Bloody History of America: Revolution, Race and War

The United States was founded on lofty ideals of freedom, liberty, and justice for all…or was it? Unfortunately, throughout its history, the country has frequently failed to live up to these ideals, or even uphold them at all. The history of America is bespattered with violence, and it is important to understand the seedy underside of the nation, even if only to better appreciate just how lofty, and unique, those (as-yet-unmet) goals truly are. In our era of division and conflict, it is especially important to gain a deeper perspective than that usually taught in public school history books, which gloss over these painful and all-too-frequent episodes.

This book covers all the major points and periods of a basic middle- or high-school history course and is written on that level, although many of the themes are difficult and mature, especially for more sensitive students. It is filled with shocking and traumatic photos that show lynchings, murders, and battlefields – photos that are not seen in most textbooks – but are illustrative of the problems discussed in the text. This would be an excellent supplementary text to an American History course for mature high school students or for anyone ready to pull back the curtain.