American History: Connecting with the Past

by Alan Brinkley

Includes the "AP Advantage 3-Step Solution, 1 Platform" formula for learning.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, School, Read For School, Textbooks, American

1008 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2012

About the author

Alan Brinkley was an American political historian who has taught for over 20 years at Columbia University. He was the Allan Nevins Professor of History until his death. From 2003 to 2009, he was University Provost.

Reviews

[Abby · Rating 1 out of 5]

*sigh* Where do I start with this book? Well, first of all it took me an entire school year to read! A book that takes that long to read is not worth it! Sure it has pictures but the text is so freaking small!!! I had to use a microscope to read it. Let's start with the "prologue" if you could even call it that. It starts if talking about an "AP exam" and how to prepare for it. It was extremely boring and the "AP exam" is never mentioned again throughout the entire book! Then there's chapter 1. It starts off talking about how people got to America then proceeds to talk about Latin America. What the heck? Was that supposed to be a plot twist? I thought I was reading about UNITED STATES history. But the author never mentions Latin America again through the whole book. Seriously Brinkley, get your plot together!!!! Then there's chapters 2-5 which are really boring so I won't get into that. I would have to say my favorite character throughout the entire book would have to be Alexander Hamilton, WHO DIES LIKE 3 PAGES LATER!!! I was so upset I cried for about a week. Then I realized there was an entire musical about Hamilton, which satisfied me in my time of helplessness. But the strange thing is the musical came out in 2015 and this book was published in 2016...did Brinkley steal a character??? Scandalous!!! Then in the next chapters there's this guy named Andrew Jackson, who I would have to say was m least favorite character. Probably the worst antagonist I've read about, absolutely no character development!! After that Brinkley continues writing about boring events and wars and randomly kills off characters (except for this guy named Henry Clay) I think the plot was like a Hunger Games type novel, but instead of fighting to the death, white men are fighting for "President" which Brinkley never explains. Then he spends like 3 chapters talking about slavery, which was actually pretty sad when reading about the reality, but quite boring when discussing the political aspect. I don't really think 3 chapters were needed. Then there's a bunch of wars which are all really similar, and seem to be over the same problems!!!! I mean I love a good fight scene, but all Brinkley talks about is the POLITICAL ASPECT. It's sooooooo boring!!! Words cannot describe how boring this book was. There was 1 interesting chapter on WWII, and by interesting I mean like the first 3 pages in chapter didn't make me feel like pulling my hair out due to boredom. The book then proceeds to have 2 more chapters on communism!!! (As if discussing it after WWI wasn't enough)All it seems like Brinkley cares about is slavery, women's rights, Native Americans, panics, and elections. There were so many elections!!!! About 56!!! Let's skip to the end. The book ends abruptly and then proceeds to write the constitution WORD FOR WORD. I think there's a word for that and it's called PLAGIARISM!!! But honestly, the strangest thing happened after I read it. I was forced to take an "AP exam"!!!!!! I have never read a book that comes with a punishment just for reading it!!! The book didn't help me at all on the "AP exam" and why is there an entire test on such a boring book? Something funny I find about this book is that it constantly emphasizes how "updated" it is. I 100% disagree. Where's the Trump administration??? Saying that a book is "updated" and leaving out the Trump administration is FALSE ADVERTISEMENT. I wish I would give this book 0 stars. No plot, no character development, no humor. I guess the only good thing about it is there were pictures. (And they honestly weren't that great)

[Lizbeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pain. So. Much. Pain.

[Cassidy Lemieux · Rating 5 out of 5]

This signifies the closing of the frontier, the end of an era. I can't believe that I actually read every page of this book. APUSH has been a pain in my butt since day one, but had become the best class I have ever taken in my life so far. Not sure why I'm so upset that I finished reading a textbook, but it has become a major part of my life and my daily routine. We got 4 days of class until the final exam so hang in there fellow APUSH students and best of luck on the test. Alan Brinkley thank you for writing this wonderful book that has been a curse and a blessing this past year, APUSH forever amirite.

[ella]

the plot was kinda all over the place with this one, ngl. the endless wars and elections were very repetitive, and the timeline jumped around a lot. it also was pretty slow in parts because the author insisted on talking about the eCoNoMy and i have no idea why because no one cares.



character development was also lacking, and the only main characters were old white men? there was a happy ending though because it ended in 2016 with this guy obama as president, so things seemed to be looking up for america. i wonder what will happen in the sequel.

[fin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hated every second of this

[izzy wolfe · Rating 1 out of 5]

i read 850 pages of this for what

[iris argue · Rating 1 out of 5]

stupid

[reem]

book was so bad it doesn’t get a rating but if i had to choose chapter 22 was the best

[haley · Rating 5 out of 5]

so much respect to this man for writing this book cause just reading it made me want to die, but i learned a crazy amount so it evens out. also i did enjoy angrily flipping off the racists and sexists and homophobes whenever they came up (spoiler: a lot).

[S · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5

Aaaaand I’ve made it

[izzi · Rating 1 out of 5]

not enough gay rep… also sucked butt

the farmers were always doing bad what was that about…

anyone wanna tutor me for apush 🙏🏻🙏🏻

[Betty Ho · Rating 5 out of 5]

I seldom read textbook after my graduation. I read this mainly for another book A People's History of the United States 1492 to Present as Howard Zinn said history textbooks usually omit facts that are "unorthodox". So, I spent around a month of my life to verify his statement and it turned out to be a rewardful experience.

