuminates the period from the battle of New Orleans to the end of the Mexican-American War, an era when the United States expanded to the Pacific and won control over the richest part of the North American continent. Howe's panoramic narrative portrays revolutionary improvements in transportation and communications that accelerated the extension of the American empire. Railroads, canals, newspapers, and the telegraph dramatically lowered travel times and spurred the spread of information. These innovations prompted the emergence of mass political parties and stimulated America's economic development from an overwhelmingly rural country to a diversified economy in which commerce and industry took their place alongside agriculture. In his story, the author weaves together political and military events with social, economic, and cultural history. He examines the rise of Andrew Jackson and his Democratic party, but contends that John Quincy Adams and other Whigs--advocates of public education and economic integration, defenders of the rights of Indians, women, and African-Americans--were the true prophets of America's future. He reveals the power of religion to shape many aspects of American life during this period, including slavery and antislavery, women's rights and other reform movements, politics, education, and literature. Howe's story of American expansion culminates in the bitterly controversial but brilliantly executed war waged against Mexico to gain California and Texas for the United States.
Winner of the New-York Historical Society American History Book Prize
Finalist, 2007 National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction
A masterpiece. A comprehensive, richly detailed, and elegantly written account of the republic between the War of 1812 and the American victory in Mexico a generation later.
--The Atlantic
Howe brings an impressive array of strengths to the daunting task of encapsulating these busy, complicated three-plus decades within a single (admittedly, very long) volume...he grasps the meaning as well as the details of developments and events. He has a fine eye for telling detail.... He is a genuine rarity...extraordinary.
--Washington Post Book World
A fascinating, richly detailed portrait of the U.S. as its very boundaries so dramatically and often violently shifted.... It is a rare thing to encounter a book so magisterial and judicious and also so compelling; it is a great achievement and deserves many readers beyond the academy.
--Chicago Tribune
This extraordinary contribution to the Oxford History of the United States series is a great accomplishment by one of the United States' most distinguished historians.. A book that every student of American history and politics should read. It is, in short, everything a work of historical scholarship should be.
--Foreign Affairs
Review
"What Daniel Walker Howe hath wrought is a wonderfully mind-opening interpretation of America on the cusp of modernity and might."--George F. Will, National Review Online
"What Hath God Wrought is the dazzling culmination of the author's lifetime of distinguished scholarship.... The sustained quality of Howe's prose makes it even harder to put down a volume whose sheer weight makes it hard to pick up.... What Hath God Wrought lays powerful claim to being the best work ever written on this period of the American past."--Richard Carwardine, The Journal of Southern History
"Howe knows his era as well as any historian living, and he generously instructs his readers with detailed expertise and crisp generalizations."--John Lauritz Larson, The Journal of American History
"What Hath God Wrought is a feat worth applauding no matter what omissions will occur to every specialist in any facet of early national America."--Scott E. Casper, Reviews in American History
"Howe is a skillful storyteller who knows how to choose relevant anecdotes and revealing quotations. Both general readers and professional historians can benefit from the book. It can be read with pleasure from cover to cover."--Thomas Tandy Lewis, Magill's Literary Annual
"One of the best lessons offered by Howe's book comes in his refusal to view the period of 1815 to 1848 in anything other than its own terms. He never reduces the early part of the book to an analysis of how developments succeeded or failed the hopes of the 'founders.' Nor does he ever treat political and social developments as though they launched the United States on a high road to the Civil War.... Precisely because of this clear-eyed vision of the antebellum period, Civil War historians will want to take a fresh look back at howe's picture of the United States in a constant state of change."--Sarah J. Purcell, Civil War Book Review
"I like to have a heavy tome to calm me down at the end of the day. This is almost as big as a pathology book, but really well written."--Robin Cook
"A comprehensive, richly detailed, and elegantly written account of the republic between the War of 1812 and the American victory in Mexico a generation later...a masterpiece."--The Atlantic
"How's Pulitzer Prize-winning addition to the mulitvolume Oxford History of the United States is excellent in many ways, not least in the full attention it gives to the religious dynamics of American history in this period.... a very satisfying read."--The Christian Century
"Exemplary addition to the Oxford History of the United States... He is a genuine rarity...extraordinary."--Washington Post Book World
"One of the most outstanding syntheses of U.S. history published this decade."--Publishers Weekley starred review
