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American Nation, The: A History of the United States, Volume 1, 15th edition

Published by Pearson (May 1, 2019) © 2016

  • Mark C. Carnes Columbia University
  • John A. Garraty (Emeritus) Columbia University, Deceased

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For US History Survey courses.

Help students bridge the present and the past

The American Nation: A History of the United States surveys American history in a way that bridges the present to the past, emphasizing the relevance of history to contemporary readers. By showing students how history connects to the experiences and expectations that mark their lives, authors Mark Carnes and John Garraty bring the study of the American past to life, and engage students deeply in the course.

The 15th Edition offers an updated structure, with focus questions leading off each sub-section. This helps students better comprehend key topics and themes, fostering deeper understanding of the past.

Hallmark features of this title

  • American Lives essays focus on the young adulthood of inspiring actors in US history. By examining the lives, choices and agency of past and contemporary Americans, students can see the role of individual action in US history.
  • Re-Viewing the Past features contrast Hollywood's contemporary renderings of history with actual events.
  • Debating the Past essays demonstrate how historians disagree over fundamental issues of interpretation and fact.
  • Chapter-opening questions encourage students to connect present to past as they begin studying each period.
  • Timelines present brief histories of each period under consideration.
  • A compelling art program, including nearly 600 photographs and over 100 maps, illuminates the past and connects past events to the present.

New and updated features of this title

  • NEW: To improve narrative structure and accessibility, chapters are now divided into major sub-sections, with a newly formulated focus question leading off each sub-section. This updated structure helps students better comprehend key topics and important thematic units, fostering deeper understanding of the past.
  • NEW: To better balance coverage across a standard 2-semester sequence, the midpoint of the narrative now comes at Chapter 16, Reconstruction and the South. The second half of the book now comprises 16 chapters, with the last chapter updated to the second Obama administration. Instructors familiar with previous editions will note important streamlining and regrouping of material in Chapters 25 and 26 and in Chapters 30 to 32.
  • NEW: The 15th Edition includes new Re-Viewing the Past essays on Academy Award-winning films Lincoln (2012) and Argo (2012).

Highlights of the DIGITAL UPDATE for Revel (available for Fall 2021 classes)

Instructors, contact your sales rep to ensure you have the most recent version of the course.

  • History 360 Experience simulations allow students to learn about history through the exploration of historical sites. Each immersive experience combines 360-degree photographs and videos with sound, images and text to help bring the past to life. Sites that students can explore include:
    • Gettysburg
    • Promontory Summit, Utah
    • Ellis Island
    • Auschwitz
    • Ground Zero, New York City
1. Beginnings
2. Alien Encounters: Europe in the Americas
3. The Making of Society in the Colonial Era
4. America in the British Empire
5. The American Revolution
6. The Federalist Era: Nationalism Triumphant
7. Jeffersonian Democracy
8. National Growing Pains
9. Toward a National Economy
10. Jacksonian Democracy
11. The Making of Middle-Class America
12. Westward Expansion
13. The Sections Go Their Own Ways
14. The Coming of the Civil War
15. The War to Save the Union
16. Reconstruction and the South

About our authors

Mark C. Carnes received his undergraduate degree from Harvard and his PhD in history from Columbia University. He has chaired both the history and American studies departments at Barnard College, Columbia University. Carnes and Garraty were General Editors of the 26-volume American National Biography, for which they were awarded the Waldo Leland Prize of the American Historical Association. Carnes has published numerous books on American social and cultural history, including Secret Ritual and Manhood in Victorian America (1989), Past Imperfect: History According to the Movies (1995), Novel History: Historians and Novelists Confront America’s Past (2001) and Invisible Giants: 50 Americans That Shaped the Nation but Missed the History Books (2002). Carnes also pioneered the Reacting to the Past pedagogy, winner of the Theodore Hesburgh Award, sponsored by TIAA-CREF, as the outstanding pedagogical innovation in the nation (2004). In Reacting to the Past, college students play elaborate games, set in the past, their roles informed by classic texts. In 2005 the American Historical Association named Carnes the recipient of the William Gilbert Prize for the best article on teaching history.

The late John A. Garraty, formerly Gouverneur Morris Professor Emeritus of History at Columbia University, received his PhD from Columbia University and an LHD from Michigan State University. He authored and edited scores of books, among them biographies of Silas Wright, Henry Cabot Lodge, Woodrow Wilson, George W. Perkins and Theodore Roosevelt. Garraty’s The New Commonwealth, included in the new American Nation series, challenged earlier dismissals of what was commonly known as “the Gilded Age.” His The Great Depression argued that political leaders throughout the world happened upon “solutions” much like those proposed by Franklin D. Roosevelt. Garraty was co-General Editor with Mark Carnes of the American National Biography.

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