Product Description

The Oxford History of the United States is by far the most respected multi-volume history of our nation. The series includes three Pulitzer Prize winners, a New York Times bestseller, and winners of the Bancroft and Parkman Prizes. Now, in What Hath God Wrought, historian Daniel Walker Howe
illuminates the period from the battle of New Orleans to the end of the Mexican-American War, an era when the United States expanded to the Pacific and won control over the richest part of the North American continent.
Howe's panoramic narrative portrays revolutionary improvements in transportation and communications that accelerated the extension of the American empire. Railroads, canals, newspapers, and the telegraph dramatically lowered travel times and spurred the spread of information. These innovations
prompted the emergence of mass political parties and stimulated America's economic development from an overwhelmingly rural country to a diversified economy in which commerce and industry took their place alongside agriculture. In his story, the author weaves together political and military events
with social, economic, and cultural history. He examines the rise of Andrew Jackson and his Democratic party, but contends that John Quincy Adams and other Whigs--advocates of public education and economic integration, defenders of the rights of Indians, women, and African-Americans--were the true
prophets of America's future. He reveals the power of religion to shape many aspects of American life during this period, including slavery and antislavery, women's rights and other reform movements, politics, education, and literature. Howe's story of American expansion culminates in the bitterly
controversial but brilliantly executed war waged against Mexico to gain California and Texas for the United States.
By 1848 America had been transformed. What Hath God Wrought provides a monumental narrative of this formative period in United States history.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #701 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-29
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 928 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. In the latest installment in the Oxford History of the United States series, historian Howe, professor emeritus at Oxford University and UCLA (The Political Culture of the American Whigs), stylishly narrates a crucial period in U.S. history—a time of territorial growth, religious revival, booming industrialization, a recalibrating of American democracy and the rise of nationalist sentiment. Smaller but no less important stories run through the account: New York's gradual emancipation of slaves; the growth of higher education; the rise of the temperance movement (all classes, even ministers, imbibed heavily, Howe says). Howe also charts developments in literature, focusing not just on Thoreau and Poe but on such forgotten writers as William Gilmore Simms of South Carolina, who helped create the romantic image of the Old South, but whose proslavery views eventually brought his work into disrepute. Howe dodges some of the shibboleths of historical literature, for example, refusing to describe these decades as representing a market revolution because a market economy already existed in 18th-century America. Supported by engaging prose, Howe's achievement will surely be seen as one of the most outstanding syntheses of U.S. history published this decade. 30 photos, 6 maps. (Sept.)
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From Bookmarks Magazine
Both academics and lay readers praised What Hath God Wrought, but they appreciated it for different reasons. It is certainly an exhaustively researched and well-written historical survey—exactly what a volume in the Oxford History Series ought to be. American historians admired its elegant synthesis but also understood that Howe is attempting to lead his readers and colleagues away from the strictly economic explanations that have often dominated writing on this period. Historian Jill Lepore, for example, thought that the change in perspective helps Howe subtly explain many aspects of the period, such as the women's rights movement. Only historian Glenn C. Altschuler believed that Howe has some "axioms to grind" in his reworking of so-called Jacksonian Democracy. Howe's approach also brings nonacademic readers back into the conversation, though at over 900 pages, the book is probably best suited for history buffs.
Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.

Review
"In the latest installment in the Oxford History of the United States series, historian Howe...stylishly narrates a crucial period in U.S. history--a time of territorial growth, religious revival, booming industrialization, a recalibrating of American democracy and the rise of nationalist sentiment.... Supported by engaging prose, Howe's achievement will surely be seen as one of the most outstanding syntheses of U.S. history published this decade."--Publishers Weekly starred review

"What Hath God Wrought is probably the most culturally sensitive political history as well as the best politically informed social history ever written for this transformative period in American history. Its learning is vast, its judgments discerning, and its depiction of both triumphs and weaknesses of American civilization exceedingly well balanced. It is a splendid addition to a splendid series."--Mark A. Noll, University of Notre Dame

"The decades covered by this book wrought a profound transformation in American life. Expansion through annexation, purchase, and conquest doubled the size of the United States. A revolution in communications and transportation tied these vast expanses together and gave the economy a powerful impulse. The Second Great Awakening in American Protestantism generated a host of reform movements that reshaped the political landscape. Daniel Walker Howe has chronicled these progressive but unsettling changes in an exciting narrative that offers important new insights on these crucial decades."--James M. McPherson, author of Battle Cry of Freedom

"The product of a lifetime of learning, this spirited book will captivate general readers and spark controversy among historians. Challenging standard accounts, Howe argues that many of those maligned as elitists championed the rights of women, African Americans, and Indians and that the animating principle of Andrew Jackson's mythic Democratic party was the extension of white-male supremacy across the continent. Both a panoramic overview and a vivid, nuanced account of particular individuals and incidents in domains stretching from religious practices and political shenanigans to social reform and technological innovation, What Hath God Wrought reflects Howe's mastery of the sources and his deep engagement with rival interpretations of these pivotal years."--James T. Kloppenberg, Harvard University

"A compelling new interpretation of the historical foundations of modern America in the decades before 1850."--Kathryn Kish Sklar, author of The Emergence of Women's Rights within the Antislavery Movement

"The range of American history between 1815 and 1848 does not conjure up any clear narrative to the casual reader, which is precisely why Daniel Walker Howe's What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America 1815-1848 promises to make a splash. An expert in the field, Mr. Howe has skillfully framed a story, between the War of 1812 and the Mexican-American War, that becomes eloquent once you think about it. Lauded by other historians as an important yet accessible landmark, Mr. Howe's study promises odd new angles on America in an election year."--The New York Sun

"What Hath God Wrought is both a capacious narrative of a tumultuous era in American history and a heroic attempt at synthesizing a century and a half of historical writing about Jacksonian democracy, antebellum reform, and American expansion."--The New Yorker

"This authoritative addition to Oxford's "History of the United States" series is a product of synthesis and astute analysis...A worthy addition to public and academic institutions; beginning scholars will appreciate the maps and the extensive bibliographic essay, fleshed out by the journal citations in the footnotes. Highly recommended."--Frederick J. Augustyn Jr., Library of Congress, Library Journal

"A comprehensive, richly detailed, and elegantly written account of the republic between the War of 1812 and the American victory in Mexico a generation later...a masterpiece."--The Atlantic

"Where public memory-and high-school history teachers-have failed, UCLA history professor Daniel Walker Howe succeeds with What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848."--Willamette Week