The United States: Winthrop D. Jordan ... [Et Al.]

The Best Value series is a commendable push by Northwest Publishing to make texts affordable. Inspired no doubt by competing texts that can often reach $100 or more. This book is one of the alternatives. One might ask, how can this text be so cheap? Is the student or the instructor giving up anything by using it? Well, for one thing, there are savings due to no colour diagrams or plates. These can add considerably to the cost. Or, more cynically, they are an (extra) excuse for the publisher to jack up the price. Another saving is that the black and white figures are often maps. While the figures that are of paintings, say, are credited to the Library of Congress. I am not sure, but perhaps the latter does not ask for a royalty from the publisher. What it means is that this text is in some way like a text from 30 years ago. When colour figures were still relatively rare, due to cost. Plus, most of this book is plain text, that you actually have to read. Imagine that! Contemporary texts have a surfeit of colour, and not just in the figures. You know, coloured boxes of emphasised text etc. As to the actual text in this book - it is well written and easily read. You give up nothing by using this book. Also, the very topic of American expansionism means that the multitude of maps is very apropos. You can get a sense of manifest destiny that imbued this growth.