3 Review(s)

A bestseller when it was first published in 1883, this second volume of historian John Bach McMaster's magnum opus is a lively history of the United States that is as entertaining as it is informative. Eventually stretching to eight volumes, McMaster's epic was original in its emphasis on social and economic conditions as deciding factors in shaping a nation's culture: in addition to the words and actions of great men and the outcomes of significant skirmishes and battles, McMaster indulges his obsession with fascinating trivia, from the positively European cleanliness of New England inns to the uncouth rudeness of theatergoers in American playhouses. Volume 2, covering the rise of the South in the immediate postwar period to the embarkation of Lewis and Clark on their legendary expedition, is a compulsively readable account of the early years of the new nation, and covers such intriguing and unlikely topics as how the new nation's postal laws impacted the readership of newspapers, the furious arguments of the federal government's relationship with France, the difficulties in introducing U.S. currency, and more. OF INTEREST TO: readers of American history