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America The Story of Us: An Illustrated History
America The Story of Us is a groundbreaking series that brings to life the epic story of our nation in a new way for a new generation. The companion book, America The Story of Us is a history that is at once penetrating and lively, elegant and authoritative; great for serious reading as it is for casual skimming. America The Story of Us brings to life the vast forces that shaped this remarkable country and the ways in which revolutions in technology and transportation altered the way Americans lived, made money, and fought one another. Explored in these pages is the struggle between settlers and Native Americans; the epic conflict of slavery, from cotton gin to Civil War; the creation of the transcontinental railroad alongside the thundering herds of buffalo across the West; and how American ingenuity and determination both carried us through the Great Depression and won the Second World War. Beginning with Jamestown and Plymouth Bay, the first successful British colonies on the mainland, the book highlights the landmark moments in political, social, economic, and military history, from the prototypical entrepreneur John Rolfe and his tobacco seeds to Barack Obama and the seeds of change, from the Model T to the moon landing. Written by novelist, historian, and journalist Kevin Baker (a key contributor to The American Century, by Harold Evans), the narrative shares the TV series- eye for the dramatic moment in U.S. history-there is danger, action, struggle-while adding new layers of detail and nuance. America The Story of Us is decisive and essential, the story of the country that every family will want to own.
Foreword by President Obama
A stunning companion piece for the most anticipated HISTORY broadcast of all time, includes 412 heavily illustrated pages featuring over 300 full color images and layers of information including “charticles,” graphics, photographs, and text.
The adventure that became a nation – the complete history of the US has not been told for 40 years.
AMERICA the Story of Us is an exuberant, unprecedented look at the invention of America focusing on how events small and large are intrinsically linked to the exploration and innovation, leading us from the frontier to 21st century cities, from the Mississippi to the moon, from Jamestown to 9/11 up to present day. Moving though time and space linking key events, people and locations, capturing the vast sweep of American history— bringing viewers on a journey through the forces that shaped the destiny of America.
Foreword by President Obama
A stunning companion piece for the most anticipated HISTORY broadcast of all time, includes 412 heavily illustrated pages featuring over 300 full color images and layers of information including “charticles,” graphics, photographs, and text.
The adventure that became a nation – the complete history of the US has not been told for 40 years.
AMERICA the Story of Us is an exuberant, unprecedented look at the invention of America focusing on how events small and large are intrinsically linked to the exploration and innovation, leading us from the frontier to 21st century cities, from the Mississippi to the moon, from Jamestown to 9/11 up to present day. Moving though time and space linking key events, people and locations, capturing the vast sweep of American history— bringing viewers on a journey through the forces that shaped the destiny of America.
412 pages, Paperback
First published May 14, 2010
17 people are currently reading
134 people want to read
About the author
Kevin Baker
103 books119 followersKevin Baker is the author of the New York, City of Fire trilogy: Dreamland, Paradise Alley, and Strivers Row. Most recently, he's been writing about politics for Harper's Magazine and the New York Observer.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
September 7, 2012
Kevin Baker’s “America: The Story of Us” is a one volume illustrated history of the United States from 1497 to 2010. History need not be boring, and Baker has done a wonderful job of making the story of our nation interesting. The numerous charts and diagrams showing such things as the differences between Union and Confederate soldiers or how an atomic bomb works, is one of the features that attracted me to the book.
Obviously in a one volume work, the author must make decisions on what to include and what to leave out. I was surprised that the subchapter on the First World War was only 2 pages long (a mere 4 paragraphs with 2 pictures). On the other hand, the subchapter detailing the harsh working conditions of the Lowell textile mill merited 4 pages (or 14 paragraphs). Baker appears to be primarily interested in social history with the emphasis on reformers, civil rights, and the changing demographics of America.
Although I am a retired high school history teacher, I found interesting details in the book that I did not previously know. Unfortunately, the book contains no endnotes to reveal where this information came from. Even the photo credits are not complete. When I came across a color photo of a burning Indian village with bodies lying on the ground, I found that it was not listed. Apparently it’s a scene from a movie.
