"One of the most valuable publications of the century."—Boston Post.
"A book actually fascinating from beginning to end."—Prest. J. B. Angell.
"As the work stands, it may rightfully claim a place on the library table of every cultivated American."—New York Times.
"No work of similar scope and magnitude and erudition exists, or has been attempted in this country."—New York Evangelist.
"A unique and valuable work."—Chicago Tribune.
"A work which will rank with those of Sismondi, Ticknor, and Taine."—New York Evening Express.
"It is this philosophical character of the work which brings it not far distant from the works of Taine, of Buckle, and of Lecky."—Buffalo Express.
"One can hardly speak too strongly in praise of these conscientious, careful and successful volumes, which deserve to be studied alike by scholars and patriots."—Rev. Henry Martyn Dexter, D.D.
"But the plan of Professor Tyler's book is so vast and its execution so fearless, that no reader can expect or wish to agree with all its personal judgments. It is a book truly admirable, both in design and in general execution; the learning is great, the treatment wise, the style fresh and vigorous. Here and there occurs a phrase which a severer revision would perhaps exclude, but all such criticisms are trivial in view of so signal a success. Like Parkman, Professor Tyler may almost be said to have created, not merely his volumes, but their theme. Like Parkman, at any rate, he has taken a whole department of human history, rescued it from oblivion, and made it henceforward a matter of deep interest to every thinking mind."—T. W. Higginson, in The Nation.
"The work betrays acute philosophical insight, a rare power of historical research, and a cultivated literary habit, which was perhaps no less essential than the two former conditions, to its successful accomplishment. The style of the author is marked by vigor, originality, comprehensiveness, and a curious instinct in the selection of words. In this latter respect, though not in the moulding of sentences, the reader may perhaps be reminded of the choice and fragrant vocabulary of Washington Irving, whose words alone often leave an exquisite odor like the perfume of sweet-briar and arbutus."—George Ripley, in the Tribune.