Preface

Our History’s four central themes highlight these ideals and realities on many levels. The first theme focuses on competing views of the proper role of government. For generations, Americans have debated just what degree of control a central government should have over their everyday lives, what kinds of powers should be given to governing bodies, and what kinds of leaders should rule. But when scholars recount this story, too often they have focused primarily on charting the growth in the size and scope of central governing powers and the achievements of national political and intellectual leaders. This kind of narrative cannot fully explain how, in reality, American political culture has been characterized by competing views of the proper role of government, including but not limited to the persistence of conservative attitudes about limited government, as well as widespread belief in the centrality of self-help and individualism in the face of growing national government.

A second theme addresses issues of identity. What qualities do Americans believe define them best? The answers, we believe, change over time. Our History has been defined by the shifting struggles among ethnic, religious, regional, class, and racial groups to shape both the multiplicity of particular identities and a sequence of unifying images about being “American.” For most of our history, American identity has been defined in racial terms, as African Americans underwent the wrenching transformations of slavery, struggled for emancipation, and later demanded the rights of citizenship. But especially in recent decades, it has included the attempts of other disenfranchised groups—Hispanics, Asians, women, and LGBTQ people—to challenge the dominant structure and force a reluctant acceptance of their unique contributions to and equal place in American society. Investigating how an American identity emerged at any point in time, or whether it emerged, is central to understanding our past and the rapidly changing world we live in today.

Third, this text explores how we can use the concept of “culture” to explore the variety of regional, ethnic, economic, political, racial, and other environments in which Americans construct their lives. The continent’s amazingly heterogeneous population has undergone continuous change from the start, continually negotiating accommodation of its cultural differences, and sometimes facing bloody conflicts over them. By the beginning of the twentieth century, new instruments of mass culture produced intense conflict between local cultures and a shifting but recognizable national culture. We ask, has a distinctive American culture emerged? If so, when and how? If not, how shall we understand the multiplicity of cultures under the umbrella polity we call America?

Finally, the text examines America’s ambivalent relationship to the outside world. Enormous changes in the relations among world nations have occurred as the original thirteen colonies evolved from a knot of English settlements into a world superpower. Along the way, Americans have often measured their collective success in comparison to the condition of other world peoples, but in an important sense, we have not completely abandoned the isolationist streak that has been so much a part of our past. Indeed, even during the period of America’s rise to world power, our leaders were driven more by a desire to remake the world in our image than by a need to join the international community of nations. In the pages that follow, we have asked how Americans explained their place in the world at various turning points in their own evolution.

Our History includes a number of features designed to make the past more accessible for both student and teacher. The themes outlined above provide an interpretative framework to help students organize large amounts of material. Studying history is not about memorizing facts; it’s about finding patterns, as well as exceptions to them, and then interpreting this past through the lens of both change and continuity in the American experience.

The book’s narrative reflects the most recent historical scholarship, but we have tried to keep the emphasis on storytelling. Quotations, anecdotes, and biographical profiles are sprinkled throughout the chapters. Each chapter opens with a gripping vignette designed to draw the student into the material and also to introduce the chapter’s most important themes. Following the vignette, a series of bulleted questions offers a guide for students’ reading and thinking about the chapter.

Each chapter ends with a brief Conclusion and a Chapter Summary section reviewing the main points of the chapter. The Chapter Summary consists of a Chronology to summarize key events, a bulleted list of “The 10 Most Important Things to Remember,” and a list of “Annotated Suggested Readings and Media” for additional study or research. Each chapter also includes a “Competing Voices” section with at least two primary sources reflecting different views about a significant topic relevant to the chapter. This feature highlights that history is often contested ground, encourages students to develop their own views of the past by reading the voices of actual participants, and stimulates critical thinking as well as creative and inspired debate in the classroom.

The many colorful maps, charts, graphs, and contemporaneous primary source images throughout Our History add a visual dimension and authenticity to students’ reading, and the quotations and stories provide a tangible way to remember the big ideas and events. FlatWorld’s online eBook includes direct links to primary sources from all types of media—audio recordings, documents, maps, video—embedded where relevant throughout the discussion. Students reading online can immerse themselves not only in the author’s words, but also in the language, humor, cultural patterns, environment, voices, and sounds of the time.

Another excellent feature of this textbook is that it is customizable. Using FlatWorld’s fast and intuitive online editor, you can easily customize your book. Add, delete, edit, or rearrange content as needed to suit your needs and those of your students. 

Volker Janssen, Ph.D., Professor of History, California State University, Fullerton, prepared the supplements program and online quizzes to accompany Our History. We know from experience that a single author who has taught with and understands the themes and approach of a text is best suited to develop a set of teaching materials that build on and support one another. Our History’s teaching package reinforces this text’s focus on politics and identity while bringing in additional perspectives—and provides instructors with a variety of ways to help students absorb the material and assess students on their understanding. This supplements package goes far beyond standard lecture notes and test questions accompanying most survey texts. The supplements offer generous instructor guidance on the major themes of the chapters, integrate the text with art and primary sources, and provide meaningful discussion opportunities and inventive (and easy-to-implement) activities to help students gain a deeper understanding of the periods being discussed. We thank Volker for the creativity and teaching expertise he has brought to these vital ancillaries.

Because they were all prepared by a single author, adopting faculty can be assured a high level of continuity, accuracy, and alignment between all the supplements that accompany Our History.