Description
Description
Freedom: a promised land, a battleground, America's cultural bond and fault line. The Declaration of Independence lists liberty among mankind's inalienable rights; the Constitution was framed to secure liberty's blessings. The United States bought the Civil War to bring about a new birth of freedom, World War II for the Four Freedoms, and the Cold War to defend the Free World.
In Eric Foner's stirring history, freedom's story unfolds through aspiration and sacrifice, its meaning shaped not only in congressional debates and political treatises, but on plantations and picket lines, in parlors and bedrooms. Its cast of characters ranges from Thomas Jefferson to Margaret Sanger to Franklin D. Roosevelt; from former slaves seeking to breathe real meaning into emancipation to the union organizers, freedom riders, and women's rights advocates of our time.
This landmark history shows the story of American freedom to be not a mythic saga but a vital, open-ended tale of accomplishment and failure, a record of a people forever contending over the crucial ideas of their political culture.
Critical Reviews
Critical Reviews
Brilliant, important.... [A] superb book.--Fred Anderson "Los Angeles Times Book Review"
Succinct, information-packed, wonderfully readable.... An excellent choice for serious readers.--Pauline Maier "New York Times Book Review"
Foner tackles the whole drama of American history. He succeeds, with far-reaching intelligence and a genial respect for his reader.--Mark Greif "Boston Sunday Globe"
A masterful book... that covers two centuries of courage, violence, achievement, and unfulfilled dreams in the quest for liberty.--Herbert Mitgang "Newsday"
A thought-provoking look at the historical uses of freedom in the United States.-- "Seattle Times"
Powerful.... Eric Foner has held up a mirror and asked us as a people to take a good, hard look at ourselves. It is incumbent on us not to turn away.-- "Raleigh News & Observer"
Publishing Information
Publishing Information
Publisher:
W. W. Norton & Company
Pub date:
1999-09-17
Length:
448 pages
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