A History of Us, Book 5: Liberty for All (History of Us)

Rating:
Summary: The United States expands as it moves towards Civil War
Review: "Liberty for All? 1820-1860" is the fifth volume in Joy Hakim's "A History of US," and focuses on the question of how slavery could exist in the land of the free. While this book clearly sets up the next volume, "War, Terrible War 1855-1865," which covers the Civil War, it also has some significant overlap with the previous volume, "The New Nation 1780-1850," which ends with the Compromise of 1850 that put off the coming war for a decade. There is not a neat and simple way of dividing up American history when covering the first half of the 19th-century, so it is not like there is an obvious solution to Hakim's problems of deciding where to end one book and begin the next.

Whereas "The New Nation" looks primarily at the on going political experiment that saw the creation of parties and the peaceful transition from Federalists to Democratic-Republicans, "Liberty for All?" is more about the slavery question in the context of the young nation's expanasion. The volume begins with the story of Westward expansion along the Sante Fe trail and other routes and ends with the story of the Underground Railroad. In between Hakim tells young readers about Mormons moving to Utah, Texas joining the Union, and gold being discovered in California. Opening up Japan to American trade and the Seneca Falls conference on the Rights of Women are also part of this period of American history.

This volume covers a lot of different topics from this time period. "The New Nation" has a much clearer sense of structure because it follows the administrations of the first presidents, but I think you can see four significant units in this book. The first (Chapters 1-20) deals with all the myriad aspects of western expansion, from the Mississippi to the west coast and beyond to Japan. The second (Chapters 21-26) focuses on the conditions faced by women and children during this time. The third (Chapters 27-31) focuses on the impact of the transcendentalists on philosophy and literature, from Thoreau and Melville to Whitman and Dickinson (including some choice poems) as well as Aubudon and Caitlin. The final section (Chatpers 32-38) is rather powerful dealing with the "Amistad" case, the Compromise of 1850, Stephen Douglas's "popular sovereignty" solution, the Dred Scott decision, and the idea that the entire issue of slavery was coming to head.

These books are all richly illustrated, almost exclusively with historic paintings, etching, drawings, cartoons, and the like. The margins are cramed with mini-biographies, definitions, lines of poetry, and suggestions for places where young readers can find more information about a topic. This series has a deserved reputation among parents who are home schooling their children because not only is it very informative, but Hakim makes a concerted effort to engage her young readers. She is constantly asking them to put themselves in the perspective of the people being written about, whether they are pioneers heading over the Rocky Mountains or slaves trying to find their way North to freedom. More importantly, Hakim has an innate ability to anticipate questions from her readers; you can count on her to explain "why" at the point where a student in class would be raising their hand to ask that very question.

Rating:
Summary: Great Series
Review: I bought this series for my wife so she could better understand the history of the US and improve her English language skills in an area of intense interest for her. In the end, I pored over these books and gave my wife little time with them. Written for kids but fabulous for adults with little time. Buy the index and you can find sources if you're interested in diving a little deeper on a particular topic. I hope to keep these books for out future child(ren?) and am sure they will find them intriguing. The series lets us know how magnificent a country we really live in and how dramatic the history really is. With all the turmoil and all the diversity, how do we manage to keep it together? And, there are plenty who take umbrage at the extensive coverage of race and gender equality but they really are at the root of so many of our societal problems, historically speaking.