Customer Reviews

Who Built America? Working People and the Nation's History, Vol. 2: 1877 to the Present

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

One of the most interesting and complete collections of American History from 1877 forward.Detailed reports and picture of local events that made history.A great purchase!

I had to read this book for my American History class focusing from the year 1877-present. This book did not go into detail on some of the important events in Ameican history. A lot of the details were surface area thoughts and analysis. I have read better American history master narratives and I didn't always agree with the authors opinions on certain president's. This book did nothing more than challenge me to do more research on certain historical periods that the book did not cover or had a bias opinion on.

I had to read this book for a social history class in college (Fall 2010). Social history is the study of the "little people", the anonymous masses of a society that in reality make up the bulk of history. The first two sections of the book cover US social history from the end of Reconstruction to the end of World War Two (1877-1945), and do so adequately.

However, in the last third (covering 1946-2007), the authors take a decidedly liberal slant in their treatment of the Cold War, and later chapters demonstrate a propaganda-like approach to historical events. Perhaps the post World War II era is too recent to develop a balanced treatment of the subject from a social history standpoint.

Examples: In the entire section covering the Vietnam War (pp. 637-657), the National Liberation Front is never referred to by the common name Vietcong, as if it were somehow an ethnic slur. On pages 707-729 they completely vilify the Reagan presidency, something even my professor disliked about the book.

The authors laud Clinton for appointing "an unusually diverse cabinet" (p. 764), but rip on George W. Bush's appointments as "traditional business conservatives", "tough nationalist conservatives", "foreign policy hawks", and "highly politicized evangelicals" (p. 781). They call the Minutemen "a vigilante group" and equate building a border fence with the Berlin Wall (p. 815).

All in all, I think educators could find a more even-handed book to teach social history, and if you are a student of history, your time would be better served reading other books.

i was very satisfied with the condition of my book, unfortunalty I was not happy on how long it took to get here, I missed reading six chapters in the book that we had to read for the class,

When someone buys a school book it should be mailed out earlier

I was disappointed with the length of time that it took for the book to arrive. I bought it and paid the expidited shipping. It took about a week for it to be sent "expidited". So the company, which I believe is Texasbooks, needs to do a better job of shipping especially if you paid the extra fee to receive it sooner.

I was very pleased with my order. It was shipped in a timely manner and in great condition.