Give Me Liberty!: An American History (Second Edition)

by Eric Foner

Adopted at over 600 universities, colleges, and schools across the country, Eric Foner's Give Me Liberty! is making a difference in the American history survey course.

Concise, clear, compact, Eric Foner's brilliant synthesis of American history is the perfect teaching tool for the U.S. survey course. Unlike so many textbooks that overwhelm beginning students with encyclopedic detail, Give Me Liberty! presents the events of American history in a nimble chronological narrative that equips students to understand their significance. It is a textbook that works.

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

1123 pages, Hardcover

Published October 19, 2007

About the author

Eric Foner is DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University, where he earned his B.A. and Ph.D. In his teaching and scholarship, Foner focuses on the Civil War and Reconstruction, slavery, and nineteenth-century America. His Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863–1877, won the Bancroft, Parkman, and Los Angeles Times Book prizes and remains the standard history of the period. His latest book published in 2010 is The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery.

In 2006 Foner received the Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching at Columbia University. He has served as president of the Organization of American Historians, the American Historical Association, and the Society of American Historians.

Reviews

[Stacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

People who complain about this book (and Vol. II) do not understand that it explains history in terms of freedom. It highlights the changes in the meaning of American freedom over time. Native Americans had a very different definition of freedom than the Europeans who left England in search of their own freedom. Southern plantation owners had a very different definition of freedom than Black slaves. Unions have a very different definition of freedom than robber barons. American history is dirty and unpleasant and, for much of its history, a great many of its citizens have been anything but free. This text highlights this disparity, and apparently, that angers a lot of people who don't want to admit that the America many of us learned about in high school is just an illusion.

[Andrew Pritchard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative and easy to read. But, like any textbook, it is rather dry and goes a little too in depth on some aspects of American history, while being rather spartan about other periods or events. Nonetheless, I generally found it interesting.

[Kyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the textbook assigned to the college class I taught. Foner picks a specific narrative he wishes to tell US history through and that is perfectly fine as he makes it very clear.

That being said, I think it for both better and worse makes his biases clear as well. He is very through in the content he covers but certain topics lack the nuance they deserve due to the lens through which we wishes to communicate US history through. Furthermore, he places certain events in odd places and chapters because of this.

[Ben Murray · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 stars on the low end. A good intro very focused on the stories of the native people's, which was illuminating at some points and detracting at others. The last textbook I read in my undergraduate studies!

[Steen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great textbook! Foner actually made history interesting. Plus, I actually read the whole thing...amazing!

[Edidiong Ekpa]

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[diana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Giving this 2 stars for helping me pass my history course, but it was incredibly boring nonetheless 👍