Purchase
Oxford University Press
October 2009
On Sale: October 19, 2009
880 pages ISBN: 0195039149 EAN: 9780195039146 Hardcover
Add to Wish List
Non-Fiction History
The Oxford History of the United States is by far the most
respected multi-volume history of our nation. The series
includes three Pulitzer Prize winners, two New York Times
bestsellers, and winners of the Bancroft and Parkman Prizes.
Now, in the newest volume in the series, one of America's
most esteemed historians, Gordon S. Wood, offers a brilliant
account of the early American Republic, ranging from 1789
and the beginning of the national government to the end of
the War of 1812. As Wood reveals, the period was marked by
tumultuous change in all aspects of American life--in
politics, society, economy, and culture. The men who founded
the new government had high hopes for the future, but few of
their hopes and dreams worked out quite as they expected.
They hated political parties but parties nonetheless
emerged. Some wanted the United States to become a great
fiscal-military state like those of Britain and France;
others wanted the country to remain a rural agricultural
state very different from the European states. Instead, by
1815 the United States became something neither group
anticipated. Many leaders expected American culture to
flourish and surpass that of Europe; instead it became
popularized and vulgarized. The leaders also hope to see the
end of slavery; instead, despite the release of many slaves
and the end of slavery in the North, slavery was stronger in
1815 than it had been in 1789. Many wanted to avoid
entanglements with Europe, but instead the country became
involved in Europe's wars and ended up waging another war
with the former mother country. Still, with a new generation
emerging by 1815, most Americans were confident and
optimistic about the future of their country. Integrating
all aspects of life, from politics and law to the economy
and culture, Empire of Liberty offers a marvelous account of
this pivotal era when America took its first unsteady steps
as a new and rapidly expanding nation.
Comments
No comments posted.
Registered users may leave comments.
Log in or register now!
|