The American Journey: Volume I [Paperback]

The path that led us to The American Journey began 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.

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 Journey presents 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 Journey presents 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 students are not only our future historians, but more important, our future. Let their American journey begin.

The American Journey includes an array of features designed to make American history accessible to students. It provides more learning tools than any other U.S. history text.

• The Student Tool Kit that follows this preface helps students get the most out of the text and its features. It introduces students to key conventions of historical writing and it explains how to work with maps, graphs, tables, and other visuals.
• A new feature, Voices from the American Journey, opens each chapter. Consisting of letters, diary entries, and other first-hand accounts, these voices highlight the personal dimension of the American journey and show students the wealth and variety of experiences that make up this country's history. From Olaudah Equiano's narrative of his forced journey to Virginia as a slave, to the ultimate journey Sullivan Ballou made during the Civil War defending the Union, to Cambodian refugee Celia Noup's harrowing journey to California where she took her place as one of the thousands of new immigrants who are reshaping the face of our nation, "Voices from the American journey" set the stage for the key themes that are explored in each chapter.
• The American Views box in each chapter contains a relevant primary source document. Taken from letters, diaries, newspapers, government papers, and other sources, these bring the people of the past and their concerns vividly alive. An introduction and prereading questions relate the documents to the text and direct students' attention to important issues. New "American Views" include the internment of Japanese Americans in Chapter 26 and working in the New Economy in Chapter 31.
• America's Journey: From Then to Now, found in more than half the chapters, relates important issues and events in each chapter to the issues and events of today, letting students see the relevance of history to their lives. Several are new to this edition. Examples include, "The Disappearance of Cod on the Grand Banks" (Chapter 1); "Medical Research on Polio and AIDS" (Chapter 28) and "Loyalty in 2001 and 1917" (Chapter 31).
• An Outline and Key Topics list give students a succinct overview of each chapter.
• Overview Tables in each chapter summarize complex issues.
• Chapter Chronologies help students build a framework of key events.
• Third-level subheads, new to the Third Edition, highlight key topics in the narrative and make them more accessible for study and review. In the sections on social history, for example, these headings help highlight the roles of women and minorities in the American journey.
• Key Terms are highlighted within each chapter and defined in an end-of-book Glossary. The end of each chapter now includes a list of key terms and relevant page numbers.
• Chapter Review Questions help students review the material in each chapter and relate it to broader themes.
• A list of Key Readings and Additional Sources at the end of each chapter directs interested students to further information about the subject of the chapter.
• Where To Learn More sections describe important historical sites students can visit to gain a deeper understanding of the events discussed in the chapter. Websites for the historical sites as well as other websites relevant to the chapter topics are now included.
• Abundant maps, charts, and graphs help students understand important events and trends. The topographical detail in many of the maps helps students understand the influence of geography on history.
• Illustrations and photographs—tied to the text with detailed captions—provide a visual dimension to history. Approximately ninety new photos have been added to the Third Edition.

• To make the text even more accessible to students—and to better match the teaching calendars of many institutions-the number of chapters in the Third Edition has been reduced from thirty-three to thirty-one.
• The chapters on urbanization and social change and reform movements in the antebellum period have been combined into a new chapter, "The Market Revolution and Social Reform" (Chapter 12) . The chapter focuses on economic changes and industrialization as well as the connections between these forces and reform movements. Chapter 11, "Slavery and the Old South," now precedes this chapter.
• The Civil War is now treated in a single chapter (Chapter 15).
• The Eighties is now examined in an entirely revamped Chapter 30, "The Reagan Revolution and a Changing World."
• An all-new final chapter "Complacency and Crisis," examines America at the millennium and after September 11, 2001.

Taken together, these organizational changes make The American Journey an even more effective textbook for both students and instructors.

