Part
|
People,
events, etc.
|
Preface
The Pure Physics of Union
|
“America is, after all, a nation founded as a home for the single
simple idea of universal human freedom.” (page xvi)
The guiding question the author wanted to answer in the book is,
“just how has it [the U.S.] managed to adhere, to keep itself annealed into
one for all the years and decades since?”
(page xvi)
|
Part I
When America’s Story was Dominated by Wood
1785 – 1805
|
Thomas Jefferson – 1785 – Land Ordinance, the ability to own land
Thomas Hutchins – first Geographer of US
1803 – Louisiana Purchase
Lewis and Clark
Frederick Jackson Turner – history professor – significance of
frontier to American character
Plains Indians
Sacagawea
|
Part II
When America’s Story Went Beneath the Earth
1809 – 1901
|
Robert Owen – Welsh Socialist, New Harmony
William Maclure – Geology’s Founding Father
David Dale Owen – geologist, influence in surveying the nation
Joel Walker – first western traveler
South Pass – Oregon Trail
Topographers – West Point Grads – John Fremont
Four Great Surveys of the West – 1867
|
Part III
When the American Story Traveled by Water
1803 – 1900
|
American Canal Era
Fall line
“Canals changed social fabric of the nation” (page 195)
Loammi Baldwin Sr. and Jr. – senior built first successful canals
Lowell Mill Girls – work reforms for women
Erie Canal
Hudson-Mohawk Gap – only major gap through Appalachian Mts.
Chicago Sanitary Canal – second, larger canal built to take away
sewage from Lake Michigan
Mississippi River
|
Part IV
When the American Story was Fanned by Fire
1811 – 1956
|
United States National Road – started by Jefferson – 28 years to
complete
John McAdam – Roads made of “macadam”
Steam
John Fitch – true inventor of steam engine
Robert Fulton – received credit for invention
John Stevens – father of American railroad
As a result of railroads:
Theodore Dehone Judah – promoted railroad
Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads
Chinese immigrants and importance to building railroads
Automobiles
Major Dwight Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense
Highways
Thomas Harris MacDonald – Interstate Highway System
Gave roads federally designated numbers
Charles and Frank Duryea – Duryea Wagon Company
1984 – Office of Road Inquiry – “Get the farmer out of the mud.”
Calbraith Rogers – first to fly across country, fall 1911
|
Part V
When the American Story was Told Through Metal
1835 – Tomorrow
|
Samuel Morse
Hiram Sibley – Western Union
Alexander Graham Bell
George Westinghouse
Thomas Alva Edison – light bulbs – Menlo Park – direct current
Nikola Tesla – alternating current – electrocuted Topsy, circus
elephant
F.D. Roosevelt – New Deal
Morris Llewellyn Cooke – electrified American farmlands
Guglielmo Marconi – inventor of wireless telegraph
Reginald Fessenden – AM radio
1914 – first radio station – Madison, Wisconsin
1920 – first official station – KDKA Pittsburgh, PA
Original purpose of radio was to make money
David Sarnoff – RCA and NBC
William Siemering – Public Service Radio – 1945
Johnny Carson
Television unified country but different than previous inventions which let people
communicate one-on-one
Results of TV –
Cable TV – watchers now split into subgroups, all watching
individually
Internet
Web – 1991 - Tim Berners-Lee
|
For discussion:
1. Do you think the fact that the author became an American citizen as an adult or the fact that his wife is Japanese influenced his interpretation? If so, how?
2. In Part IV, the author listed many that happened as a result of railroads and in Part V he did the same with television. Do you agree? Anything you would add?
3. If you have ever taken a road trip, what are your early memories of road trips on the Interstate Highway System?
4. What are your early memories of watching television? What is the most memorable event you watched on TV?
5. Which of? the five parts did you find most interesting? Why
6. What did you learn that you did not know before?
7. Review the guiding question in the Preface that the author wanted to answer with this book. Did he answer it? If so, how?
8. Using Amazon's five-star rating system, how many stars would you give this book? Why?
9. Discuss your reading experience. Did you like the way the author organized the book? Would you have done anything differently?
*****
First Semester Success: Learning Strategies and Motivation for Your First Semester (or Any Semester) of College, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available at amazon.com, wordassociation.com and barnesandnoble.com. Click on the upper right link.
No comments:
Post a Comment