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Vacation 2 USA
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The Alamo
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Busch Gardens Africa
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History
Humans are believed to have first reached North America around 20,000 years ago,
by crossing the Bering land bridge from Asia. These people
settled and became the indigenous inhabitants of the Americas prior to the arrival
of the Europeans.
The first European settlement in North America was established by
Leif Erikson and the Vikings in 1000 AD, in what is today
Newfoundland. However, this colony did
not last for long, and it was several hundred years before
Europeans reached the continent again. It has also been
claimed that muslim explorers from
Spain
or Northwest Africa may have reached the
continent, but this claim remains disputed.
The first European that is certain to have reached United States territory
is Christopher Columbus
who landed in Puerto Rico in
1492.
Following Columbus, more and more Europeans began to arrive in
the Americas, and the first expedition to what is not the continental
United states was made by the Spaniard, Juan Ponce de León
who is known to have explored
Florida in 1513.
As the Americas were gradually explored, a variety of European countries
including
Denmark,
France,
Great Britain,
Netherlands,
Portugal,
Spain and
Sweden,
began to establish permanent colonies in the New World. In North America,
the most successful of these was
Great Britain,
which by the end of the Seven Years War (known in the US as the "French and Indian War")
had conquered most of the French territory in North America.
However, with the removal of the French military threat, disputes began to arise
between
Great Britain
and her colonists over issues like taxation.
These disputes eventually culiminated in
American Revolution (1775 to 1783) which resulted in
the formation of the United States from 13 former
British colonies which had won their independence in the Revolutionary War.
Additional lands were gradually acquired by the US from
France,
Spain,
the United Kingdom
and
Mexico, and within
a century, the United States stretched across the entire North American continent.
In 1867,
Alaska was purchased from
Russia.
Further terroritorial acquistions followed with the annexation of
Hawaii (1898), and following the Spanish-American
war, of
Puerto Rico. The final major addition to the
US was the purchase of the
Virgin Islands from
Denmark in
1917.
The US has not been without difficulties during its history, the most noteable of these being the
American Civil War (1861 to 1865) which was fought over the issues of slavery and states' rights.
In the American Civil War, a large (Southern) part of the country, tried (ultimately unsuccessfully)
to secede from the Union in an attempt to prevent the abolition of slavery, as well as to main and increase the individual states'
rights.
In the 20th century, the US participated in both World Wars, and was on the victorious side in both
conflicts. Following the end of World War II, the US engaged for over 40 years in a political, economic
and military conflict with the USSR, known as the Cold War.
Today, the US is the most powerful country in the world, both economically and militarily,
and US cultural influences can be seen all over the world in food, music, movies and the arts.
Despite this, the US is today not without challenges, most notably the threat of terrorism, which
was dramatically brought to the world's attention with the terrorist attacks of
September 11th
2001.
For more detailed history on any state or territory, please select:
Here are some books about the history of the United States:
Disclosure: Products details and descriptions provided by Amazon.com. Our company may receive a payment if you purchase products from them after following a link from this website.
By Daniel John McInerney
Interlink Publishing Group
Paperback (459 pages)
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By Ilan Stavans
Basic Books
Released: 2000-09-05
Hardcover (192 pages)
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A carnivalesque yet serious cartoon history of the Latino experience in the U.S.-irreverent, sweeping, political, and very funny. Latino USA represents the culmination of Ilan Stavans's lifelong determination to meet the challenges of capturing the joys, nuances, and multiple dimensions of Latino culture within the context of the English language. In this cartoon history of Latinos, Stavans seeks to combine the solemnity of so-called "serious literature" and history with the inherently theatrical and humorous nature of the comics. The range of topics includes Columbus, Manifest Destiny, the Alamo, William Carlos Williams, Desi Arnaz, West Side Story, Castro, Guevera, the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Neruda, Garca Mrquez, the Mariel Boatlift, and Selena. Stavans represents Hispanic civilization as a fiesta of types, archetypes, and stereotypes. These "clich figurines" include a toucan (displayed regularly in books by Garca Mrquez, Allende, and others), the beloved Latino comedian Cantinflas (known as "the Hispanic Charlie Chaplin"), a masked wrestler, and Captain America. These multiple, at times contradictory voices, each narrating various episodes of Latino history from a unique perspective, combine to create a carnivalesque rhythm, democratic and impartial. For, as Stavans states, "History, of course, is a kaleidoscope where nothing is absolute." Latino USA, like the history it so entertainingly relates, is a dazzling kaleidoscope of irreverence, wit, subversion, anarchy, politics, humanism, celebration, and serious and responsible history. |
