Fifteen years ago I published a two-volume social/cultural/family history of the United States. Why? Aren’t there enough U.S. history books already?
Mine is different. For one thing, it includes family history. For another, it is free (download links below). For yet another, it doesn’t focus on “heroes” and doesn’t glorify everything done by the U.S. government and its citizens. On the other hand, by no means does it vilify everything done by the government or its people, either. It simply tells what happened. It reports things that “your father’s” school history books were silent on. Or, in the case of my generation at least (I’m a baby boomer), things that my school history books glossed over or sugarcoated.
I consider most history books to consist primarily of propaganda. As has been said, history is written by the victors. History books perused in schools are sanctioned by those currently in power. The history books that were forced into my hands, and those of my classmates, were white-centric and male-dominated. Reading them, a callow youth could not be faulted for concluding that every good deed and every notable invention could be attributed to a true-blue, red-blooded, white American male.
Due to its length, Still Casting Shadows: A Shared Mosaic of U.S. History is separated into two volumes.
Volume 1 covers the years 1620 (the arrival of the Mayflower in Massachusetts) to 1913
Volume 2 covers the years 1914 (when "The Great War"/WW1 broke out) to 2006
This is how I synopsized my work (as you can see on amazon):
Still Casting Shadows: A Shared Mosaic of U.S. History" breaks with tradition by presenting a holistic (rather than a white-centric and politician-dominated) portrayal of American History. It begins with the arrival of the “Puritans” at Plymouth, Massachusetts, and follows the descendants of two Mayflower passengers, John Howland and Elizabeth (Tilley) Howland, forward to the present day. Along the way, events as wide-ranging as colonial-era Indian battles, the defense of Little Round Top at Gettysburg during the Civil War, a devastating ambush in Vietnam, and a heroic deed by a California Highway Patrol officer are examined from the personal perspective of those on the scene. Much more than simply a volume of family history, “Still Casting Shadows” is a concise outline of American history. As such, it includes hundreds of short chapters that cover upwards of a thousand events of national import. Each chapter begins with striking quotations that illuminate the events being discussed.
If interested, the two volumes are available for free download. As mentioned above, Vol 1 covers 1620-1913, and Vol 2 covers 1914-2006.
Why does it end in 2006? That was the year of my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. This project was mainly a present to them (as it includes their family history, going back to Ireland, the Azores, early California, the arrival of the Mayflower, and so on). We recently celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary.