The Men Who United the States

图书信息

作者	Simon Winchester
出版社	William Collins
ISBN	9780007532384
出版时间	2013-10-15
字数	133.4万
分类	进口书,外文原版书,法律,政治,宗教

读书简介

From bestselling author Simon Winchester, the extraordinary story of how America was united into a single nation. For more than two centuries, E pluribus unum – out of many, one – has been featured on America’s official government seals and stamped on its currency. But how did America become ‘one nation, indivisible’? In this monumental history, Simon Winchester addresses this question, introducing the fearless trailblazers whose achievements forged and unified America. Winchester follows in the footsteps of America’s most essential explorers, thinkers, and innovators. He treks vast swaths of territory, introducing these fascinating pioneers – some, such as Washington and Jefferson, Lewis and Clark being familiar, some forgotten, some hardly known – who played a pivotal role in creating today’s United States. Throughout, he ponders whether the historic work of uniting the States has succeeded, and to what degree. ‘The Men Who United the States’ is a fresh, lively, and erudite look at the way in which the most powerful nation on earth came together, from one of our most entertaining, probing, and insightful observers.

目录

Title Page

Copyright

Praise

Dedication

Epigraph

Contents

List of Maps and Illustrations

Author’s Note

Preface: The Pure Physics of Union

Part I: When America’s Story Was Dominated by WOOD, 1785–1805

A View across the Ridge

Drawing a Line in the Sand

Peering through the Trees

The Frontier and the Thesis

The Wood Was Become Grass

Encounters with the Sioux

First Lady of the Plains

High Plains Rafters

Passing the Gateway

Shoreline Passage

Part II: When America’s Story Went beneath the EARTH, 1809–1901

The Lasting Benefit of Harmony

The Science That Changed America

Drawing the Colors of Rocks

The Wellspring of Knowledge

The Tapestry of Underneath

Setting the Lures

Off to See the Elephant

The West, Revealed

The Singular First Adventure of Kapurats

The Men Who Gave Us Yellowstone

Diamonds, Sex, and Race

Part III: When the American Story Traveled by WATER, 1803–1900

Journeys to the Fall Line

The Streams beyond the Hills

The Pivot and the Feather

The First Big Dig

The Wedded Waters of New York

The Linkman Cometh

That Ol’ Man River

Part IV: When the American Story Was Fanned by FIRE, 1811–1956

May the Roads Rise Up

Rain, Steam, and Speed

The Annihilation of the In-Between

The Immortal Legacy of Crazy Judah

Colonel Eisenhower’s Epiphanic Expedition

The Colossus of Roads

And Then We Looked Up

The Twelve-Week Crossing

Part V: When the American Story Was Told through METAL, 1835–Tomorrow

To Go, but Not to Move

The Man Who Tamed the Lightning

The Signal Power of Human Speech

With Power for One and All

Lighting the Corn, Powering the Prairie

The Talk of the Nation

Making Money from Air

Television: The Irresistible Force

The All of Some Knowledge

Epilogue

Footnotes

Bibliography

Searchable Terms

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Also by Simon Winchester

About the Publisher