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Our Nation's Archive: The History of the United States in Documents
This book tells a history of the USA using over 1000 primary sources & documents. Fascinating articles, history-making speeches, moving personal letters, momentous court cases etc. paint an in-depth portrait of American life in all arenas: political, social, religious & cultural. Brief introduction by the authors give background information for each document. Every issue is covered from the Declaration of Independence & the Bill of Rights to Brown vs. the Board of Education & Roe vs. Wade.
Browsers will discover entertaining & informative writings not found in history books, including the 1st American cookbook, Andrew Carnegie's business advice, poems that inspired the Chicano Movement, Mario Cuomo's 1984 convention speech, the environmental movement manifestoes & the Starr Report. Organized chronologically & divided by subject (The Civil War, The Cold War etc.), all documents are cross referenced in indexes so history buffs can find their favorite documents by author, document name & 1st line.
Browsers will discover entertaining & informative writings not found in history books, including the 1st American cookbook, Andrew Carnegie's business advice, poems that inspired the Chicano Movement, Mario Cuomo's 1984 convention speech, the environmental movement manifestoes & the Starr Report. Organized chronologically & divided by subject (The Civil War, The Cold War etc.), all documents are cross referenced in indexes so history buffs can find their favorite documents by author, document name & 1st line.
886 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 7 reviews
May 27, 2019
This book contains excerpts from over 1,000 documents spanning the history of the area now encompassed by the United States from the earliest days of exploration and colonization through 1999, when the book was published. Indeed, it is not even strictly limited to historical documents, as the first excerpt is from a Cherokee creation myth.
The selections are a mixed bag. Some are historically significant, but the majority are not. Others offer surprising insight into America's history, but most lack this merit. Many documents included in the book do more to demonstrate the politically-correct lenses that most academics tend to view the world through these days, with this trait becoming more pronounced as one gets closer to the present.
On the whole, this book has some merit. However, due to the amount of chaff that needs to be sorted in order to get to the wheat, and the amount of time that takes, I wouldn't recommend it to others.
The selections are a mixed bag. Some are historically significant, but the majority are not. Others offer surprising insight into America's history, but most lack this merit. Many documents included in the book do more to demonstrate the politically-correct lenses that most academics tend to view the world through these days, with this trait becoming more pronounced as one gets closer to the present.
On the whole, this book has some merit. However, due to the amount of chaff that needs to be sorted in order to get to the wheat, and the amount of time that takes, I wouldn't recommend it to others.
April 29, 2009
This compilation of American essays, speeches and articles is incredible! It is one of those books that you almost don't want to pick up, because nearly every page leaps out at you with American history you don't want to put it down; Amelia Earhart on the future of women in the air, E.B. White on why he loves freedom, well-known speeches ("I have a dream...") and essays ("give me liberty or give me death."). All great stuff.
As a political observer, devout patriot and lover of words, this book sang to me.
As a political observer, devout patriot and lover of words, this book sang to me.
March 30, 2010
Peter Keller, president of polling company YouGov has chosen to discuss Erik Bruun and Jay Crosby's Our Nation’s Archive: A History of the United States in Documents, on FiveBooks as one of the top five on his subject - British Democracy, saying that:
"I fell in love with this huge volume because it contains the story of the United States in documents. As well as the obvious things – the Gettysburg address, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, John F Kennedy’s speeches and those of Martin Luther King – it has the words to ‘Brother can you spare a dime’ and ‘Yankee Doodle Dandy’. It has Atticus’s speech to the jury from To Kill a Mockingbird. It is done chronologically with a little introduction to each item so that you can see it in context.."
The full interview is available here: http://five-books.com/interviews/Peter-Kellner
"I fell in love with this huge volume because it contains the story of the United States in documents. As well as the obvious things – the Gettysburg address, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, John F Kennedy’s speeches and those of Martin Luther King – it has the words to ‘Brother can you spare a dime’ and ‘Yankee Doodle Dandy’. It has Atticus’s speech to the jury from To Kill a Mockingbird. It is done chronologically with a little introduction to each item so that you can see it in context.."
The full interview is available here: http://five-books.com/interviews/Peter-Kellner
October 22, 2011
Great book. Great for using the primary documents in research papers. Every college student should own a copy of this book.
April 21, 2019
Compilation of many of America's greatest documents from pre-colonial to modern day. Good resource, but obviously not something you sit down and read cover to cover.
May 30, 2009
History in the record, great original source material
Displaying 1 - 6 of 7 reviews