American Journey : A History of the United States

by Goldfield, David; Abbott, Carl; Anderson, Virginia DeJohn; Argersinger, Jo Ann; Argersinger, Peter H.; Barney, William L.; Weir, Robert M.

• ISBN13: 9780131825505
• ISBN10: 013182550X
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-01-01
• Publisher: Prentice Hall

Summary

Written in a clear, engaging style with a straightforward chronological organization,The American Journey introduces readers to the key features of American political, social, and economic history. This new edition focuses more closely on the theme of the American journey, showing that our attempt to live up to and with our ideals is an ongoing process that has become ever more inclusive of different groups and ideas. Covering the period of Reconstruction after the Civil War to the present, and including the events of 9/11/2001, prominent coverage is given to politics, religion and the Great Wars. Hundreds of maps, graphs, and illustrations help readers absorb history and bring it to life. For those interested in a comprehensive study of post-Civil War U.S. history that is presented in a flowing, lively narrative.

Table of Contents

American Views	xii
From Then to Now	xii
Maps	xiii
Figures and Tables	xiv
Overview Tables	xv
U.S. History Documents CD-ROM	xvi
Preface	xviii
About the Authors	xxiv
Student Tool Kit	xxv
Reconstruction 1865--1877
Voices From the American Journey	497	(2)
T. Thomas Fortune
White Southerners and the Ghosts of the Confederacy, 1865	499	(1)
More than Freedom: African American Aspirations in 1865	500	(6)
Education	501	(1)
``Forty Acres and a Mule''	502	(2)
Migration to Cities	504	(1)
Faith and Freedom	505	(1)
Federal Reconstruction, 1865--1870	506	(10)
Presidential Reconstruction, 1865--1867	507	(5)
Congressional Reconstruction, 1867--1870	512	(1)
Southern Republican Governments	513	(3)
Counter-Reconstruction, 1870-1874	516	(3)
The Uses of Violence	516	(1)
The Failure of Northern Will	517	(1)
Liberal Republicans and the Election of 1872	518	(1)
Redemption, 1874--1877	519	(3)
The Democrats' Violent Resurgence	519	(1)
The Weak Federal Response	519	(1)
The Election of 1876 and the Compromise of 1877	520	(1)
The Memory of Reconstruction	520	(2)
The Failed Promise of Reconstruction	522	(3)
Sharecropping	523	(1)
Modest Gains and Future Victories	523	(2)
Conclusion	525	(1)
Review Questions	526	(1)
Key Terms	526	(1)
Recommended Reading	526	(1)
Additional Sources	526	(1)
Where to Learn More	527	(2)
A New South: Economic Progress and Social Tradition 1877--1900
Voices from the American Journey	529	(2)
Anna J. Cooper
The Newness of the New South	531	(7)
An Industrial and Urban South	532	(2)
The Limits of Industrial and Urban Growth	534	(3)
Farms to Cities: Impact on Southern Society	537	(1)
The Southern Agrarian Revolt	538	(5)
Cotton and Credit	539	(1)
Southern Farmers Organize, 1877--1892	539	(3)
Southern Populists	542	(1)
Women in the New South	543	(2)
Church Work and Preserving Memories	543	(1)
Women's Clubs	544	(1)
Settling the Race Issue	545	(12)
The Fluidity of Southern Race Relations, 1877--1890	545	(1)
The White Backlash	546	(1)
Lynch Law	546	(1)
Segregation by Law	547	(1)
Disfranchisement	548	(2)
A National Consensus on Race	550	(1)
Response of the Black Community	551	(6)
Conclusion	557	(1)
Review Questions	558	(1)
Key Terms	559	(1)
Recommended Reading	559	(1)
Additional Sources	559	(1)
Where to Learn More	560	(3)
Industry, Immigrants, and Cities 1870--1900
Voices from the American Journey	563	(2)
Mary Antin
New Industry	565	(14)
Inventing Technology: The Electric Age	565	(2)
The Corporation and Its Impact	567	(3)
The Changing Nature of Work	570	(1)
Child Labor	571	(1)
Working Women	571	(3)
Responses to Poverty and Wealth	574	(2)
Workers Organize	576	(3)
New Immigrants	579	(9)
