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| AMSCO |
NEWMAN J. NEWMAN AND SCHMALBACH, JOHN M. (2010) Second Edition, United States History: Preparing For The Advanced Placement Examination, Logan, Iowa, AMSCO.
As as aspect of my academic work, I have been asked to consider, if the opportunity arises, teaching United States of America history, with the textbook in images as the text in use.
As can be viewed, I did not 'go all out' to purchase a brand new copy. I reasoned that the best price for a good used copy was sufficient.
Textbooks are often very expensive.
This serves as another opportunity for a book review series.
Preface
The textbook on page v claims to be a 'concise history', that is concise and accessible. (v). It is also stated to be easy to review for context. (v). One of my complaints, as a student, with 'artistic' type academic writers, sometimes from the United Kingdom, was that he/she would not just 'get to the point' (soon enough) as I had thousands of pages to review for my MPhil and PhD theses, and was not reviewing textbooks for reading pleasure.
Chapter 1: Exploration, Discovery, And Settlement, 1492-1700
The authors document that the exploration, discovery and settlement of North America and South America took place thousands of years before the birth of Christopher Columbus. (1). The authors estimate that North America was settled perhaps 40, 000 years ago. (1).
The text then provides the Bering Land Bridge Theory...
Approximately, 40, 000 years ago, migrants from Asia may have crossed a land bridge that at the time connected Siberia (Modern Russia, my add) and Alaska, (1). This land bridge may now be submerged under the Bering Sea. (1). This bridge may have facilitated travels from Siberia to as far as the tip of South America. (1).
In other words, the first inhabitants of the Americas, the Natives (or preferred accepted name) may originally be of Asian origin. The following statistic surprised me as the writers estimate the Native population of the Americas in the 1490s to vary from 50 million to 75 million. (1).
Fifty to seventy five million persons and yet the Americas remained virtually unknown (I presume) to the old world of Europe and Asia for thousands of years? Possible, according to the authors.
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