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What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 (Oxford History of the United States) By Daniel Walker Howe ( Oxford University Press, USA )
Release Date: 2007-10-29
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Product Description
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, a New York Times bestseller, and winners of the Bancroft and Parkman Prizes. Now, in What Hath God Wrought, historian Daniel Walker Howe illuminates the period from the battle of New Orleans to the end of the Mexican-American War, an era when the United States expanded to the Pacific and won control over the richest part of the North American continent.
Howe's panoramic narrative portrays revolutionary improvements in transportation and communications that accelerated the extension of the American empire. Railroads, canals, newspapers, and the telegraph dramatically lowered travel times and spurred the spread of information. These innovations prompted the emergence of mass political parties and stimulated America's economic development from an overwhelmingly rural country to a diversified economy in which commerce and industry took their place alongside agriculture. In his story, the author weaves together political and military events with social, economic, and cultural history. He examines the rise of Andrew Jackson and his Democratic party, but contends that John Quincy Adams and other Whigs--advocates of public education and economic integration, defenders of the rights of Indians, women, and African-Americans--were the true prophets of America's future. He reveals the power of religion to shape many aspects of American life during this period, including slavery and antislavery, women's rights and other reform movements, politics, education, and literature. Howe's story of American expansion culminates in the bitterly controversial but brilliantly executed war waged against Mexico to gain California and Texas for the United States.
By 1848 America had been transformed. What Hath God Wrought provides a monumental narrative of this formative period in United States history.
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 Dreadful ( ptg1 )
"...the historian's duty is to understand, not simply condemn" (p. 590).
"This book tells a story; it does not argue a thesis" (p. 849)
These boasts apparently signify Daniel Walker's Howe's understanding of his "duty" and his book "What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848."
They are also an unmistakable sign that Howe is delusional not only about American history, but also about himself and his work.
This work, which is so awful and so offensive that it is beyond my ability to express it in words, is about 850 pages of this so-called historian simply condemning ante-bellum America on his thesis that its actions and policies were comprehensively, exclusively motivated by racism and imperialism, resulting in evil and genocide.
Perhaps the most obnoxious aspect of all is Howe's persistence in referring to American leaders including James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, W.H. Harrison, James K. Polk, as "white supremacists" and their policies as "white supremacy" - why not, dear Professor, just go ahead and call them "skinheads" or "Nazis" while you are at it? The use of this terminology is anachronistic and puerile - what one would expect from an excitable collegiate term paper, not from the work of a Professor Emeritus (although, I guess, today there is little to distinguish them).
This book is not history; it is an amalgamation of distorted facts and extremely selective references constructed to support the author's antipathy toward America's past. To anyone thinking, this book is not so much of a damning indictment of our past as our present universities and educators.
There are, of recent vintage, much more balanced and informative histories of America during this extremely interesting period ("Waking Giant", "Throes of Democracy") and biographies of Jackson and Polk, among other. On the other hand, if you are someone titillated by reading words that tell you that America is a fundamentally racist, oppressive - even genocidal - force of history, then, this is your book.
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 preview, but amazing experience
I admit I have yet to read this book, but I have listened to and talked with the author and am excited to read it! You wouldn't think that an older professor with a droning-like voice could have a bit of a sense of humor that would usually make a semi-boring topic like this one interesting, but Howe does just that. He was able to make a group of 50+ college students pay attention, listen intently, and enjoy his lecture. If the author, while speaking about this book can do that, I am willing to sit down and read my signed copy of this book...all 800+ pages of it.
I will update my review for this book after I have finished it.
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Excellent entry in the Oxford series
There seems to be a general consensus that "The Oxford History of the United States" has done much better by the early years of the American Republic than the post-World War II era. Howe maintains the tradition with this outstanding survey of American life between 1815 and 1848. Some have complained of "political correctness" in Howe's treatment of Indian Removal, slavery, and the women's rights movement, but, in my opinion, Howe really goes far afield only when discussing the last of these, when he terms the Seneca Falls convention of 1848 "[the most] encouraging" of America's "hopeful aspects" during this chaotic period. "More encouraging" than the rise of the movement to abolish slavery, which was a far more morally pressing matter at the time? Somehow, I doubt it. On the other side of the coin, Howe's championing of the leading lights and ideas of the Whig Party takes direct aim at the "PC" conventional wisdom that "Jacksonian Democracy" was the "heroic" political movement of this period. Howe does an excellent job of alternating discussions of "meat-and-potatoes" historical information (elections, political disputes, warfare, etc.) with surveys of various facets of American culture. He places particular emphases on the dramatic developments in transportation and communications that both facilitated economic development and made it possible for various popular movements to flourish. Howe's work is fully worthy to stand next to McPherson's "Battle Cry of Freedom" and Middlekauff's "The Glorious Cause" as the best books in the Oxford series. (For others interested in antebellum America, I'd also recommend MacDougall's "Throes of Democracy" for a slightly different, somewhat more cynical take on the subject.)
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 What Hath God Wrought ( lindn002 )
I debated giving this book a five star rating but decided to go with four stars because author Howe is a bit over the top on occassion with his political digs. Was the Whig party truly as wonderful as he portrays it as it challenged the Democrats? If it was so great why did it die out or morph into the Republican party within 15 years? But politics aside, this book is great. Clearly this book sets a new standard for completeness in its scope. The period 1815-1848 was an incredibly active period with events going on not only in the geo-political spectrum, but also in social history, economics, church history, arts and literature, and philosophy. The author seems to have a good handle on each of these, maiking this book an excellent starting point for anyone intersted in how America emerged from the early constitutional period to that which more or less resembles our own society.
Political bickering between parties begins in this period, so does uniquely "American" industry and imperialism. Some have criticized Howe's approach to history by saying he is too politically correct. Well, tell that to hundreds of thousands of African slaves or tens of thousands of displaced Indians. The white dominated government was brutal. At one point in the book Howe says the historian's job is to understand, not condemn. Slavery in the land of the free is more than just a paradox, it's a disgrace. Imperial attitudes towards the conquored Indians and Mexicans shows how determined our imperialist policies were. President Polk went to war based on lies. His claim that the war started on American soil took advantage of the general ignorance of the American people. Other presidents have unfortunately followed this bad example.
But this book covers so much ground I can see it becoming a required text in college history courses. The author clearly has a solid grasp on his subject matter and his writing style, while polemical at times, it does get the message across.
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Well-deserved praise ( jerbackus )
This book is truly deserving of the Pulitzer Prize and inclusion in the Oxford History Of the United States series.I was a bit apprehensive when picking up this massive book and deciding whether to purchase. As I randomly thumbed through the pages, every page I read had an interesting passage.Upon purchase,the entire book was interesting, comprehensive and complete. As mentioned in other reader reviews, Howe's writing did slant toward modern politically-correct analysis(especially anti-Andrew Jackson and Polk).I did not feel this was a negative in that he fairly presented the facts and a comprehensive overview(economic,political,social and religous atmosphere) of the times to allow the reader his/her own thought provoking conclusions.One of the finest history books I've read ,and the best for the era it was written about.
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