American Economic History

This book is very good with the history of the economy from the start of the colonies to the present but does not cover all that I need for my class so I have had to borrwo from my instructor another book.

This is a wonderful textbook for anyone looking to teach a course on economic history of the United States. For just general reading I would recommend Gordon's An Empire of Wealth but for others looking to teach or do an independent study this is a must. It clearly lays out all the developments in our economy very carefully and does a wonderful job of discussing current and relevant literature so you can specialize in the areas that you wish to look at further.

American Economic History is a challenging, extensive, and complete economic history of the United States from the establishment of the Jamestown settlement to modern economic issues and trends. Hughes and Cain give an overview appropriate to the college upper classman or graduate student. The book does a particularly fine job of discussing and analyzing the slavery question that, for the most part, led to the Civil War and the various causes, such as the Stock Market Crash of 1929, that led to the Great Depression. The authors survey the various strains of thought on most of the central economic issues in American History: sometimes giving the most logical view(s) as based on the emperical evidence available to the economist-historian. In addition, to being, generally, well written and accurate, the text lends itself to a short or moderate length essay as a means of evaluation.