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Review
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Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness: Documents in American
History. P. Scott Corbett and Ronald C. Naugle, eds. New York,
NY: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages, 2004. Vol.
I, 192 pages, $14.68 paper. Vol. II, 256 pages, $14.68 paper.
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Documents have been called "windows into the past." In
their two-volume anthology of primary sources, P. Scott Corbett
and Ronald C. Naugle have certainly opened that window for students
and teachers of American history. Taking as their central theme
those immortal words from the Declaration of Independence, the editors
investigate "what life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness
meant to our ancestors and how that concept has changed throughout
our history." This theme guides the editors in their selection
of primary sources and shows how various segments of the American
mosaic have utilized those words in carving out their destiny in
this nation. While the majority of the documents in Life, Liberty,
and the Pursuit of Happiness are textual in nature, Corbett
and Naugle have included a number of non-textual sources. Cartoons,
charts, photographs, posters, paintings, and songs will appeal to
a broad range of student learning styles. Their collection also
includes numerous economic, cultural, and social documents to compliment
traditional political sources One unique feature of Life, Liberty,
and the Pursuit of Happiness is that the editors have included
the web sites for the majority of the documents in their anthology.
This constitutes an invaluable opportunity for students and teachers
to further peruse the complete text of many documents and investigate
other related sources. With the reliance of many of today's students
on the internet, the editors are to be commended for providing this
novel approach. The collection is divided and organized chronologically
into two volumes. Volume I begins with the discovery of the Western
hemisphere and ends with Reconstruction. Volume II begins with the
Civil War and ends with an article about college drinking from an
April 10, 2002 issue of the Chicago Tribune. The documents
on the Civil War in Volume II, however, are different from those
in Volume I.
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Students and instructors in American
history will gain a deeper insight into our nation's past from this
anthology. To cite examples, Elizabeth Cady Stanton's reference
to women's reliance on the needle for a livelihood as "that
one-eyed demon of destruction" gives a different perspective
to that traditional task for women (Vol. I, p. 136). A law passed
in Alabama in 1915 prohibiting children under 13 from working in
any gainful employment "except domestic service and agriculture"
was hailed at the time as a great improvement in regulating child
labor (Vol. II, p. 89). Such a document can enlighten student about
to how repressive child labor was in the America of that period.
Students who have never viewed the depression photographs of Walker
Evans from Let Us Now Praise Famous Men can become acquainted
with the issue of class in America (Vol. II, p. 137). The editors
recognize the complexity and diversity of the American landscape,
as different groups grapple with the promise of 'life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness' in their own situation. They include
documents portraying the struggles, aspirations, and successes of
native-Americans, African-Americans, women, and various classes
in grasping this promise. Although the cover of Volume II shows
Cesar Chavez leading a National Farm Workers' protest march, there
is a paucity of documents involving the contribution and struggles
of Latino and Latina Americans.
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This anthology would be very useful
as a supplementary reader or document source book to accompany any
textbook in an Advanced Placement high school United States history
class. It would be just as effective on the community college level
or in an introductory level university American history course.
With its wide range and variety of documents, coupled with its invaluable
Internet sources, this anthology would be a worthwhile addition
to the desk of any student or instructor in American history.
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Pasadena, Texas
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John Bryan
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