The American Promise: A History of the United States, Compact Edition, Volume II: From 1865

The book is called a compact edition because it tries to encompass a vast scope in a relatively slim 800 pages. It covers a time when the US struggled to patch itself together after the Civil War, to its emergence as a global power by 1900. And thence into intervening crucially and decisively in two world wars. Plus the protracted struggle of the Cold War. What this means, for example, is that the discussion of the US in the world wars is necessarily abbreviated. Little detail about battles like Midway and Leyte Gulf, except, more or less, to say that they occurred. Instead, the book devotes considerable space to the home front - the domestic American experience of war. It does offer an interesting coverage of the sinking of the Maine, which precipitated the Spanish-American War. The US went to war, blaming Spain for the sinking. But within a few years, that view fell out of favour in the US, with an inquiry concluding that the sinking was accidental. Indeed, most current history books that cover the period offer this as the explanation. However, the book points out another inquiry, decades later, by Adm Rickover, that suggested terrorism. It says that whatever contemporary view might be held also reflects the events of the current period. The most recent events covered by the book are the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. The book was printed shortly thereafter, and little substantive could be added about the events and their consequences.