Created Equal: A Social and Political History of the United States, Volume 1 (to 1877)

by Peter H. Wood, Thomas Borstelmann

In its comprehensive and inclusive view of American history, "Created Equal" provides an accurate, broad, deep, and compelling view of the nation's past. Emphasizing social history--including the lives and labors of women, immigrants, working people, and persons of color in all regions of the country--"Created Equal" also delivers the basics of political and economic history, thoughtfully examining the roles that all peoples have played in creating and defining those aspects of the nation's past.

"Created Equal" explores an expanding notion of American identity--one that encompasses the stories of diverse groups of people, territorial growth and expansion, the rise of the middle class, technological innovation and economic development, and engagement with other nations and peoples of the world.

656 pages, Paperback

First published February 18, 2005

About the author

I have always been interested in early American history and in the interactions of diverse cultures. My undergraduate honors paper at Harvard in 1964 dealt with the Puritans' relations with the Indians, and my doctoral thesis there focused on African Americans in South Carolina before 1740. Since coming to Duke in 1975, I have taught Colonial American History and Native American History, as well as a course on the History of Documentary Film. Long term interests in race relations and in American painting led me to collaborate with art historian Karen Dalton in 1988 on an exhibition and a related book concerning Winslow Homer's images of Blacks. Time spent as the department's Director of Graduate Studies (1988-95) and as one of the professors in the U.S. Survey class (History 91D) has made me increasingly interested in the ways we learn and teach American history. Perhaps for this reason, I have always been actively involved as a humanities advisor on diverse public history projects and as a board member with a variety of grassroots organizations and mainstream institutions. I am a lead author for the US survey textbook, Created Equal, which is now in its second edition.