American History Made Simple [Revised] 0385012144, 9780385012140

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AMERICAN HISTORY MADE SIMPLE

BY

JACK C. ESTRIN, M.A. Chairman, Social Studies, Richmond Hill High School, N.Y.C.

MADE SIMPLE BOOKS DOUBLEDAY & COMPANY, INC. GARDEN CITY, NEW YORK

Copyright © 1956, 1968 by Doubleday $ Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved Printed in the United States of America

ABOUT THIS BOOK Of the writing of history there is no end; and it is right that this should be so. It is of the very nature of the subject that there can be no single, final work which renders all subsequent historical writing unnecessary. Historical events, of course, are not altered by the passage of time (although our understanding of them is, as they are illuminated and clarified by re¬ search and discovery). Men cannot tamper with the past to suit their fancy or the passing needs of faction and party—at least they cannot do so in a democratic society. But if the past does not change, our relationship to it does, its meaning for us does. It becomes therefore the constant obli¬ gation of each generation to examine its historic past anew, to seek out its significance and its signs, so that it can better determine where it is, and where it is going. There is a special urgency to probe the American past now—now when we seem to have reached a kind of climax in our national development. Only yesterday (as historical time goes) a minor colony facing a vague and undistinguished future, the United States has become a great power on a world scale, possessing immense authority and bearing immense responsi¬ bilities. It is a thought that must give pause to thoughtful persons; and his¬ torical writing is, after all, a way of talcing stock in the pause that nations must take properly to assess themselves. It is with this in mind that this book has been written. Better to achieve my purpose—which is to bring the American past to bear on the American present—I have attempted to portray the whole view of American history: to treat the complex pattern of the nation’s growth—its political, social, eco¬ nomic, cultural history—as the composite movement of a people towards maturity. If I have succeeded, then it is my hope that the reader will gain a sense of witnessing, of participating in the panorama and excitement of the American saga. Only to the extent that we know our past can we expect to live effectively in the present and meet whatever challenge of the future. —Jack G. Estrin

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