I noticed one error near the end of the book. Baker wrote that President Obama’s grandfather “had ridden in Patton’s tanks against the German Reich.” Is this a reference to the North African campaign and Hussein Onyango Obama? If so, Kenya at this time was ruled by the British and Hussein Onyango Obama was in the King's African Rifles. According to “The Untold Story of an African Family: The Obamas” (page 161), Hussein Onyango was a cook and served in Ethiopia against the Italians and in Burma against the Japanese.
If Baker was referring to Obama's other grandfather on his mother's side, Stanley Durham, it too is still incorrect. Durham was a supply sergeant for the 1830th Ordiance Supply & Maintenance Co., Aviation. Six weeks after the Normandy Invasion, he did follow the Allied front across France servicing airfields. He did not ride a tank or see combat.
Obviously in a one volume work, the author must make decisions on what to include and what to leave out. I was surprised that the subchapter on the First World War was only 2 pages long (a mere 4 paragraphs with 2 pictures). On the other hand, the subchapter detailing the harsh working conditions of the Lowell textile mill merited 4 pages (or 14 paragraphs). Baker appears to be primarily interested in social history with the emphasis on reformers, civil rights, and the changing demographics of America.
Although I am a retired high school history teacher, I found interesting details in the book that I did not previously know. Unfortunately, the book contains no endnotes to reveal where this information came from. Even the photo credits are not complete. When I came across a color photo of a burning Indian village with bodies lying on the ground, I found that it was not listed. Apparently it’s a scene from a movie.
I noticed one error near the end of the book. Baker wrote that President Obama’s grandfather “had ridden in Patton’s tanks against the German Reich.” Is this a reference to the North African campaign and Hussein Onyango Obama? If so, Kenya at this time was ruled by the British and Hussein Onyango Obama was in the King's African Rifles. According to “The Untold Story of an African Family: The Obamas” (page 161), Hussein Onyango was a cook and served in Ethiopia against the Italians and in Burma against the Japanese.
If Baker was referring to Obama's other grandfather on his mother's side, Stanley Durham, it too is still incorrect. Durham was a supply sergeant for the 1830th Ordiance Supply & Maintenance Co., Aviation. Six weeks after the Normandy Invasion, he did follow the Allied front across France servicing airfields. He did not ride a tank or see combat.
March 17, 2016
قصة أمة غيرت وجه العالم ..
قليل من الموضوعية .. كثير من التحيز
قليل من الموضوعية .. كثير من التحيز
July 5, 2017
America: The Story of Us (An Illustrated History) is written by novelist and historian Kevin Baker and follows the same formula as the television series, although the content is different and the presentation is obviously quite different. The book does an excellent job of summarizing over five hundred years of American history, with abundant illustrations to help support the story.
History authors have a hard time pleasing people these days, with some people arguing for more honesty (for instance, in dealing with issues like slavery, Columbus and the real story behind the first Thanksgiving) while others are pushing for more focus on values, Christianity and patriotic pride. As such, it's becoming more and more tricky to find a politically neutral history text.
This book does an admirable job of balancing the line between harsh truth and proud story-telling. The book celebrates America and the people who created it, while not shying away from the truths of our nation's history. History is told from all different sides, with a matter-of-fact tone (sometimes venturing into proud patriotism and sometimes into tragic reality) and interesting quotes, graphs, photographs, accounts and illustrations.
The illustrations really bring more to the text, too. One chart shows the startling differences between colonists and British citizens at the time regarding height, literary rate, death rate and more. Maps use symbols to show the numbers and locations of race riots, bombings and lynchings around the country in the early 1900's. Another map shows the journey of Lewis and Clark, the Trail of Tears, the Mormon Trail, the National Road, the Oregon Trail and others, along with timelines of when they occurred. Another visual shows the typical contents of a covered wagon headed west, and one horrifying drawing shows the actual floor plan to fit 292 imprisoned slaves on the British slave ship Brookes.