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By Hugh Brogan
Penguin (Non-Classics)
Released: 2001-10-30
Paperback (752 pages)
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"A superb piece of work . . . written with grace and style." (The Sunday Times, London)
Hugh Brogan's The Penguin History of the USA has established itself as the definitive and most readable work available on America. It brilliantly captures the dynamic events and personalities that shaped the nation's triumphant progress to global superpower: in Brogan's words, "for good and evil, a power and civilization that surpasses . . . all empires of the past." In this new edition, Brogan makes numerous revisions to earlier chapters, taking into account the most up-to-date research into American history. |
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By Robert Brent Toplin
University Press of Kansas
Paperback (336 pages)
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Challenging audiences and leaving critics in disarray, the films of Oliver Stone have compelled viewers to reexamine many of their most revered beliefs about America's past. Like no other filmmaker, Stone has left an indelible mark on public opinion and political life, even as he has generated enormous controversy and debate among those who take issue with his dramatic use of history. This book brings Stone face-to-face with some of his most thoughtful critics and supporters and allows Stone himself ample room to respond to their views. Featuring such luminaries as David Halberstam, Stephen Ambrose, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., Walter LaFeber, and Robert Rosenstone, these writers critique Stone's most contested films to show how they may distort, amplify, or transcend the historical realities they appear to depict. These essays--on Salvador, Platoon, Wall Street, Born on the Fourth of July, The Doors, JFK, Heaven and Earth, Natural Born Killers, and Nixon--enlarge our understanding of Stone's films, while also giving us a fuller appreciation of the filmmaker as artist and intellectual. They reveal how Stone's experience in Vietnam colors his views of American government and corporate culture and suggest new ways of looking at the complex tensions between art and history that shape Stone's films. In response, Stone offers an articulate and passionate defense of his artistic vision. Disavowing once and for all the mantle of "cinematic historian," Stone declares himself first and foremost a storyteller, a dramatist and mythmaker who deliberately refashions historical facts in pursuit of higher truths. The undeniable centerpiece of this artistic manifesto is Stone's fascinating commentary on the making and meanings of JFK, the film that reopened a case that many thought finally closed. A provocative and timely reexamination of a great American artist, Oliver Stone's USA will also reignite public debate over the relationship between history and art as well as the artist's responsibility to his audience. |
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By Jeffrey L. Meikle
Oxford University Press, USA
Paperback (252 pages)
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From the Cadillac to the Apple Mac, the skyscraper to the Tiffany Lampshade, the world in which we live has been profoundly influenced for over a century by the work of American designers. But the product is only the end of a story that is full of fascinating questions. What has been the social and cultural role of design in American society? To produce useful things that consumers need? Or to persuade them to buy things they don't need? Where does the designer stand in all of this? And how has the role of design in America changed over time, since the early days of the young Republic? Jeffrey Meikle explores the underlying history of American design spanning over two centuries, from the elite designs for the rich of the early nineteenth century, through the era of industrialization and the mass production of the "machine age," to the information-based society of the present, covering everything from the Arts and Crafts movement to Art Deco, modernism to post-modernism, the MOMA to the Tupperware bowl. Beautifully illustrated, Design in America also includes suggestions for further reading, a timeline, and a list of relevant museums and web sites. It is an excellent source of information for anyone seeking to uncover the imagination and industry behind American design. |
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By Terry Deary
Scholastic Hippo
Paperback (192 pages; 1)
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The Horrible History of the USA is bulging with the nastiest and meanest moments in American history since cruel Chris Columbus first sighted land...What to know: Which president was so scared of electric switches, he slept with the light on? Why Cowboys declared war on sheep? How to survive a civil battle? Read on for ghastly details on the grim Pilgrim Fathers, find out the truth about Bill the Kid and Calamity Jane, and see if you could have survived on the American Plains. History has never been so horrible! |
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By Stephen Irving Max Schwab
University Press of Kansas
Hardcover (367 pages)
