The Men Who United the States: America's Explorers, Inventors, Eccentrics, and Mavericks, and the Creation of One Nation, Indivisible Paperback – Illustrated, September 16, 2014

Just as, according to Winchester, Francis Parkman’s background flavored and “disguised” the facts he presented, Simon Winchester has peppered his otherwise wonderful history of the advances of man and technology in “uniting” the states with snippets of prejudice on behalf of immigration and his own political leanings. One example is his criticism of a Florida broadcast with 20 million viewers rabble rousing but does not include similar broadcasts on the opposite side of the political vitriole guilty of the same use of the air waves.To sum up his work in the epilog, he makes some rather contradictory analogies. After he celebrates how the establishment of a newspaper has brought about community within his small isolated town, he postulates that the Native Americans tribes had no community because of their isolation. His work concentrates on the events in science that helped unite our country’s individual states but ignores the existence of confederacies of tribes such as the Iroquois, the northwest Pontiac confederacies and others. He lists various tribes throughout North America that had not contact with each other as if that was a detriment; in other words, he lumps all tribes (our first immigrants) together similarly as Parkman would have lumped all tribes as “savages”. He says there was “little sense” of community among the separate tribes. But even white visitors to these tribes who experienced Native American tribal life could conclude that their sense of community and use of natural resources trumps highly the destructive path of the modern, united civilization.Then, in the epilog, Winchester rewrites history prior to the birth of the United State, though clearly outside his subject matter. The separate tribes , who had no knowledge of far away tribes, had no sense of “oneness” , as if that was a requirement for community success. Then Winchester glosses over 200 years of murder, exploitation, exporting of Old Work criminals, “plantations “ of colonies, extensive use of Native American tribes by European imperialist and religious empires as weapons, extorting their property and land and he states “then came the emigrants, then the nation”.The book is a wonderful history of how exploration and science has helped us learn not only about the country but about ourselves. But including his own take on history prior to its birth and claiming the importance of immigration in its birth , when in fact the American Revolution was a civil war between colonies and the King, ignores the historical truth. Winchester placing such priority on immigration, himself being an immigrant who became a citizen, places him in the same trap has Parkman’s New England background flavoring treatment of Native Americans.The book is a worthy, informative read, but be sure to recognize the invasion of the author’s political and historical views from the facts presented.What about the role of women? He only mentions the importance of Sacajawea and her role.

As a newly minted American citizen (2011), the author's enthusiasm in finding the bases of America's unity is understandable, even if, the author chooses to ignore significant polarizations and divides in American society in 2103 that call American unity into question. Nonetheless, the author's attempt to locate American unity is interesting and reasonably successful, as far as it goes; his effort is fairly straightforward and sequential in historical time.To carve a nation out of a vast primitive wilderness requires, at the least, efforts at exploration and mapping, indentifying means of transport and travel, promoting mass migrations to new territories, and establishing infrastructure for communications and information flows. Starting with Lewis and Clark, the author details the many dangerous missions undertaken by numerous men to describe the possibilities of the West to those lingering on the East coast. In the 19th century the expanded use of waterways and canals and the invention of the steamship; the spread of railroads; and the invention of the telegraph, shortly followed by the telephone - all facilitated the spread of population, American culture, and a sense of interconnectedness.However, the 20th century, a century of science, technology, and engineering, sees tremendous advances in transportation and communications that overshadow the 19th century: automobiles, a national network of roads, airplanes, the electrification of America, radio, television, and the Internet, to merely scratch the surface. Yet, there are concerns; radio and especially television are structured to contribute to a massified culture, a culture of superficial sameness and conformity. The mass media in the US is so oriented to pushing a commercial message that virtually no time or space is allocated to diverse, democratic inputs. Numbing mass spectacles, like the Super Bowl, are a particular province of the mass media.As said, the book is interesting. Many forgotten, but important, historical individuals in many areas are identified by the author. Nonetheless, the enormity of the author's task necessarily requires the book to be at best an overview. Contrary to the anti-government fervor in the modern US, the author correctly notes that the federal government played a key role in bringing about and supporting many of these huge projects to unify the nation. However, surprisingly, he fails to give credit for American unity to the English culture that held sway in the colonies for nearly two hundred years before independence. Americans did not create a culture from nothing.Curiously, the author admits to the almost total lack of community in the small town in which he resides in Massachusetts. That only changed with the start of a community newspaper, which he helped to find, which invites participation in not only the newspaper, but also in community affairs. It is not obvious that the author totally grasps the fact that such dialog and communication occurs virtually nowhere in the US. Perhaps it would be more accurate for the author to say that a substrate for unity exists in the US, but unity is far from being realized. And it won't be realized until the dominance of the powerful is countered economically, politically, and socially.PS: The author's persistent placing of himself in the story may not be all that appealing. Secondly, the author repeatedly confuses current and voltage in his discussion of electricity.