"What Hath God Wrought is both a capacious narrative of a tumultuous era in American history and a heroic attempt at synthesizing a century and a half of historical writing about Jacksonian democracy, antebellum reform, and American expansion."--The New Yorker
"This extraordinary contribution to the Oxford History of the United States series is a great accomplishment by one of the United States' most distinguished historians.... It is, in short, everything a work of historical scholarship should be."--Foreign Affairs
"The book is a sweeping and monumental achievement that no student of American history should let go unread. Attentive to historiography yet writing accessible and engaging prose, Howe has produced the perfect introduction or reintroduction to an enormously important period in American national development."--American Heritage
"The best book on Jackson today."--Gordon Wood, Salt Lake Deseret Morning News
"Howe's book is the most comprehensive and persuasive modern account of America in what we might prefer hereafter to call the Age of Clay. It should be the standard work on the subject for many years to come."--American Nineteenth Century History
"Comprehensive and detailed... an excellent narrative history."--The California Territorial Quarterly
"There is simply too much of value in Howe's book to be even listed in the longest of reviews. The serious student of American history will want to read this book...This is a book worthy of a master of American history." --History News Network
Review
and#8220;A magnificent achievement to the oral-history sources available on the American West. . . . The strength of the volumes is in the stories told by the interviewees, with their perspectives on key historical events from the Old West, which is equally suited to the student and the academic scholar.and#8221;and#8212;American Studies
Review
and#8220;Ricker proved himself a patient and meticulous oral interviewer, giving voice to people mostly ignored by historians of his day. His subjects document the Ghost Dance as a genuine religious movement, not as a and#8216;crazeand#8217; as described in white accounts. . . . Editor Richard Jensen provides a true service, for having translated Rickerand#8217;s arcane handwritten notes into readable form and for his endnotes filled with biographical information.and#8221;and#8212;James N. Leiker, Kansas History
Review
and#8220;Amazing personal accounts [are] in these volumes. . . . Here is western history at its finestand#8212;vivid oral narratives that very well may become the stuff of prize-winning stories, novels, and films.and#8221;and#8212;Bloomsbury Review
Review
and#8220;The interviews are a gold mine of information, and researchers will be rewarded for digging through them. Jensen has helped a great deal by organizing the book into three main chapters subdivided by respondent and topic. . . . Ricker left Nebraska and the West an important source of information, and Jensen has made this more user-friendly by his organization and commentary.and#8221;and#8212;Great Plains Quarterly
Review
and#8220;Priceless sources of information that offer more balanced perspectives on events than were accepted at the time. . . .and#160;There is no doubt that the voices and stories captured here in both books will be of significant value.and#8221;and#8212;Lincoln Journal Star
Review
"Anyone wishing to know more about Wounded Knee, the Little Bighorn, the history of the western frontier in general, and many other topics will certainly want to refer to Jensen's work."and#8212;Rick Ewig, North Dakota History
Review
"Another brilliant offering."and#8212;David Woodbury, of Battlefields and Bibliophiles
Review
"[Birch Coulie is] a dramatic narrative that students of frontier and Minnesota history will wish to read closely."—Gilbert Taylor, Booklist
Review
"Christgau's book is essential reading on the 150th anniversary of the largely forgotten, under-taught war that he describes as "a brutal collision of two worlds and cultures." —Curt Brown, Minneapolis Star Tribune
Review
"With its unusually nuanced perspective, Birch Coulie: The Epic Battle of the Dakota War brings a welcome measure of clarity and insight to a critical moment in the troubled history of the American West, the deadly Dakota War of 1862."—Bob Edmonds, McCormick Messenger
Review
"John Christgau has captured the facts of the 1862 war and the battle at Birch Coulie in a way that brings them alive to the reader."—Gary Revier, Minnesota's Heritage
Review
“Birch Coulie is a great re-telling of a great story. Birch Coulie accurately captures not only the events leading up to this historic battle, but also the emotions of its participants. Christgau seems to understand the depth of Dakota frustrations that produced one of the most determined Native attacks on US troops in all of American History.”—Carl Colwell, LTC U.S. Army (Ret.), director of the Renville County (Minnesota) Historical Society and director of the Minnesota Valley History Learning Center
Review
andquot;Fr emont's report contains great adventure stories that will appeal to both scholars and to serious readers.andquot;andmdash;Martin J. Manning, Journal of American Culture
Synopsis
The Oxford History of the United States is by far the most respected multi-volume history of our nation. In this Pulitzer prize-winning, critically acclaimed addition to the series, historian Daniel Walker Howe illuminates the period from the battle of New Orleans to the end of the Mexican-American War, an era when the United States expanded to the Pacific and won control over the richest part of the North American continent.
