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The Penguin History of the United States of America
'Compelling reading...Hugh Brogan's book will delight the general reader as much as the student'
--The Times Educational Supplement
This superb one-volume history--from early British colonization to the fall of President Nixon--captures all the vivid personalities and events as well as the broad sweep of America's triumphant progress. Hugh Brogan looks at the period leading to Independence from the American "and" British points of view, explores the permanent features, both good and bad, of the 'American character' and produces a masterly synthesis of all the latest research to show how the USA developed so rapidly from small beginnings to global dominance.
'His account of the origins and pressures leading to and deepening the Vietnam involvement is one of the best--I would say the best--in print...He will be welcomed by American readers no less than those in his own country'
--J.K. Galbraith in the Sunday Times
'Mr Brogan has both a real gift for narrative and the ability to deal succinctly and tellingly with the individual and his contribution'
--Lord Beloff in the Daily Telegraph
'A marvellous, exhilirating book'
--Jonathan Steinberg in the Standard
'Vigorous, authoritative and to the point'
--Phillip Whitehead in the Listener
Formerly published as The Pelican History of the United States of America.
--The Times Educational Supplement
This superb one-volume history--from early British colonization to the fall of President Nixon--captures all the vivid personalities and events as well as the broad sweep of America's triumphant progress. Hugh Brogan looks at the period leading to Independence from the American "and" British points of view, explores the permanent features, both good and bad, of the 'American character' and produces a masterly synthesis of all the latest research to show how the USA developed so rapidly from small beginnings to global dominance.
'His account of the origins and pressures leading to and deepening the Vietnam involvement is one of the best--I would say the best--in print...He will be welcomed by American readers no less than those in his own country'
--J.K. Galbraith in the Sunday Times
'Mr Brogan has both a real gift for narrative and the ability to deal succinctly and tellingly with the individual and his contribution'
--Lord Beloff in the Daily Telegraph
'A marvellous, exhilirating book'
--Jonathan Steinberg in the Standard
'Vigorous, authoritative and to the point'
--Phillip Whitehead in the Listener
Formerly published as The Pelican History of the United States of America.
752 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1985
203 people are currently reading
1467 people want to read
About the author
Hugh Brogan
19 books13 followersHugh Brogan was a British historian and biographer. He earned a history degree from St John’s College, Cambridge in 1959 and was a fellow there from 1964 until 1974. He was a professor at the University of Essex from 1992 until his retirement in 1998.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews
March 2, 2014
America has the world caught in two unbreakable embraces, one soft, exciting, where we all want to stay; and the other militarist, violent, careless of other peoples’ countries. The first is Disney, Hollywood and rock and roll, the second Iraq, Vietnam and Fox News. I may be English to the core, but more than half of everything I read is American; probably three quarters of what I listen to is American, and, I don’t know, 90% of all the movies I watch. And that’s okay, if it wasn’t I wouldn’t do it. It’s not that I’m an Americaphile, except insofar as the whole world is. America is a vast cultural factory. Its production rate is phenomenal. Who invented – and continues to invent – modern life? America. At the same time, America’s politics scare me, both the internal and the external variety. Politically and economically, America isn’t cosy at all, not for non-Americans, and not for quite a few Americans too.
It struck me that all my American history (up to LBJ, anyway) has been told to me by singers, actors, novelists, poets, sculptors, painters, dancers, directors, everyone except historians. Hence, my attempt on this vast one-volume history of the whole shebang.
As I was walking that ribbon of highway,
I saw above me that endless skyway:
I saw below me that golden valley:
This land was made for you and me.
Things fell into place. Hugh Brogan is like a smoothly running giant thresher machine, in goes all the human bodies, the blood, tears, heartbreak, strife and struggle and out comes neat hay-bales of rolling cadenced paragraphs. He’s old school. He’s the way things used to be done, as opposed to, say, Niall Ferguson, who grabs your lapels, drags you round the corner, whispers in your ear, picks your pocket, gets you drunk and leaves you in a motel somewhere in Missouri. Not so Hugh. I think there may be two mild jokes Hugh allows himself in this entire 700 pages. I’d quote them, but you wouldn’t laugh.
But here is the grand rolling diorama of the world’s greatest experimental nation-state. Here’s Jamestown, the Stamp Act, the tea party, here’s the shot heard round the world, Fort Ticonderoga, Bunker Hill, Washington, the Declaration, the Constitution, slavery, Buffalo Bill Cody (an ancient lady in my family, dead 40 years, saw him live in Nottingham in 1903), Mormons, the trail of tears, the wild west, and here’s slavery.
For me the heart of the matter here was the story of slavery and the Civil War. This is history at its most painfully dramatic – I would say melodramatic.
See them big plantations burning
Hear the cracking of the whips
Smell that sweet magnolia blooming
See the ghosts of slavery ships
I can hear them tribes a-moaning
Hear that undertaker’s bell
And I know nobody can sing the blues
Like Blind Willie McTell
For the first time I understood a little bit how specifically peculiar the South was, how skewed its cotton monoculture, how profound its dreadfulness. Brogan’s language is sometimes jarring in its mildness here.
Many Southern women had to pretend not to notice the resemblance between their own offspring and certain little black children on the plantations : proof that their husbands and brothers had been dallying in the slave quarters.
“Dallying”? How about “raping” ? Perhaps an indication, like the use of “native Americans” to mean white people born in the USA as opposed to immigrants, that this book was written in 1983.
I would like to shamble discursively through American history, throwing old song lyrics and advertising jingles into the mix until I sound like a John Dos Passos novel from 1922. I’m glad I’m now clearer about what robber barons were and how machine politics works, and how John Brown’s soul has had to do a whole lot of marching on, and how Obama in the White House seems even more extraordinary than I thought it was in 2008 , but I think I tax your patience enough in these reviews. This book is recommended.
Swing low, chariot, come down easy
Taxi to the terminal zone;
Cut your engines, cool your wings,
And let me make it to the telephone.
Los Angeles, give me Norfolk Virginia,
Tidewater four ten o nine
Tell the folks back home this is the promised land callin'
And the poor boy is on the line
It struck me that all my American history (up to LBJ, anyway) has been told to me by singers, actors, novelists, poets, sculptors, painters, dancers, directors, everyone except historians. Hence, my attempt on this vast one-volume history of the whole shebang.