Old-World Backgrounds	579	(3)
The Neighborhood	582	(1)
The Job	583	(1)
Nativism	584	(2)
Roots of the Great Migration	586	(2)
New Cities	588	(6)
Centers and Suburbs	589	(1)
The New Middle Class	590	(1)
A Consumer Society	591	(1)
The Growth of Leisure Activities	592	(2)
Conclusion	594	(1)
Review Questions	594	(1)
Key Terms	594	(1)
Recommended Reading	595	(1)
Additional Sources	595	(1)
Where to Learn More	596	(3)
Transforming the West 1865--1890
Voices from the American Journey	599	(2)
Andrew J. Russell
Subjugating Native Americans	601	(9)
Tribes and Cultures	601	(2)
Federal Indian Policy	603	(1)
Warfare and Dispossession	603	(4)
Life on the Reservation: Americanization	607	(3)
Exploiting the Mountains: The Mining Bonanza	610	(4)
Rushes and Mining Camps	610	(3)
Labor and Capital	613	(1)
Exploiting the Grass: The Cattle Kingdom	614	(3)
Cattle Drives and Cow Towns	614	(1)
Rise and Fall of Open-Range Ranching	615	(1)
Cowhands and Capitalists	616	(1)
Exploiting the Earth: Homesteaders and Agricultural Expansion	617	(7)
Settling the Land	617	(4)
Home on the Range	621	(1)
Farming the Land	622	(2)
Conclusion	624	(1)
Review Questions	625	(1)
Key Terms	625	(1)
Recommended Reading	625	(1)
Additional Sources	626	(1)
Where to Learn More	627	(2)
Politics and Government 1877--1900
Voices from the American Journey: Horace and Will Taft	629	(2)
The Structure and Style of Politics	631	(6)
Campaigns and Elections	631	(2)
Partisan Politics	633	(2)
Associational Politics	635	(2)
The Limits of Government	637	(2)
The Weak Presidency	637	(1)
The Inefficient Congress	637	(1)
The Federal Bureaucracy and the Spoils System	638	(1)
Inconsistent State Government	638	(1)
Public Policies and National Elections	639	(5)
Civil Service Reform	639	(1)
The Political Life of the Tariff	640	(1)
The Beginnings of Federal Regulation	641	(2)
The Money Question	643	(1)
The Crisis of the 1890s	644	(9)
Farmers Protest Inequities	644	(1)
The People's Party	645	(1)
The Challenge of the Depression	646	(4)
The Battle of the Standards and the Election of 1896	650	(3)
Conclusion	653	(1)
Review Questions	654	(1)
Key Terms	654	(1)
Recommended Reading	655	(1)
Additional Sources	656	(1)
Where to Learn More	656	(3)
The Progressive Era 1900--1917
Voices from the American Journey: Washington Post	659	(2)
The Ferment of Reform	661	(7)
The Context of Reform: Industrial and Urban Tensions	662	(2)
Church and Campus	664	(1)
Muckrakers	665	(1)
The Gospel of Efficiency	665	(1)
Labor's Demand for Rights	665	(1)
Extending the Woman's Sphere	666	(1)
Trans-Atlantic Influences	667	(1)
Socialism	667	(1)
Opponents of Reform	668	(1)
Reforming Society	668	(10)
Settlement Houses and Urban Reform	668	(2)
Protective Legislation for Women and Children	670	(1)
Reshaping Public Education	671	(3)
Challenging Gender Restrictions	674	(1)
Reforming Country Life	675	(1)
Social Control and Moral Crusades	675	(2)
For Whites Only?	677	(1)
Reforming Politics and Government	678	(3)
Woman Suffrage	678	(1)
Electoral Reform	679	(1)
Municipal Reform	680	(1)
Progressive State Government	680	(1)
Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Presidency	681	(5)
TR and the Modern Presidency	681	(1)
Roosevelt and Labor	682	(1)
Managing Natural Resources	682	(2)
Corporate Regulation	684	(1)
Taft and the Insurgents	685	(1)
Woodrow Wilson and Progressive Reform	686	(3)
The Election of 1912	686	(1)
Implementing the New Freedom	687	(2)
The Expansion of Reform	689	(1)
Conclusion	689	(2)
Review Questions	691	(1)
Key Terms	691	(1)
Recommended Reading	691	(1)
Additional Sources	692	(1)
Where to Learn More	693	(2)
Creating an Empire 1865--1917
Voices from the American Journey: Major-General Leonard Wood	695	(2)
The Roots of Imperialism	697	(3)
Ideological Arguments	697	(2)
Strategic Concerns	699	(1)
Economic Designs	700	(1)
First Steps	700	(5)
Seward and Blaine	701	(1)
Hawaii	702	(2)
Chile and Venezuela	704	(1)
The Spanish-American War	705	(5)
The Cuban Revolution	705	(1)
Growing Tensions	706	(1)
War and Empire	706	(2)
The Treaty of Paris	708	(2)
Imperial Ambitions: The United States and East Asia, 1899--1917	710	(3)
The Filipino-American War	710	(2)
China and the Open Door	712	(1)
Rivalry with Japan and Russia	713	(1)
Imperial Power: The United States and Latin America, 1899--1917	713	(6)
U.S. Rule in Puerto Rico	714	(1)
Cuba as a U.S. Protectorate	714	(2)
The Panama Canal	716	(1)
The Roosevelt Corollary	717	(1)
Dollar Diplomacy	717	(1)
Wilsonian Interventions	718	(1)
Conclusion	719	(1)
Review Questions	720	(1)
Key Terms	720	(1)
Recommended Reading	720	(1)
Additional Sources	720	(1)
Where to Learn More	721	(2)
America and the Great War 1914--1920
Voices from the American Journey: Ray Stannard Baker	723	(2)
Waging Neutrality	725	(6)
The Origins of Conflict	725	(1)
American Attitudes	726	(1)
The Economy of War	727	(1)
The Diplomacy of Neutrality	727	(2)
The Battle over Preparedness	729	(1)
The Election of 1916	729	(1)
Descent into War	730	(1)
Waging War in America	731	(6)
Managing the War Economy	731	(2)
Women and Minorities: New Opportunities, Old Inequities	733	(1)
Financing the War	734	(1)
Conquering Minds	735	(1)
Suppressing Dissent	736	(1)
Waging War and Peace Abroad	737	(5)
The War to End All Wars	737	(3)
The Fourteen Points	740	(1)
The Paris Peace Conference	741	(1)
Waging Peace at Home	742	(6)
Battle over the League	744	(1)
Economic Readjustment and Social Conflict	744	(2)
The Red Scare	746	(1)
The Election of 1920	747	(1)
Conclusion	748	(1)
Review Questions	749	(1)
Key Terms	749	(1)
Recommended Reading	749	(1)
Additional Sources	749	(2)
Where to Learn More	751	(2)
Toward a Modern America The 1920s
Voices from the American Journey: Upton Sinclair	753	(3)
The Economy That Roared	756	(4)
Boom Industries	756	(1)
Corporate Consolidation	757	(1)
Open Shops and Welfare Capitalism	757	(2)
Sick Industries	759	(1)
The Business of Government	760	(3)
Republican Ascendancy	760	(1)
Government Corruption	761	(1)
Coolidge Prosperity	761	(1)
The Fate of Reform	762	(1)
Cities and Suburbs	763	(4)
Expanding Cities	763	(1)
The Great Black Migration	763	(3)
Barrios	766	(1)
The Road to Suburbia	767	(1)
Mass Culture in the Jazz Age	767	(4)
Advertising the Consumer Society	768	(1)
Leisure and Entertainment	768	(2)
The New Morality	770	(1)
The Searching Twenties	770	(1)
Culture Wars	771	(4)
Nativism and Immigration Restriction	771	(1)
The Ku Klux Klan	772	(1)
Prohibition and Crime	773	(1)
Old-Time Religion and the Scopes Trial	774	(1)
A New Era in the World?	775	(3)
War Debts and Economic Expansion	775	(1)
Rejecting War	776	(2)
Managing the Hemisphere	778	(1)
Herbert Hoover and the Triumph of the New Era	778	(1)
Conclusion	779	(1)
Review Questions	779	(1)
Key Terms	780	(1)
Recommended Reading	780	(1)
Additional Sources	780	(1)
Where to Learn More	781	(2)
The Great Depression and the New Deal 1929--1939
Voices from the American Journey: Carlotta Silvas Martin, Eunice Langdon, Meridel LeSeur	783	(3)
Hard Times in Hooverville	786	(5)
Crash!	786	(2)
The Depression Spreads	788	(1)
``Women's Jobs'' and ``Men's Jobs''	789	(1)
Families in the Depression	789	(1)
``Last Hired, First Fired''	790	(1)
Protest	790	(1)
Herbert Hoover and the Depression	791	(3)
The Limits of Voluntarism	791	(2)
Repudiating Hoover: The Election of 1932	793	(1)
Launching the New Deal	794	(6)
Action Now!	794	(1)
Creating Jobs	795	(1)
Helping Some Farmers	796	(1)
The Flight of the Blue Eagle	796	(1)
Critics Right and Left	797	(3)
Consolidating the New Deal	800	(4)
Lifting Up and Weeding Out	800	(2)
Expanding Relief	802	(1)
The Roosevelt Coalition and the Election of 1936	803	(1)
The New Deal and American Life	804	(5)