Simon Winchester is a wonderful story teller. The books that he has to his credit cover an enormous range from the Atlantic Ocean, the creation of the first English dictionary, Krakatoa, outposts of the British Empire and more. A man of truly omnivorous interests. His latest work, “The Men Who United the States”, is his attempt to codify (probably not the right word) the means by which America was bound together over the past two hundred years.In order to tell the story of America, Winchester uses five themes: wood, earth, water, fire and metal. In the case of wood, he reverts to the early European discovery expeditions such as Lewis and Clark. For earth, the reader is taken through the Grand Canyon with John Wesley Powell before Winchester moves on to the grandeur of Yellowstone and concludes with a terrific story of fraud in California that was a delight to read. As to water, Winchester tells the story of the great American canal constructions. These were all significant engineering marvels. As to fire, Winchester explains the development of the railways and then the roads and the interstate freeway network. Winchester concludes with metal by bringing the reader to the twenty first century after radio and then television leads to the internet and the communications cornucopia that we have today.In moving through each of the above themes, the reader is often captivated. Winchester is a wordy writer but a marvelous constructor of sentences. His style is precise. It is also thoroughly enticing.As I mentioned at the outset, Simon Winchester canon of work is eclectic. I have read a number of his efforts over the years. They have all been rewarding. “The Men Who United the States” is no exception.

I have to admit to usually reserving my kindle for fiction as I prefer my non-fiction in book form, especially those with maps. Having seen a copy of this book in a bookshop I was put off buying it because the maps and plates are on the whole poorly reproduced copies and you need a magnifying glass to glean any information from them. Well hurrah then for the kindle, or more pertinently the Kindle app on the iPad, as you can use the zoom function to get a bit more from the illustrations. Having said that they are still not perfect but this is offset by the author's usual casual grace, eye for the telling detail and ability to pick a relevant quote or two from and about the protagonists. Talking of whom, there are quite a few individuals whose stories are told here so if you require more in depth detail about anyone who takes your fancy there is an extensive bibliography that will assist with this. Yes this is of necessity no more than an introduction to those who explored and subsequently "opened up" the country, and these are of course predominantly of European extraction. Native Americans are given due consideration and race relations and slavery are not ignored but the reality is that this is the story of how the Europeans fared and should be read as such. It is not a commentary on what was "right" or "wrong" about such exploits, more a tale of what happened given the social mores of the day. Other books, many mentioned in the bibliography, provide that sort of information. i enjoyed this book though and perhaps the best thing about it is that I am now encouraged to read about some of the more contentious issues that are only touched upon here.

I love all of Simon Winchester's books. It amazes me how much this man knows! "The Men who United the States" is no exception. Although it started out slow and somewhat rambling, Winchester's book eventually picks up and is just full of fascinating tidbits of American history. The book is based around the five elements, and with each element (wood, earth, water, fire, metal) he connects it to some physical aspect of how the states of America were united. So, for example, the section on water discusses how the building of canals allowed the states to feel more connected once people and goods could travel more easily and quickly from one part of the country to the next. The sense of nation and union began to develop. I particularly found the chapter on roads and highways to be especially interesting. The quirky story of how Route 66 got its name was just one of the little gems Winchester has throughout his book. I would highly recommend it. It is just an enjoyable read and quite relaxing. I don't like fiction, but a book like Winchester's is far better than fiction. It is amusing, and fascinating, and the perfect book to go to sleep with.

Another superb book from Simon Winchester. Simon cleverly and uniquely draws together the development of the USA through the lives and achievements of explorers, thinkers, and innovators. He charts and deals with fascinating pioneers who developed communications together with the spread of industry, in particular water, metal and electricity. It is a vast coverage of every aspect of the development of the USA as we know it today and an extremely clever concept as well. Few books become "unputdownable" but this is certainly one of them and the reader is drawn into the unique world of how the USA and the states in particular became integrated almost as one as modern development spread across state boundaries. Characters like the explorers Lewis and Clark and other familiar names are included as well as many now forgotten who had the original involvement with the development of this huge and powerful nation. Very well written and easy to read, highly recommended.

A really well told series of accounts showing how the United Statesgrew out of its historical past, and using major themes such as metal, waterto tell the story. Full of details linking inventors, politicians and frontiersmento provide some coherence to the way the west was won, but well away from the conventional cowboys and Indians.This is a must for anyone who wants to know what made the world's most powerful country-and gives a fresh perspective on the spanning of the giant continent.This is not a text book in any way, and yet it provides serious scholarship alongsidesome enjoyable anecdotal insights into early America.

Like the curate's egg "Good in parts". Winchester follows the footsteps of Raban and Bryson but the former's prose is better and the latter writes with more charm and humour.That said this book should be read. I found certain sections quite moving not least bringing electricity to farmers for the first time under the New Deal.