With classes back in session, Cosimo is excited to present A School History of the United States by John Bach McMaster as its Classic of the Month.A School History of the United States, first published in 1897, became a definitive textbook. It possessed simple language, straightforward ideas, and easy organization. All its attributes make it browsable and concisely informative.
From the discovery of the New World by Europeans to the war with Spain at the turn of the 20th century, it still serves as a quick and useful introduction to the formation of the United States. Handy historical maps abound, and useful appendices include the complete Declaration of Independence as well as the Constitution of the United States as it stood at the beginning of the 20th century.
A School History of the United States is of great interest to American history buffs, students of the history of education, librarians, and teachers.
About the Author:
John Bach McMaster was an American historian.
After growing up in Brooklyn, NY, John went to college at the City of New York, where he graduated in 1872. After graduation, he worked as a civil engineer in 1873-1877, was an instructor in civil engineering at Princeton University in 1877-1883, and in 1883 became professor of American history in the University of Pennsylvania.
He is best known for his History of the People of the United States from the Revolution to the Civil War (1883 sqq.), a valuable supplement to the more purely political writings of James Schouler, Von Holst and Henry Adams. He began working on it in 1873, having collected material since 1870. His A School History of the United States (1897) was an extremely popular textbook for many years. Besides these books and numerous magazine articles, he wrote Life of Benjamin Franklin in the “Men of Letters†series (Boston, 1887).
