The Men Who United the States: America's Explorers, Inventors, Eccentrics and Mavericks, and the Creation of One Nation, Indivisible
Simon Winchester, the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of Atlantic and The Professor and the Madman, delivers his first book about America: a fascinating popular history that illuminates the men who toiled fearlessly to discover, connect, and bond the citizenry and geography of the U.S.A. from its beginnings.How did America become "one nation, indivisible"? What unified a growing number of disparate states into the modern country we recognize today? To answer these questions, Winchester follows in the footsteps of America's most essential explorers, thinkers, and innovators, such as Lewis and Clark and the leaders of the Great Surveys; the builders of the first transcontinental telegraph and the powerful civil engineer behind the Interstate Highway System. He treks vast swaths of territory, from Pittsburgh to Portland, Rochester to San Francisco, Seattle to Anchorage, introducing the fascinating people 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. Featuring 32 illustrations throughout the text, The Men Who United the States is a fresh look at the way in which the most powerful nation on earth came together.
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Community Reviews
As with most books of this type, it can get bogged down in details that, unless you're using the book as a reference for an essay, doesn't add much value to the casual reader. It still moves along fairly smoothly and does not read like a history book, as I feared. It reads like a collection of short stories -- some good, some not as good.
By far, not my favorite of Winchester's books. I'm not sold on the idea that this book needed to be written in the first place, frankly, especially in the way that it was. In the end it's sort of a glorified how-the-West-was-won narrative, though it extends before and after the actual taking of the western lands into the hands of Europeans and their descendants. There are a few interesting insights, and any book like this will surprise with a few facts that contradict what you thought you knew. I found Winchester's writing style engaging, as usual.
But did I come away with a greater understanding of how the United States came to be such a large community (if in fact we even accept that premise)?
Not really.
Is there enough value in the individual stories of the eponymous Men to justify a book about their exploits—and especially to justify yet another history book which disregards the contributions of women & people of color?
Not really.
But did I come away with a greater understanding of how the United States came to be such a large community (if in fact we even accept that premise)?
Not really.
Is there enough value in the individual stories of the eponymous Men to justify a book about their exploits—and especially to justify yet another history book which disregards the contributions of women & people of color?
Not really.
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