The New Nation (History of Us) Vol. 4 [Paperback]

Joy Hakim (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up | Series: History of US

Beginning with George Washington's inauguration and continuing into the nineteenth century, The New Nation tells the story of the remarkable challenges that the freshly formed United States faced. Thomas Jefferson's purchase of the Louisiana Territories (bought from France at a mere four cents an acre!), Lewis and Clark's daring expedition through this wilderness, the War of 1812 a.k.a. "Revolutionary War, Part II," Tecumseh's effort to form an Indian confederacy, the growth of Southern plantations, the beginning of the abolitionist movement, and the disgraceful Trail of Tears are just a few of the setbacks, sidetracks, and formidable tasks put in the new nation's path. Master storyteller Joy Hakim weaves these dramatic events and more into a seamless tale that's so exciting, how could it be true? But it is--it's A History of US.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"[An] exciting series... Ms. Hakim braids multiple narratives together to bring alive material long dead to children's imaginations."--The New York Times Book Review

"Joy Hakim didn't rewrite history. But she did make it a whole lot more fun to read."--Education Week

"Readers young and old will find themselves amused, amazed, and engrossed by this searching, opinionated survey. In every sense a fresh look at our history." --Kirkus Reviews

"Merits every accolade, starting with the most personal: I couldn't put it down."--Washington Post Book World

"The liveliest, most realistic, most well-received American history series ever written for children."--Los Angeles Times

"A thorough and accurate narrative of our nation's history."--The Philadelphia Inquirer

"I think this is the best American history written for young people that I have ever seen."--David Herbert Donald, Harvard University; Pulitzer prize-winning author of Lincoln

"When master storyteller Joy Hakim wields her pen, you're in for a breathtaking adventure."--Teaching K-8

"An attention to detail and drama alike make these recommended choices for not only readers ages 8-13 but for entire families."--Children's Bookwatch

"Absorbing, real and even fun to read."--Voice of Youth Advocates

"Books of real substance that speak directly to kids."--Jean Fritz, author of Shhh, We're Writing the Constitution

"One of the best nonfiction series of the decade. Impossible to put down."--School Library Journal

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Joy Hakim is a former newspaper writer and editor and elementary school teacher who holds a bachelor's degree in government from Smith College and a master's degree in education from Goucher College.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 3 edition (September 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 019515326X
• ISBN-13: 978-0195153262
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #479,568 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I started my career as an author with a ten-volume U.S. history: A History of US, published by Oxford University Press in 1993, and now in a third updated printing. I had no idea the history would end up in ten books, or that it would be so much fun to write.
A History of US has been awarded a bunch of prizes. David McCullough commented, ". . .the idea that history might ever be thought of as a chore has clearly never crossed her mind." In testimony before the Senate Education Committee he called the series "superb." People Magazine described me as "the J.K. Rowling of the history world." (Umm, that would be nice. But the books have sold 5 million copies.)
Mine are narrative history books that attempt to set literary standards. I mean for them to be exciting to read. They're meant for young readers, and their teachers and parents, or for anyone without a deep background in U.S. history. These are books that can be found in bookstores, on Amazon, and in schools. Oxford and Hopkins have done teaching materials for those who want to use the books in academic study.
That series was followed by: Freedom: A History of US (published in 2003), the companion to a 16-part PBS series of the same name that was narrated by Katie Couric, with voices by a host of Hollywood figures, from Tom Hanks to Robin Williams. The videos are available to schools from PBS. And the book spawned a terrific website: (www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus).

I'm now writing The Story of Science. The first three books are jointly published by Smithsonian Books and the NSTA (National Science Teachers Association). They focus on the quest to understand the universe--from ancient Greece to today's expanding universe. The first volume is Aristotle Leads the Way; the second, Newton at the Center; the third book, Einstein Adds A New Dimension, attempts to explain quantum theory and relativity with black holes and space travel too. Writing in the New York Times, Natalie Angier called the books, "richly informative." Alan Alda raved. These books have won prizes too. Science writer Timothy Ferris said he wished he had them when he was a boy. Educators at Johns Hopkins and NSTA have developing coordinated teaching materials for classroom use (available from NSTA or Amazon).

I'm currently working on two books that put biology into a narrative framework.

