Interpretations of American History

by Francis G. Couvares

Overview

Without a doubt, the teaching of American history has changed since George Billias and Gerald Grob first issued Interpretations of American History, a comprehensive introduction to the major debates and schools of thought within the field of American history. For this ninth edition, Francis G. Couvares has thoroughly updated the text to include both developments in scholarly debate and changes in the format. He has consolidated two chapters on the revolutionary era into one, and he has also merged formerly separate chapters on profit and commerce in the trading of human beings and the complex and resilient culture that enslaved people sustained. Additionally, he has written a completely new chapter on environmental history and updated the final chapters of the text to include recent scholarship that connects the history of the Civil Rights Movement to the Black Lives Matter Movement; scholarship that discusses intersectionality within feminism, and recent work on political realignment and fragmentation.  

In a major revision to the format, Couvares has omitted excerpts of scholarly articles. However, for curious students or research assignments, he includes ample current references. Further, this updated edition anticipates electronic reading of discrete chapters rather than the entire book, and each chapter stands alone well enough to be assigned individually. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781625348852
Publisher:	University of Massachusetts Press
Publication date:	08/01/2025
Pages:	436
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

FRANCIS G. COUVARES is E. Dwight Salmon Professor of History and American Studies at Amherst College and the author of The Remaking of Pittsburgh: Class and Culture in an Industrializing City 1877-1919, coauthor of Interpretations of American History, 8th ed. and editor of Movie Censorship and American Culture.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS

Preface
Acknowledgments

Introduction
1. Indigenous Americans: Resistance, Adaptation, Survival
2. Beyond 1619: The Origins of Racial Slavery and the Culture(s) of Slavery in America
3. Religion in Early America: The Path to Pluralism
4. Revolutionary Era?: From the Revolutionary War to the Constitution
5. Jacksonian Democracy: How Democratic? How Racist?
6. Antebellum Reform: Abolition, Temperance, Women's Rights
7. The Civil War: Liberating or Nation-Building? Repressible or Irrepressible?
8. Reconstruction: From Racial Revolution to Nationalist Compromise
9. Environmental History: Declining Wilderness or Managed Garden?
10. American Imperialism: Economic Expansion or Ideological Crusade?
11. Immigrant Assimilation or Transnational Race-Making?
12. The Triumph of Capitalism: Efficiency or Class War?
13. The Progressive Era: A Search for Order or for Justice?
14. The New Deal: Reform, Revolution, or Restoration?
15. The Cold War and Beyond: Stability, Hegemony, or Chaos?
16. Race and Rights in Postwar America: From Civil Rights to Black Power to Black Lives Matter
17. From the History of Gender, Sexuality and Intersectionality
18. Politics into the New Millennium: Realignment, Polarization, or Fragmentation?

Notes
Index
 

Editorial Reviews

A masterful introduction to United States historiography. Couvares provides students a useful introduction to how historians have thought about the past. Although clearly it is intended for classroom use, I suspect many graduate students preparing for general exams and not a few professors trying to get up to speed on some topics will want to read it as well.”—Gaines M. Foster, author of The Limits of the Lost Cause: Essays on Civil War Memory 

“Couvares offers a jargon-free, accessible history of American historiography that will be immensely useful to undergraduates and graduate students alike.”—Gautham Rao, author of National Duties: Custom Houses and the Making of the American State 

From the Publisher