These United States

July 27, 2015
Embodying the latest consensus interpretations and approaches of historians of the modern U.S., this book from historians Gilmore (Yale) and Sugrue (University of Pennsylvania) surveys the long 20th century in America. Its inclusion of many topics not usually taught in schools until very recently—including studies related to poverty, labor, African-Americans, immigrants, and women—makes it relevant to today’s readers. Yet the major topics it addresses are altogether conventional, beginning with Woodrow Wilson, continuing through the New Deal, and ending with Barack Obama’s presidency. The authors don’t flinch from offering unblushing left-liberal takes on the 13 decades they cover. The trouble is that the book’s audience isn’t clear. Designed in short sections (some a mere half-page long), the work has the aspect of a survey textbook fit for course assignments. It’s publicized as containing sketches of typical Americans, but these are short, rare, and discontinuous. They seldom affect the conventional inclusion of major historical figures and subjects that a book like this must cover. And “a nation in the making”? Didn’t that start in 1789? This is a solid, authoritative examination of a recognizable American nation but not strikingly different from others of its kind.