The Shortest History of the United States

From Revolutionary Roots to Global Superpower—The Remarkable Rise of the World’s Oldest Democracy

28 April 2026

Territory Rights — Worldwide including Canada, Singapore and Malaysia, but excluding the British Commonwealth.

Description

From revolution to civil rights, Old Hollywood to the Space Age—the extraordinary story of a nation that contains multitudes

“A masterpiece of concision and analysis. Every American should read it.”—Judith Thurman, National Book Award–winning writer at The New Yorker

When Britain’s thirteen American colonies declared their independence on July 4, 1776, the United States of America was born. It became a profoundly powerful nation that, for much of its history, has been the crucible of invention and creativity, a refuge for millions, and a beacon of hope, freedom, and multiculturalism. But from the start, it was hardly united. In this insightful, evenhanded account, Don Watson highlights the key figures who fought for the country’s inalienable rights and embodied its indomitable spirit—in politics and at home, on the frontiers and in its cities, in books and music and on screens. And he traces how the central conflicts of the United States—those over freedom, race, enterprise, religion, and violence—evolve through its history. As we witness a country at war with itself in the 1860s, leading the free world less than a hundred years later, and beset by wild division and turmoil in the twenty-first century, we see that this singular nation has never ceased changing—and that the American experiment continues to unfold.

The Shortest History books deliver thousands of years of history in one riveting, fast-paced read.

Reviews

"A Barnes & Noble Best Paperback of the Month

"Don Watson’s Shortest History of the United States is a masterpiece of concision and analysis that extracts the DNA from the body politic and locates both the resilience and the pathologies in its genes. Nothing else I have read explains the sources of our current dilemmas as a nation more astutely. Every American should read it; it should be on the curriculum of every high school." — Judith Thurman, National Book Award–winning writer at The New Yorker

"An insightful and clear account of the country, its founding ideas and the people who have tested ‘the truth of those ideas.’" — The Age

"Lucid, informative, and thorough. . . . Warmly recommended for anyone with an interest in one of the most fascinating (for good and bad) nations in history. . . . Admirably balanced and nuanced." — Sunday Independent

"Praise for Don Watson

"The best book by an outsider about America—forever." — David Sedaris, author of Me Talk Pretty One Day, on American Journeys

"This is not travelogue, it is dazzlingly eloquent and perceptive; it is the Tocqueville of damaged but persistent and enduring dreams. Like Tocqueville, and unlike much writing by foreigners about the United States, it is affectionate and comes across the many Americas and their oddities with an uncondemning eye. It is entertaining and celebrates the not-often mentioned capacity of Americans to talk, narrate their lives and utter orations, a tendency which has always interested me as a foreigner. It is full of incident and consistently engaging. As a star of the epigram he's right up there with Tocqueville, and as a story-teller he loses nothing to Theroux." — Thomas Keneally, author of Schindler’s List, on American Journeys

"A marvelous polemic." — Forbes, on Death Sentence

"Watson wields the language like a bullwhip." — San Diego Union-Tribune, on Death Sentence

"There is a dictionary of clichés on my desktop in Beirut and I heartily recommend Watson's Dictionary of Weasel Words by the Australian Don Watson." — Robert Fisk, author of The Great War for Civilisation, on Watson’s Dictionary of Weasel Words, Cant and Management Jargon

"A truly magnificent achievement." — Peter Carey, author of Parrot and Olivier in America, on The Passion of Private White

"The book’s brilliance lies in the way it reveals the layers of complexity both in the politics which surround Keating, which will feel familiar to anyone who has been at the heart of government at that level, and also the layers of complexity in the man himself. . . . And if you want to get a real feel for politics from the inside then yes, I might recommend my diaries, but I would definitely recommend Watson’s book, too. At almost 750 pages, you will need a fair bit of time to read it, but if you’re like me, you will get to the end and want to read it again." — The New European, on Recollections of a Bleeding Heart

"This is a brilliant original work." — Times Literary Supplement, on Caledonia Australis

"A loving rumination on Australia, the landmass, and those who live on it and from it. . . . Watson refuses to be captured by easy categorisations or received opinion. . . . The writing is crisp, witty and sardonic. . . . Watson is an original, with an authentic, prophetic voice." — The Monthly, on The Bush

"Watson's magnificent, celebratory, contradictory study of the Australian bush will challenge the national imagination." — The Weekend Australian, on The Bush

Paperback

9798893031195

130 x 198 mm • 304 pages

£9.50

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