Labor on the March	804	(1)
Women and the New Deal	804	(1)
Minorities and the New Deal	805	(2)
The New Deal: North, South, East, and West	807	(1)
The New Deal and Public Activism	808	(1)
Ebbing of the New Deal	809	(1)
Challenging the Court	809	(1)
More Hard Times	809	(1)
Political Stalemate	809	(1)
Good Neighbors and Hostile Forces	810	(4)
Neutrality and Fascism	811	(3)
Edging Toward Involvement	814	(1)
Conclusion	814	(1)
Review Questions	815	(1)
Key Terms	815	(1)
Recommended Reading	815	(1)
Additional Sources	815	(2)
Where to Learn More	817	(2)
World War II 1939--1945
Voices from the American Journey: Enrico Fermi	819	(2)
The Dilemmas of Neutrality	821	(7)
The Roots of War	821	(1)
Hitler's War in Europe	822	(1)
Trying to Keep Out	823	(2)
Edging Toward Intervention	825	(1)
The Brink of War	825	(2)
December 7, 1941	827	(1)
Holding the Line	828	(2)
Stopping Germany	828	(2)
The Survival of Britain	830	(1)
Retreat and Stabilization in the Pacific	830	(1)
Mobilizing for Victory	830	(9)
Organizing the Economy	832	(1)
The Enlistment of Science	833	(1)
Men and Women in the Military	834	(2)
The Home Front	836	(1)
New Workers	837	(1)
Clashing Cultures	838	(1)
Internment of Japanese Americans	838	(1)
The End of the New Deal	839	(1)
War and Peace	839	(12)
Turning the Tide in Europe	840	(2)
Operation Overlord	842	(2)
Victory and Tragedy in Europe	844	(2)
The Pacific War	846	(2)
Searching for Peace	848	(1)
How the Allies Won	849	(2)
Conclusion	851	(1)
Review Questions	852	(1)
Key Terms	852	(1)
Recommended Reading	852	(1)
Additional Sources	852	(1)
Where to Learn More	853	(2)
The Cold War at Home and Abroad 1946--1952
Voices from the American Journey: Bernadette Rischer Wheeler	855	(1)
Launching the Great Boom	856	(6)
Reconversion Chaos	857	(1)
Economic Policy	858	(1)
The GI Bill	859	(1)
Assembly-Line Neighborhoods	859	(1)
Steps Toward Civil Rights	860	(1)
Consumer Boom and Baby Boom	861	(1)
Truman, Republicans, and the Fair Deal	862	(3)
Truman's Opposition	862	(2)
Whistle-Stopping across America	864	(1)
Truman's Fair Deal	864	(1)
Confronting the Soviet Union	865	(3)
The End of the Grand Alliance	865	(2)
The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan	867	(1)
Soviet Reactions	867	(1)
American Rearmament	868	(1)
Cold War and Hot War	868	(7)
The Nuclear Shadow	869	(1)
The Cold War in Asia	870	(2)
NSC-68 and Aggressive Containment	872	(1)
War in Korea, 1950--1953	872	(2)
The Politics of War	874	(1)
The Second Red Scare	875	(5)
The Communist Party and the Loyalty Program	876	(1)
Naming Names to Congress	877	(1)
Subversion Trials	878	(1)
Senator McCarthy on Stage	879	(1)
Understanding McCarthyism	880	(1)
Conclusion	880	(1)
Review Questions	881	(1)
Key Terms	882	(1)
Recommended Reading	882	(1)
Additional Sources	882	(1)
Where to Learn More	883	(2)
The Confident Years 1953--1964
Voices from the American Journey: Melba Pattillo Beals	885	(1)
A Decade of Affluence	886	(8)
What's Good for General Motors	887	(1)
Reshaping Urban America	888	(1)
Comfort on Credit	889	(1)
The New 1950's Family	889	(1)
Inventing Teenagers	890	(2)
Turning to Religion	892	(1)
The Gospel of Prosperity	893	(1)
The Underside of Affluence	893	(1)
Facing Off with the Soviet Union	894	(5)
Why We Liked Ike	895	(1)
A Balance of Terror	895	(1)
Containment in Action	896	(2)
Global Standoff	898	(1)
John F. Kennedy and the Cold War	899	(5)
The Kennedy Mystique	899	(1)
Kennedy's Mistakes	900	(1)
Getting into Vietnam	901	(1)
Missile Crisis: A Line Drawn in the Waves	901	(3)
Science and Foreign Affairs	904	(1)
Righteousness Like a Mighty Stream: The Struggle for Civil Rights	904	(5)
Getting to the Supreme Court	904	(1)
Deliberate Speed	905	(1)
Public Accommodations	906	(2)
The March on Washington, 1963	908	(1)
``Let Us Continue''	909	(5)
Dallas, 1963	909	(1)
War on Poverty	909	(1)
