I've been very impressed with the overall quality and interest of the series bundled under the rubric "The Oxford History of the United States," comprising seven or eight volumes, each covering different period. The series began back in the 1980's; one of them (Robert Middlekauff's The Glorious Cause) has already appeared in a revised edition, which offers an insightful explanation of why property rights have played such an overweening role in U.S. history.
As one who for much of his life spent more time on the history of various foreign places, I found these volumes provide a really great reintroduction to American history. They incorporate a lot of detail, the latest historical scholarship, and are generally rich not just in telling what governments or Presidents were up to, but in describing economic circumstances and aspects of people's everyday lives.
Case in point: the latest (?) in the series, What Hath God Wrought, by Daniel Walker Howe, covering the period 1815-1848. Howe provides fascinating details about the development of transportation (mainly canals and railroads) and communications (the telegraph) as one of the key historical threads running throughout this period. He offers rounded portraits of the key players of the time; Andrew Jackson of course, but not neglecting Martin van Buren, Henry Clay and others. He also clarifies the confusing history of political parties during the era - Federalists, Whigs, Democrats of various stripes - and the even more splintered progress of churches. All in all, an excellent and enlightening read.
The series entitled The Presidents based on To The Best Of My Ability which is now on Netflix is an excellent addendum to understanding this period of American history.
Posted by: sanders watkins | January 17, 2009 at 02:30 PM