Visions of America: A History of the United States, Combined Volume, 3rd edition
- Jennifer D. Keene |
- Saul T. Cornell |
- Edward T. O'Donnell |
Title overview
See history. Explore history. Understand history.
REVEL for Visions of America: A History of the United States uses images as primary historical evidence to bring history to life for a generation of visual learners. Emphasizing how key choices and competing visions of America shaped our nation’s past, authors Jennifer Keene, Saul Cornell, and Edward O’Donnell help students realize that history is not just an endless list of names and dates, but the fascinating tale of human experience. In addition to updated visuals, REVEL for the Third Edition includes chapter-level learning objectives tied to a set of learning outcomes for the course, which help instructors evaluate and demonstrate student achievement.
Learn more about REVEL.
- Integrated within the narrative, interactives empower students to engage with concepts and take an active role in learning. REVEL™'s unique presentation of media as an intrinsic part of course content brings the hallmark features of Pearson's bestselling titles to life. REVEL's media interactives have been designed to be completed quickly, so students stay focused and on task.
- Videos integrated throughout Visions of America engage students in learning, boosting comprehension and retention.
- Introductory videos featuring the authors—in each chapter opener and at the beginning of every major chapter subsection—set the stage for the coverage to come and highlight relevant competing visions and key images.
- Why It Matters videos help students evaluate the overall importance of a particular era in American history.
- Think about It videos investigate key historical questions.
- Located throughout REVEL, quizzing affords students opportunities to check their understanding at regular intervals before moving on.
- REVEL’s integrated writing tools enable educators to introduce writing – among the best ways to foster and assess critical thinking – into the course without significantly impacting their grading burden. Self-paced Journaling Prompts throughout the narrative encourage students to express their thoughts without breaking stride in their reading. Assignable Shared Writing Activities direct students to share written responses with classmates, fostering peer discussion. And Essay Prompts integrated into each chapter enable instructors to assign both auto-graded and instructor-graded writing activities around specific Visions of America content.
- REVEL’s fully mobile learning experience enables students to read and interact with course material on the devices they use, anywhere and anytime. Responsive design allows students to access REVEL on their tablet devices and smart phones, with content displayed clearly in both portrait and landscape view.
- Highlighting, note taking, and a glossary let students read and study however they like. Educators can add notes for students, too, including reminders or study tips.
An innovative approach to analyzing images brings history to life
- UPDATED! A visual narrative helps students develop key analytical skills. Historical images—many new to the third edition—are displayed throughout the text imaginatively and analyzed to reveal how they were used to express opinions, shape perceptions, and influence policy. The authors integrate these images throughout the historical narrative, rather than presenting them as secondary to the text. In REVEL, many of the included historical images are enhanced to enable a more interactive exploration.
- An interactive Images as History feature in each chapter focuses on one or two images in depth. This feature encourages students to “read” images as texts with multiple meanings that speak to both the past and the present. Images as History features enable students to unpack the meaning and purpose of various types of images—including cartoons, posters, magazine illustrations, fine art, and photographs. Accompanying Images as History assessments evaluate students’ ability to analyze images.
- Dynamic chapter openers combine a vivid image with a narrative introduction and a quotation that immediately places the student in the era. A visual outline previews the chapter’s major topics.
- UPDATED! Visually engaging maps, graphs, and charts—many of which are new to the third edition—make data accessible and provide geographical context.
- Enlarged quotations throughout each chapter give voice to the major issues of the day.
Content and features illuminate key themes
- Interactive Choices and Consequences features in each chapter diagram the choices leaders and ordinary people grappled with at key moments in America’s history. By helping students to visualize complex and sometimes agonizing choices, these features underscore the point that historical events are the products of human agency. Accompanying Choices and Consequences assessments gauge students’ understanding of the choices facing historical actors.
- Competing Visions features present excerpts from key primary source documents—personal letters, diary entries, speeches, editorials, and other written documents—to help students learn to appreciate the dynamic debates that shaped our nation. Accompanying Competing Visions assessments evaluate students’ comprehension of primary sources.