As I was walking that ribbon of highway,
I saw above me that endless skyway:
I saw below me that golden valley:
This land was made for you and me.
Things fell into place. Hugh Brogan is like a smoothly running giant thresher machine, in goes all the human bodies, the blood, tears, heartbreak, strife and struggle and out comes neat hay-bales of rolling cadenced paragraphs. He’s old school. He’s the way things used to be done, as opposed to, say, Niall Ferguson, who grabs your lapels, drags you round the corner, whispers in your ear, picks your pocket, gets you drunk and leaves you in a motel somewhere in Missouri. Not so Hugh. I think there may be two mild jokes Hugh allows himself in this entire 700 pages. I’d quote them, but you wouldn’t laugh.
But here is the grand rolling diorama of the world’s greatest experimental nation-state. Here’s Jamestown, the Stamp Act, the tea party, here’s the shot heard round the world, Fort Ticonderoga, Bunker Hill, Washington, the Declaration, the Constitution, slavery, Buffalo Bill Cody (an ancient lady in my family, dead 40 years, saw him live in Nottingham in 1903), Mormons, the trail of tears, the wild west, and here’s slavery.
For me the heart of the matter here was the story of slavery and the Civil War. This is history at its most painfully dramatic – I would say melodramatic.
See them big plantations burning
Hear the cracking of the whips
Smell that sweet magnolia blooming
See the ghosts of slavery ships
I can hear them tribes a-moaning
Hear that undertaker’s bell
And I know nobody can sing the blues
Like Blind Willie McTell
For the first time I understood a little bit how specifically peculiar the South was, how skewed its cotton monoculture, how profound its dreadfulness. Brogan’s language is sometimes jarring in its mildness here.
Many Southern women had to pretend not to notice the resemblance between their own offspring and certain little black children on the plantations : proof that their husbands and brothers had been dallying in the slave quarters.
“Dallying”? How about “raping” ? Perhaps an indication, like the use of “native Americans” to mean white people born in the USA as opposed to immigrants, that this book was written in 1983.
I would like to shamble discursively through American history, throwing old song lyrics and advertising jingles into the mix until I sound like a John Dos Passos novel from 1922. I’m glad I’m now clearer about what robber barons were and how machine politics works, and how John Brown’s soul has had to do a whole lot of marching on, and how Obama in the White House seems even more extraordinary than I thought it was in 2008 , but I think I tax your patience enough in these reviews. This book is recommended.
Swing low, chariot, come down easy
Taxi to the terminal zone;
Cut your engines, cool your wings,
And let me make it to the telephone.
Los Angeles, give me Norfolk Virginia,
Tidewater four ten o nine
Tell the folks back home this is the promised land callin'
And the poor boy is on the line
April 11, 2011
There is something about the cousinly relationship, the pre- and post-revolutionary national development, the subtle shades of Anglo-Saxon linguistic nuance - heck, the whole I say, old boy, that's a rather marvelous thing you Yanks have got going there - that allows the British to be amongst the best interpreters and recorders of US history, and Hugh Brogan is no exception. There have been some first rate titles in the Pelican—Penguin History series, but this tome surely emerges at the very uppermost level.
The two-hundred-plus years that have passed in the life of the young republic have been some of the most inspiring, event-filled, and significant that have elapsed in the entire recorded history of mankind. Brogan captures the excitement of this rapid-pace nation-building, full of illimitable and exuberant potentiality and disciplined spirituality, but erected upon an edifice permanently stained by the cruel injustice of slavery and a curious, ofttimes ill-fitting guise of coarse, inexhaustible materialism. From the earliest coastal settlements through to the eventide gloom of Cardigan Carter and the buoyant Morning in America of Ronald Reagan, Brogan applies the lens of an impartial observer to the onrushing threads of a continental destiny. Although - like in so many general US histories - the years of financial-industrial gigantism and political graft of the late 19th century receive less attention than is warranted, there are really few flaws in this vastly readable undertaking. Brogan's tome is of a level with that masterwork from a scion of a renowned American pedigree, Samuel Eliot Morrison; and combined with the antipodal interpretations from the progressive Zinn and the conservative Johnson, there would be little that happened in the overarching development from hardscrabble colony to global superpower that wasn't illuminated from every angle for the reader's edification. Highly recommended.
The two-hundred-plus years that have passed in the life of the young republic have been some of the most inspiring, event-filled, and significant that have elapsed in the entire recorded history of mankind. Brogan captures the excitement of this rapid-pace nation-building, full of illimitable and exuberant potentiality and disciplined spirituality, but erected upon an edifice permanently stained by the cruel injustice of slavery and a curious, ofttimes ill-fitting guise of coarse, inexhaustible materialism. From the earliest coastal settlements through to the eventide gloom of Cardigan Carter and the buoyant Morning in America of Ronald Reagan, Brogan applies the lens of an impartial observer to the onrushing threads of a continental destiny. Although - like in so many general US histories - the years of financial-industrial gigantism and political graft of the late 19th century receive less attention than is warranted, there are really few flaws in this vastly readable undertaking. Brogan's tome is of a level with that masterwork from a scion of a renowned American pedigree, Samuel Eliot Morrison; and combined with the antipodal interpretations from the progressive Zinn and the conservative Johnson, there would be little that happened in the overarching development from hardscrabble colony to global superpower that wasn't illuminated from every angle for the reader's edification. Highly recommended.
May 4, 2007
I am slowly reading this history of America, from its colonial era to 1989. It's actually an easy read because the author, Hugh Brogan, has a sense of humor. He's also British, and almost assumes that his audience isn't American, or thinks about American patriotism with some skepticism, so his perspective is refreshing. Recommended if you're looking for a comprehensive view of American history, or interested in getting an overview of certain moments in the past.
October 12, 2015
The dominance of America is the chief historical fact of my lifetime, but British students are often poorly served in terms of American history - left to absorb a piecemeal version via a shared language and popular culture. If you want to correct this sorry state of affairs, Hugh Brogan's one volume history is the place to start.
