The American Pageant

About This Edition

From the Publisher

New Features

• Twelve new "Thinking Globally" essays, two within each of the text's six parts, present a different aspect of the American experience contextualized within world history. Readers learn how developments in North America were part of worldwide phenomena, be they the challenge to empire in the 18th century, the rise of socialist ideology in the 19th century, or the globalization that followed World War II. Users see how key aspects of American history were faced by other nations but resolved in distinct ways according to each country's history, cultural traditions, and political and economic structures.


• A renewed and strengthened global focus throughout the text includes new graphics to help users compare American developments to developments around the world in areas such as railroad building, cotton production, city size and urban reform strategies, immigration, automobile ownership, the economic effects of the Great Depression, and women's participation in voting and the workforce.


• Additional attention to the global nature of U.S. history is explored in many new box-quotes. These features add more international voices to the events chronicled in the text's historical narrative.


• Updated "Varying Viewpoints" essays reflect new interpretations of significant trends and events, as well as concern for their global context.


• New and revised primary source features, called "Examining the Evidence," include topics such as what correspondence between Abigail and John Adams in 1776 reveals about women in the American Revolution; how the Gettysburg Address sheds light on President Lincoln's vision of the American nation; how a letter from a black freedman to his former master in 1865 illuminates his family's experience in slavery, as well as their hopes for a new life; what the manuscript census teaches us about immigrant households on the Lower East Side of New York in 1900; and how a new kind of architectural structure--the shopping mall--changed consumers' behavior and politicians' campaign tactics after World War II.

Additional Features

• Directives at the beginning and end of each chapter remind users to take advantage of the many interactive activities and study materials found on the American Pageant (14th Edition) Student Website.


• The revised and improved pedagogy includes: new visual material--documentary images, graphs, and tables--to illuminate complex and important historical ideas; completely redesigned maps with topographical detail and clear labeling to better communicate analytical points; small regional/global locator maps to reinforce users' understanding of U.S. geography and its global context; and bolded chapter terms with a related glossary.


• Every chapter concludes with an expanded chronology and a list of 10 readable books to consult "To Learn More." A fuller, chapter-by-chapter annotated bibliography suitable for deeper research is provided on the Student Website.


• A list of the chapter key terms and a list of "People to Know"--created to help users focus on the most significant people introduced in that chapter--appear side by side at the end of the chapter to help users review chapter highlights. Both lists also are included on the Student Website with expanded definitions/explanations.


• A revised Appendix contains abundant statistical data on many aspects of the American historical experience, as well as how the United States compares to other nations.

Further reference for this edition:

Download the Transition Guide to the 14th edition of The American Pageant.