American History: A Survey

American History has been in publication ever since the first edition was released in 1961. Updated through its 15 editions, the book went from a collaborative effort between three authors to being written solely by Colombia University professor Alan Brinkley. The book’s content is defined by its context as a textbook meant for use in comprehensive high school and college surveys of the major events in American History.

Much of the information presented in the book is purely factual and has required little updating since the first publication. The dates and major players in various wars, the sequence of US presidents, and the cycles of the large-scale economy are examples of such quantifiable, well documented information. In the early years of the book’s publication, these facts were considered the most important aspects of history for students to learn, and a major part of history classes was simply memorization of important dates and characters that helped shape US political history.

In recent decades, a focus on interdisciplinary learning and critical thinking has caused major changes in the way American history is presented in many schools. Learning about how large-scale historical trends affect people in all segments of American society has become popular, following a societal trend toward viewing American history as the history of all people living in the US. American History followed suit with these developments, adding sections about the effects of large-scale issues on marginalized groups as well as sections that prompt students to compare similarities and differences between different time periods. Brinkley’s writing helps students think like historians and consider that each major development in American history was shaped by a complex array of different influences.

As a book dedicated to US history, American History treats the US as the focal point, which—despite efforts to paint a well-rounded picture of American development—sometimes falls into the stereotypical American history textbook trend of treating the country’s growth from colony to global empire as inevitable. However unlike many similar textbooks, the 15th edition does not end with a glowing passage about America’s bright future. Published in 2015, this edition ends during the late years of Obama’s presidency, and the text is honest about growing partisanship and the complex problems that the country faces going forward. This ending reveals Brinkley’s skill as a historian, as the issues he identified became even more pressing just a few years later. Brinkley died in 2019, but the 16th edition of American History will be released in 2023 under his name.