A panoramic narrative, What Hath God Wrought portrays revolutionary improvements in transportation and communications that accelerated the extension of the American empire. Railroads, canals, newspapers, and the telegraph dramatically lowered travel times and spurred the spread of information. These innovations prompted the emergence of mass political parties and stimulated America's economic development from an overwhelmingly rural country to a diversified economy in which commerce and industry took their place alongside agriculture. In his story, the author weaves together political and military events with social, economic, and cultural history. Howe examines the rise of Andrew Jackson and his Democratic party, but contends that John Quincy Adams and other Whigs--advocates of public education and economic integration, defenders of the rights of Indians, women, and African-Americans--were the true prophets of America's future. In addition, Howe reveals the power of religion to shape many aspects of American life during this period, including slavery and antislavery, women's rights and other reform movements, politics, education, and literature. Howe's story of American expansion culminates in the bitterly controversial but brilliantly executed war waged against Mexico to gain California and Texas for the United States.
Winner of the New-York Historical Society American History Book Prize
Finalist, 2007 National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction
The Oxford History of the United States
The Oxford History of the United States is the most respected multi-volume history of our nation. The series includes three Pulitzer Prize winners, a New York Times bestseller, and winners of the Bancroft and Parkman Prizes. The Atlantic Monthly has praised it as "the most distinguished series in American historical scholarship," a series that "synthesizes a generation's worth of historical inquiry and knowledge into one literally state-of-the-art book." Conceived under the general editorship of C. Vann Woodward and Richard Hofstadter, and now under the editorship of David M. Kennedy, this renowned series blends social, political, economic, cultural, diplomatic, and military history into coherent and vividly written narrative.
Synopsis
Historian Howe illuminates the period of American history from the battle of New Orleans to the end of the Mexican-American War, an era when the United States expands to the Pacific and wins control over the richest part of the North American continent.
Synopsis
The Oxford History of the United States is by far the most respected multi-volume history of our nation. In this Pulitzer prize-winning, critically acclaimed addition to the series, historian Daniel Walker Howe illuminates the period from the battle of New Orleans to the end of the Mexican-American War, an era when the United States expanded to the Pacific and won control over the richest part of the North American continent.
A panoramic narrative, What Hath God Wrought portrays revolutionary improvements in transportation and communications that accelerated the extension of the American empire. Railroads, canals, newspapers, and the telegraph dramatically lowered travel times and spurred the spread of information. These innovations prompted the emergence of mass political parties and stimulated America's economic development from an overwhelmingly rural country to a diversified economy in which commerce and industry took their place alongside agriculture. In his story, the author weaves together political and military events with social, economic, and cultural history. Howe examines the rise of Andrew Jackson and his Democratic party, but contends that John Quincy Adams and other Whigs--advocates of public education and economic integration, defenders of the rights of Indians, women, and African-Americans--were the true prophets of America's future. In addition, Howe reveals the power of religion to shape many aspects of American life during this period, including slavery and antislavery, women's rights and other reform movements, politics, education, and literature. Howe's story of American expansion culminates in the bitterly controversial but brilliantly executed war waged against Mexico to gain California and Texas for the United States.
Winner of the New-York Historical Society American History Book Prize
Finalist, 2007 National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction
The Oxford History of the United States
The Oxford History of the United States is the most respected multi-volume history of our nation. The series includes three Pulitzer Prize winners, a New York Times bestseller, and winners of the Bancroft and Parkman Prizes. The Atlantic Monthly has praised it as "the most distinguished series in American historical scholarship," a series that "synthesizes a generation's worth of historical inquiry and knowledge into one literally state-of-the-art book." Conceived under the general editorship of C. Vann Woodward and Richard Hofstadter, and now under the editorship of David M. Kennedy, this renowned series blends social, political, economic, cultural, diplomatic, and military history into coherent and vividly written narrative.
Synopsis
The valuable interviews conducted by Nebraska judge Eli S. Ricker with Indian eyewitnesses to the Wounded Knee massacre, the Little Big Horn battle, the Grattan incident, and other events and personages of the Old West are finally made widely available in this long-awaited volume.
In the first decade of the twentieth century, as the Old West became increasingly distant and romanticized in popular consciousness, Eli S. Ricker (1843and#8211;1926) began interviewing those who had experienced it firsthand, hoping to write a multi-volume series about its last days. Among the many individuals he interviewed were American Indians, mostly Sioux, who spoke extensively about a range of subjects, some with the help of an interpreter. For years Ricker traveled across the northern Plains, determinedly gathering information on and off reservations, in winter and in summer. Judge Ricker never wrote his book, but his interviews are priceless sources of information about the Old West that offer more balanced perspectives on events than were accepted at the time.
Richard E. Jensen brings together all of Rickerand#8217;s interviews with American Indians, annotating the conversations and offering an extensive introduction that sets forth important information about Ricker, his research, and the editorial methodology guiding the present volume.
Synopsis
In this second volume of interviews conducted by Nebraska judge Eli S. Ricker, he focuses on white eyewitnesses and participants in the occupying and settling of the American West in the nineteenth century.
