American History and Science

Need a quick fix on major events in American history? For readers who want the facts as opposed to the myth of Pocahontas, or who've forgotten the gist of the XYZ Affair or the year of the Montgomery bus boycott, it's all here-200 major events in American history, beginning around 40,000 B.C. with the first immigrants, and ending with "the first war of the 21st century," in Afghanistan. There is distinct attention given to women's and multicultural history (the 1848 Seneca Falls convention on women's rights is included, as is the founding of the NAACP). The entries range from one to three pages (a little too brief sometimes-e.g., the entry on the Domino Theory doesn't fully explain the significance of its analogy). But Axelrod, author of 60 books (including the four-volume Encyclopedia of the American West) provides the basic facts and a bit of context, explaining, for instance, the radical nature of the Homestead Act and the divisiveness created by the Rosenberg case. This is a handy reference book that, with its chronological organization, is easy to use.

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