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Mehrsa's Reviews > These Truths: A History of the United States
These Truths: A History of the United States
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It's hard to write a history of the United States from the beginning to now. Lepore is perfectly suited for the task --she's a great historian and a great writer. The best thing about this American history is that it includes the women and the racial minorities that are usually left out. As such, it's a history of America--warts and all. With so much ground to cover, it would be easy to leave out the incidental players, but as Lepore shows brilliantly, it's impossible to understand America without showing the conflict between America in theory and America in practice.
There is no new history in here and for those who read a lot of history, much of this territory is known. What I thought was missing from the book is a sense of theme or even a few threads to follow. If there are any, perhaps it is communication technology and maybe race? I was hoping for more, which is why I was a bit disappointed by the book. But it is an excellent survey of American history--it's written well and to my ears at least, very fairly.
There is no new history in here and for those who read a lot of history, much of this territory is known. What I thought was missing from the book is a sense of theme or even a few threads to follow. If there are any, perhaps it is communication technology and maybe race? I was hoping for more, which is why I was a bit disappointed by the book. But it is an excellent survey of American history--it's written well and to my ears at least, very fairly.
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October 11, 2018
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October 11, 2018
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Ryan
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rated it 5 stars
Oct 17, 2018 06:19AM
The theme is the United States slowly living up to the Enlightenment ideals (these truths) embodied in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. The abolition of slavery, women’s suffrage, and civil rights were all won on the principles of liberty, equality, reason, and free speech, which fights constantly against the forces of religiosity, intolerance, authoritarianism, and racism.
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I think the biggest theme is the Constitutional question over who is represented: who is a "citizen," who is a "person": This connects here discussions of African-Americans, women, and corporations.Another biggie is the manipulation of public opinion. The stuff about Campaigns, Inc., is disturbing and represents the origins of the world we live in now.
