Why Do You Need This New Edition?
Six good reasons why you should buy this new
Fourteenth Edition of
The American Nation! This edition is tied more closely than ever to the innovative website, MyHistoryLab, which helps
you save time and improve results as you study history (www.myhistorylab.com). Improved
MyHistoryLab icons appear in the textbook, alerting you to important connections between the
textbook and MyHistoryLab resources. At the end of each chapter you will find aMyHistoryLab
Connectionstable. These provide a checklist of the most important MyHistoryLab resources
related to the chapter, facilitating the integrated study of the textbook and the website.
The new edition strengthens the guiding principle of the textbook—to survey American history
in a way that bridges the present and the past, showing the relevance of history to contempo-
rary readers. For example, the essays that open each chapter connect a major topic of the
chapter to experiences that pertain to many readers. For the Fourteenth Edition these essays
are either entirely new or have been thoroughly updated; nearly all pertain to events or devel-
opments since 2008.
Other elements designed to bridge the present and the past, such as theAmerican LivesandRe-Viewing the Pastessays, have also been thoroughly revised. Several of these essays are
entirely new to the Fourteenth Edition.
The more than 100 maps in this book have been completely reworked to convey new ideas and
to enhance comprehension. Many entirely new maps have been created to illuminate important
themes, including a stronger global emphasis.
Each chapter has been revised to reflect new scholarship, to offer important new perspectives, and
to streamline and sharpen the writing. For instance, the Prologue and first few chapters reflect
new insights concerning the “pre-historic” period. These chapters also feature a more detailed
comparison of the civilizations of the Americas with those of the “Old World”—Europe, Africa, and
Asia. An almost entirely new chapter, “From Boomers to Millennials” (Chapter 31), draws an
explicit comparison between the social and cultural foundations of young modern Americans and
their parents; it especially explores the culture of consumption and the impact of the Internet.
To facilitate study and review, each chapter now ends with a list of key
terms and definitions and a set of review questions. The key terms are
also compiled in the glossary that appears at the end of the text.