History of the United States, Vol. I: The Colonial Period
History of the United States, Vol. |: The Colonial Period
By Charles Austin Beard (1874-1948) & Mary Ritter Beard (1876-1958)
Charles Austin Beard was the most influential American historian of the early 20th
century. He published hundreds of monographs, textbooks and interpretive studies in
both history and political science. He graduated from DePauw University in 1898, where
he met and eventually married Mary Ritter Beard, one of the founders of the first Greek-
letter society for women, Kappa Alpha Theta. Many of his books were written in
collaboration with his wife, whose own interests lay in feminism and the labor union
movement (Woman as a Force in History, 1946).
In 1921, Charles and Mary Beard published their History of the United States. A
contemporaneous review stated: “The authors... assume enough maturity in high school
students to justify a topical rather than a chronological treatment. They have dealt with
movements, have sketched large backgrounds, have traced causes, and have discussed
the interrelation of social and economic forces and politics. All this has been directed to
the large purpose of helping the student to understand American today in all its national
characteristics and as part of world civilization as well...The literary style is exceptionally
clear and crisp, and the whole approach...is thought producing. As a textbook or handbook
for the average citizen it ranks with very best.” (Summary by M. L. Cohen)
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Cover picture by E. Boyd Smith (1906). Copyright expired in US, Canada, EU and all countries with author’s life
+70 yrs laws. Cover design by Janette Brown. This design is in the public domain.
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