Civil Rights, 1964--1965	910	(1)
War, Peace, and the Landslide of 1964	911	(3)
Conclusion	914	(1)
Review Questions	915	(1)
Key Terms	915	(1)
Recommended Reading	916	(1)
Additional Sources	916	(1)
Where to Learn More	917	(2)
Shaken to the Roots 1965--1980
Voices from the American Journey: Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong	919	(1)
The End of Consensus	920	(10)
Deeper into Vietnam	921	(2)
Voices of Dissent	923	(3)
New Left and Community Activism	926	(1)
The Feminist Critique	927	(1)
Youth Culture and Counterculture	928	(1)
Sounds of Change	928	(1)
Communes and Cults	929	(1)
Cities Under Stress	930	(5)
Diagnosing an Urban Crisis	930	(1)
Racial Rioting	931	(1)
Minority Separatism	931	(3)
Suburban Independence: The Outer City	934	(1)
The Year of the Gun, 1968	935	(2)
The Tet Offensive	935	(1)
LBJ's Exit	935	(1)
Red Spring	936	(1)
Violence and Politics: Kennedy, King, and Chicago	937	(1)
Nixon and Watergate	937	(9)
Getting Out of Vietnam, 1969--1975	938	(1)
Nixon and the Wider World	939	(1)
Courting Middle America	940	(1)
Oil, OPEC, and Stagflation	940	(1)
Americans as Environmentalists	941	(1)
From Dirty Tricks to Watergate	942	(2)
The Ford Footnote	944	(2)
Jimmy Carter: Idealism and Frustration in the White House	946	(4)
Carter, Energy, and the Economy	946	(1)
Closed Factories and Failed Farms	947	(1)
Building a Cooperative World	948	(1)
New Crises Abroad	948	(2)
Conclusion	950	(1)
Review Questions	951	(1)
Key Terms	951	(1)
Recommended Reading	952	(1)
Additional Sources	952	(1)
Where to Learn More	953	(2)
The Reagan Revolution and a Changing World 1981--1992
Voices from the American Journey: Celia Noup	955	(2)
Reagan's Domestic Revolution	957	(11)
Reagan's Majority	957	(4)
The New Conservatism	961	(1)
Reaganomics: Deficits and Deregulation	961	(1)
Crisis for Organized Labor	962	(1)
An Acquisitive Society	963	(1)
Poverty amid Prosperity	964	(3)
Consolidating the Revolution: George Bush	967	(1)
The Second (Short) Cold War	968	(8)
Confronting the Soviet Union	968	(1)
Risky Business: Foreign Policy Adventures	969	(2)
Embracing Perestroika	971	(1)
Crisis and Democracy in Eastern Europe	971	(3)
The Persian Gulf War	974	(2)
Growth in the Sunbelt	976	(5)
The Defense Economy	977	(1)
New Americans	978	(2)
Old Gateways and New	980	(1)
The Graying of America	981	(1)
Values in Collision	981	(6)
Women's Rights and Public Policy	981	(1)
Coming Out	982	(1)
Churches in Change	983	(2)
Culture Wars	985	(2)
Conclusion	987	(1)
Review Questions	987	(1)
Key Terms	988	(1)
Recommended Reading	988	(1)
Additional Sources	988	(1)
Where to Learn More	989	(2)
Complacency and Crisis 1993--2003
Voices From the American Journey: John Mcnamara	991	(1)
The Politics of the Center	991	(9)
The Election of 1992: A New Generation	993	(2)
Policing the World	995	(1)
Clinton's Neoliberalism	996	(1)
Contract with America and the Election of 1996	997	(1)
The Dangers of Everyday Life	998	(1)
Morality and Partisanship	999	(1)
A New Economy?	1000	(7)
The Prosperous 1990s	1001	(1)
The Service Economy	1001	(1)
The High Tech Sector	1002	(1)
An Instant Society	1003	(3)
In the World Market	1006	(1)
Broadening Democracy	1007	(6)
Americans in 2000	1007	(1)
Women from the Grassroots to Congress	1008	(2)
Minorities at the Ballot Box	1010	(1)
Rights and Opportunities	1011	(2)
Edging into a New Century	1013	(4)
The 2000 Election	1014	(1)
Reaganomics Revisited	1015	(1)
Downsized Diplomacy	1016	(1)
Paradoxes of Power	1017	(4)
9-11-01	1018	(1)
Security and Conflict	1019	(1)
Iraq and Conflicts in the Middle East	1020	(1)
Conclusion	1021	(1)
Review Questions	1022	(1)
Key Terms	1022	(1)
Recommended Reading	1022	(1)
Additional Sources	1023	(1)
Where to Learn More	1023
Appendix	1	(1)
Glossary	1	(1)
Credits	1	(1)
Index	1

Excerpts

