Cheap America's History : Combined Volume (Book) (Lynn Dumenil, David Brody, James A. Henretta) Price

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Customer Reviews of America's History : Combined Volume

AP reading
O.K, this is for those using this book for AP American History in high school. This book is much better than texts used in previous AP classes, it's divided much more effciently and orderly, in terms of taking notes this is the easiest thus far. However, the summer reading assignment of the first 5 chapeters is an exercises in futility. The short answer and essay questions we are tested on are rediculous. Do not waste time doing the reading. Find a friend who knows a guy who knows this place where you can get an outline of the book. These notes are the holy grail for AP students. I recomend you use these notes only for the summer reading; during the year, do the reading! This book is not a horrible one for class use and doing the reading is essential for the AP test in may. The summer reading is simply a device used by teachers to "weed out" weaker students, I dont approve of cheating...but use all the resources you have before walking into school in september.

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boring, the fifth edition is better
I love history and am a history minor, and yet I had a hard time reading this book. It did not devote much time to the Twenties or the Great Depression and spent too much time on the 1940's and the cold war. I had the opportunity to read the fifth edition of this book, the 2004 edition, and the fifth edition is far better. It appears to be completely rewritten and makes more sense. It also spend more time on each area of history. The fourth edition, to put it bluntly, stinks.

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Comprehensive and detailed
American history can best be understood if the fundamental conditions that control both the social lives of ordinary people and the practice of politics are investigated through the decades. This means moving beyond conventional ways of organizaing a book around political events that historians like to think of as "turning points". Social change has a pace and rhythm of its own, and understaning its flow enables us to see poliitical changes in a new light.

The authors have divided American history into three unique periods: Preindustrial America, from the beginning of the sixteenth century to the 1820s; Industrializing America, from the 1820s to the 1920s; and State and Society, from the 1920s to the present. Each of these periods has its own logic and contains special kinds of human relationships that prodice a distinct history of the United States.