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Established as America's first foreign naval base following the Spanish-American War, Guantánamo is now more often thought of as our Devil's Island, the gulag of our times. This book takes readers beyond the orange-jumpsuited detainees of today's headlines to provide the first comprehensive history of Guantánamo from its origins to the present. Occupying 45 square miles of land and sea, Guantánamo has for more than a century symbolized the imperial impulse within U.S. foreign policy, and its occupation is decried by Cuba as a violation of inter-national law--even though a treaty legally grants the U.S. a lease in perpetuity. Stephen Schwab now describes the base's role in American, Caribbean, and global history, explaining how it came to be, why it's still there, and how it continues to serve a variety of purposes. Schwab views the base's creation as part of a broad U.S. strategy of annexations, protectorates, and limited interventions devised to create a strong sphere of influence in the western Atlantic. He charts its history from this early belief that it would prevent European powers from staking imperial claims in the Caribbean and examines the crucial defensive role that Guantánamo played as a convoy hub for strategic goods during World War II. He then looks at clashes over Guantánamo during the Cold War, culminating in LBJ's decision to make the base independent by firing Cuban workers and building a desalinization plant. Schwab also fleshes out Guantánamo's ongoing roles as the U.S. Navy's lone forward base in the Caribbean, providing refueling for U.S. and allied ships, as a Coast Guard station engaged in search-and-rescue missions and counternarcotics operations, and as a U.S. facility for processing undocumented aliens. Even though the Castro government persistently protests America's presence--and refuses even to bank the rent that the U.S. dutifully pays--Guantánamo remains the only place where diplomatic exchanges between the two countries occur, and Schwab documents how the facility has served mutual interests as both a point of nationalistic frictions and a center for diplomatic compromise. By presenting Guantánamo's story within its broader historical framework, his book gives readers a greater appreciation of America's true stake in this controversial Caribbean outpost. |
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Oxford University Press, USA
Paperback (416 pages)
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Covering a thousand years of history, this volume tells the story of the creation of Western civilization in Europe and the Mediterranean. Now available in a compact, more convenient format, it offers the same text and many of the illustrations which first appeared in the widely acclaimed Oxford Illustrated History of Medieval Europe. Written by expert scholars and based on the latest research, the book explores a period of profound diversity and change, focusing on all aspects of medieval history from the empires and kingdoms of Charlemagne and the Byzantines to the new nations which fought the Hundred Years War. The Oxford History of the Medieval World also examines such intriguing cultural subjects as the chivalric code of knights, popular festivals, and the proliferation of new art forms, and the catastrophic social effect of the Black Death. Authoritative and eminently readable, this book will entertain as much as it will educate. |
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By Peter Clements
Oxford University Press, USA
Paperback (240 pages)
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The Access to History series is the most popular and trusted series for AS and A level history students. The new editions combine all the strengths of this well-loved series with a new design and features that allow all students access to the content and study skills needed to achieve exam success. This new edition is revised and updated for the new 2008 AS and A2 specifications for AQA and Edexcel. It provides accessible and complete coverage of this period, from the presidential situation in 1890 and the reasons for entering the First World War, to the policies of the New Deal and the impacts of the Second World War. It charts the changing optimism of the time, from the apparent economic stability of the 1920s, the devastation of the Depression, to the optimism under Roosevelt's presidency. Throughout the book key dates, terms and issues are highlighted, and historical interpretations of key debates are outlined. Summary diagrams are included to consolidate knowledge and understanding of the period, and exam-style questions and tips written by examiners for each specification provide the opportunity to develop exam skills. Revised edition for the requirements of the 2008 AQA and Edexcel AS and A2 specifications Study guides written by examiners contain exercises and advice on tackling differentiated exam questions for AS and A2 Level. Contains the latest historical interpretations of themes and issues. Features include: points to consider, key issues and key dates. Features such as key definitions and questions to aid learning. More support with assessment and exam skills. |
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By Editors of Time Magazine
Time
Hardcover (266 pages)
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TIME illuminates the story of America in a fascinating new way in this magnificent volume, which collects the most iconic images in the nation's history. Here are indelible photographs -- from the assassination of John F. Kennedy to the first landing on the moon. Here are breath-taking paintings and fascinating graphics that reveal the changing face of a great nation. And here are unforgettable portraits that capture the most influential people of America's past and present. This wonderful visual tour will help you experience the rich pageant of American history in an entirely new -- and entirely exhilarating -- way. |
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