It's an impossible task, of course, but one he addresses with relish and wicked authority, enjoying the freedom to damn and blame that brevity allows him. Only in the final chapter does Brogan's concision shift into tenseness, but his judgement is as interesting as ever. He is a critical friend of America, a lover of its energy and ability to make good on its errors, while rolling his eyes over the naiveties and compromises its vigorous democracy leads it to. Americans reading this once-removed take on their national epic might find its patrician tone infuriating - but it's fair-minded too, and as harsh on the USA's allies and enemies.
Besides, it's almost all so readable. Brogan is happy to deploy the irony of hindsight where it suits him, but equally happy to withhold it for rhetorical effect: the conclusion of his Civil War chapter is a bravura piece of historical storytelling in the high old style. Brogan has set out here to write the USA's history as a classical historian might have - comprehensive, and filled with incidents and judgements. Mostly, he's made a roaring success of it.
It's an impossible task, of course, but one he addresses with relish and wicked authority, enjoying the freedom to damn and blame that brevity allows him. Only in the final chapter does Brogan's concision shift into tenseness, but his judgement is as interesting as ever. He is a critical friend of America, a lover of its energy and ability to make good on its errors, while rolling his eyes over the naiveties and compromises its vigorous democracy leads it to. Americans reading this once-removed take on their national epic might find its patrician tone infuriating - but it's fair-minded too, and as harsh on the USA's allies and enemies.
Besides, it's almost all so readable. Brogan is happy to deploy the irony of hindsight where it suits him, but equally happy to withhold it for rhetorical effect: the conclusion of his Civil War chapter is a bravura piece of historical storytelling in the high old style. Brogan has set out here to write the USA's history as a classical historian might have - comprehensive, and filled with incidents and judgements. Mostly, he's made a roaring success of it.
November 7, 2021
What an absolutely superb book! As demanded by its subject matter, it is magisterial in scope, but the tone is witty and engaging. Though the book is necessarily exceedingly dense, hitting 700 pages, small type, and with copious footnotes that demand attention, the galloping pace and always humorous asides by the author make it a pleasure to read. It would be impossible not to want to research further details of specific historic events in the life of this complex nation - my feelings having read it are less of exhaustion than of enlightenment and an urge to seek out more. One of my favourite things was the aforementioned footnotes, and though constant diversion into them can break up the flow, they are usually worth the effort. For instance, he notes at one point that it is a mark of the dynamism of America that while Brits stand for election, Americans run for it. I bought this book as I felt it time to finally formalise my scant and piecemeal knowledge of US history, and this perfectly achieved that. If you feel a similar lacuna in your knowledge, and want an entertaining way to patch that up, go get it!
February 14, 2022
Although any book about the whole history of the United States is necessarily going to be long-winded, this stuffy, old-fashioned introduction to the nuts and bolts is pretty much the exemplar of what modern historians would view as the shortcomings of traditional accounts. The author spends an inordinate amount of time on detail surrounding constitutional matters while giving other topics short shrift. Cultural history is pretty much ignored, the fate of the Native Americans is dealt with far too perfunctorily and the Korean War gets about a paragraph of coverage. You will have to send out a search party to find any women in the very short bibliography and while occasionally, Brogan will unearth a convincing big picture thesis, it’s a stuffy overview indeed. I found the book useful in bringing me up to speed on various periods and which President was in charge when but another fault is that even the updated edition pretty much ends with Reagan despite being published in 1999. Hence, Bill Clinton gets a footnote and the first Gulf War a sentence.
August 30, 2007
The guy is British, and he isn't a liberal, so the writing is witty and pleasantly unsanctimonious. Still, it's traditional military-political history, and it assumes a familiarity with kings and Pitts that keeps sending me to Wikipedia.
April 20, 2014
Very readable. Personable authorial comments. An interesting portrayal of the United States of America from the outside perspective of a British historian.
July 5, 2020
A really comprehensive history (up until Reagan) full of snippets and asides. Has really helped me put American history in order and perspective. Has also shed a useful light on contemporary events.
May 16, 2012
It’s been a long time since I read a concise history book on the United States of America. The last time being somewhere in the muddle of high school where amazingly the history teacher once said referring to the section on Vietnam War while jerking his head in a disgusted manner, “We don’t want to get into that mess,” and then refused to discuss the issue any further. Without a doubt I don’t feel that my old teacher would have had the nerve or knowledge to put forth a rendering of the (long) turn of events that led to that particular war with the same canniness of author Brogan. Of course having had the great pleasure of travelling through much of the United States, and because I enjoy checking up on local and state history, I am well aware of the general historical development of what now is America. However I was not quite so aware of the long term consequences of America’s foreign policies, policies that often led to the historical enlargement of the country, and here Brogan’s book continually opened my eyes to America’s image. I most enjoyed in Brogan’s book the lack of “what-ho the gang’s all here” silly Andy Rooney vibe that was so present in the Federal Textbooks of my youth. Like many Americans, my own ancestors were not in America for much of the described history of America and to boot those school text books often made the assumption that cultural and geographical differences were minimal. They certainly are not. Brogan’s chapters focused on the issues of a particular period (without tiring patterns of blow by blow events and overstating dates) leading to the outcome and then the outcomes are drawn throughout the whole book so that a good picture emerges of the geopolitical development of the country. I admired his enthusiasm and insight in the chapter about the writing of the Constitution, something only perhaps a non American could achieve so well, we Americans most likely taking it for granted. I appreciated his ending of the Reconstruction in a responsible manner that made the tragically stalled aftermath visible in the later chapter on monumental Civil Rights Movement. Again I seem to remember the Civil War ending in 1865 hurrah and a whoops what happened to the 100 years in between until equal rights and Martin Luther King haunting feeling. Little wonder I decided to study Medieval, Soviet and Russian history at high school “honor’s levels”. Actually American history is passionately interesting.
November 18, 2014
A well-written history book, always a pleasant surprise. Brogan is extensive, well-researched, passionate and humourous. A great overview of a book which has to, by its nature, miss out the bits of history that really interest me: the people, the culture, the art. I'm taking it as a baseline and suspect reading Howard Zinn's 'People's History of the United States' will give me a more rounded feel for the country's variety and passions. On the level of national politics, though, it's comprehensive.
