Created Equal: A Social and Political History of the United States, Combined Volume

A gorgeously illustrated, eye-catching text that spans the prehistory and history of the region that we now call the United States. When I was growing up in the 1970s, we had several well regarded books on American history. Yet none had the profusion of colour illustrations on almost every page. Students using this as their first text will not notice it, but the book speaks to substantial advances in the lowering cost of colour printing in 30 years. Of course, we have much more than just eye candy here. The illustrations are well integrated into the textual narrative. The text flows with a well polished grace that should draw in the interest of many students. The book does not gloss over various bloody aspects of history. Above all, of slavery. There is extensive description of the human cost of the Middle Passage and the subsequent suffering of plantation life. Relations of the settlers with native tribes are frankly discussed. Several massacres of tribes are mentioned. Yet the book is not an anti-American screed. The common theme is that, however imperfect, the US continued to move in an ever upward and progressive manner. Perhaps the authors could have deigned to include the full text of the Gettysburg Address. A short speech that many consider to be amongst the greatest of American discourses. By contrast, the text has, and quite rightly so, the most memorable excerpts from King's