Square 16mo. 380 pp. With over 100 Illustrations. Price $1.50.
The theory of the book can be briefly stated: it is, that American history is in itself one of the most attractive of all subjects, and can be made interesting to old and young by being presented in a simple, clear, and graphic way. In this book only such names and dates are introduced as are necessary to secure a clear and definite thread of connected incident in the mind of the reader; and the space thus saved is devoted to illustrative traits and incidents, and the details of daily living. By this means it is believed that much more can be conveyed, even of the philosophy of history, than where this is overlaid and hidden by a mass of mere statistics.
“Compact, clear, and accurate.… This unpretending little book is the best general history of the United States we have seen.”—The Nation.
“The book is so written, that every child old enough to read history at all will understand and like it, and persons of the fullest information and purest taste will admire it.”—Boston Daily Advertiser.
“It is marvellous to note how happily Mr. Higginson, in securing an amazing compactness by his condensation, has avoided alike superficiality and dulness.”—Boston Transcript.
AS A TEXT-BOOK IN SCHOOLS.
One of the most successful teachers in Boston says, “I am confident that the textbook has proved itself as reliable and comprehensive as it certainly is suggestive and entertaining. I know no book more helpful in promoting that crystallizing process in the student’s own mind by which the accessories and details group themselves around the main facts and ideas of the narration. On this account, it is equally valuable to teachers and scholars, to the examined and the examiners.”
This work has been translated into German, and has been received with marked favor. The Leipsic literary correspondent of the “New-York Staats-Zeitung” says, that, in its German version, it is pronounced exceedingly interesting (höchst anziehende); and predicts that it will inspire universal delight (allgemeine Beliebtheit) in German readers.
The Berlin “International Gazette” says, “Mr. Higginson has executed his task in a very clear and lucid manner, not making use of any hard aphorisms, so puzzling to the young, but placing himself on their level, and explaining every thing in so easy and gentle a manner, that he must be a very dull, or a very perverse scholar, who does not find his attention riveted.”