- Envisioning Evidence features use graphics and illustrations to help students organize and analyze complex information on key topics. The graphics and illustrations range from public opinion polls, household budgets, and economic figures to shipping logs, battlefield trenches, crime statistics, and maps showing living patterns.
Helpful pedagogical tools guide students as they learn
- NEW! Learning outcomes for Visions of America encapsulate the authors’ major pedagogical goals. Further, these learning outcomes help instructors articulate exactly what students are learning in the course, as well as demonstrate that students have actually acquired this knowledge. Visions of America’s learning outcomes are:
- Images as History: Students will be able to contextualize and evaluate the historical meaning and significance of a wide range of visual images.
- Choices and Consequences: Students will have gained an understanding of human agency through the choices that individuals and/or groups have made and the consequences of those decisions for American history.
- Competing Visions: Students will have learned how to interpret evidence to analyze the essential competing visions that have shaped political, social, economic, and cultural life throughout American history.
- Historical Literacy: Students will be able to demonstrate knowledge of the key events, people, institutions, and chronology of U.S. history.
- Historical Argument: Students will be capable of formulating historical arguments that take into account Americans’ competing visions and draw upon written and visual historical evidence.
- NEW! Each chapter has been updated to include chapter-level learning objectives that connect the material in each chapter to the text’s overall learning outcomes.
- NEW! Review questions at the end of each subsection allow students to pause and apply what they’ve learned, facilitating deeper comprehension and retention.
- At the end of each chapter, a Chapter Review section enables students to go over what they’ve just read, bolstering understanding and retention. The Chapter Review includes the following elements:
- A visual summary of key events
- NEW! Thought-provoking review questions
- NEW! A second instance of the chapter-specific learning objectives presented earlier in the chapter
- Key terms with definitions and page references
- NEW! Why It Matters videos succinctly outline the historical importance of the era covered in the chapter
Superior assignability and tracking tools help educators make sure students are completing their reading and understanding core concepts
- REVEL’s assignment calendar allows educators to indicate precisely which readings must be completed on which dates. This clear, detailed schedule helps students stay on task by eliminating any ambiguity as to which material will be covered during each class. And when students know what is expected of them, they're better motivated to keep up.
- REVEL’s performance dashboard lets educators monitor class assignment completion as well as individual student achievement. It offers actionable information that helps educators intersect with their students in meaningful ways, such as points earned on quizzes and tests and time on task. Of particular note, the trending column reveals whether students' grades are improving or declining – which helps educators identify students who might need help to stay on track.
- Revel was designed to give students everything they need, all in one integrated digital learning environment. But if students wish to order a print version of their Revel program, they can do so from directly within Revel after purchase for a small fee at any time during the course. We offer this option in order to facilitate successful learning outcomes for students with varied learning styles.
- Integrated within the narrative, interactives empower students to engage with concepts and take an active role in learning. REVEL™'s unique presentation of media as an intrinsic part of course content brings the hallmark features of Pearson's bestselling titles to life. REVEL's media interactives have been designed to be completed quickly, so students stay focused and on task.
- Videos integrated throughout Visions of America engage students in learning, boosting comprehension and retention.
- Introductory videos featuring the authors–in each chapter opener and at the beginning of every major chapter subsection–set the stage for the coverage to come and highlight relevant competing visions and key images.
- Why It Matters videos help students evaluate the overall importance of a particular era in American history.
- Think about It videos investigate key historical questions.
- Located throughout REVEL, quizzing affords students opportunities to check their understanding at regular intervals before moving on.
- REVEL’s integrated writing tools enable educators to introduce writing — among the best ways to foster and assess critical thinking — into the course without significantly impacting their grading burden. Self-paced Journaling Prompts throughout the narrative encourage students to express their thoughts without breaking stride in their reading. Assignable Shared Writing Activities direct students to share written responses with classmates, fostering peer discussion. And Essay Prompts integrated into each chapter enable instructors to assign both auto-graded and instructor-graded writing activities around specific Visions of America content.