A few of Brogan's quips I enjoyed:
On Sam Adams: 'He had a genuine vocation for politics, which was just as well, since he was incompetent at everything else.' p. 138.
According to Clemenceau, Woodrow Wilson was, 'next to General Pershing..., was the most obstinate man he had ever met.' p. 483
And on Clemenceau, 'Presiding at the conference, with grey gloves and weary eyes, he displayed all the characteristic virtues and vices of French diplomacy: above all, its brilliant short-sightedness.' p. 485
He also quoted GK Chesterton who, when speaking about the First World War said, 'The world cannot be made safe for democracy; it is a dangerous trade.' p. 476
On bankers in the lead up to the Great Depression: there were not 'effective means for ensuring that bankers or stockbrokers were honest. All too many of them were not; and all too many were idiots.' p. 507
He enjoys a good poke at pollsters: ' The "Literary Digest", a distinguished magazine, conducted a poll by telephone and predicted that Roosevelt would lose [re-election]. It had not noticed that 67 per cent of American households still lacked telephones, though their members had votes.' With Roosevelt winning all states except Maine and Vermont, 'The "Literary Digest" went out of business.' pp. 544-5
On the approach to the Second World War: 'Public opinion throughout the West had learned many lessons from the First World War, almost all of them wrong.' p. 552
On John Foster Dulles, Secretary of State during the Cold War under Eisenhower: 'was all to eager to meddle wherever he saw a chance to do so. He was over-confident that he understood whatever was going on.' p. 610
I also liked discovering the origins of the terms scalawag and carpet-bagger; Southerners who co-operated with Reconstruction after the civil war and Northerners who came south in the same period.
A few of Brogan's quips I enjoyed:
On Sam Adams: 'He had a genuine vocation for politics, which was just as well, since he was incompetent at everything else.' p. 138.
According to Clemenceau, Woodrow Wilson was, 'next to General Pershing..., was the most obstinate man he had ever met.' p. 483
And on Clemenceau, 'Presiding at the conference, with grey gloves and weary eyes, he displayed all the characteristic virtues and vices of French diplomacy: above all, its brilliant short-sightedness.' p. 485
He also quoted GK Chesterton who, when speaking about the First World War said, 'The world cannot be made safe for democracy; it is a dangerous trade.' p. 476
On bankers in the lead up to the Great Depression: there were not 'effective means for ensuring that bankers or stockbrokers were honest. All too many of them were not; and all too many were idiots.' p. 507
He enjoys a good poke at pollsters: ' The "Literary Digest", a distinguished magazine, conducted a poll by telephone and predicted that Roosevelt would lose [re-election]. It had not noticed that 67 per cent of American households still lacked telephones, though their members had votes.' With Roosevelt winning all states except Maine and Vermont, 'The "Literary Digest" went out of business.' pp. 544-5
On the approach to the Second World War: 'Public opinion throughout the West had learned many lessons from the First World War, almost all of them wrong.' p. 552
On John Foster Dulles, Secretary of State during the Cold War under Eisenhower: 'was all to eager to meddle wherever he saw a chance to do so. He was over-confident that he understood whatever was going on.' p. 610
I also liked discovering the origins of the terms scalawag and carpet-bagger; Southerners who co-operated with Reconstruction after the civil war and Northerners who came south in the same period.
May 17, 2017
To say that you want to "Make America Great Again" is almost as ignorant as saying "America Was Never Great." Both slogans suit our times, though please, our times are not that special or indeed unique (in the election of 1828, 'the first mature Presidential battle in American history,' Andrew Jackson was accused of bigamy and John Quincy Adams of having pimped for the Tsar of Russia.) Because history is so elusive, and complex, it is also easy to manipulate. These days we turn to history just to validate a point or an agenda and ignore whatever else doesn't fit a mostly preconceived notion. This historical simplification is suitable for people who are deeply uncomfortable with the notion that often the good guys are the also the bad guys and vice versa but it is a disservice of the highest order and creates more harm than good. So. There was never a country like the United States and the same dynamics that built her up are the same that made her the most powerful union the world has ever seen. While the Old World was contemplating and actually practicing fascism and communism America had already made peace with the idea that the only way is forward, with all the mighty cost that implies, and that America was best suited to lead the way. It's a nightmare and a blessing. The United States remain the most successful project ever conceived, and its history is excellently presented here, in one single volume of 700 pages. This is my second reading of this book and I recommend it to all history readers. There's a million subplots of course and the chapter regarding the constitution, though the heart of the matter, is rather boring but Hugh Brogan's narrative gifts are so awesome you may end up reading whole chapters in one seating. Excellent.
January 31, 2022
A fantastic summary of American events from the earliest "Native Americans" up to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Lucid, fresh, even-keeled and storied, Hugh Brogan as British intellectual delivers a mostly unbiased and surprisingly relatable take on American history. Focused mostly on political, economic and social policies he also makes a superlative effort at colorfully illustrating the events and characters which came to define the various epochs. This is hefty, committed reading ("a literary five tiered German chocolate cake" as I've come to call such efforts), but well worth the effort if you're seeking an alternative to the partisan-ed and specialized histories by Howard Zinn (A People's History), Larry Schweikart (A Patriot's History), Samuel Eliot Morison (Oxford History), Paul Johnson (History of the American People), et al. Highly Recommended.
February 19, 2015
I'd describe this book as, well - breathtaking. For anyone with an interest in the USA I would recommend this without hesitation.
There is a lot of ground covered here, with a political emphasis throughout.
Author does a masterful job of telling the history of the USA - can't recommend enough.
Only drawback is that the work stops at the end of the 20th Century. I wonder if the author will ever extend his book up to the George W. Bush presidential era.
Superb.
There is a lot of ground covered here, with a political emphasis throughout.
Author does a masterful job of telling the history of the USA - can't recommend enough.
Only drawback is that the work stops at the end of the 20th Century. I wonder if the author will ever extend his book up to the George W. Bush presidential era.
Superb.
January 17, 2020
A very good and flavorful read about the making of a superpower. Brogan has a very detailed eye, with superfluous way of writing, which serves as a general and in-depth history. Has to be read in connection with another, example 'Empire of Liberty' by David Reynold and 'The Limits of Liberty: American History, 1607-1992' by Maldwyn Jones.
