Review of These United States: The Questions of Our Past Essay

Review of These United States: The Questions of Our Past The textbook I am reviewing is These United States: The Questions of Our Past, by Irwin Unger with the historical portraits and documents by Debi Unger, Prentice Hall publishing with last publication date being 1995. This text is written by one single author and not by a committee. This is the sixth edition of this book so the author has made significant changes to its historical context and the general styling of the book. His focus was to address not only the "political, diplomatic, and military events" but also "social, cultural, and economic events and currents" (Irwin Unger, preface xiv). He attempts to include all human aspects of these events by integrating women and men of all culture, race, religion, economic stature, and age. The text is set up chronologically separated by individual chapters, the chapters are not grouped together to form one specific unit. At the beginning of each chapter it has the title, a timeline of events for that period and then a question. The purpose of the question is to get the students to think about it as they read the chapter, encouraging them to engage in active thinking as they read. Some of the questions ask for a decisive answer, such as was this event a failure or a success, hoping to receive conflicting answers at the end. Others simply question why were things they were and why would people feel this way. I feel these questions are effective in encouraging students to think outside of the way the information is being presented to them. There does not seem to be a correct answer for any of them, which then eliminates a certain bias. It forces the students to think in an historical perspective rather than thei... ... in a religious or political bias, but more one of his personal admiration or distaste for certain historical figures. He often times uses superfluous adjectives to make a certain event seem more dramatic and emotional, not to the extent that it hinders the information, but is still obvious to the reader. Overall I was impressed with this text. It was difficult for me to find an inaccurate historical event because I found myself learning about topics I had never heard of before. His ability to incorporate the little picture with the big made for informative chapters, with more context than an ordinary textbook would have. Compared to other textbooks I have encountered, this one addresses facts, stories, the "little people" and diversity in a way that none is more important than the other and encourages us to criticize and also appreciate the United States.