John Allen Krout

Most of this was readable, but the last that I read (I didn't read the last chapter "Critical Essays on Authorities") was about the attitudes & changes that led up to the Civil War & I could barely stay awake! Maybe I'm coming down with something?

Two of the points that I got from the book were , first, that, although there was no national religion because of the First Amendment to the Constitution, the people were religious. Alexis de Tocqueville observed that "despite the lack of a national church, religion was the foremost institution of the country, more influential in America than in any other land." The second was that Public libraries were supported by DeWitt Clinton. "...he proposed to the (New York) legislature in 1827 that each school district be permitted to tax itself to establish and maintain libraries for the free use of all its inhabitants."

This series is great for anyone studying American History, but it's not really meant for reading...… (más)