| Comment | This is Paul F. Boller's and Ronald Story's amazing book A More Perfect Union - Documents in U.S. History - Volume 1: to 1877 (1988) which presents key documents chosen to provide students with the original words of speeches, political and legal writings, and literature that reflected, precipitated, and implemented developments and events during America's past four centuries. The readings in Volume I cover the era from the founding of the Virginia and Massachusetts Bay colonies to Reconstruction; Volume II begins with the post-Civil War period, repeating some of the first volume's final readings, and concludes with selections that concern contemporary issues. This reader provides a wealth of political and diplomatic primary source documents, many selections illustrated with photographs. Influential and famous readings include the Gettysburg Address, Earl Warren's opinion in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, and the writings of Upton Sinclair. Headnotes place the document in historical context and Questions to Consider get students thinking. Story and Boller compiled a varied set of source documents for the current student of American history. The documents highlight key events and issues in the development of the country. Written in the tones of those times, they give the reader a useful, though admittedly partial, insight into the events that shaped America. 275 pages, many pictures. A must read for everyone. |
