©2002 Single Volume Edition (hardback) 0-321-07992-2
©2002 Volume 1 (paper) 0-321-08404-7
©2002 Volume 2 (paper) 0-321-08403-9

The sixth edition of America Past and Present is a major revision that strives to achieve the shared goal of the previous editions: to present a clear, relevant, and balanced history of the United States as an unfolding story of national development, from the days of the earliest inhabitants to the present. We emphasize the story because we strongly believe in the value of historical narrative in providing a vivid sense of the past. In each chapter, we seek to blend the excitement and drama of the American experience with insights about the social, economic, and cultural issues that underlie it.

Revisions for the Sixth Edition

In this edition, we have reviewed each chapter carefully to take account of recent scholarly work, to offer new perspectives, and to sharpen the analysis and the prose. In many cases, we have adopted the suggestions offered by those who used the previous editions in their classrooms.

Throughout this edition, as in previous editions, we pay particular attention to the roles that women and minority groups have played in the development of American society and the American nation. These people appear throughout the text, not as witnesses to the historical narrative, but as principal actors in its evolution. New and expanded material in this edition includes the following:

• Chapter 1, new opening vignette highlighting the theme of cultural clash between Native Americans and European settlers; North America and Native Americans before encounter with Europeans.
• Chapter 4, the American Enlightenment and the influence of the eighteenth-century intellectual revolution in colonial America.
• Chapter 5, diversity of the American people at the time of the American Revolution; clashes between Native Americans and European settlers in the Ohio Valley.
• Chapter 7, the political culture of the immediate post-revolutionary era, the formation of political parties, the impact of public opinion, and the role of partisan print journalism.
• Chapter 10, the role of the popular press in the formation of public opinion; reexamination of the role and influence of the Whig party during the Jacksonian era.
• Chapter 11, conflict between evangelical revivalists and Catholics at time of Second Great Awakening.
• Chapter 12, expanded discussion of Joseph Smith and the Mormons.
• Chapter 15, examination of Civil War soldiers' differing backgrounds and motives for fighting.
• Chapter 16, further examination of historians' debate over Reconstruction.
• Chapter 31, social issues of the 1970s including changes in family life, the women's movement, and the gay liberation movement.
• Chapter 32, expanded discussion of the economy during the 1980s; major social issues of the 1980s—the AIDS crisis and war on illegal drugs.
• Chapter 33, politics, the economy, and social issues of the 1990s through the election of 2000.

Approach and Themes

As the title suggests, our book is a blend of the traditional and the new. The strong narrative emphasis and chronological organization are traditional; the incorporation of the many fresh insights that historians have gained from social sciences in the past quarter century is new. We have used significant incidents and episodes to reflect the dilemmas, the choices, and the decisions made by the people as well as by their leaders. After discussion of the colonial period, most of the chapters examine shorter time periods, usually about a decade, permitting us to view these major political and public events as points of reference and orientation around which social themes are integrated. This approach gives unity and direction to the text.

In recounting the story of the American past, we see a nation in flux. The early Africans and Europeans developed complex agrarian folkways that blended Old World customs and New World experiences; as cultural identities evolved, the idea of political independence became more acceptable. People who had been subjects of the British crown created a system of government that challenged later Americans to work out the full implications of theories of social and economic equality.

The growing sectional rift between the North and South, revolving around divergent models of economic growth and conflicting social values, culminated in civil war. In the post–Civil War period, the development of a more industrialized economy severely tested the values of an agrarian society, engendering a Populist reform movement. In the early twentieth century, Progressive reformers sought to infuse the industrial order with social justice. World War I demonstrated the extent of American power in the world. The Great Depression and World War II tested the resiliency of the maturing American nation. The Cold War ushered in an era of crises, foreign and domestic, that revealed both the strengths and the weaknesses of modern America.

Our story of American history goes beyond the major events that have helped to shape the nation—the wars fought, the presidents elected, the legislation enacted, the treaties signed. The impact of change on human lives adds a vital dimension to our understanding of history. How did the American Revolution affect the lives of ordinary citizens? What it was like for both blacks and whites to live in a plantation society? How did the shift from an agrarian to an industrial economy affect men and women alike? What impact has technology, in the form of the automobile and the computer, had on patterns of life in the twentieth century? Our narrative explores these issues as well.

Our commitment is not to any particular ideology or point of view; rather, we hope to challenge our readers to rediscover the fascination of the American past and reach their own conclusions about its significance in their lives. At the same time, we have not avoided controversial issues; instead, we have tried to offer reasoned judgments on such morally charged subjects as the nature of slavery and the advent of nuclear weapons. We believe that while history rarely repeats itself, the story of the American past is relevant to the problems and dilemmas facing the nation today, and we have therefore sought to stress themes and ideas that continue to shape our national culture.