Leviathan: America Comes of Age, 1865-1900

by H.W. Brands

Here is a sweeping narrative history of the United States in its epoch of greatest change, the thirty-five years from the end of the Civil War to the turn of the twentieth century, when America rose phoenix-like from catastrophe and disunion to become the wealthiest, most powerful nation on earth.
In this fast-paced and dazzlingly colorful narrative, H.W. Brands captures the cut and thrust of American history. It was a period that saw America at its best and its worst. Former slaves were granted the rights of citizenship, only to have those rights effectively eviscerated. The West was settled rapidly, dramatically, and brutally. Industry remade the American landscape, drawing millions from the countryside and from overseas, with promises of a better life--and then reneged on those promises amid recurrent financial panics and nationwide depressions. Women asserted themselves in ways hardly imagined by their grandmothers, but failed to win even the most basic political right: the right to vote. Americans enthusiastically embraced a global mission for their country, only to have the world bite back violently.
Through it all, two potent forces--capitalism and democracy--contended for preeminence in American life. During most of this period, Brands shows, capitalism gained ground at democracy's expense. The last third of the nineteenth century witnessed nothing less than a capitalist revolution in America. At the end of the period, the American political economy was more capitalist than it had ever been before--or would ever be again. Capitalism brought great benefits to the American people in terms of a rising average standard of living, but it exacted a great cost in growing inequality and a loss of democratic control.
Written by the New York Times best-selling author H.W. Brands, Leviathan offers a panoramic portrait of that tumultuous era when America came of age.

Genres: History

672 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

H.W. Brands is an acclaimed American historian and author of over thirty books on U.S. history, including Pulitzer Prize finalists The First American and Traitor to His Class. He holds the Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair in History at the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned his PhD. Originally trained in mathematics, Brands turned to history as a way to pursue his passion for writing. His biographical works on figures like Franklin, Jackson, Grant, and both Roosevelts have earned critical and popular praise for their readability and depth. Raised in Oregon and educated at Stanford, Reed College, and Portland State, he began his teaching career in high schools before entering academia. He later taught at Texas A&M and Vanderbilt before returning to UT Austin. Brands challenges conventional reverence for the Founding Fathers, advocating for a more progressive and evolving view of American democracy. In addition to academic works, his commentary has featured in major documentaries. His books, published internationally and translated into multiple languages, examine U.S. political, economic, and cultural development with compelling narrative force. Beyond academia, he is a public intellectual contributing to national conversations on history and governance.