Perfect introduction to the History of the USA - especially for teaching my A-Level students.
Perfect introduction to the History of the USA - especially for teaching my A-Level students.
March 6, 2012
I read this book in conjunction with several other books I read when I took AP US History in high school. This book was a gift and one I read for fun, but it actually helped me with several essays on my AP US History test.
August 17, 2024
"Anyone trying to make sense of the story of the American people must notice, I think, that two themes persist. One is continuity: this is a nation which, born in the seventeenth century, has developed along one line ever since. The other is challenge and response: changing times have periodically required radical alterations in the organization of American life. The alterations have seldom or never come in time to avert great troubles, but come they have, so that the great experiment of American freedom has been enable to continue."
Hugh Brogan makes this statement on page 644 of this edition, and in the preceding 643 pages he shows us how this unique mix of continuity and change turned a faltering English colony into the greatest world power in history.
This history is mostly political, partly social and not un-opinionated - in fact Brogan has definite opinions on which moves by the United States were good and which were not so, and is quick to back up his opinions with well-chosen facts. With so many facts to chose from, even 700 pages isn't enough to be comprehensive, so Brogan choses his topics and themes carefully.
He shows how the democratic temper of the United States was formed right at the start of the white man's arrival. The earliest colonists needed to work together to survive, and they did so by getting together and making decisions by vote. So from very early times, the average American not only became skilled in working through ideas and compromising with others, but expected to be able to have a say in how his life and times were organised. From that everything flowed.
Brogan debunks the myth of the great progress of the United States - it was rare that the powers that be were able to gather together all the strands of government to move the country forward as a whole. In fact it was probably only FDR that managed to to that with anything approaching coherence, at the cost of skirting the edges of constitutional legality.
The early story of the United States is the story of the development of the land, which occurred in three fairly distinct ways. The Northeast was the home of the independent farmer; the yeomen of the US. The South became the home to the cotton barons, with their poisoned legacy of slavery. The West was the territory of the pioneers, and a theatre of broken dreams, with immigrants lured to poor country on false promises.
The legacy of those developments have been played out in ways both bloodily and politically challenging. The fight for equality between men has cost the US much - Civil War and the battle for Civil Rights rent the nation twice, a century apart. The Founding Fathers wrote many fine words, but when it came to the real world they wanted to maintain control of government and the country, and to do that they blinked when it came to slavery. The stain was expunged only through a terrible war which changed everything, but left the black Americans still benighted and under the yoke of their white masters.
The agricultural lobby also had a pernicious effect on the American polity - their votes meant more to potential Presidents and congressmen than those of the big cities, because there were more of them, and they were harder to corral into big blocs of votes which Tammany Hall practices made possible in the urban conglomerations.
The West in many respects could be ignored until War made it important. While the Civil War set the US on the path of modernism, it was World War Two which cemented not only America's power amongst nations, but the power of the Federal Government and the President.
Generally speaking up until the War the President did not have the overarching power and prestige that we know today. FDR, when tackling the Depression, unleashed the potential that always existed in the office, but had never been realised owing to the power of congressional lobbies and senatorial control. The Depression changed the balance of power, and with the creation of huge federal agencies, the central government finally became more important to the American people than their states.
As an Australian with only a basic grasp of the arc of US history, this book is both enlightening and entertaining. It busted a few myths and re-aligned my views of important moments in history. Reading the book in 2024 has helped me take a more sanguine view of the current Presidential race - there is nothing happening this time that hasn't happened before in US politics, and it seems that the system works its way slowly back to equilibrium after each shock. The fact that the Founding Fathers implemented a political structure that has no centre of power is both a frustration and a blessing for the US - it means that any rogue element in the system (President, Congress, Senate, Supreme Court) can be held in check by the other elements. That is a source of some solace.
If you like broad narrative histories with a political flavour and a strong authorial hand, you'll like this book. I did.
Check out my other reviews at http://aviewoverthebell.blogspot.com.au/
Hugh Brogan makes this statement on page 644 of this edition, and in the preceding 643 pages he shows us how this unique mix of continuity and change turned a faltering English colony into the greatest world power in history.
This history is mostly political, partly social and not un-opinionated - in fact Brogan has definite opinions on which moves by the United States were good and which were not so, and is quick to back up his opinions with well-chosen facts. With so many facts to chose from, even 700 pages isn't enough to be comprehensive, so Brogan choses his topics and themes carefully.
He shows how the democratic temper of the United States was formed right at the start of the white man's arrival. The earliest colonists needed to work together to survive, and they did so by getting together and making decisions by vote. So from very early times, the average American not only became skilled in working through ideas and compromising with others, but expected to be able to have a say in how his life and times were organised. From that everything flowed.
Brogan debunks the myth of the great progress of the United States - it was rare that the powers that be were able to gather together all the strands of government to move the country forward as a whole. In fact it was probably only FDR that managed to to that with anything approaching coherence, at the cost of skirting the edges of constitutional legality.
The early story of the United States is the story of the development of the land, which occurred in three fairly distinct ways. The Northeast was the home of the independent farmer; the yeomen of the US. The South became the home to the cotton barons, with their poisoned legacy of slavery. The West was the territory of the pioneers, and a theatre of broken dreams, with immigrants lured to poor country on false promises.
The legacy of those developments have been played out in ways both bloodily and politically challenging. The fight for equality between men has cost the US much - Civil War and the battle for Civil Rights rent the nation twice, a century apart. The Founding Fathers wrote many fine words, but when it came to the real world they wanted to maintain control of government and the country, and to do that they blinked when it came to slavery. The stain was expunged only through a terrible war which changed everything, but left the black Americans still benighted and under the yoke of their white masters.
The agricultural lobby also had a pernicious effect on the American polity - their votes meant more to potential Presidents and congressmen than those of the big cities, because there were more of them, and they were harder to corral into big blocs of votes which Tammany Hall practices made possible in the urban conglomerations.
The West in many respects could be ignored until War made it important. While the Civil War set the US on the path of modernism, it was World War Two which cemented not only America's power amongst nations, but the power of the Federal Government and the President.
