America, Empire of Liberty : A New History of the United States

A magisterial history of the United States by a prize-winning historian"The best one-volume history of the United States ever written."--Joseph J. Ellis, author of Founding Brothers and The QuartetThomas Jefferson envisioned the United States as a great "empire of liberty." In his riveting single-volume history of the United States, award-winning historian David Reynolds takes Jefferson's phrase as a key to the American saga. He examines how the anti-empire of 1776 became the greatest superpower the world has seen--and how the country that offered liberty and opportunity on a scale unmatched in Europe nevertheless founded its prosperity on the labor of black slaves and the dispossession of Native Americans. Reynolds also reveals how these tensions between empire and liberty have often been resolved by faith--both the evangelical Protestantism that has energized US politics since the founding of the nation and the larger faith in American righteousness that has impelled the country's expansion. Written with verve, insight, and humor, America, Empire of Liberty is a magisterial depiction of America in all its grandeur and contradictions. "The best one-volume history of the United States ever written" (Joseph J. Ellis) It was Thomas Jefferson who envisioned the United States as a great "empire of liberty." This paradoxical phrase may be the key to the American saga: How could the anti-empire of 1776 became the world's greatest superpower? And how did the country that offered unmatched liberty nevertheless found its prosperity on slavery and the dispossession of Native Americans? In this new single-volume history spanning the entire course of US history—from 1776 through the election of Barack Obama—prize-winning historian David Reynolds explains how tensions between empire and liberty have often been resolved by faith—both the evangelical Protestantism that has energized American politics for centuries and the larger faith in American righteousness that has driven the country's expansion. Written with verve and insight, Empire of Liberty brilliantly depicts America in all of its many contradictions. It was Thomas Jefferson who envisioned the United States as a great "empire of liberty." This paradoxical phrase may be the key to the American saga: How could the anti-empire of 1776 become the world's greatest superpower? And how did the country that offered unmatched liberty nevertheless found its prosperity on slavery and the dispossession of Native Americans? In this new single-volume history spanning the entire course of US history--from 1776 through the election of Barack Obama--historian David Reynolds explains how tensions between empire and liberty have often been resolved by faith--both the evangelical Protestantism that has energized American politics for centuries and the larger faith in American righteousness that has driven the country's expansion.--From publisher description

Thomas Jefferson envisioned the United States as a great "empire of liberty." In this single-volume history of the United States, David Reynolds takes Jefferson's phrase as a key to the American saga. He examines how the anti-empire of 1776 became the greatest superpower the world has seen and asks difficult questions about the cost of American greatness, from slavery to the War on Terror. Written with verve, insight, and humor, America, Empire of Liberty is a magisterial depiction of America in all its grandeur and contradictions.