American Realities
History as a Story
This web site is designed to accompany American Realities – two volumes of historical essays written by J. William T. Youngs. The illustrations are by Cecily Moon. It includes sections devoted to each of the thirty articles in American Realities. And it also provides suggestions about historical writing, editing, and web authoring. This website includes numerous interactive features like embedded audio- and video-players, links to other resources, knowledge quizzes, etc.
The current version of the site (Summer 2013) is under development and in an experimental stage.
The current version of the site (Summer 2013) is under development and in an experimental stage.
Volume One covers American history of the period from First Settlements to the Civil War. It includes fifteen essays. These stories reveal the broad contours of American history as well as the illustrative particulars. The death of Thomasine Winthrop leads us to know Puritanism better, the Lewis and Clark Expedition reveals the marvelous land on which the nation developed.
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Volume Two covers American history of the period from Reconstruction to the Present. Like ourselves, the people of the past were immersed in their times. We can find historical kinship in the ordinary circumstances of daily life. My touchstone in choosing topics for American Realities was that each should suggest our common humanity, even while revealing worlds distinct from our own.
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