The book introduces us to many, many people who helped create our country, from the real Pocahontas (actually named Matoaka -- Pocahontas was a teasing nickname the English colonists used that meant "little hellion") to Jacob Riis (a NYC activist whose photographs, book and work helped bring about reforms for the desperately poor). We find out that the Native Americans at Little Bighorn had already agreed among themselves to peacefully go with Custer if he asked them (as we know, he didn't, and he and every one of his soldiers died during his infamous attack).
The book also doesn't take sides politically. In one section pertaining to the disastrous economic happenings at the turn of the 21st century, for instance, the author condemns Bill Clinton, the Republican congress, Alan Greenspan, Democratic and Republican presidents and (in a small, odd way) novelist Ayn Rand, in one paragraph.
The book is often sobering. Our history is not all rosy and not all happy. But it is also interesting, informative and inspiring.
I recommend "America: The Story of Us" for older children, teens and adult. It would make a good read-aloud for multiple ages, and I suggest using it as a long-term part of a homeschool U.S. history curriculum since it is just over 400 pages long. With twelve chapters, it could be broken down into one or two chapters a month and supplemented with books, projects and other materials. Chapters include time periods and subjects well suited to month-long unit studies:
Rebels
Revolution
Westward
Division
Civil War
Heartland
Cities
Boom
Bust
WWII
Boomers
Millinium
History authors have a hard time pleasing people these days, with some people arguing for more honesty (for instance, in dealing with issues like slavery, Columbus and the real story behind the first Thanksgiving) while others are pushing for more focus on values, Christianity and patriotic pride. As such, it's becoming more and more tricky to find a politically neutral history text.
This book does an admirable job of balancing the line between harsh truth and proud story-telling. The book celebrates America and the people who created it, while not shying away from the truths of our nation's history. History is told from all different sides, with a matter-of-fact tone (sometimes venturing into proud patriotism and sometimes into tragic reality) and interesting quotes, graphs, photographs, accounts and illustrations.
The illustrations really bring more to the text, too. One chart shows the startling differences between colonists and British citizens at the time regarding height, literary rate, death rate and more. Maps use symbols to show the numbers and locations of race riots, bombings and lynchings around the country in the early 1900's. Another map shows the journey of Lewis and Clark, the Trail of Tears, the Mormon Trail, the National Road, the Oregon Trail and others, along with timelines of when they occurred. Another visual shows the typical contents of a covered wagon headed west, and one horrifying drawing shows the actual floor plan to fit 292 imprisoned slaves on the British slave ship Brookes.
The book introduces us to many, many people who helped create our country, from the real Pocahontas (actually named Matoaka -- Pocahontas was a teasing nickname the English colonists used that meant "little hellion") to Jacob Riis (a NYC activist whose photographs, book and work helped bring about reforms for the desperately poor). We find out that the Native Americans at Little Bighorn had already agreed among themselves to peacefully go with Custer if he asked them (as we know, he didn't, and he and every one of his soldiers died during his infamous attack).
The book also doesn't take sides politically. In one section pertaining to the disastrous economic happenings at the turn of the 21st century, for instance, the author condemns Bill Clinton, the Republican congress, Alan Greenspan, Democratic and Republican presidents and (in a small, odd way) novelist Ayn Rand, in one paragraph.
The book is often sobering. Our history is not all rosy and not all happy. But it is also interesting, informative and inspiring.
