For seventy years, I have been an avid student of American history. This book filled a serious gap. It is comprehensive in scope and detail. I was absorbed from the beginning to the end.
My main complaint is that it needs maps, lots of maps. While the printing cost may have limited the original edition, this republished edition should include them. I kept asking, "Where is the Wabash River?" or "Where is the Bend of the Missouri River?"
As many others have said, there are many typos. It would be a small cost to have run it through editing software such as Grammarly.
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Reviews with images
A 1925 Pulitzer Winner + Amazing Account of American History
Let me start out by saying that this is a beautifully laid out book, and looks great. This is a reprint of the original work published in 1925, and is far more beautiful than any vintage copy I’ve seen.I would recommend this book to just about anyone – it’s a true marvel of American history and a rare glimpse of the Wild West, written by someone who was actually alive much closer to the time period he is studying. Paxson’s work is unrivaled compared to other accounts of the West that I’ve seen. TL/DR: buy this book and give it a chance.Now, for a more detailed review:This won the Pulitzer in 1925. The version I read is the version that was re-published in 2022. While it looks like some other reviewers mentioned typos in the text, I didn’t find many. This is likely because the editors corrected these in subsequent printings. I also found some strangely outdated words used that could be mistaken for a typo (after all, this was written in 1925).That’s my biggest issue with the book: it’s a bit old, and a bit dense. Honestly, I love history and even I found it a little hard to read at times. If you love history, you’ll love this – but it’s a bit of a slow start, particularly as it focuses so heavily on detailed minutiae of the settling of the Ohio River (boring) before it gets to the more exciting stuff (The Louisiana Purchase, the War of 1812, the Jackson administration, the Civil War, etc.).Still, once you get over the more dense parts, there are some very nuanced, insightful chapters on unique periods of American History. It’s remarkable to see that this work spans from the pre-Revolutionary days all the way from the Administration of George Washington to Grover Cleveland – a period of 130+ years.While I ultimately think that the view of American History has changed and evolved over the past 100 years – and rest assured, this work retains the original text which has some not “politically correct” phrasing in it – I continue to find this to be an enormously insightful and important book. A great supplement to other works including Presidential biographies, A People’s History of the United States, and others that cover the same era. Highly readable!
Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2024
Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2023
I would recommend this book to just about anyone – it’s a true marvel of American history and a rare glimpse of the Wild West, written by someone who was actually alive much closer to the time period he is studying. Paxson’s work is unrivaled compared to other accounts of the West that I’ve seen. TL/DR: buy this book and give it a chance.
Now, for a more detailed review:
This won the Pulitzer in 1925. The version I read is the version that was re-published in 2022. While it looks like some other reviewers mentioned typos in the text, I didn’t find many. This is likely because the editors corrected these in subsequent printings. I also found some strangely outdated words used that could be mistaken for a typo (after all, this was written in 1925).
That’s my biggest issue with the book: it’s a bit old, and a bit dense. Honestly, I love history and even I found it a little hard to read at times. If you love history, you’ll love this – but it’s a bit of a slow start, particularly as it focuses so heavily on detailed minutiae of the settling of the Ohio River (boring) before it gets to the more exciting stuff (The Louisiana Purchase, the War of 1812, the Jackson administration, the Civil War, etc.).
Still, once you get over the more dense parts, there are some very nuanced, insightful chapters on unique periods of American History. It’s remarkable to see that this work spans from the pre-Revolutionary days all the way from the Administration of George Washington to Grover Cleveland – a period of 130+ years.
While I ultimately think that the view of American History has changed and evolved over the past 100 years – and rest assured, this work retains the original text which has some not “politically correct” phrasing in it – I continue to find this to be an enormously insightful and important book. A great supplement to other works including Presidential biographies, A People’s History of the United States, and others that cover the same era. Highly readable!
A 1925 Pulitzer Winner + Amazing Account of American History
Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2023
Let me start out by saying that this is a beautifully laid out book, and looks great. This is a reprint of the original work published in 1925, and is far more beautiful than any vintage copy I’ve seen.Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2023
I would recommend this book to just about anyone – it’s a true marvel of American history and a rare glimpse of the Wild West, written by someone who was actually alive much closer to the time period he is studying. Paxson’s work is unrivaled compared to other accounts of the West that I’ve seen. TL/DR: buy this book and give it a chance.
Now, for a more detailed review:
This won the Pulitzer in 1925. The version I read is the version that was re-published in 2022. While it looks like some other reviewers mentioned typos in the text, I didn’t find many. This is likely because the editors corrected these in subsequent printings. I also found some strangely outdated words used that could be mistaken for a typo (after all, this was written in 1925).
That’s my biggest issue with the book: it’s a bit old, and a bit dense. Honestly, I love history and even I found it a little hard to read at times. If you love history, you’ll love this – but it’s a bit of a slow start, particularly as it focuses so heavily on detailed minutiae of the settling of the Ohio River (boring) before it gets to the more exciting stuff (The Louisiana Purchase, the War of 1812, the Jackson administration, the Civil War, etc.).
Still, once you get over the more dense parts, there are some very nuanced, insightful chapters on unique periods of American History. It’s remarkable to see that this work spans from the pre-Revolutionary days all the way from the Administration of George Washington to Grover Cleveland – a period of 130+ years.
While I ultimately think that the view of American History has changed and evolved over the past 100 years – and rest assured, this work retains the original text which has some not “politically correct” phrasing in it – I continue to find this to be an enormously insightful and important book. A great supplement to other works including Presidential biographies, A People’s History of the United States, and others that cover the same era. Highly readable!
Images in this review
Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2024
Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2023
Reviewed in the United States on March 29, 2024
