A Little History of the United States

by James West Davidson

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

The entirety of the United States in one immensely accessible history, told with panache and inviting readers to dig deeper into the expansive history of this young nation.

A character-filled history that brings the American saga to life
  
The United States is one of the most powerful countries in the world. This is the remarkable story of how it came to be. Beginning with the first contact between the old world and the new over 500 years ago, this Little History moves through the centuries from the first European explorers and slave-owning farmers, to the Declaration of Independence and the Civil War, to the Great Depression and the wars of the twentieth century.
 
We meet key figures, including founding father Benjamin Franklin, the Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull, the abolitionist Harriet Tubman and the civil rights activist Rosa Parks. This is a fast-paced, character-filled history that brings the great, diverse American saga to life.
 
Little Histories – Inspiring Guides for Curious Minds

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300283433
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	05/13/2025
Series:	Little Histories
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	7.70(w) x 5.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

James West Davidson, a widely respected historian, has written on American history and the detective work that goes into it, as well as books about the outdoors. He lives in Rhinebeck, NY.

Table of Contents

List of Maps ix

Introduction: Making History xi

1 Where the Birds Led 1

2 A Continent in Space and Time 5

3 Out of One, Many 10

4 A Golden Age and the Age of Gold 16

5 When Worlds Collide 23

6 How Can I Be Saved? 30

7 Saints and Strangers 38

8 Boom Country 45

9 Equal and Unequal 52

10 Enlightened and Awakened 60

11 Be Careful What You Wish For 66

12 More Than a Quarrel 75

13 Equal and Independent 83

14 More Perfect Union 92

15 Washington's Fear 99

16 Empire of Liberty 106

17 Man of the People 115

18 Cotton Kingdoms 123

19 Burned Over 131

20 Frontiers 138

21 Crossing the Line 148

22 What Was Coming 157

23 How Do You Reconstruct? 168

24 The Next Big Thing 176

25 The Color of Your Collar 183

26 A Tale of Two Cities 190

27 The New West 198

28 Luck or Pluck? 205

29 The Progressives 213

30 Smashup 222

31 The Masses 230

32 A New Deal 237

33 Global War 245

34 Superpower 254

35 The End of the World 263

36 You or You or You 270

37 The Avalanche 278

38 A Conservative Turn 286

39 Connected 294

40 The Past Asks More 302

Acknowledgments 310

Index 311

Interviews

Who are the readers of this book, and how do you hope to inspire them?

This is a book for adults masquerading as one for young people. That’s said tongue-in-cheek, but still . . . When I was an eighth grader, the last thing I wanted to endure was high-minded civics lectures. So my first rule here is, treat younger readers as adults. Keep the story engaging and fast-paced, but also honest and about the big picture. Because there are also vast numbers of adults out there who had the American history beaten out of them in dull social studies classes. Those adults deserve better. And too few historians write for them.
 
Which key events in American history shaped the nation most powerfully?

I’d turn the question around. How do a thousand smaller pieces of history come together to shape key events? Look at the Civil War. If the purpose of a democratic republic is to resolve conflicts peacefully, then the Civil War is the republic’s biggest failure. How did that happen? It’s perhaps the strangest story in our history, of how the ideas of equality and liberty were growing and spreading at the very same time that inequality and slavery were becoming more deeply entrenched in American society.
 
Of the countless individuals in American history, do you have a favorite?

Many favorites, not one. But here’s a cliché: Washington. You know—the bland, blank face on the dollar bill? I found myself liking him more and more as I got to know him. In the depths of the Revolution, begging his bedraggled soldiers “in the most affectionate manner” to reenlist. Grinning, shouting, and waving a handkerchief at the prospect of trapping the British at Yorktown. So embarrassed by the honors heaped upon him on the way to his first inauguration, he rose early and snuck out of town before his escort could arrive. Somber toward the end of his life at the thought that “nothing but the rooting out of slavery can perpetuate the existence of our union.” And on that, he was right.

Editorial Reviews

Davidson has written a work that should lead readers to reflect anew on America’s past and present. . . . We can all use not just a good refresher course on American history, but also some good historical thinking on how we might better realize freedom, equality, and E pluribus unum.”—The Daily Beast

“Davidson . . . opens this smooth overview of 500 years of American history, beginning with Columbus’s arrival, with an engaging premise, arguing that we all make our own history pieced together out of personal memories, which in turn become the warp and weft of the cloth of history.”—Publishers Weekly

“This attractive, eminently readable account covers the United States, from founding times to the current day. . . . Seldom has this story been told from such an approachable viewpoint. Students will flock to the book.”—Library Journal

“Davidson takes familiar stories from America’s past and adds novelistic flair. . . . From the first pages, the author shows enthusiasm for his project, describing the difference between people who ‘make’ history and people who ‘write’ it.”—Kirkus Reviews

“This is a clear, at times dramatic . . . traditional historical narrative that can serve well as an introductory text.”—Booklist

“To the ranks of Yale’s series of ‘little’ histories (art, science, the world, etc.) James West Davidson now adds his pithy and surprisingly sharp A Little History of the United States, which despite its title begins its story well before the thirteen American colonies declared their independence from Great Britain.”—Open Letters Monthly

