Encyclopedia of American History

Richard Brandon Morris, Jeffrey Brandon Morris

Harper & Row, 1976 - United States - 1245 pages

The seventh edition of the Encyclopedia of American History updates this indispensable and classic reference book to cover the history of the United States from pre-Columbian times through the first year of the Clinton Administration. Unequaled in the amount of information contained within a single volume, and designed to be read as a narrative, the Encyclopedia chronicles all the essential facts of American history, from government and politics to science, thought and culture. The Encyclopedia is divided onto four parts: Part 1: "THE BASIC CHRONOLOGY" presents the main political and military events in the history of the United States, beginning with the era of discovery. It has been updated to reflect newly discovered facts and modern perspectives on domestic and foreign affairs. Part 2: "THE TOPICAL CHRONOLOGY" records the nonpolitical aspects of American life and has been extensively revised to include a newly titled section "Land, Natural Resources, Energy and the Environment," as well as updated sections dealing with the American economy. A few of the topics covered in this section are the fine arts, religion, medicine, education, television and radio, immigration, population, United States expansion and Supreme Court decisions. Part 3: "NOTABLE AMERICAN BIOGRAPHIES" contains profiles of 450 influential Americans from all walks of life and their outstanding achievements. Part 4:"THE STRUCTURE OF FEDERAL GOVERNMENT" includes tables of U.S Presidents and their cabinets, party strength in Congress from 1789, and Supreme Court justices, as well as the complete texts of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. Jeffrey B. Morris, is professor of law at the Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center of Touro College. Associate editor for the last two revised editions of the Encyclopedia of American History, Morris is the author of over a dozen books, including Federal Justice in the Second Circuit and To Administer Justice on Behalf of All the People: The United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, 1965-1990. He has been professor of political science at City College of the City University of New York and the University of Pennsylvania and visiting professor of law at the Brooklyn Law School. From 1976 to 1981 Morris served as the chief research associate to Chief Justice Warren E. Burger in Burger's role as head of the federal court system. Richard B. Morris, (1904-1989) was Gouverneur Morris Professor of History at Columbia University and past president of the American Historical Association. Morris wrote more than 40 books spanning legal, labor, diplomatic, political and social history, including The Peacemakers: The Great Powers and American Independence, The Forging of the Union 1781-1789, Witnesses at the Creation, Government and Labor in Early America and Studies in The History of American Law. He lectured throughout the world, serving as Fulbright Research Professor at the Sorbonne and Distinguished Professor at the John F. Kennedy Institute of the Free University of Berlin.

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LibraryThing Review

User Review  - datrappert - LibraryThing

Handy compendium of short, chronological historical events, as well as separate sections for short biographies, science, music, etc. A compelling browse that I usually have to tear myself away from.

Contents

• ORIGINAL PEOPLING OF THE AMERICAS: 3
• THE ERA OF EXPLORATION: 16
• THE FOUNDING OF THE ENGLISH COLONIES 15781732: 30

About the author

Richard Brandon Morris (July 24, 1904 - March 3, 1989) was an American historian best known for his pioneering work in colonial American legal history and the early history of American labor. Morris received his B.A. degree from City College in 1924. He attended Columbia Law School and at the same time earned his Ph.D. degree in history at Columbia University. His dissertation, published by Columbia University Press as Studies in the History of American Law, with Special Reference to the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (1930), still defines the research agenda for historians working on early American law. Morris taught at City College until in 1946 he was named to the faculty of Columbia University, after having published his massive and definitive Government and Labor in Early America (1946).

Bibliographic information

• Title: Encyclopedia of American History
• Editors: Richard Brandon Morris, Jeffrey Brandon Morris
• Edition: 5, illustrated, revised
• Publisher: Harper & Row, 1976
• Original from: the University of Michigan
• Digitized: Sep 17, 2008
• ISBN: 0060130814, 9780060130817
• Length: 1245 pages