America: A Concise History, 3rd Edition [Paperback]

James A. Henretta (Author), David Brody (Author), Lynn Dumenil (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0312413645 | ISBN-13: 978-0312413644 | Publication Date: February 4, 2005 | Edition: 3rd

America: A Concise History has become the best-selling brief book for the U.S. History survey because of the uncommon value it offers instructors and students alike. The authors’ own abridgement preserves the analytical power of the parent text, America’s History, while offering all the flexibility of a brief book. The latest scholarship, hallmark global perspective, and handy format combine with the best full-color art and map program of any brief text to create a book that students read and enjoy.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

JAMES A. HENRETTA is Priscilla Alden Burke Professor of American History at the University of Maryland, College Park. He received his undergraduate education at Swarthmore College and his Ph.D. from Harvard University. He has taught at the University of Sussex, England; Princeton University; UCLA; Boston University; as a Fulbright lecturer in Australia at the University of New England; and at Oxford University as the Harmsworth Professor of American History. His publications include The Evolution of American Society, 1700–1815: An Interdisciplinary Analysis; "Salutary Neglect": Colonial Administration under the Duke of Newcastle; Evolution and Revolution: American Society, 1600–1820; and The Origins of American Capitalism. Recently he coedited and contributed to a collection of original essays, Republicanism and Liberalism in America and the German States, 1750–1850, as part of his larger research project on "The Liberal State in America: New York, 1820–1975." In 2002–2003, he held the John Hope Franklin Fellowship at the National Humanities Center in North Carolina.

DAVID BRODY is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of California, Davis. He received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. from Harvard University. He has taught at the University of Warwick in England, at Moscow State University in the former Soviet Union, and at Sydney University in Australia. He is the author of Steelworkers in America; Workers in Industrial America: Essays on the 20th Century Struggle; and In Labor's Cause: Main Themes on the History of the American Worker. He has been awarded fellowships from the Social Science Research Council, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. He is past president (1991–1992) of the Pacific Coast branch of the American Historical Association. His current research focuses on labor law and workplace regimes during the Great Depression.

LYNN DUMENIL is Robert Glass Cleland Professor of American History at Occidental College in Los Angeles. She is a graduate of the University of Southern California and received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. She has written The Modern Temper: American Culture and Society in the 1920s and Freemasonry and American Culture: 1880–1930. Her articles and reviews have appeared in the Journal of American History; the Journal of American Ethnic History: Reviews in American History; and the American Historical Review. She has served as a historical consultant to several documentary film projects and sits on the Pelzer Prize Committee of the Organization of American Historians. Her current work, for which she received a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, focuses on World War I, citizenship, and the state. In 2001–2002 she held the Bicentennial Fulbright Chair in American Studies at the University of Helsinki.

Product Details

• Paperback: 1152 pages
• Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's; 3rd edition (February 4, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312413645
• ISBN-13: 978-0312413644
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #191,796 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Dry, with serious factual flaws, April 7, 2008

By 

Daniel R. Baker "Daniel R. Baker" (McLean, VA, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: America: A Concise History, Volume 2: Since 1865 (Paperback)

Over the past year I have had the opportunity to compare this book with Roark's The American Promise, and I would highly recommend Roark over this book.

The most serious flaw of the Henretta text is its cavalier attitude toward the facts. This is worst in its section on World War II. For example, on pages 800-801, we read "In July 1943 after Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime fell and Mussolini was executed, Italy's new government joined the Allies." Of course, in reality, Mussolini was promptly restored to power by German occupation and did not die until 1945; nor was he executed, but rather murdered by partisans without benefit of trial. On page 805, we read that "The capture of Iwo Jima and Okinawa put bombers in position to attack Japan itself," when in fact it was the previous year's capture of the Marianas that put the Japanese islands in U.S. bomber range. In the very same paragraph, we read that "Before the Soviets could act, the Japanese offered to surrender on August 10," but in reality the USSR had declared war on Japan on August 8, 1945 and had invaded Japanese-held Manchuria on August 9. This oversight is particularly important, in that some historians argue that it was the Soviet declaration of war as much as the atomic bombs that convinced Japan to surrender.

That the book frequently lapses into tendentious left-wing ideology hardly needs mentioning; the vast majority of academic history textbooks today have the same problem, and non-academic right-wing "correctives," like Thomas Woods, are usually even worse. Still, left-wing writing need not be bad writing, nor as distorting to the historical record as this text's often is. For example, on page 519 we find this passage: "In Europe job-seeking peasants commonly tried seasonal agricultural labor or temporary work in nearby cities. America represented merely a larger leap." This is a feeble attempt to pretend that late-19th and early 20th century Europe offered opportunities similar to America's, and, if accepted, renders America's massively larger immigration rate inexplicable.

As might be expected in a book co-authored by three people, the quality varies considerably from chapter to chapter. Chapter 18, "The Rise of the City," stands out as particularly well written. One good technique the authors use is to place U.S. history in its international context, as when comparing the urban history of Chicago to Berlin or pointing out the origin of Chinese immigration to America in a general flood of Chinese immigration throughout the Pacific in the 19th century. It is only in this respect that this text is superior to Roark, which often skimps on the world-historical setting of U.S. history.

While the authors deserve commendation for trying to address the history of American racial minorities, their efforts usually devolve into a mere listing of grievances, especially as regards Native Americans and Latinos; African American achievements and resistance to prejudice are somewhat better described. Women's history comes off best; the authors are generally, though not always, successful in describing women's experience as an integrated whole in which men's oppressive behavior is only one part.

The book's overwhelming drawback compared to Roark is the poverty of illustrations, which are few, ill-chosen, and exclusively black-and-white. In contrast, the maps are excellent.

I can understand that cash-strapped colleges may prefer this book to Roark because it is cheaper. Still, it should have been possible to create a budget college textbook that was more accurate and less biased.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars very readable; the narrative flows gracefully, August 24, 2005

By 

W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: America, Vol. 2: A Concise History, Second Edition (Paperback)

The authors had a difficult task. To further shorten their other text, "America's History", by almost 50%. Yet they seem to have succeeded. The book has a logical narrative flow. That does not feel like a standard text. Quite expertly done. When you consider that very disparate topics are covered. Like reform in the Progressive Era, or the emergence of the US as a world power. But somehow, each chapter segues gracefully into its successor.

The book also starts each chapter with a human interest anecdote. To try and bring the chapter's theme down to an easily comprehensible scale. And thus to motivate the reader into absorbing the broader mass of the chapter. The book is well suited for a general audience.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good history book for summer class, June 29, 2009

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Dolly "Mary" (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: America: A Concise History, Volume 1: To 1877 (Paperback)

This book was a required reading in a short summer history class. The book reads well and is relatively easy to get through. The chapters are organized into sections based on events, so there were some time jumps that I found confusing, but other than that this was one of the best class books I've had.