Name: History of the American People
ISBN: 9780060930349

History of the American People

The prize winning classic work on the post Civil War period which wrenched American society, now with a new introduction by the author. "The creation of the United States of America is the greatest of all human adventures," begins Paul Johnson's remarkable new American history. "No other national story holds such tremendous lessons, for the American people themselves and for the rest of mankind." Johnson's history is a reinterpretation of American history from the first settlements to the Clinton administration. It covers every aspect of U.S. history--politics; business and economics; art, literature and science; society and customs; complex traditions and religious beliefs. The story is told in terms of the men and women who shaped and led the nation and the ordinary people who collectively created its unique character. Wherever possible, letters, diaries, and recorded conversations are used to ensure a sense of actuality. "The book has new and often trenchant things to say about every aspect and period of America's past," says Johnson, "and I do not seek, as some historians do, to conceal my opinions." This is an in-depth portrait of a great people, from their fragile origins through their struggles for independence and nationhood, their heroic efforts and sacrifices to deal with the 'organic sin' of slavery and the preservation of the Union to its explosive economic growth and emergence as a world power and its sole superpower.

What Hacker News says

pjmorrisMar 2025

I took someone's suggestion to read a more orthodox US history 'A History of the American People', Paul Johnson, before diving in to the Zinn book.

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pjmorrisSep 2018

One of the things that struck me in reading 'A History of the American People' by Paul Johnson was how often conflicts - resource, political, religious - were 'resolved' by one of the groups move into a lonely, uninhabited region, where they could arrange things to their liking.

One of the things that strikes me in reading the news is how the conflicts are roughly the same as they were in Genesis and Exodus.

My current take is that it is easier to find new land than it is to change human nature. I'm not saying it's not worthwhile to focus on changing judgmentalism and lack of grace in oneself. But I am skeptical of our species' ability to do it en masse.

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pjmorrisJan 2017

In US history (see, e.g. 'A History of the American People', Johnson), environmental, economic, and social problems were often solved by moving in to new territory. If you can think of the Moon as the Eighth continent, it may well be how we solve our present, pressing environmental, economic and social problems.

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pjmorrisJul 2016

One of my big takeaways from read a US history [0] was that conflicts were often solved by the dissenters moving somewhere else and settling that new empty space. Which is one reason why I think space exploration is important; there's plenty of room for multiple viewpoints out there.

[0] 'A History of the American People', Paul Johnson

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