This volume, rich with primary sources, traces the story of the United States from the first contact between Europeans and Native Americans to the American Revolution and through the gold rush. This is a history often characterized by conflict and violence. It is the story of the religious hysteria and violence of the Salem witch trials, the gradual expansion of the country across the continent, the ill treatment of Native Americans, and slavery. It is about how the values of the Founding Fathers laid down in the Bill of Rights have made for a more peaceful and fair country, but one that has not always lived up to its promises and ideals.

This volume, rich with primary sources, traces the story of the United States from the first contact between Europeans and Native Americans to the American Revolution and through the gold rush. This is a history often characterized by conflict and violence. It is the story of the religious hysteria and violence of the Salem witch trials, the gradual expansion of the country across the continent, the ill treatment of Native Americans, and slavery. It is about how the values of the Founding Fathers laid down in the Bill of Rights have made for a more peaceful and fair country, but one that has not always lived up to its promises and ideals.

For the past three decades, many history professors have allowed their biases to distort the way America’s past is taught. These intellectuals have searched for instances of racism, sexism, and bigotry in our history while downplaying the greatness of America’s patriots and the achievements of “dead white men.” As a result, more emphasis is placed on Harriet Tubman than on George Washington; more about the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II than about D-Day or Iwo Jima; more on the dangers we faced from Joseph McCarthy than those we faced from Josef Stalin. A Patriot’s History of the United States corrects those doctrinaire biases. In this groundbreaking book, America’s discovery, founding, and development are reexamined with an appreciation for the elements of public virtue, personal liberty, and private property that make this nation uniquely successful. This book offers a long-overdue acknowledgment of America’s true and proud history.

Since its original landmark publication in 1980, A People's History of the United States has been chronicling American history from the bottom up, throwing out the official version of history taught in schools -- with its emphasis on great men in high places -- to focus on the street, the home, and the, workplace. Known for its lively, clear prose as well as its scholarly research, A People's History is the only volume to tell America's story from the point of view of -- and in the words of -- America's women, factory workers, African-Americans, Native Americans, the working poor, and immigrant laborers. As historian Howard Zinn shows, many of our country's greatest battles -- the fights for a fair wage, an eight-hour workday, child-labor laws, health and safety standards, universal suffrage, women's rights, racial equality -- were carried out at the grassroots level, against bloody resistance. Covering Christopher Columbus's arrival through President Clinton's first term, A People's History of the United States, which was nominated for the American Book Award in 1981, features insightful analysis of the most important events in our history. Revised, updated, and featuring a new after, word by the author, this special twentieth anniversary edition continues Zinn's important contribution to a complete and balanced understanding of American history.