Give Me Liberty!: An American History (First Edition, Seagull Edition) (Vol. 1) [Paperback]

Eric Foner (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0393927830 | ISBN-13: 978-0393927832 | Publication Date: November 30, 2005 | Edition: First Edition, Seagull Edition

Give Me Liberty! An American History is a concise, clear, and inclusive narrative of American history written by distinguished historian Eric Foner.

With characteristic clarity, Professor Foner has written an accessible, event-based narrative that is enriched throughout by the theme of American freedom. Foner shows students how the meanings of freedom have changed during the course of American history and how the limits of freedom have expanded and contracted in response to social, political, cultural, and economic events. The freedom theme integrates the text and motivates the study of history by alerting students to how much is at stake in understanding America’s past.

The first edition of Give Me Liberty! is available as a compact, low-cost paperback. Featuring the same text as the regular edition in a two-color format, the Seagull Edition is less than half the price.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Eric Foner is the pre-eminent historian of his generation. Foner is highly respected by historians of every stripe—whether they specialize in political history or social history. His books have won the top awards in the profession, and he has been president of both major history organizations—the American Historical Association and the Organization of American Historians. He has worked on every detail of Give Me Liberty!, which displays all of his trademark strengths as a scholar, teacher, and writer. A specialist on the Civil War/Reconstruction period, Foner regularly teaches the 19th century survey at Columbia University, where he is DeWitt Clinton Professor of History. His latest trade title, The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery, won numerous awards including the Lincoln Prize, Bancroft Award, and the Pulitzer Prize.

Product Details

• Paperback: 509 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; First Edition, Seagull Edition edition (November 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393927830
• ISBN-13: 978-0393927832
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #165,182 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Eric Foner is DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University, where he earned his B.A. and Ph.D. In his teaching and scholarship, Foner focuses on the Civil War and Reconstruction, slavery, and nineteenth-century America. His "Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877," won the Bancroft, Parkman, and Los Angeles Times Book prizes and remains the standard history of the period. In 2006 Foner received the Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching at Columbia University. He has served as president of the Organization of American Historians, the American Historical Association, and the Society of American Historians. He is currently writing a book on Lincoln and slavery.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best U.S. History Survey Textbook on the market today, July 19, 2008

By 

Along Red River of the North "JMS" (Moorhead, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Give Me Liberty!: An American History (First Edition, Seagull Edition) (Vol. One-Volume) (Paperback)

"We all declare for liberty, but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing." - Abraham Lincoln (1864)

Lincoln's aphorism is the pivotal crux of U.S. history explored by Professor Foner in this first-rate textbook for upper-grade high school students or freshman and sophomore college students.

Foner explores how and why the meanings of liberty and freedom changed throughout American history. In examining any particular period, he asks the crucial historical questions:
What new ideas about liberty and freedom circulated? What new circumstances generated them?
How did they expand/develop or contract/regress?
What groups or individuals supported or thwarted them?
Why did they find fertile ground or face hostility?

Foner asserts that three (3) dimensions of liberty and freedom have been critical in American history:
1) the (contested) meanings of liberty and freedom;
2) the social conditions that made liberty and freedom possible; and
3) the boundaries of liberty and freedom that determined who was entitled to enjoy freedom and who was not.

As summarized by David Hackett Fischer, "what made America free, and keeps it so, was not any single version of liberty and freedom but the interplay of many visions."

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A US History interesting book, November 5, 2006

By 

Ricardo Arjona - See all my reviews

This review is from: Give Me Liberty!: An American History (First Edition, Seagull Edition) (Vol. One-Volume) (Paperback)

It is a book that has all the facts of US History. It gives extra details to place every detail given in the right place. It is also very easy to read and would go along great with a lecture class. Personally I read this book with Howard Zinn side by side so I could get the facts and opinion at the same time. Very good book.

3.0 out of 5 stars easy to read, April 8, 2011

By 

tranky - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Give Me Liberty!: An American History (First Edition, Seagull Edition) (Vol. One-Volume) (Paperback)

History has always been a bore to me but I needed this book for a class. For the price and condition of the book, it is a good buy. It was easy to read but in the end, I still don't love reading history books.