Waking giant America in the age of Jackson

America experienced unprecedented expansion and turmoil in the years between 1815 and 1848. Historian David S. Reynolds illuminates the period's political story as well as the social and cultural movements that influenced it. He casts fresh light on Andrew Jackson, who redefined the presidency,...

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Main Author: Reynolds, David S., 1948-
Format: Books Print Book
Language: English
Published: New York : Harper Perennial, 2009.
Edition: 1st Harper Perennial ed.
Subjects:
Summary: America experienced unprecedented expansion and turmoil in the years between 1815 and 1848. Historian David S. Reynolds illuminates the period's political story as well as the social and cultural movements that influenced it. He casts fresh light on Andrew Jackson, who redefined the presidency, along with John Quincy Adams and James K. Polk, who expanded the nation's territory and strengthened its position internationally. Waking Giant captures the turbulence of a democracy in the throes of the controversy over slavery, the rise of capitalism, and the birth of urbanization. Reynolds reveals dimensions of the Second Great Awakening with its sects, cults, and self-styled prophets. He uncovers the political roots of some of America's greatest authors and artists, and brings to life the reformers, abolitionists, and temperance advocates who struggled to correct America's worst social ills.--From publisher description.
Item Description: "A hardcover edition of this book was published in 2008 by HarperCollins Publishers." -- T.p. verso.
Physical Description: xi, 466 p. : ill. ; 21 cm.
Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references (p. [419]-435) and index.
ISBN: 9780060826574
0060826576
Author Notes: David S. Reynolds is Distinguished Professor at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. His books include John Brown Abolitionist, winner of Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award; Walt Whitman's America, winner of the Bancroft Prize and the Ambassador Book Award and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; and Beneath the American Renaissance, winner of the Christian Gauss Award from the Phi Beta Kappa Society. He lives in Ole Westbury, New York.