In the Third Edition of The American Journey, coverage of women, minorities, and Native Americans has been expanded. The active role of Native Americans in shaping the encounters with European settlers has been emphasized. Coverage of the institution of slavery and the Holocaust has also been expanded. Additional coverage of foreign policy during the 1980s and 1990s will help students understand the dilemmas our nation faces in the post-September 11th world. The following list highlights some of these additions:

• Chapter 1. Coverage of Native American and West African societies has been expanded significantly.
• Chapter 2. The Dutch mercantile empire, trade with West Africa, and the beginnings of the slave trade with the Portuguese and Dutch receive more discussion.
• Chapter 3. Coverage of Native Americans has been consolidated and expanded; their role as actors in the encounter with Europeans is emphasized. Increased coverage of the origins of slavery and its social and economic aspects.
• Chapter 6: Expanded coverage of Native Americans' role during the War for Independence.
• Chapter 20: Expanded coverage of women in politics, especially their partisan role and involvement in the temperance movement.
• Chapter 21. A section on traps-Atlantic influences during the Progressive era has been included. Coverage of the education of Native Americans, women in the election of 1912, and the antiprostitution campaign has been expanded.
• Chapter 25. A new section on foreign policy during the New Deal, which provides a background for understanding the U.S. role in World War II, has been added.
• Chapter 26. Discussion of the rise of anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany has been added and coverage of the Holocaust has been expanded. Coverage of the economic and social history of the war effort has been reorganized, and coverage of women and minorities in the wax effort has been increased.
• Chapter 27. Includes fuller discussion of the Civil Rights movement.
• Chapter 28. Coverage of cultural history has been increased, a section on "Science and Foreign Affairs" has been added, and there is expanded discussion of Vietnam and LBJ.
• Chapter 29. Now examines the period from 1965-1980 in a single unit, examining feminism, suburban life, Vietnam, and deindustrialization.
• Chapter 30. Includes detailed discussion of the new conservatism and Reaganomics, in-depth treatment of social and cultural history of the period, coverage of women and poverty, and enhanced discussion of foreign policy.
• Chapter 31. Provides in-depth treatment of the New Economy, the Clinton presidency, the attacks of September 11, 2001, and America's role as the remaining superpower in a post-September 11th world.

The American Journey comes with an extensive package of supplementary print and multimedia materials for both instructors and students.

Instructor's Resource Manual
The Instructor's Resource Manual contains chapter outlines, chapter overviews, activities, discussion questions, readings, and information on audio-visual resources that are useful for lectures and assignments.

Test Item File
The Test Item File includes over 200 multiple-choice, true-false, essay, and map questions organized by chapter.

Prentice Hall Custom Test
This commercial-quality computerized test management program, available for Windows and Macintosh environments, allows instructors to select items from the Test Item File and design their own exams.

Transparency Pack
This set of transparencies provides instructors with full-color acetates of all the maps, charts, and graphs in the text for use in the classroom.

Practice Tests (Volumes I and II)
The two-volume Practice Tests provides students with a brief overview of each chapter; a list of chapter objectives; study exercises; and multiple-choice, short answer, and essay questions.

Retrieving the American Pasta A Customized U.S. History Reader, 2003 Edition
This collection of documents is an on-demand history database written and developed by leading historians and educators. It offers eighty compelling modules on topics in American history, such as "Women on the Frontier," "The Salem Witchcraft Scare," "The Age of Industrial Violence," and "Native American Societies, 1870-1995." Approximately thirty-five pages in length, each module includes an introduction, several primary documents and secondary sources, follow-up questions, and recommendations for further reading. Instructor-originated material, including other readings and exercises, can be incorporated. Contact your local Prentice Hall representative for more information about this exciting custom-publishing option.

American Stories: Biographies in United States History
This two-volume collection of sixty-two biographies in United States history is free when packaged with The American Journey. Introductions, pre-reading questions, and suggested resources enrich this new supplement.

Prentice Hall and Penguin Bundle Program
Prentice Hall is pleased to provide adopters of The American Journey with an opportunity to receive significant discounts when copies of the text are bundled with Penguin titles in American history. Contact your local Prentice Hall representative for details.

Reading Critically about History
This brief guide provides students with helpful strategies for reading a history textbook. It is available free to students when packaged with The American Journey.

Understanding and Answering Essay Questions
This helpful guide provides analytical tools for understanding different types of essay questions and for preparing well-crafted essay answers. It is available free to students when packaged with The American Journey.Additionally, the Companion Website provides numerous interactive maps tied to the text, source documents, and other interactive modules related to the content in each chapter. The Faculty Module contains materials for instructors, including the entire instructor's manual in PDF file, and downloadable presentations with maps, charts, graphs, summary tables, and illustrations.