Before I began writing books, I was an associate editor, editorial writer, and business writer for The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk's morning paper) and a general reporter and photographer on the staff of The Ledger-Star (Norfolk's afternoon paper. I did a whole lot of freelance writing while raising three kids. And I was an assistant editor of World News, a foreign news service at McGraw-Hill.

Writing and teaching seem to be two faces of the same need to explain things. Which may explain why I've had dual careers--as writer and teacher.

I've taught elementary school (Omaha, NE), high school English (Virginia Beach, VA), special education in a middle school (Syracuse, NY), and English composition and American literature at a community college (Virginia Beach). I initiated and taught a writing course for high school teachers of English through the University of Virginia.

I do a lot of speaking, especially to education groups. For three years I worked with a group of history teachers in Los Angeles under a TAH (Teaching American History) grant. I've spent some of my time in an inner-city school where most of the students speak Spanish at home and reading English doesn't come easily. I'll be speaking at Teachers College, Columbia in the fall of 2009 where reading guru, Lucy Calkins, has called my books the "gold standard" in the field.

As to my schooling: I earned a B.A. from Smith College after high school in Rutland, Vermont. Then I received a M.Ed. and an honorary doctorate from Goucher College. Smith gave me the Smith Medal (2000); the Matrix Foundation, the Edith Workman Award (2003); I've taken graduate courses in journalism and in geography at New York University, child psychology at Johns Hopkins, and courses in American history and science at Brown, Harvard, Cornell, and Cambridge University. My website is: joyhakim.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The American experiment goes from theory to practice, August 1, 2003

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The New Nation (History of Us) Vol. 4 (Paperback)

The reason Joy Hakim's "A History of US" series is so perfect for home schooling is that she actively engages her young readers in each volume. Usually in a history textbook like this the author is primarily concerned with presenting a lot of information in a captivating manner. There is some attention paid to the importance of people and events, but it is often left to the teacher in the classroom to make the connections and bring history alive for their students. However, Hakim takes a much more actively role in her textbooks. She is constantly asking her young readers to put themselves in the position of the people she is writing about and does an excellent job of anticipating questions that students would ask while reading about this particular events.

Volume 4 in this series deals with "The New Nation 1789-1850," which is the longest period of time covered in a single volume after the first two, which covered epochs from the first arrival of humans in North America to the entrenchment of the British in America. Hakim begins with the nation getting started with the inauguration of George Washington as the first President and ends with the Compromise of 1850, the watershed event that forestalled the coming of Civil War for another decade. However, the next volume in the series, "Liberty For All? 1820-1860" clearly overlaps with this one big time. This volume deals with the War of 1812 and the Seminole Wars while "Liberty For All?" covers the Mexican American War. The best way to describe the basic distinction between the two volumes is that this one looks at the country as a political experiment while the other deals with the expansion of the nation.

"The New Nation" is basically divided into four sections. The first (Chapters 1-9) deals with the Federalist administrations of George Washington and John Adams, including a look at the key principle of judicial review. The second (Chapters 10-20) deals with the nation from the presidency of Thomas Jefferson to that of Andrew Jackson, which involves both the Indian question and the War of 1812 (a.k.a. the Revolutionary War Part II). The third section (Chapters 21-26) contrasts American ingenuity with the treatment of the Indians. The final section (Chapters 27-36) addresses the slavery issue and the rise of the Abolitionists, ending with the great debate in which Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, and Daniel Webster gave their final great speeches (I have a background in rhetoric so this is one of my favorite parts of American history).

Hakim's focus is on how the principles of the revolution embodied in Constitution had to be enacted in practice. She underscores that at this point in American history the idea of "people," (as in "we the People") does not mean what it means today. If you are not an adult, white, free, male, property owners, then you are not really a citizen (and it is not until the Gettysburg Address that Lincoln makes the idea that "all men are created equal" part of the national consciousness). Anyhow, I agree with the impulse to have some overlap between the two volumes bridging the Revolution and the Civil War and to provide a clearer focus on the political and social elements by dealing with them this way.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars cool book, January 27, 2009

By 

beginner's mind (south Jersey) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: A History of US: Book 4: The New Nation 1789-1850 (Hardcover)

I was just replacing my daughter's textbook from school (it met with an unfortunate end!) but I got hooked reading this book. Fascinating, I don't doubt the entire series is just as good.