Liberty in America, 1600 to the present
By: Oscar and Lilian Handlin.
Contributors: Handlin, Lilian.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Harper & Row
Published: 1986
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Subjects: United States -- Politics and government; United States -- History
Description: This is the first volume of a majestic work which tells the story of liberty in America- from the first European settlers to today. It is history on the grand scale written by one of America's most accomplished historians, in collaboration with his historian wife, and it's clearly a book of outstanding interest and importance. It is also a book about people- all sorts of people as they struggled to survive, as they felt fear and love, as they worked to get ahead, and as they became aware of rights and began to understand the meaning of liberty: not just governors and ministers, but also scamps and scoundrels and, above all, ordinary folk who went above their lives in wildness or in societies just emerging from it. The first volume shows how the New World repeatedly frustrated schemes to transfer European ways of organizing power, how practical necessities showed that government functioned well only when those who were ruled consented to obey. This new awareness molded a new type of person, the American, marked by a preference for innovation, a willingness to take risks, and the ability to stand somewhat apart from the community. Well before 1776, when theory caught up with reality, the people of the colonies had discovered the meaning of liberty. This book comes at a time when the birth of liberty in America has renewed relevance to the issues of today, when this intimate and revealing exploration of colonial America helps to illuminate the dilemmas of the present.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
"A Cornelia & Michael Bessie book."
Table of contents: title: v. 1. Liberty and power, 1600-1760; title: v. 2. Liberty in expansion, 1760-1850; title: v. 3. Liberty in peril, 1850-1920; title: Liberty and equality, 1920-1994.