First published 1998
This collection assembles original letters, diary entries, speeches, trial records, and newspaper articles from America's formative centuries. Pulitzer Prize winner David Brion Davis and Steven Mintz gathered documents that capture opposing perspectives on pivotal moments. Readers encounter Benjamin Franklin's correspondence, Thomas Jefferson's private thoughts, George Washington's reflections, and Frederick Douglass's testimony alongside voices of ordinary citizens, slaves, masters, loyalists, and patriots. The compilation spans from Columbus's encounters with Native Americans through the Missouri Crisis, covering the Stamp Act protests, the Declaration's creation, the Whiskey Rebellion, the Mexican War, and John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry. These authentic voices illuminate how Americans experienced the events that forged their nation, offering multiple viewpoints on each historical moment rather than a single narrative perspective.
Genres: history, non-fiction, american-history
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: historical-documents, multiple-perspectives
Setting: America, United States
Period: 18th Century, 19th Century
608 pages · Hardcover · Oxford University Press