Building the American Republic, Volume 1: A Narrative History to 1877

Building the American Republic #1

by Harry L. Watson

Building the American Republic  combines centuries of perspectives and voices into a fluid narrative of the United States. Throughout their respective volumes, Harry L. Watson and Jane Dailey take care to integrate varied scholarly perspectives and work to engage a diverse readership by addressing what we all membership in a democratic republic, with joint claims on its self-governing tradition. It will be one of the first peer-reviewed American history textbooks to be offered completely free in digital form. Visit buildingtheamericanrepublic.org for more information. 

Volume 1 starts at sea and ends on the battlefield. Beginning with the earliest Americans and the arrival of strangers on the eastern shore, it then moves through colonial society to the fight for independence and the construction of a federalist republic. From there, it explains the renegotiations and refinements that took place as a new nation found its footing, and it traces the actions that eventually rippled into the Civil War.

This volume goes beyond famous names and battles to incorporate politics, economics, science, arts, and culture. And it shows that issues that resonate today—immigration, race, labor, gender roles, and the power of technology—have been part of the American fabric since the very beginning.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, Politics, Textbooks, Reference, United States

640 pages, Paperback

Published January 18, 2018

About the author

Harry L. Watson is the Atlanta Distinguished Professor of Southern Culture at the University of North Carolina. He is the author of Liberty and Power: The Politics of Jacksonian America and An Independent People: The Way We Lived in North Carolina, 1770–1820. His coedited books include Southern Cultures: The Fifteenth Anniversary Reader and The American South in a Global World.

Reviews

[Alan Johnson]

This is a free Kindle book that I downloaded today. I read the section on Roger Williams, which was superficial and not exactly accurate. Perhaps one cannot expect more from a textbook.

[Nonethousand Oberrhein]

Peoples of the American continent
Starting with a comprehensive outline of the “Americas” inhabitants, this volume retraces the history of European colonization and, before focusing on the northern continent, paints a general picture of how both the North and South continent were exploited by Europeans. Striving for objectivity in what is self-defined as “historical narrative”, and choosing to stop before the XXth century, this work may easily become a valid reference for future research on American history and the prime principles that forged modern American society.

The XXth century, will be “narrated” in Volume 2 .

[Leah]

I was expecting another dry history textbook. However, I was pleasantly surprised by this one. History is told with a lens that sees the issues from all sides. Bias is much less present than in many history textbooks. I really enjoyed reading Watson’s book, and it even made me laugh a few times. I love his word choice in several spots and the addition of fun facts that really don’t need to be there but make history that much more interesting. I highly recommend this book if you’re looking for a good overview of American history.

[Ed Barton]

Readable Comprehensive History

As promised in the description, you get a comprehensive history, with emphasis on issues such as slavery and reconstruction, native history and other elements in addition to “war”, political and economic history. There are a number of factual issues (Gouveneur Morris is from NY, not PA for example) to overcome - but none are fatal mistakes. It’s a decent enough read and potential high school or intro college level textbook.

[Winifred Lewis]

Should be required reading

This is a tremendous contribution to understanding the developments and processes leading to today's dilemmas. The impact of both extremes is not only alive and well, but stronger because of social media.

[katie]

I know this is a textbook, but it was so well written it was actually entertaining and I actually looked forward to reading and taking notes on it.

[୨୧ DR]

war flashbacks to US History I... book was kinda interesting though

[T.]

Had to read this for my history class. Not a huge fan of history. Pretty boring. 😆