To my surprise, Brinkley covered most of these "unorthodox" histories before the Cold War. There was a section called "Debating the Past" to examine differences in historical understanding in major controversial events, such as the origins of the American Revolution (ideological VS economic interest); the debate on Pearl Harbor (Did Roosevelt know the attack was forthcoming and allowed it to occur as a surprise attack would arouse people support for entering the war), decision on atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (whether it's for a speedy victory or just a mean to intimidate Soviet Union) and so on. I really enjoyed these essays as it help me to look from different perspectives. As Brinkley said: There is no such thing as pure facts, historical interpretation may change in response to the time in which it's written.

However, it's becoming more and more disappointing when it came closer to the end as many post WWII incidents/ events were excluded. Such as, Indonesia's occupation of East Timor that was mainly sponsored by U.S.; U.S. invasion of Panama, the U.S secret bombing of Cambodia in 1973 and etc. One possible explanation is: this book was first published in 1971, these events were not supposed to be made known to the public at that time? I wouldn't know for sure. But wait.. mine is the 2005 edition..

Anyhow, it's always important to read more than one, perhaps three, history books on a specific topic if you want to know all sides of the story.

[Macie · Rating 1 out of 5]

disappointed to say the least. while i was expecting an action adventure, this book just brought countless repetitive themes. the climax is at the beginning of the book with the cotton gin, which can trace back to everything. along with the columbian exchange who no ones now knows what it is. the main characters were lacking in personality, and the final bosses at the end of the story i cant even remember (cmon now who tf even is ronald reagan). the racism arc is dragged on for centuries, and was not even completely resolved by the end. even if there was a sequel, i would not read it. i think it's important that we focus on the political and economic state of the world, but this story is bland and boring. 1/10 for me 🫤

[Ganovelbe]

K I’ve been sitting on this review for a minute. Was this the most detrimental book to my mental health that I’ve ever read? yes. Was this the most rewarding thing ever to finish? also yes. I don’t think I can give it stars because I really don’t know what to judge it by. This book consumed my life, and for what?

[Anna Connelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I CANT BELIEVE IM DONE. AS MUCH AS I HATED IT SOMETIMES, IT WAS KINDA AWESOME THAT I WAS ABLE TO LEARN SO MUCH ABOUT US HISTORY SO WELL WITH THIS BOOK. AJDGIENSODHWWDNK

[Esha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ironic how I read about the horrors from war ptsd when that is exactly what this book gave to me

[jiwoo]

0 stars. absolutely not. this book caused me a million tears and took away a lot of sleep from me. i did NOT enjoy reading this horrible book. this BETTER earn me a good score on the AP exam. i want to burn this book, stomp on it, throw it into an ocean, and watch it drown. this book caused me irreversible damage to my sanity that i never want to experience ever again. if i did all of this for nothing (not doing well on the AP exam) i will riot.

[Julie Piazza · Rating 2 out of 5]

don’t even get me started

[Bekah Manseau · Rating 1 out of 5]

the. end. of. an. era.

[scotia · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the worst abomination I've ever been forced to endure.

This is not me being upset that I had to read this for APUSH, this was genuinely terrible. It's almost impossible to follow a thread, and Brinkley is so obsessed with trying to seem like a good writer and influential thinker that he often forgets to finish his points.

Thank God there will not be another edition, the world can't take any more.

Anyways, manifest a five for me guys!!

[Lainey Socha · Rating 5 out of 5]

WARRRRR ISSSSSS OOOOVERRRRRRR

[Willow Weaverling · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read every single page of this...I hate Alan Brinkley. I hate APUSH. I hate this textbook.

[Ravi · Rating 2 out of 5]

mfw mr stilwells great-great-grandpa cameos on page 724

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

My time of reading APUSH has come to an end. Yay! I have read 31 chapters of US history from 1490 to 2014. I don't think I remember much.

[annie ౨ৎ]

why did i decide to take apush this year.

alan brinkley, you need a new editor.

finally finished reading this (five days before the exam shh)

[Nolan Reffett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow such a good book. The plot and lore was really intriguing as well. The author inserts sections into his book questioning the realities of the characters, such as where he puts a question about his own book questioning the intent behind the bomb end of the second massive war for one of his characters. It is hard to get attached to any of the characters since they only are present for a few chapters consecutively and there are so many, but there are some standouts. Characters like John Smith, George Washington, Henry Clay, Theodore Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan were some of the most intriguing and entertaining characters. There's definitely an argument to be made that the main character is the country itself, but that is up for debate. I think there could have been more focus on the other countries in the world, but the book was fine without that. The one gripe I have is all the economic stuff, I get world building and mentioning depressions and slavery since that influenced real things, but I do not care for stuff about silver and gold standards and arguments over tariff policy.

[Isha Mayor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This textbook is not only informative in an interesting way, but also thought provoking. The "Looking Back" sections give greater meaning to every chapter, and there are sections where the past is connected to the present (e.g. FDR's economic policies after the Great Depression compared with Obama's economic policies after the economic crisis of '08; Andrew Carnegie's "The Gospel of Wealth" and Bill Gates' philanthropic philosophy).

[Ayat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although this book had been a true, true pain in the ass I’m glad I read it. Staying up until 4am doing outlines had made me want to rip my hair out but it did teach me a lot. I’m so glad I’m done with apush tho!!!!!!!! Now for the national apush test 😭

[Aashika]

I HATE THIS BOOK. This book cause trauma, depression, anxiety and most of all I spent countless nights up reading this book. 0 stars. To all the APUSH students, let’s join and burn this book down. To all the people who actually want to read this book, I hope u rot in hell

[Leah S · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe some part of me will miss this agony one day.