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The Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the American People, 6/e

Alan Brinkley, Columbia University

How was the work of James Fenimore Cooper the culmination of an effort to produce a truly American literature? What did his work suggest about the nation and its people?
Why was Whitman called the "poet of American democracy"?
Who were the transcendentalists? What was their philosophy and how did they express it in literature?
How did the transcendentalists attempt to apply their beliefs to the problems of everyday life at Brook Farm? What was the result?
How did the utopian communities attempt to redefine the sex roles? Which communities were most active in this effort, and what did they accomplish?
Who were the Mormons? What were their origins, what did they believe, and why did they end up in Utah?
The "philosophy of reform" that shaped this era arose from what two distinct sources?
What gave rise to the crusade against drunkenness? What successes and failures resulted from the movement's efforts?
How did efforts to produce a system of universal public education reflect the spirit of the age?
What were the problems facing public education, and what types of institutions were created to deal with them?
How did the role of feminism reflect not only the participation of women in social crusades, but also a basic change in the nature of the family?
How did feminists benefit from their association with other reform movements—most notably, abolitionists—and at the same time suffer as a result?
What was the antislavery philosophy of William Lloyd Garrison? How did he transform abolitionism into "a new and dramatically different phenomenon"?
What role did black abolitionists play in the movement? How did their philosophy compare with that of Garrison?
Why did many northern whites oppose the abolitionist movement? How did they show this opposition?
What efforts did abolitionists make to find political solutions to the question of slavery? How successful were they initially?
How did abolitionists attempt to arouse widespread public anger over slavery through the use of propaganda? What was the most significant work to emerge from this effort? Why did it have such an impact?

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