WITNESS TO AMERICA: edited by Stephen Ambrose and Douglas Brinkley; HarperCollins; 604 pages; $39.95.
This hefty volume is actually a history of the United States from the American Revolution to the present, written by two of today's most respected professional historians.Stephen Ambrose has written several best sellers, including "Citizen Soldiers," "Undaunted Courage" and "D-Day: June 6, 1944," as well as exemplary biographies of both Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon. Douglas Brinkley has written biographies of Dean Acheson and Jimmy Carter, as well as the award-winning "American Heritage History of the United States."
"Witness to America" is actually an update of another original book, also called "Witness to America," edited in 1939 by two other distinguished historians, Henry Steele Commager and Allan Nevins.
This "Witness" is a documentary consisting of original writings -- speeches, letters, first-person narratives and essays -- written by people involved in the historical events described in the book. Included are 170 selections, including an especially impressive collection of fine drawings, paintings and photographs. As frosting on the cake, the book comes with a 74-minute audio CD, which contains clips and dramatizations of many of the entries.
This is not the sort of book that most people would read from cover to cover but rather one that readers would enjoy selection by selection. It would make a great addition to any living room.
"Witness to America" contains such classic documents as Patrick Henry's "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" speech, John Adams' explanation of the reasons Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, George Washington's Farewell Address, a whaler's description of how to cut and boil a whale, Mark Twain's account of learning to be a Mississippi River pilot, Samuel Morse telling of inventing the telegraph, Dr. Thomas Morton discussing his discovery of anesthesia, Dorothy Dix pleading the cause of the insane, the Woman's Declaration of Independence, Henry David Thoreau's description of building a log cabin at Walden Pond and many other early documents.
More modern documents include Franklin D. Roosevelt's promise of a New Deal for the American people, Gen. Eisenhower describing the Normandy Invasion, Carl Rowan discussing the growth of segregation, Jackie Robinson joining the Brooklyn Dodgers, George F. Kennan's explanation of his plan of "containment" of Communism, Harry Truman's explanation of how and why he fired Gen. Douglas MacArthur as commander in the Far East during the Korean War and Rosa Parks' description of her arrest for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a bus in Montgomery, Ala.
There is also Edward R. Murrow on the meaning of television, Martin Luther King Jr.'s plea from the Birmingham Jail, a journalist's description of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Betty Friedan's explanation of "The Feminine Mystique," a bomber pilot's journal from Vietnam, Neil Armstrong's reminiscences of his moon walk, Richard Nixon's resignation as president, Gen. Colin Powell analyzing the Persian Gulf War, Bill Gates on the birth of the personal computer and Michael Kinsley on the impeachment of Bill Clinton.
This is a most unusual and effective selection of original documents that powerfully present the story of America as told by the people who lived it. More than that, it is a highly illuminating look at the American character.