I recommend "America: The Story of Us" for older children, teens and adult. It would make a good read-aloud for multiple ages, and I suggest using it as a long-term part of a homeschool U.S. history curriculum since it is just over 400 pages long. With twelve chapters, it could be broken down into one or two chapters a month and supplemented with books, projects and other materials. Chapters include time periods and subjects well suited to month-long unit studies:
Rebels
Revolution
Westward
Division
Civil War
Heartland
Cities
Boom
Bust
WWII
Boomers
Millinium
June 15, 2010
A nice down and dirty review of US History. The book doesn't appear to be a transcript for the History Channel miniseries. There are no illustrations, which is unfortunate, but Kevin Baker's writing is engaging, if not a little biased. (I didn't notice the liberal slant until the end, but I gather that is more a reflection of my own ignorance rather than the fact that is wasn't there. And not that I don't completely agree with Baker's assessments on how to precede as a nation.)
April 14, 2011
Excellent overview of American history with great photos. However, I don't know why I should care what Michael Strahan and Michael Douglass think about the topic. In addition, some important areas were glossed over, while some received unwarranted attention (is the history of Los Angeles' drinking water really more important than World War I or the Vietnam War?).
November 12, 2020
It is decidedly ok. There is basically no detail to it, broad strokes is maybe being to generous with the actual content. There were a handful of area's that it highlighted that, say high school history, overlooks such as the whaling industry or an ever so more focused look at the turn of the century industry.
The things it does not well are more substantive. It is written with an overwhelming pro-America slant, while that is not necessarily unexpected considering what it is tied too it does get tiresome when the author reinforces positive attitudes and actions of America immediatly after discussing something like the Trail of Tears or race riots of the 60's. It feels forced and unearned. Another issue the book has is what it chooses to focus on, there are more words on the Mexican-American War or the War of 1812 than there are on Vietnam. It feels completely inadequate in telling the story of America.
This book, which does have some great choices in illustration and photography, could be good for a late elementary student. Acting as their first look at American history it can offer a starting point to see some of the areas they may be interested in learning about more. It also may work as a true companion to the television series, though I'm personally not sure how much it would offer in addition. Anyone else can probably skip it as their are better overviews that are less biased and more in depth, even when attempting to cover 240 or so odd years.
The things it does not well are more substantive. It is written with an overwhelming pro-America slant, while that is not necessarily unexpected considering what it is tied too it does get tiresome when the author reinforces positive attitudes and actions of America immediatly after discussing something like the Trail of Tears or race riots of the 60's. It feels forced and unearned. Another issue the book has is what it chooses to focus on, there are more words on the Mexican-American War or the War of 1812 than there are on Vietnam. It feels completely inadequate in telling the story of America.
This book, which does have some great choices in illustration and photography, could be good for a late elementary student. Acting as their first look at American history it can offer a starting point to see some of the areas they may be interested in learning about more. It also may work as a true companion to the television series, though I'm personally not sure how much it would offer in addition. Anyone else can probably skip it as their are better overviews that are less biased and more in depth, even when attempting to cover 240 or so odd years.
July 6, 2019
Very interesting book and it challenged my knowledge on some things. So that inspires me to research more about our nations history. As mentioned in other reviews I would have liked more sources listed for some of the things stated as facts but I did appreciate the further reading recommendations.
September 21, 2012
This is certainly well told. Not sure about accuracy as i have not the knowledge to make the call, but like anything you can see the authors personal view point encroaching on certain topics. Over all it was well done. I have the movies and began to watch them first and then found this on kindle for free (though in 3 parts).
April 4, 2021
Not as whitewashed as I feared. Nice historical chronology of mostly government, politics & economy, w/ social & culture to explain most actions. The take away: American leaders makes a lot of the same mistakes over & over, all for power & politics, the Constitution & its ideals be damned! : - (
November 7, 2010
Ok, well I didn't read the book, but I did watch some of the movie. It was a lot better than some other history stories.
July 29, 2011
A good jumping off point and nicely organized.
August 27, 2015
Precies wat de naam van het boek zegt: het verhaal van ons/ de USA. Heel toegankelijk geschreven, veel foto's en illustraties. Hoort bij alle Amerika-fans in de boekenkast :-)
August 17, 2014
Not a math's major, but I am sure it is impossible to have 4.5 children. Says a lot about people doing their research and writing this book. Otherwise cool pictures.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews