These United States: A Nation in the Making, 1890 to the Present - Hardcover

"[A] timely, remarkable new survey of America since 1890 ... required reading." -- Eric Herschthal - Slate "A tour de force: brilliantly conceived, elegantly written, and consistently insightful." -- Peniel Joseph, author of Stokely: A Life "This marvelous book weaves together a sweeping yet strikingly intimate narrative of the nation's century-long struggle to make real its founding promise. It is learned, passionate history, expertly told." -- Kevin Boyle, author of Arc of Justice "An invigorating, inspiring, much-needed exploration of the 'American Century.'" -- Beverly Gage, author of The Day Wall Street Exploded "Ambitious, wise, and briskly told...essential reading for anyone who cares about the course and fate of the nation." -- Michael Kazin, author of American Dreamers "A pleasure to read, These United States offers a consistent interpretation of our history, explaining our strengths and the origins of our problems." -- Linda Gordon, coauthor of Feminism Unfinished "Written by two of our most innovative historians, this beautifully realized volume stimulates thought, informs with great clarity, and advances the craft of historical synthesis." -- Ira Katznelson, author of Fear Itself "This vigorous narrative shows how the debates and decisions of the twentieth century shape those we face in the twenty-first... Combines a novelistic grasp of individual stories with the broad sweep of change across time." -- Jacquelyn Dowd Hall, coauthor of Like a Family

Acclaimed historians Glenda Elizabeth Gilmore and Thomas J. Sugrue forge the panoramic and the personal into an authoritative narrative history of America in the twentieth century. They give us insightful accounts of the century's large events-war, prosperity and depression, astute leadership and arrogant power, and the rise and decline of a broad middle class-grounding the history in the stories of everyday Americans. The history begins and ends in periods of concentrated wealth, with immigration roiling politics and racial divisions flaring. Gilmore and Sugrue frame key questions-on how far American democracy has come, and whether the postwar decades' prosperity and global power are a culmination of the American Century or the exception in a long history of economic and political division-by drawing the illuminating connections characteristic of the best historical writing.