Generally speaking up until the War the President did not have the overarching power and prestige that we know today. FDR, when tackling the Depression, unleashed the potential that always existed in the office, but had never been realised owing to the power of congressional lobbies and senatorial control. The Depression changed the balance of power, and with the creation of huge federal agencies, the central government finally became more important to the American people than their states.
As an Australian with only a basic grasp of the arc of US history, this book is both enlightening and entertaining. It busted a few myths and re-aligned my views of important moments in history. Reading the book in 2024 has helped me take a more sanguine view of the current Presidential race - there is nothing happening this time that hasn't happened before in US politics, and it seems that the system works its way slowly back to equilibrium after each shock. The fact that the Founding Fathers implemented a political structure that has no centre of power is both a frustration and a blessing for the US - it means that any rogue element in the system (President, Congress, Senate, Supreme Court) can be held in check by the other elements. That is a source of some solace.
If you like broad narrative histories with a political flavour and a strong authorial hand, you'll like this book. I did.
Check out my other reviews at http://aviewoverthebell.blogspot.com.au/
November 3, 2022
15 years in the making from the author's perspective and what I can only surmise must be regarded as his magnus opus we, the readers are invited to partake in the often challenging and chaotic landscape that comprises american history. Being written by a foreigner (Hugh Brogan is British) this in many ways works in its favor as the often deified and idealistic treatments of the american revolution are left behind (although he certainly is less dismissive of George III than other authors!) and we are instead left with a gallery of differing personalities comprising the founding fathers who had very differing opinions and its also clear as Jefferson himself mentioned himself that the independence was of far greater importance than the exact wording of the constitution itself.
The civil war is likewise treated as a series of practical events leading up to the war and I was surprised to learn that the obvious question surrounding the freeing of slaves was much more open ended and discussed then I had imagined. He mentions for example that it was not until the middle of the civil war until the unionists in the north were willing to lay down their lives in general for the freeing of the slaves. Likewise there existed a large fraction of union soldiers who were indifferent to the slave question, but wanted to free the slaves as it would disrupt the cotton industry/agriculture of the south leading to economic collapse and thereby making the end of the war an unavoidable consequence.
In terms of the rest of the giant gaps of history covered it is indeed very well writing and contains many fascinating tidbits, although I would have to say that the first 3/4 are the most worthwhile expositions of the book. This is in no large due to the fact that the 20 century, especially after the second world war moves with an alarming speed for which it is difficult to summarize in the little allocated space of a few hundred pages.
To conclude, this book is a very welcome entry indeed into american history although I would also recommend supplementing it with a book on the 20th century as the chapters covering this time epoch is a bit too rushed in my opinion.
Note: I don't like the star rating and as such I only rate books based upon one star or five stars corresponding to the in my opinion preferable rating system of thumbs up/down. This later rating system increases in my humble opinion the degree to which the reader is likely to engage with a review instead of merely glancing at the number of stars of a given book.)
The civil war is likewise treated as a series of practical events leading up to the war and I was surprised to learn that the obvious question surrounding the freeing of slaves was much more open ended and discussed then I had imagined. He mentions for example that it was not until the middle of the civil war until the unionists in the north were willing to lay down their lives in general for the freeing of the slaves. Likewise there existed a large fraction of union soldiers who were indifferent to the slave question, but wanted to free the slaves as it would disrupt the cotton industry/agriculture of the south leading to economic collapse and thereby making the end of the war an unavoidable consequence.
In terms of the rest of the giant gaps of history covered it is indeed very well writing and contains many fascinating tidbits, although I would have to say that the first 3/4 are the most worthwhile expositions of the book. This is in no large due to the fact that the 20 century, especially after the second world war moves with an alarming speed for which it is difficult to summarize in the little allocated space of a few hundred pages.
To conclude, this book is a very welcome entry indeed into american history although I would also recommend supplementing it with a book on the 20th century as the chapters covering this time epoch is a bit too rushed in my opinion.
Note: I don't like the star rating and as such I only rate books based upon one star or five stars corresponding to the in my opinion preferable rating system of thumbs up/down. This later rating system increases in my humble opinion the degree to which the reader is likely to engage with a review instead of merely glancing at the number of stars of a given book.)
May 24, 2025
I found this to be a very readable book covering what is a long and very complicated story. As the author suggests in the footnote, while many suggested to him that he was lucky to be writing a history of a young country, the reality of the subject suggested no such thing.
Primarily this is a political history; the many wars, both of conquest and defence, overseas and wthin the North American continent are certainly covered, as are the trends in society, but there has always been a lot of politics in the US, and that is the main focus here. There isn't much forensic detail of the American War of Independence (or Revolutionary War), Civil War and certainly not of the Second World War as one might get elsewhere. I take no issue with this, there is enough detail to get a picture of what happened, where and why, and if the author covered everything, the book would be in many volumes.
If the book is a political history then you might expect attention to be paid to the various Presidents. This is the case, all of them are touched upon, the more consequential ones, not unreasonably get the most space; FDR gets a whole chapter as does Woodrow Wilson, Lincoln and Washington get less space than i was expecting though enough. Reagan, Carter, most of the post-FDR Presidents get detailed pen-portraits. I still don't quite know what to think of Reagan, but now think better of Carter, Johnson, and certainly Truman. The hero of the early parts of the book is undoubtedly Benjamin Franklin, i share the view that he is one of the most interesting men to come out of what was then a very british America.
Social history and trends are covered, the rise of and maintenance of the consumer society is covered, the civil rights movement and struggle is covered. At the time of publication that struggle seemed to be almost over, not quite and yet!
Sad to say the author has died, so there will not be an updated edition of this book. Neither do i see that has anyone yet tried or been commissioned to add some extra chapters. Who would want that job? Mr Brogan's family, and the publishers might also be happy to note that the same edition of this book that i was given, nearly twenty years ago - thank you Kevin, may you rest in peace - is still for sale in my local Waterstones.
If you want a detailed not not exhaustive or exhausting history of the US, you could do worse than try this.
