Out of Many: A History of the American People, Volume A: To 1850

This is a great book. The 10 pound hardcover version is beautifully designed and easy to read. The maps are unbeatable. It's a physical masterpiece, worth every penny of the heavy price. You'll miss a lot if you go with the paperback. But the text is a standard neo-revisionist liberal interpretation of American history, and should be read with that in mind. The tone is staid, but the content is often an attempt as persuasion as much as an attempt at education. You should read it side by side with A Patriot's History of the United States by Schweikart and Allen if you want to be a fair and balanced student. This is only slightly to the right of Howard Zinn, but unlike Zinn, Out of Many pretends to be telling the story objectively. At least with Zinn you know you are reading a polemic and he owns up to his over the top bias.

I use this book in school as a student, and it is probably the best book to learn a detailed history of the United States.

As a mid-30s woman who never got into history, I was afraid of this class... the text was excellent- a wonderful experience helping anyone to understand what REALLY happened. Very easy reading with notes on origin of conflicts that were never out in the open (Bay of Pigs... inherited from Eisenhower). Highly recommended.

This book is a great experience for me. Will blow your mind if you really want to know about modern history.

I am a secondary education history major and I use this book in my US history class. I find it to be simply outstanding. It reads like a novel and not like a text book. This is a must have for any history buff.