In the first decade of the twentieth century, as the Old West became increasingly distant and romanticized in popular consciousness, Eli S. Ricker (1842and#8211;1926) began interviewing those who had experienced it firsthand, hoping to write a multivolume series about its last days, centering on the conflicts between Natives and outsiders. For years Ricker traveled across the northern Plains, gathering information on and off reservations, in winter and in summer. Judge Ricker never wrote his book, but his interviews are priceless sources of information about that time and place, and they offer more balanced perspectives on events than were accepted at the time.
Richard E. Jensen brings together all of Rickerand#8217;s interviews with those men and women who came to the American West from elsewhereand#8212;settlers, homesteaders, and veterans. These interviews shed light on such key events as the massacre at Wounded Knee, the Little Bighorn battle, Beecher Island, Lightning Creek, the Mormon cow incident, and the Washita massacre. Also of interest are glimpses of everyday life at different agencies, including Pine Ridge, Yellow Medicine, and Fort Sill School; brief though revealing memoirs; and snapshots of cattle drives, conflicts with Natives, and the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad.
Synopsis
In the days following the Battle of Birch Coulie, the decisive battle in the deadly Dakota War of 1862, one of President Lincolns private secretaries wrote: “There has hardly been an outbreak so treacherous, so sudden, so bitter, and so bloody, as that which filled the State of Minnesota with sorrow and lamentation.” Even today, at the 150th anniversary of the Dakota War, the battle still raises questions and stirs controversy. In Birch Coulie John Christgau recounts the dramatic events surrounding the battle. American history at its narrative best, his book is also a uniquely balanced and accurate chronicle of this little-understood conflict, one of the most important to roil the American West.
Christgaus account of the war between white settlers and the Dakota Indians in Minnesota examines two communities torn by internal dissent and external threat, whites and Native Americans equally traumatized by the short and violent war. The book also delves into the aftermath, during which thirty-eight Dakota men were hanged without legal representation or the appearance of defense witnesses, the largest mass execution in American history. With its unusually nuanced perspective, Birch Coulie brings a welcome measure of clarity and insight to a critical moment in the troubled history of the American West.
Synopsis
In 1842 John C. Frand#233;mont led a party of twenty-five men on a five-month journey from Saint Louis to the Wind River Range in the Rocky Mountains; his goal: to chart the best route to Oregon. In 1843 Frand#233;mont was commissioned for another expedition, to explore the Great Salt Lake, Washington, eastern California, Carson Pass, and the San Joaquin Valley, places that did not yet belong to the United States.
His journals from these expeditions, edited in collaboration with his wife, Jessie Benton Frand#233;mont, and published by Congress, thrilled the nation and firmly established Frand#233;montand#8217;s persona as the Great Pathfinder. Part descriptive survey, part rousing adventure story, Frand#233;montand#8217;s account was far more than a travelerand#8217;s guide. His tales of courage and wit, descriptions of beautiful landscapes, and observations about Native Americans strengthened Americansand#8217; sense of a national identity and belief in Manifest Destiny. Still a fascinating page-turner today, Frand#233;montand#8217;s report documents the opening of the West even as it offers a firsthand look at the making of the American myth.
Anne F. Hyde provides an introduction to this signature American story that contextualizes the report, outlines Frand#233;montand#8217;s rise and fall, and shows how, for better or worse, this explorer exemplifies the nineteenth-century American spirit.
and#160;
About the Author
John C. Frand#233;mont (1813and#8211;90) was a military officer who served in the Mexican-American War, took part in the Bear Flag Rebellion, and fought in the Civil War. He was also one of the first two senators from California and the first presidential candidate for the Republican Party in 1856.and#160;Anne F. Hyde is a professor of history at Colorado College and the author of Empires, Nations, and Families: A History of the North American West, 1800and#8211;1860 (Nebraska, 2011), winner of the 2012 Bancroft Prizeand#160;and finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize.and#160;
Table of Contents
Maps
Editor's Introduction
Abbreviations Used in Citations
Introduction
Prologue: The Defeat of the Past
1. The Continental Setting
2. From the Jaws of Defeat
3. An Era of Good and Bad Feelings
4. The World That Cotton Made
5. Awakenings of Religion
6. Overthrowing the Tyranny of Distance
7. The Improvers
8. Pursuing the Millennium
9. Andrew Jackson and His Age
10. Battles over Sovereignty
11. Jacksonian Democracy and the Rule of Law
12. Reason and Revelation
13. Jackson's Third Term
14. The New Economy
15. The Whigs and Their Age
16. American Renaissance
17. Texas, Tyler, and the Telegraph
18. Westward the Star of Empire
19. The War Against Mexico
20. The Revolutions of 1848
Finale: A Vision of the Future
Bibliographical Essay
Index