James West Davidson

A Little History of the United States (Library) James West Davidson

Publisher Marketing: How did a land and people of such immense diversity come together under a banner of freedom and equality to form one of the most remarkable nations in the world? Everyone from young adults to grandparents will be fascinated by the answers uncovered in James West Davidson s vividly told "A Little History of the United States." In three hundred fast-moving pages, Davidson guides listeners through five hundred years, from the first contact between the two halves of the world to the rise of America as a superpower in an era of atomic perils and diminishing resources. In short, vivid chapters the book brings to life hundreds of individuals whose stories are part of the larger American story. Pilgrim William Bradford stumbles into an Indian deer trap on his first day in America; Harriet Tubman lets loose a pair of chickens to divert attention from her escaping slaves; the toddler Andrew Carnegie, later an ambitious industrial magnate, gobbles his oatmeal with a spoon in each hand. Such stories are riveting in themselves, but they also spark larger questions to ponder about freedom, equality, and unity in the context of a nation that is, and always has been, remarkably divided and diverse." Review Citations: Publishers Weekly 07/20/2015 (EAN 9780300181418, Hardcover) Kirkus Reviews 08/01/2015 (EAN 9780300181418, Hardcover) Booklist 08/01/2015 pg. 20 (EAN 9780300181418, Hardcover) Contributor Bio:  Davidson, James West James West Davidson received his B. A. from Haverford College and his Ph. D. from Yale University. A historian who has pursued a full-time writing career, he is the author of numerous books, among them "After the Fact: The Art of Historical Detection" (with Mark H. Lytle), "The Logic of Millennial Thought: Eighteenth Century New England", and "Great Heart: the History of a Labrador Adventure" (with John Rugge). He is co-editor with Michael Stoff of the "Oxford New Narratives in American History", in which his most recent book appears: "'They Say': Ida B. Wells and the Reconstruction of Race". Brian DeLay (Ph. D., Harvard) is Assistant Professor of History at the University of California, Berkeley. He specializes in colonial and 19th century U. S. and Mexican history. His scholarship has won awards from the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic, the Western History Association, the Council on Latin American History, the American Society for Ethnohistory, the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association, and the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations. He is the author of "War of a Thousand Deserts: Indian Raids and the U. S.-Mexican War" (Yale, 2008), and is currently at work on a book about the international arms trade and the re-creation of the Americas during the long nineteenth century. He can be reached at delay@berkeley.edu and his website is http: //history.berkeley.edu/faculty/DeLay/. Christine Leigh Heyrman is Associate Professor of History at the University of Delaware. She received a Ph. D. in American Studies from Yale University and is the author of "Commerce and Culture: The Maritime Communities of Colonial Massachusetts, 1690-1750". Her book exploring the evolution of religious culture in the Southern U. S., entitled "Southern Cross: The Beginnings of the Bible Belt", was awarded the Bancroft Prize in 1998. Mark H. Lytle received his Ph. D. from Yale University and is Professor of History and Environmental Studies. he has served two years as Mary Ball Washington Professor of American History at University College, Dublin, in Ireland. His publications include "The Origins of the Iranian-American Alliance, 1941-1953", "After the Fact: The Art of Historical Detection" (with James West Davidson), "America's Uncivil Wars: The Sixties Era from Elvis to the Fall of Richard Nixon", and, most recently, "The Gentle Subversive: Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, and the Rise of the Environmental Movement". He is co-editor of a joint issue of the journals of "Diplomatic History" and "Environmental History" dedicated to the field of environmental diplomacy. Michael B. Stoff is Associate Professor of History and Director of the Plan II Honors Program at the University of Texas at Austin. The recipient of a Ph. D. from Yale University, he has been honored many times for his teaching, most recently with election to the Academy of Distinguished Teachers. He is the author of "Oil, War, and American Security: The Search for a National Policy on Foreign Oil,1941-1947", co-editor (with Jonathan Fanton and R. Hal Williams) of "The Manhattan Project: A Documentary Introduction to the Atomic Age", and series co-editor (with James West Davidson) of the "Oxford New Narratives in American History". He is currently working on a narrative on the bombing of Nagasaki. Contributor Bio:  Morey, Arthur Arthur Morey has recorded over two hundred audiobooks in history, fiction, science, business, and religion, earning a number of AudioFile Earphones Awards and two Audie Award nominations. His plays and songs have been produced in New York, Chicago, and Milan, where he has also performed.