“A lively, not-so-little look at the little ways that people from all walks of life, cultures, backgrounds, and incomes came together to make a nation.”—Q Salt Lake Magazine

“[Davidson’s] ability to weave anecdotes and an accessible writing style into a clear and concise illustration of a cultural trend or political movement is enviable.”—Civil War Book Review

“This is a little history with a big heart, meant to be savored more than studied, read out loud like poetry, or perhaps sung like a hymn.”—Joseph J. Ellis, author of Founding Brothers

“With imagination, verve and stylishness, James Davidson distills American history into its compelling essence. For newcomers to the subject, an incomparable primer; for veterans, the familiar made fresh with judicious insight.”—H. W. Brands, University of Texas at Austin

“A book of literary grace and narrative invention. Not only the writing but also the conceptualization consistently engage the reader. Uncommonly imaginative.”—Christine Heyrman, author of Southern Cross and American Apostles

“A persuasive and enjoyable read. Davidson faced a herculean task in condensing more than five hundred years of history into a slim volume. He fulfills this difficult brief with authority and brio.”—Richard Aldous, author of Reagan and Thatcher: The Difficult Relationship

“It has a little of Zinn, a little of Lies My Teacher Told Me, and a little of History of US. I found it readable, interesting, and useful.”—Sandy Foster, U.S. history teacher, The Harley School

From the Publisher

It has a little of Zinn, a little of Lies My Teacher Told Me, and a little of History of US. I found it readable, interesting, and useful.”—Sandy Foster, U.S. history teacher, The Harley School

Sandy Foster

[Davidson’s] ability to weave anecdotes and an accessible writing syle into a clear and concise illustration of a cultural trend or political movement is enviable.”—Civil War Book Review

Civil War Book Review

A lively, not-so-little look at the little ways that people from all walks of life, cultures, backgrounds, and incomes came together to make a nation.”—Q Salt Lake Magazine

Q Salt Lake Magazine

To the ranks of Yale’s series of “little” histories (art, science, the world, etc.) James West Davidson now adds his pithy and surprisingly sharp A Little History of the United States, which despite its title begins its story well before the thirteen American colonies declared their independence from Great Britain.”—Open Letters Monthly

Open Letters Monthly

Davidson has written a work that should lead readers to reflect anew on America’s past and present . . . We can all use not just a good refresher course on American history, but also some good historical thinking on how we might better realize freedom, equality, and E pluribus unum.”—The Daily Beast

The Daily Beast

This is a clear, at times dramatic . . . traditional historical narrative that can serve well as an introductory text.”—Booklist

Booklist

A persuasive and enjoyable read. Davidson faced a herculean task in condensing more than five hundred years of history into a slim volume. He fulfills this difficult brief with authority and brio.”—Richard Aldous, author of Reagan and Thatcher: The Difficult Relationship

Richard Aldous

A book of literary grace and narrative invention. Not only the writing but also the conceptualization consistently engage the reader. Uncommonly imaginative.”—Christine Heyrman, author of Southern Cross and American Apostles

Christine Heyrman

With imagination, verve and stylishness, James Davidson distills American history into its compelling essence. For newcomers to the subject, an incomparable primer; for veterans, the familiar made fresh with judicious insight.”—H. W. Brands, University of Texas at Austin

H. W. Brands

This is a little history with a big heart, meant to be savored more than studied, read out loud like poetry, or perhaps sung like a hymn.”—Joseph J. Ellis, author of Founding Brothers

Joseph J. Ellis

2015-07-15
In this breakneck survey of American history, Davidson (co-author: Great Heart: The History of a Labrador Adventure, 2006, etc.) condenses 500 years of war, exploration, and social change into a 300-page crash course.Starting with Christopher Columbus, the author follows the usual grade school timeline, from the conquistadors to Vietnam. He quickly summarizes major movements like the Industrial Revolution and the Cold War, distilling entire decades into a few paragraphs. Davidson takes familiar stories from America's past and adds novelistic flair—e.g., "In 1620 five or six Nauset Indians were trotting down the Cape Cod beach one November day, their dog in the lead, when they saw sixteen strangers coming toward them. The Indians didn't wait for an introduction; they turned and ran, whistling for their dog to follow." From the first pages, the author shows enthusiasm for his project, describing the difference between people who "make" history and people who "write" it, and he refers to this theme several times throughout. However, Davidson breezes through major national events, sewing anecdotes and trivia together without much direction or purpose. We revisit well-worn yarns, like Abraham Lincoln's assassination and the Cuban missile crisis, which are told in the traditional way. Davidson introduces some recent scholarship—e.g., the Chinese arrival in the Americas in 1421 and the exploits of Osama bin Laden—but the expected chunks are missing: women are absent until they eventually make cameos as suffragettes. African-American history barely exists between Reconstruction and Martin Luther King. Davidson tries to liven up his story with nuggets of wisdom, but most of it is boilerplate: "Sometimes the tiniest events have immense consequences"; "Sometimes it seems as if all American history has been a scramble for more and more." In the end, Davidson glosses over his topics and adds little to the broader conversation. An admirable attempt to get readers excited about history, but the approach is too hurried and shallow.

Kirkus Reviews