Primarily this is a political history; the many wars, both of conquest and defence, overseas and wthin the North American continent are certainly covered, as are the trends in society, but there has always been a lot of politics in the US, and that is the main focus here. There isn't much forensic detail of the American War of Independence (or Revolutionary War), Civil War and certainly not of the Second World War as one might get elsewhere. I take no issue with this, there is enough detail to get a picture of what happened, where and why, and if the author covered everything, the book would be in many volumes.
If the book is a political history then you might expect attention to be paid to the various Presidents. This is the case, all of them are touched upon, the more consequential ones, not unreasonably get the most space; FDR gets a whole chapter as does Woodrow Wilson, Lincoln and Washington get less space than i was expecting though enough. Reagan, Carter, most of the post-FDR Presidents get detailed pen-portraits. I still don't quite know what to think of Reagan, but now think better of Carter, Johnson, and certainly Truman. The hero of the early parts of the book is undoubtedly Benjamin Franklin, i share the view that he is one of the most interesting men to come out of what was then a very british America.
Social history and trends are covered, the rise of and maintenance of the consumer society is covered, the civil rights movement and struggle is covered. At the time of publication that struggle seemed to be almost over, not quite and yet!
Sad to say the author has died, so there will not be an updated edition of this book. Neither do i see that has anyone yet tried or been commissioned to add some extra chapters. Who would want that job? Mr Brogan's family, and the publishers might also be happy to note that the same edition of this book that i was given, nearly twenty years ago - thank you Kevin, may you rest in peace - is still for sale in my local Waterstones.
If you want a detailed not not exhaustive or exhausting history of the US, you could do worse than try this.
March 1, 2020
I slogged through this book for a month. The slogging nature of this experience began early (when I realized progress was slow) and continued. To get it done today I glossed a little. But reading every word would not change my review: This is a painfully orthodox work of history.
The worst is not Hugh Brogan vacillating, (which often begins with the word “yet,” since he’s as unimaginative in his writing as he is in reflection) but when he does it within a single paragraph. (He occasionally varies it up further! In parenthetical phrases! Like this one!)
A lot of observers would agree with most of his conclusions, because Brogan takes great pains (see above) to agree with the historical record. He makes some notable (without equivocation!) exceptions, mostly in the early chapters, where his native subject, and readers (this is a work of British scholarship, after all) is clearer to him. He’s almost pathologically beholden to ideas promulgated when he was reaching his academic peak, which itself is symptomatic of his unimaginative attempts at insight.
Where he doesn’t see a causal link, he omits comment entirely, and where he wants badly to make a point he dithers endlessly. As with surveys of this kind, he groups subject matters and thus retreads the same territory repeatedly, often without recognition of interrelevance.
For all that, he covers a lot of ground and uncovers the occasional nugget. Yet (I couldn’t resist), the sum worth of this effort is minimal unless you have the ability to reach conclusions he’s incapable of conceiving. The worst is that there’s a naked bias that creeps into the book, and either there’s no room at all for such corruption, or you risk being entirely forthright about it. Penguin really shouldn’t have put its name to this thing. It seems as likely that few readers internally read the whole thing, much less Brogan himself.
The worst is not Hugh Brogan vacillating, (which often begins with the word “yet,” since he’s as unimaginative in his writing as he is in reflection) but when he does it within a single paragraph. (He occasionally varies it up further! In parenthetical phrases! Like this one!)
A lot of observers would agree with most of his conclusions, because Brogan takes great pains (see above) to agree with the historical record. He makes some notable (without equivocation!) exceptions, mostly in the early chapters, where his native subject, and readers (this is a work of British scholarship, after all) is clearer to him. He’s almost pathologically beholden to ideas promulgated when he was reaching his academic peak, which itself is symptomatic of his unimaginative attempts at insight.
Where he doesn’t see a causal link, he omits comment entirely, and where he wants badly to make a point he dithers endlessly. As with surveys of this kind, he groups subject matters and thus retreads the same territory repeatedly, often without recognition of interrelevance.
For all that, he covers a lot of ground and uncovers the occasional nugget. Yet (I couldn’t resist), the sum worth of this effort is minimal unless you have the ability to reach conclusions he’s incapable of conceiving. The worst is that there’s a naked bias that creeps into the book, and either there’s no room at all for such corruption, or you risk being entirely forthright about it. Penguin really shouldn’t have put its name to this thing. It seems as likely that few readers internally read the whole thing, much less Brogan himself.
October 3, 2018
I have just completed this book, and looking back I am hugely impressed with the scale of it. To try to cover the whole length of US history from the pre-colonial times right up to Clinton takes some ambition. Such a book could easily get far too bogged down in minute details, but I think overall there is a good balance here. This is not a book for those who don't like to read, or who like a lot of pictures. But if you like your reading to challenge you and push you to greater understanding, then there is a lot here for you.
I must say it isn't the easiest read, but at the same time I suspect there are far more boring texts that would make this one look like a kids' book. Overall there is a flow to it, the occasional glimpse of the author's humour, that keeps you interested. And the effort is really worthwhile. I came to this book because of a real lack of understanding about American history. We live in a world dominated by the States, and yet here in Britain we don't really get taught much at all about how this nation became what it is today. For me, I was aware of events such as the Revolution, the Civil War, the assassinations of Lincoln and Kennedy, but had no idea what the context was and how they fit into the stream of time. This book has given me a framework to fit all of this into, and a way of somehow understanding the country that exists today.
This book is a great launchpad towards further learning about American history. There are masses of books and documentaries about specific events in American history, but few that will give such a comprehensive grasp of the entire story of the US.
I must say it isn't the easiest read, but at the same time I suspect there are far more boring texts that would make this one look like a kids' book. Overall there is a flow to it, the occasional glimpse of the author's humour, that keeps you interested. And the effort is really worthwhile. I came to this book because of a real lack of understanding about American history. We live in a world dominated by the States, and yet here in Britain we don't really get taught much at all about how this nation became what it is today. For me, I was aware of events such as the Revolution, the Civil War, the assassinations of Lincoln and Kennedy, but had no idea what the context was and how they fit into the stream of time. This book has given me a framework to fit all of this into, and a way of somehow understanding the country that exists today.
This book is a great launchpad towards further learning about American history. There are masses of books and documentaries about specific events in American history, but few that will give such a comprehensive grasp of the entire story of the US.
