Making of the American Dream

An unconventional history is one that challenges some of the myths scholars have employed to explain our past. In these two volumes Kaplan shows that every war in US history was waged either over the issue of land or for its acquisition. This work, which covers America's first 300 years, differs from others in seeking to debunk numerous flattering and conventionally accepted myths. (This is Volume I; Volume II is released separately.)Reading between the lines of what we've all been taught as US history, the author probes a little deeper into what perhaps was never denied A- but was never spelled out, either. Some inconvenient questions emerge. Was lust for land the driving force behind every war in US history?The author describes how an agricultural hinterland evolved into an industrial colossus and a society of small towns grew into a nation of large cities. When it did, what had once been the world's leading republican government gradually edged towards becoming a democracy A- a form of government abjured by the Founding Fathers.Volume I considers the colonial period and the War of Independence, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the evolution of political parties, and the struggle to contain the centrifugal forces pulling apart the North, the South and the West.The basic thrust of this 2-volume work is neither to expose America's blemishes nor to eulogize its virtues. Rather, the author focuses on US history from a different perspective than is usually accepted. Readers may disagree with his interpretations but will find his arguments intriguing.