- REVEL’s fully mobile learning experience enables students to read and interact with course material on the devices they use, anywhere and anytime. Responsive design allows students to access REVEL on their tablet devices and smart phones, with content displayed clearly in both portrait and landscape view.
- Highlighting, note taking, and a glossary let students read and study however they like. Educators can add notes for students, too, including reminders or study tips.
An innovative approach to analyzing images brings history to life
- UPDATED! A visual narrative helps students develop key analytical skills. Historical images–many new to the third edition–are displayed throughout the text imaginatively and analyzed to reveal how they were used to express opinions, shape perceptions, and influence policy. The authors integrate these images throughout the historical narrative, rather than presenting them as secondary to the text. In REVEL, many of the included historical images are enhanced to enable a more interactive exploration.
- UPDATED! Visually engaging maps, graphs, and charts–many of which are new to the third edition–make data accessible and provide geographical context.
Helpful pedagogical tools guide students as they learn
- Learning outcomes for Visions of America encapsulate the authors’ major pedagogical goals. Further, these learning outcomes help instructors articulate exactly what students are learning in the course, as well as demonstrate that students have actually acquired this knowledge. Visions of America’s learning outcomes are:
- Images as History: Students will be able to contextualize and evaluate the historical meaning and significance of a wide range of visual images.
- Choices and Consequences: Students will have gained an understanding of human agency through the choices that individuals and/or groups have made and the consequences of those decisions for American history.
- Competing Visions: Students will have learned how to interpret evidence to analyze the essential competing visions that have shaped political, social, economic, and cultural life throughout American history.
- Historical Literacy: Students will be able to demonstrate knowledge of the key events, people, institutions, and chronology of U.S. history.
- Historical Argument: Students will be capable of formulating historical arguments that take into account Americans’ competing visions and draw upon written and visual historical evidence.
- Each chapter has been updated to include chapter-level learning objectives that connect the material in each chapter to the text’s overall learning outcomes.
- Review questions at the end of each subsection allow students to pause and apply what they’ve learned, facilitating deeper comprehension and retention.
- The Chapter Review section, which enables students to go over what they’ve just read, has been newly updated to include the following elements:
- Thought-provoking review questions
- A second instance of the chapter-specific learning objectives presented earlier in the chapter
- A Why It Matters box that succinctly outlines the historical importance of the era covered in the chapter
Superior assignability and tracking tools help educators make sure students are completing their reading and understanding core concepts
- REVEL’s assignment calendar allows educators to indicate precisely which readings must be completed on which dates. This clear, detailed schedule helps students stay on task by eliminating any ambiguity as to which material will be covered during each class. And when students know what is expected of them, they're better motivated to keep up.
- REVEL’s performance dashboard lets educators monitor class assignment completion as well as individual student achievement. It offers actionable information that helps educators intersect with their students in meaningful ways, such as points earned on quizzes and tests and time on task. Of particular note, the trending column reveals whether students' grades are improving or declining — which helps educators identify students who might need help to stay on track.
- Revel was designed to give students everything they need, all in one integrated digital learning environment. But if students wish to order a print version of their Revel program, they can do so from directly within Revel after purchase for a small fee at any time during the course. We offer this option in order to facilitate successful learning outcomes for students with varied learning styles.
