The Enduring Vision II. (töredék) [antikvár]

PREFACE When the first edition of The Enduring Vision appeared in the autumn of 1989, authors and publisher alike sensed that their efforts had been successful. Our hopeful anticipations have been confirmed by the warm reception that the book subsequently has received from historians and students. Now we are pleased to present what we believe to be an even better second edition, strengthened by the suggestions of the reviewers listed on p. ix and of the numerous adopters who have commented directly to us. To all—whether named or unnamed—who have given of their time and expertise, we offer our sincere thanks. Readers of the first edition will find much that we have carried over into the present edition: the basic organization, the comprehensive coverage, the close attention to chronology and to narrative whenever possible, the reliance on fresh and arresting illustrations, and the lively writing style. In addition, we have introduced important changes that we feel improve the book. In brief, we have given more attention to Native American history and to environmental issues in United States history, and we have expanded our discussion of East-West relations in order to do justice to the momentous ending of the Cold War. Specifically: • The shortened Prologue, "Enduring Vision, Enduring Land," now focuses exclusively on the geological and geographical underpinnings of American history; • A new Chapter 1, "America Before Columbus," incorporating some material from the first edition's Prologue, surveys the rich history of the native peoples of North America before their contact with Old World invaders and settlers; • Throughout the colonial and Revolutionary era chapters (2-6), we give more attention to the interactions and mutual adaptations of Native Americans and newcomers from the Old World; • Chapter 12, "The Old South and Slavery, 1800-1860," now follows rather than precedes the chapter on "Life, Leisure, and Culture, 1840-1860"; • We have devoted greater attention to environmental history throughout, but particularly in the chapters on precontact and colonial America (1-4), antebellum development (9), the post-Civil War West (17), the Progressive Era (22), the 1920s and the Great Depression (24-26), and the post-1945 years (28-33); • Recognizing the growing importance of Middle Eastern issues as a focus of United States foreign relations, in chapters 28-33 we have extended our treatment of American policy regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict, Iraq, and Iran; and • To accommodate a fuller discussion of the end of the Cold War, as well as to treat the Gulf War and contemporary domestic issues and events, we have split the first edition's final chapter in two, yielding the present chapters 32 and 33. All this we have tried to accomplish without disturbing the book's balance or adding to its length. The occasional tightening of prose has been, we hope, for the better. Naturally, too, we have unobtrusively corrected small errors that reviewers and adopters pointed out in the first edition. Special Pedagogical Features A range of useful study aids has been built into The Enduring Vision. Each chapter begins with a vivid vignette of a person or event that both swiftly draws the reader into the atmosphere and issues of the times and establishes the chapter's major themes. In every chapter there also appears a two-page illustrated essay, "A Place in Time," which