The path that led us toThe American Journeybegan in the classroom with our students. Our goal is to make American history accessible to students. The key to that goal--the core of the book--is a strong clear narrative. American history is a compelling story and we seek to tell it in an engaging, forthright way. But we also provide students with an abundance of tools to help them absorb that story and put it in context. We introduce them to the concerns of the participants in America's history with primary source documents. The voices of contemporaries open each chapter, describing their own personal journeys toward fulfilling their dreams, hopes, and ambitions as part of the broader American journey. These voices provide a personal window on our nation's history, and the themes they express resonate throughout the narrative. But if we wrote this book to appeal to our students, we also wrote it to engage their minds. We wanted to avoid academic trendiness, particularly the restricting categories that have divided the discipline of history over the last twenty years or so. We believe that the distinctions involved in the debates about multiculturalism and identity, between social and political history, between the history of the common people and the history of the elite, are unnecessarily confusing. What we seek is integration--to combine political and social history, to fit the experience of particular groups into the broader perspective of the American past, to give voice to minor and major players alike because of their role in the story we have to tell. APPROACH In telling our story, we had some definite ideas about what we might include and emphasize that other texts do not--information we felt that the current and next generations of students will need to know about our past to function best in a new society. CHRONOLOGICAL ORGANIZATION.A strong chronological backbone supports the book. We have found that the jumping back and forth in time characteristic of some American history textbooks confuses students. They abhor dates but need to know the sequence of events in history. A chronological presentation is the best way to be sure they do. GEOGRAPHICAL LITERACY.We also want students to be geographically literate. We expect them not only to know what happened in American history, bur where it happened as well. Physical locations and spatial relationships were often important in shaping historical events. The abundant maps in The American Journey--all numbered and called out in the text--are an integral part of our story. REGIONAL BALANCE.The American Journeypresents balanced coverage of all regions of the country. In keeping with this balance, the South and the West receive more coverage in this text than in comparable books. POINT OF VIEW.The American Journeypresents a balanced overview of the American past. But "balanced" does not mean bland. We do not shy away from definite positions on controversial issues, such as the nature of early contacts between Native Americans and Europeans, why the political crisis of the 1850s ended in a bloody Civil War, and how Populism and its followers fit into the American political spectrum. If students and instructors disagree, that's great; discussion and dissent are important catalysts for understanding and learning. RELIGION.Nor do we shy away from some topics that play relatively minor roles in other texts, like religion. Historians are often uncomfortable writing about religion and tend to slight its influence. This text stresses the importance of religion in American society both as a source of strength and a reflection of some its more troubling aspects. Historians mostly write for each other. That's too bad. We need to reach out and expand our audience. An American history text is a good place to start. Our studen