Table of contents
1. People in Motion: The Atlantic World to 1590
2. Models of Settlement: English Colonial Societies, 1590-1710
3. Growth, Slavery, and Conflict: Colonial America, 1710-1763
4. Revolutionary America: Change and Transformation, 1764-1783
5. A Virtuous Republic: Creating a Workable Government, 1783-1789
6. The New Republic: An Age of Political Passion, 1789-1800
7. Jeffersonian America: An Expanding Empire of Liberty, 1800-1824
8. Democrats and Whigs: Democracy and American Culture, 1820-1840
9. Workers, Farmers, and Slaves: The Transformation of the American Economy, 1815-1848
10. Revivalism, Reform, and Artistic Renaissance, 1820-1850
11. "To Overspread the Continent": Westward Expansion and Political Conflict, 1840-1848
12. Slavery and Sectionalism: The Political Crisis of 1848-1861
13. A Nation Torn Apart: The Civil War, 1861-1865
14. Now That We Are Free: Reconstruction and the New South, 1863-1890
15. Conflict and Conquest: The Transformation of the West, 1860-1900
16. Wonder and Woe: The Rise of Industrial America, 1865-1900
17. Becoming a Modern Society: America in the Gilded Age, 1877-1900
18. Creating a Democratic Paradise: The Progressive Era, 1895-1915
19. Imperial America: The United States in the World, 1890-1914
20. The Great War: World War I, 1914-1918
21. A Turbulent Decade: The Twenties
22. A New Deal for America: The Great Depression, 1929-1940
23. World War II: Fighting the Good War, 1939-1945
24. A Divided World: The Early Cold World, 1945-1963
25. In a Land of Plenty: Contentment and Discord, 1945-1960
26. A Nation Divided: The Vietnam War, 1945-1975
27. A Decade of Discord: The Challenge of the 1960s
28. Righting a Nation Adrift: America in the 1970s and 1980s
29. Building a New World Order: The United States, 1989-2015
Author bios
Jennifer D. Keene is a Professor of History and chair of the History Department at Chapman University in Orange, California. Dr. Keene has published three books on the American involvement in the First World War: Doughboys, the Great War and the Remaking of America (2001); The United States and the First World War (2000); and World War I: The American Soldier Experience (2011). She has received numerous fellowships for her research, including a Mellon Fellowship, a National Research Council Postdoctoral Award, and Fulbright Senior Scholar Awards to Australia and France. Her articles have appeared in the Annales de Démographie Historique, Peace & Change, the Journal of Contemporary History, Intelligence and National Security, Military Psychology, The Historian, and the Journal of American History. Dr. Keene was an associate editor for the Encyclopedia of War and American Society (2005), which won the Society of Military History's prize for best reference book. She has served as a historical consultant for exhibits and films, and as an associate editor of the Journal of First World War Studies. She is also a general editor for the "19141918-online," a peer-reviewed online encyclopedia at http://www.1914-1918-online.net/, a major digital humanities project.
Saul Cornell is the Paul and Diane Guenther Chair in American History at Fordham University in New York. Professor Cornell has also taught at Ohio State University, the College of William and Mary, Leiden University in the Netherlands, and has been a visiting scholar at Yale Law School and the University of Connecticut Law School. He is the author of A Well Regulated Militia: The Founding Fathers and the Origins of Gun Control (Langum Prize in Legal History) and The Other Founders: Anti-Federalism and the Dissenting Tradition in America, 1788-1828 (Society of the Cincinnati Book Prize), both of which were nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. His articles have appeared in the Journal of American History, the William and Mary Quarterly, American Studies, Law and History Review, the Yale Law Journal, and dozens of leading law reviews. His work has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court and several state supreme courts. He is a contributor to The Oxford Handbook of the U.S. Constitution. He lectures widely on topics in legal and constitutional history and the use of visual materials to teach American history.
Edward T. O'Donnell is an Associate Professor of History at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. He taught previously at Hunter College, City University of New York. He is the author of Ship Ablaze: The Tragedy of the Steamboat General Slocum (Random House, 2003) and Henry George and the Crisis of Inequality: Progress and Poverty in the Gilded Age (Columbia University Press, 2015). His articles have appeared in the Journal of Urban History, the Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, and The Public Historian. He is also very active in the field of public history, curating exhibits and consulting at institutions such as the Lower East Side Tenement Museum and the New York Historical Society. Since 2002, he has worked with more than fifty Teaching American History grant programs across the country, offering lectures and workshops for middle and high school teachers.