<p>This fascinating book describes the 300-plus year history of North America, from the landing of the first Spanish explorers until 1871, when American businessmen and politicians finally succeeded in stretching the national border from the Atlantic to the Pacific with the completion of the transcontinental railroad.</p> * Military Heritage *

Prize winning author Jeremy Black traces the competition for control of North America from the landing of Spanish troops under Hernan Cortes in modern Mexico in 1519 to 1871 when, with the Treaty of Washington and the withdrawal of most British garrisons, Britain accepted American mastery in North America. In this wide-ranging narrative, Black makes clear that the process by which America gained supremacy was far from inevitable. The story Black tells is one of conflict, diplomacy, geopolitics, and politics. The eventual result was the creation of a United States of America that stretched from Atlantic to Pacific and dominated North America. The gradual withdrawal of France and Spain, the British accommodation to the expanding U.S. reality, the impact of the American Civil War, and the subjugation of Native peoples, are all carefully drawn out. Black emphasizes contingency not Manifest Destiny, and reconceptualizes American exceptionalism to take note of the pressures and impact of international competition.

Les mer
A sweeping history of nations grappling for control of a continent

Preface and Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
1. Sixteenth-Century Background
2. Creating New Frontiers, 1600-74
3. Britain, France and the Natives, 1674-1715
4. Multiple Currents, 1715-53
5. War for Dominance, 1754-64
6. Britain Triumphant to America Independent, 1765-76
7. Britain Defeated, 1775-83
8. Flexing Muscles, 1783-1811
9. Florida, But Not Canada: From the War of 1812 to the Monroe Doctrine, 1812-1823
10. Expansionism and its Problems, 1823-43
11. From the Oregon Question to the Gadsden Purchase, 1844-53
12. A Great Power in the Making? America, 1853-61
13. America Divided, 1861-63
14. Winning the War, 1863-5
15. Settling the North American Question, 1865-71
16. Postscript, 1871-2010
Conclusions
Notes
Index

Les mer

A sweeping history of nations grappling for control of a continent

Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780253356604
Publisert
2011-09-06
Utgiver
Indiana University Press
Vekt
794 gr
Høyde
229 mm
Bredde
152 mm
Aldersnivå
05, UP
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Antall sider
496

Forfatter

Biografisk notat

Jeremy Black is Professor of History at the University of Exeter. He is author of more than 100 books including War and Technology (IUP, 2013). Black received the Samuel Eliot Morison Prize from the Society for Military History in 2008.