This popular reader uses both primary and secondary sources to explore social history topics and sharpen students' interpretive skills. Each chapter includes one secondary source essay and several related primary source documents. Chapter introductions tie the readings together and pose questions to consider.
This was a required reading form my American History course when I was still in college. The essays within are very informative and give the reader a sense of acting being there during pivotal moments in American History.
The social aspect and how events in history affected the lives of average Americans is, I believe, the best part of the book as sometimes it is easy to forgot or to overlook how events in history had a direct impact on those who had to live through it and it affected, or not, the lives of those who were very much like those of us today.