The American Nation: A History of the United States, Combined Volume (13th Edition) (MyHistoryLab Series)

Mark C. Carnes received his undergraduate degree from Harvard and his Ph.D. in history from Columbia University, where he studied and trained with Professor John A. Garraty. The Ann Whitney Olin Professor History at Barnard College, Columbia University, Professor Carnes has chaired both the departments of History and American Studies at Barnard. In addition to this textbook, Carnes and Garraty have co-authored Mapping America’s Past: A Historical Atlas and are co-general editors of the 24-volume American National Biography, for which they were awarded the Waldo Leland Prize of the American Historical Association, the Darmouth Prize of the American Library Association, and the Hawkins Prize of the American Association of Publishers. In addition, Carnes has published numerous books in American social and cultural history, including Past Imperfect: History According to the Movies (1995), Novel History: Historians and Novelists Confront America’s Past (and Each Other) (2001), and Invisible Giants: 50 Americans That Shaped the Nation but Missed the History Books (2002). Carnes also created “Reacting to the Past”, which won the Theodore Hesburgh Award, sponsored by TIAA-CREF, as the outstanding pedagogical innovation of 2004.

“Garraty preaches a particular doctrine on historical writing, expounding on the details of a complex process whereby the murky abstractions of the past are distilled into clean, clear narrative. He insists that the writer’s sole duty is to readers. This literary alchemy is all the more wondrous for being so devoid of artifice,” Carnes observes.

John A. Garraty. Holding a Ph.D. from Columbia University and an L.H.D. from Michigan State University, Professor Garraty is Gouverneur Morris Professor Emeritus of History at Columbia. He is the author, co-author, and editor of scores of books and articles, among them biographies of Silas Wright, Henry Cabot Lodge, Woodrow Wilson, George W. Perkins, and Theodore Roosevelt. Along with Mark Carnes, he is co-editor of the American National Biography. Garraty has also contributed a volume–The New Commonwealth–to the New American Nation series and edited Quarrels That Shaped the Constitution. He was a member of the Board of Directors of American heritage magazine and served as both vice president and head of the teaching division of the American Historical Association. His areas of research interest include the Gilded age, unemployment (in a historical sense), and the Great Depression of the 1930s. Of his collaboration with Carnes on The American Nation, Garraty says, “Although this volume is the work of two authors, it is as nearly the product of a single historical sensibility as is possible. Mark’s scholarly specialization in cultural and social issues, especially gender, complements mine in politics and the economy.  The book has benefited, too, from his special interest in postwar America. Over the many years of our collaborations, one of our favorite topics of discussion has been the craft of historical writing. We share a commitment to clarity and conciseness. We strive to avoid jargon and verbiage. We believe that while the political history of the nation provides a useful narrative framework, its people are what give the story meaning.”

Reader Reviews
This review is from: The American Nation: A History of the United States, Combined Volume (12th Edition) (Hardcover) This American History book is a very good, but not excellent coverage of the History of the United States. The book is typical entry level college material. Historical information is either very interesting with good detail to boring and vague. Photographs, portraits, paintings, charts, and illustrations are abundant and beautiful helping to keep interest level moving. However, the book rapidly sheds its allure and interest. That is because it fails to deliver on providing enough, interesting and neccessary political and war detail maps associated with important major historical events. A history book with only a few maps in my opinion can not be recommended. Maps provide important visual political and geographical illustrative information that words alone can not. Previous editions of this textbook included enough maps to statisfy the reader. And the maps are still available, but the reader has to enroll, for additional cost, into an internet online service called " [...]" to access the maps. The textbook is already way overpriced at $96.00 dollars. The textbook is a beautiful hardcover with over 900 pages, but most of the information was compliled forty years ago with frequent updating editions to the present year. no wonder this adds to why the cost of college education is soaring. The authors receive commendation for a generally well organized book covering over 400 years of complex historical information. However, as historians they sold out on the students of history by not supplying all the information needed (the maps!). Even so this history textbook is one of the better ones available. However, if maps are important to you. You will be disappointed. Comment | | (Report this)


Back To Top