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The Brief Edition of A PEOPLE AND A NATION offers a succinct and spirited narrative that tells the stories of all people in the United States. The authors' attention to race and racial identity, and their inclusion of everyday people and popular culture brings history to life, engaging readers and encouraging them to imagine what life was really like in the past. In the tenth edition, the number of chapters has been reduced from 33 to 29, making the text easier to assign in a typical semester. Available in the following split options: A PEOPLE AND A NATION, Brief Tenth Edition (Chapters 1–29), ISBN: 9781285430843; Volume I: TO 1877 (Chapters 1–14), ISBN: 9781285430850; Volume II: SINCE 1865 (Chapters 14-29), ISBN: 9781285430867
- A PEOPLE AND A NATION, Brief Tenth Edition, offers the most complete revision in the text's history. The number of chapters has been reduced from 33 to 29 (14 in Volume 1 and 15 in Volume 2), making the text easier to assign in a typical semester. Rather than simply combining sections into fewer chapters, the authors honed the narrative with an eye to reducing excessive detail, thereby sharpening and more clearly emphasizing key themes.
- In this revision, the author team has recommitted to the founding principles of the book: to tell the story of America as both a people and a nation, discussing the relationship between the two. In addition to going beyond the political history of the United states to encompass the diversity of America's people, the book has integrated new themes and focuses over the years that reflect the evolution of historical questions as well as the scholarship and insights of new authors.
- Jane Kamensky, Brandeis University, a distinguished scholar and an excellent writer, joins the author team in this edition. Professor Kamensky is primarily responsible for revisions in Chapters 1–7.
- Chapter 1, “Three Old Worlds Create a New, 1492–1600,” features a new emphasis on a world in motion: the circulation of goods, peoples, ideas, and money around the Atlantic basin; and new content on African history and the African diaspora.
- Chapter 3, “North America in the Atlantic World, 1650–1720,” includes revised and increased coverage of Atlantic slavery, with a new statistical foundation in the authoritative Transatlantic Slave Trade open-source database.
- Chapter 4, “Becoming America? 1720–1760,” frames a new central problem: are Britain's North American colonies becoming more like or more unlike Britain in the mid-18th century? This chapter also includes increased coverage of imperial warfare.
- Chapter 5, “The Ends of Empire, 1754-1774,” features new coverage of slavery and emergent antislavery in the context of the imperial crisis.
- Chapter 6, “American Revolutions, 1775-1783,” features expanded coverage of loyalists (both black and white), and neutrals; new treatment of the Revolution as a global war; a new focus on the logic behind British tactics in prosecuting the American war, and on the relationship between war aims in the Caribbean and the shape of the conflict in North America; and a new section on funding the Revolution, including the hyperinflation of the Continental dollar.
- Chapter 7, “Forging a Nation, 1783–1800,” introduces new concept of the “revolutionary settlement,” which continues in subsequent chapters; and expanded coverage of the role of culture and the arts in the creation of a national identity to encompass a highly pluralistic and divided society.
- Chapter 29, “Into the Global Millennium: America Since 1992,” includes new material on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the presidential election of 2012, the end of the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy, the war in Afghanistan, and the death of Osama bin Laden.
- “Visualizing the Past” features in each chapter treat images (such as artifacts, paintings, photographs, and advertisements) as primary sources to explore major themes. The illustrations and extended captions help students understand how the careful examination of visual materials can reveal aspects of America's story that otherwise would remain unknown. Topics include Naming America (Chapter 1; new), Acomo Pueblo (Chapter 2), Selling War (Chapter 8), The Spectacle of Gilded Age Politics (Chapter 17), Combating the Spread of AIDS (Chapter 28), and War Dead (Chapter 29; new).
- “Links to the World” essays (one in each chapter) connect figures, topics, or events in U.S. history to the history of the greater world. Topics include turkeys (Chapter 2), writing and stationery supplies (Chapter 5), William Walker and filibustering (Chapter 12), the “Back to Africa” movement (Chapter 14), and the “Swine Flu” pandemic (Chapter 29).
- “Legacy for a People and a Nation” essays (one in each chapter), offer compelling and timely answers to students who question the relevance of historical study by exploring the historical roots of contemporary topics. Topics include Revitalizing Native Languages (Chapter 1; new), The Modern Family (Chapter 2; new), P.T. Barnum's Publicity Stunts (Chapter 10), Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address (Chapter 13), National Parks (Chapter 15), Nuclear Proliferation (Chapter 23), and The Immigration Act of 1965 (Chapter 26).
- More than 90 maps provide an engaging visual and geographic context for the narrative.
- The text integrates discussion of diversity throughout the narrative by examining differences within the broad ethnic categories and paying attention to immigration, cultural and intellectual infusions from around the world, and America's growing religious diversity.
- Available with the text, Aplia™ for A PEOPLE AND A NATION is an online interactive learning solution that improves comprehension and outcomes by increasing student engagement. Founded by a professor to enhance his own courses, Aplia provides automatically graded assignments with detailed, immediate explanations on every question, as well as innovative teaching materials.
2. Europeans Colonize North America, 1600–1650.
3. North America in the Atlantic World, 1650–1720.
4. Becoming America? 1720–1760.
5. The Ends of Empire, 1754–1774.
6. American Revolutions, 1775–1783.
7. Forging a Nation, 1783–1800.
8. Defining the Nation, 1801–1823.
9. The Rise of the South, 1815–1860.
10. The Restless North, 1815–1860.
11. The Contested West, 1815–1860.
12. Politics and the Fate of the Union, 1824–1859.
13. Transforming Fire: The Civil War, 1860–1865.
14. Reconstruction: An Unfinished Revolution, 1865–1877.
15. The Ecology of the West and South, 1865–1900.
16. Building Factories, Building Cities, 1877–1900.
17. Gilded Age Politics, 1877–1900.
18. The Progressive Era, 1895–1920.
19. The Quest for Empire, 1865–1914.
20. Americans in the Great War, 1914–1920.
21. The New Era, 1920–1929.
22. The Great Depression and the New Deal, 1929–1939.
23. The Second World War at Home and Abroad, 1939–1945.
24. The Cold War and American Globalism, 1945–1961.
25. America at Midcentury, 1945–1960.
26. The Tumultuous Sixties, 1960–1968.
27. A Pivotal Era, 1969–1980.
28. Conservatism Revived, 1980–1992.
29. Into the Global Millennium: America Since 1992.
“This text has worked well for me and my students for. . . years. I always recommend this text because it challenges students to ask critical questions about issues related to social justice. This is a text that seeks to include all voices, and as many perspectives as possible, and asks the tough questions about whether we have acted morally and with integrity.”
“[A People and a Nation's] powerful and engaging perspective of social history grabs students and serves as a broad and powerful tool to teach.”
Cengage provides a range of supplements that are updated in coordination with the main title selection. For more information about these supplements, contact your Learning Consultant.
Web Site, Brief
This website for instructors features all of the assets that are available to students at no extra charge, plus an Instructor's Resource Manual (chapter summaries, learning objectives, chapter outlines, suggested lecture topics, class activities, discussion questions, and suggested paper topics), and PowerPoint® presentations (lecture outlines, images, and maps).
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Instructor's Edition, Brief Edition
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