The American Past: A History of the United States from Concord to the Great Society

I grew up with this book, and am therefore biased by nostalgia. That being said, it's a delightful book packed with illustrations and cartoons which illuminate the American political scene from colonial times to the Great Society. Where else could one see Thomas Jefferson cast as a brandy-soaked anarchist straining to topple the pillars of government, Thomas Nast lambasting Boss Tweed and Horace Greely (and creating the Demo's donkey and the GOP elephant in the process), the 1890s' elaborate political cartoons printed in full color, the NRA eagle shocked in the tailfeathers by its own lightening bolt, and a cornocopia of other engravings, illustrations, cartoons (and photographs from Matthew Brady on) showing that we Americans have always regarded our political leaders as comedic scaliwags. Even revered icons, such as Washington and Lincoln, were viewed with skepticism --if not outright suspicion-- in their day, reflecting their thoroughly human personalities, personalities revived in this delightfully irreverent and completely American book. This book is how I learned--and learned to love--American history, and if it was adapted as an official secondary school history text, the next generation would have better history grades and more history scholars.