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BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

For an elaborate general bibliography of the literature of American history the reader is referred to Channing and Hart's "Guide to American History," published in 1896. Scholarly bibliographies of source material dealing with the early period, accompanied by critical notes, are to be found in Winsor's "Narrative and Critical History" (8 volumes, Boston, 1886-1889). A valuable list of histories, documents, records, biographies and other material relating to special phases and periods of American history, political, economic and social, may be found in the "Cambridge Modern History" (Vol. VII., New York, 1903. The value of this list is impaired, however, by the occasional carelessness in giving authors' names and the frequent inaccuracy in quoting titles. A full and useful bibliography, dealing not only with the history of the United States, but with the Western Continent in general, is contained in J. N. Larned's Literature of American History" (Boston, 1902). Van Tyne and Leland's "Guide to the Archives of the United States" (Washington, 1905) contains a careful review of the character and location of various historical records, manuscript and printed, at the national capital.

GENERAL HISTORIES OF THE UNITED STATES

There is almost no single comprehensive history of America from the discovery to the present time. A 28-volume series designed to meet such a want is "The American Nation," now in course of preparation under the editorship of A. B. Hart, with the coöperation of a group of historical scholars. Several volumes have already appeared, and when completed it will be the most comprehensive general history of this country in existence. Woodrow Wilson's "History of the American People" (5 volumes, New York, 1902) is perhaps the nearest approach to such a work that has as yet appeared. Written with a forceful style, exhibiting a breadth of view and a spirit of impartiality rarely excelled by historians, the work nevertheless suffers in that it is too general in character. It is too much an appreciation of men and measures and too little a consecutive narrative of facts for the average reader. What gives promise of a most excellent History of the United States is Channing's new work, one volume of which, covering the period of discovery and colonization, has recently appeared. An older general history is Bryant and Gay's "Popular History of the United States" (5 volumes, New York, 1876-1881). It covers the period from 1492 to 1870, is written in an interesting style, but lacks perspective and is besides largely out of date. A recently published one-volume history of particular value for advanced students is the "Cambridge Modern History" (New York, 1903), planned by the late Lord Acton of Cambridge University, and consisting of a series of essays by English and American specialists. Aside from the inevitable duplication and lack of continuity and proportion in a work so planned and executed, it has all the merits of a monographic history written by eminent specialists. John Clark Ridpath's "Popular History of the United States," T. W. Higginson's "Larger History of the United States," Goldwin

Smith's "History of the United States," and H. W. Elson's "History of the United States" (New York, 1904) are popular one-volume works dealing with the entire field from the discovery to recent times. Of these the latest and best is Elson's book. It is written in a popular style, with proper regard to perspective, and is fairly free from errors of fact.

Another one-volume history of unusual merit, but less of a popular character, is Edward Channing's "Student's History of the United States." A. B. Hart's "American History Told by Contemporaries" (4 volumes) gives a general view of American history by means of a series of well-selected extracts from various source material, and is an invaluable supplement to the other standard accounts. The "American Statesman Series" (32 volumes, Boston, 1898), affords a general account of American history during the national period as told in the lives of American statesmen. The series is uniform and indexed. The different volumes also appeared separately. Another series of considerable merit, and which in time promises to constitute a general history of the United States, is the American Commonwealth," edited by Horace E. Scudder. A number of excellent volumes have appeared and others are promised.

GENERAL HISTORIES OF PARTICULAR PERIODS

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Of the histories of the early period, the first and most noteworthy is George Bancroft's "History of the United States" (6 volumes, Boston, 1834-1874). It covers the field from 1492 to 1789, and for many years was the standard authority on early American history. Although still valuable, it has been largely superseded by the work of later historical investigators who had access to records and other sources which were not available to historical students in Bancroft's day. The period from the discovery to the year 1821 is covered by Richard Hildreth in his "History of the United States (6 volumes, New York, 1851-1856). Like Bancroft's history, it has been largely superseded by the more accurate works of later historians, but for a long time it was regarded as a standard authority. Among the defects of Hildreth's history may be mentioned the unattractiveness of the author's style and his strong Federalist partisanship. The history of French exploration and colonization in America and the struggle with the English for supremacy in the great valleys of North America has been charmingly told by Francis Parkman in twelve volumes under various titles (Boston, 1865-1892). The most important of these are his "Montcalm and Wolfe" (2 volumes), "Half Century of Conflict" (2 volumes), and "Pioneers of New France" (1 volume). It is doubtful if any American historical writer has written with a greater charm of style or with more accuracy than Parkman. A comprehensive history of the United States from 1784 to 1844 is John Bach McMaster's "History of the People of the United States" (6 volumes, New York, 1883-1904, to be completed to the Civil War). A distinctive merit of McMaster's work is the emphasis which is given to social and material development of the people, but it is defective in that it lacks consecutiveness of treatment, exaggerates the importance of minor incidents and fails to show the influence upon the national development of great political movements and of great men. A work of greater monumental character is Hermann Von Holst's "Constitutional History of the United States, 1783-1861," (8 volumes, Chicago, 1876-1892, translated from the German by J. J. Lalor). This is a painstaking work, showing evidence of great research and originality of thought, but also of strong bias and lack of sympathy with American institutions. It deals mainly with the slavery controversy, which in the mind of the author dominated all other questions. A work covering substantially the same period is James

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