January 12, 2018
An impressive history of the United States, particularly geared to academic study in framing historical landmarks into chapters. Brogan focuses on Presidential personalities and their impact on the Civil War and Revolution, the Wall Street Crash and the Vietnam War - finishing with Ronald Reagan's dubious political legacy.
Though this is a thorough study, and most readers will finish it with a firm grasp of key moments in American history, the book has dated a little. The persistence of slavery and civil rights issues which underpin the founding of modern America, is undermined by the fact it is presented in this book in two segmented chapters. It begs for a more radical narrative, which uses the USA's foundations in colonialism and slavery as the starting point, rather than pioneer exploration.
I bought this book fifteen years ago but have only just got round to reading it now. Then the USA was in the shadow of 9/11 and Brogan's account of America's aggressive foreign policy in the twentieth century would have resonated. Now - it is an unsuspecting footnote that is striking, which Brogan could not have predicted the significance of. Speaking of New York in the 1970's he states 'a consortium of capitalists came together and devised a scheme for rescuing the city and sorting out its mismanaged finances.' The person who rose from the ashes of this New York was Donald Trump.
Though this is a thorough study, and most readers will finish it with a firm grasp of key moments in American history, the book has dated a little. The persistence of slavery and civil rights issues which underpin the founding of modern America, is undermined by the fact it is presented in this book in two segmented chapters. It begs for a more radical narrative, which uses the USA's foundations in colonialism and slavery as the starting point, rather than pioneer exploration.
I bought this book fifteen years ago but have only just got round to reading it now. Then the USA was in the shadow of 9/11 and Brogan's account of America's aggressive foreign policy in the twentieth century would have resonated. Now - it is an unsuspecting footnote that is striking, which Brogan could not have predicted the significance of. Speaking of New York in the 1970's he states 'a consortium of capitalists came together and devised a scheme for rescuing the city and sorting out its mismanaged finances.' The person who rose from the ashes of this New York was Donald Trump.
January 28, 2021
Following the storming of the Capitol building in Wqshington, and all the Black people murdered over last year and the general election, i thought i really needed to improve my knowledge about US history, culture and systems. This book was rcommended and I am so grateful.
I learned such a lot that I had hazy knowledge of before and a lot of other things that I had never known. I struggled a bit with the machinations between different senators and power bases at the top at certain times, but the issues and particular struggles were very lucidly described and the links between different themes and how they evolved over time was particularly interesting.
I had several quizzes with my friends over the 2 weeks I was reading this (Americans and Brits) which was good fun for us all. I hope i dont forget all this too quickly!
I learned such a lot that I had hazy knowledge of before and a lot of other things that I had never known. I struggled a bit with the machinations between different senators and power bases at the top at certain times, but the issues and particular struggles were very lucidly described and the links between different themes and how they evolved over time was particularly interesting.
I had several quizzes with my friends over the 2 weeks I was reading this (Americans and Brits) which was good fun for us all. I hope i dont forget all this too quickly!
September 22, 2024
This is a mammoth of a book. I had some knowledge of 20th century America, and read one book about Lincoln. This book opened up to me the start of America (the British colonialists, the early forms of democracy, the effects of other European nations on the process, the early conflict with the native Americans), the war of independence and its spirit of self determination and freedom, and many other interesting parts of American history. Some of the chapters are a slog when nothing of huge significance really happens (notably parts between the war of independence, and the civil war, and also the late 1800s and early 1900s) but the author none the less keeps you engaged, and its chapters on the parts you are interested in will be entertaining and informative. Overall I enjoyed this book greatly. I might in the future reread a chapter if needed.
November 27, 2024
A really sharp, witty, engaging, and informative narrative history that's old-fashioned in all the right ways. Brogan is endearingly forthright and unconstrained in his judgements—positive and negative—concerning different eras, trends, decisions, and historical figures. He's the sort of author who is unembarrassed to describe Ben Franklin as 'of all great Americans, the one I should most like to dine with in heaven' or to say of Nixon that 'within him there was a darkness, that he mistook for the light'. Complementing this kind of colourful reckoning with the many big personalities thrown up by American history is a gift for organization and telling detail that allows each chapter to present a sweeping narrative of its era that never feels anything less than vivid and comprehensive. Fantastic history writing—I only wish it went further than 1989.
October 20, 2018
Would be interested to see how my fellow US citizens spoke and thought of each other and our country had they all sat down and read this or any tome of our history. I'm inclined to believe we'd be much better off. Great read, thoroughly enjoyable style and full of detail. Of course some events get very little exposure, but more because there are entire volumes devoted to them already (the bombing of Japan to end the war stood out for me). Took me a while to finish it, but at the right occasions it was entertaining and full of rich details. A great read.
November 23, 2024
It’s decent and gains you the overview you’d want of U.S. history. Some of the author’s biases start to seep through from FDR onward though. He adores FDR, considering it about time that government starts taking a more active role (I suppose that’s the brit in him); writes that "nothing" good came out of McCarthyism (really, nothing?); downplays the Communist threat throughout the 20th century; and makes a bizarre comment towards the end seemingly rejecting Reagan’s claim to be a born-again Christian.
January 5, 2018
A bit of a brick, with tiny text and a lot of it, but this book has plenty to say. Somewhat hard going for the generally interested reader, and it took me a couple of attempts to get into, but it does give a lot of information and insight, and turns a (relatively) modern gaze on to past events. This is a good background read for any Brit going to live in America - but maybe start a year in advance so, unlike me, you finish it before you leave the US.
October 5, 2018
I read this book in the late 80's - at around the time of the reprint I have. It was also around the time of my first visit to the USA and having started work for an American company a few years earlier. I also had an American girlfriend back then. It's a good introduction to the history of the USA. A memory I took away with me was the nature of the Democratic party and its history. Learning about the USA is probably as important as ever in today's world - this book is a good place to start.
April 6, 2023
A nice, tidy, and easy to digest survey of American history. Brogan manages to excite the reader's attention, cover a fair amount of ground with as much justice as can be displayed in 700 pages, and has a gift for making sure that the "little details" of history are stylistically woven in (the XYZ affair and "bleeding Kansas" are two events that are not given *that* much attention but are still present and commented upon in a swift, but by no means dismissive, fashion).
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