Books in Print
Order Henry Steele Commager's books from Amazon
You can order Henry Steele Commager's books from Amazon through the links below. You may also find his out-of-print books and used books on the Alibris web site.
A Pocket History of the United States
by Henry Steele Commager & Allan Nevins
First Sentence: "THE HISTORY of English settlement in America began on a beautiful April morning in 1607, when three storm-beaten ships of Captain Christopher Newport anchored near the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, sending ashore men who found "fair meadows, and goodly tall trees, with such fresh waters as almost ravished" them to see."
The Story of World War II
by Henry Steele Commager - Revised by Donald Miller
Amazon.com Editorial Review: "In 1945, the noted historian Henry Steele Commager, then employed by the U.S. Office of War Information, published The Story of World War II, a comprehensive survey of a struggle still terribly fresh. Donald Miller, himself an accomplished historian, amplifies Commager's work with this substantially revised edition."
The Spirit of Seventy-Six: The Story of the American Revolution As Told by Participants
by Henry Commager & Richard Morris
Amazon.com Editorial Review: "For readers who like their history straight from the sources, The Spirit of 'Seventy-Six is the best they can find on the Revolution. Anyone with an interest in the roots of American history and national character has much to learn from it. The title here pretty much says it all. The text draws from countless original sources to tell the story of our country's founding."
The Growth of the American Republic - Vol. 2
by Morison, Commager & Leuchtenburg
Amazon.com Editorial Review: "Over fifty years after its original publication, this classic work in American history is in its seventh edition. In a clear, vigorous style, its celebrated authors present the rich and complex narrative of America's experience in an account that extends from the pre-Columbian age to 1877 in Volume I, and in Volume II from 1877 to the present. Expertly revised to bring the study fully up to date, it reflects new insights derived from significant modern research."
A Concise History of the American Republic
by Morison, Commager & Leuchtenburg
Amazon.com Editorial Review: "A Concise History of the American Republic, Second Edition, is a compact, authoritative, gracefully written narrative of American history from the arrival of the Native Americans' Siberian forebears to the economic conflicts of the Carter and Reagan administrations."
The American Mind: An Interpretation of American Thought and Character Since the 1880s
by Henry Steele Commager
First Sentence: "Over a period of two and a half centuries, marked by such adventures as few other people had known, Americans had created an American character and formulated and American philosophy. That character all but eludes description and that philosophy definition, yet both were unmistakable."
The Story of the Second World War
by Henry Steele Commager
First Sentence: "BEFORE DAWN of September 1, 1939, clouds of bombers and fighters flew eastward into the skies over Poland, raining death and destruction on helpless towns and villages, on airfields, railroads, bridges, and factories."
The Empire of Reason: How Europe Imagined and America Realized the Enlightenment
by Henry Steele Commager
Amazon.com Editorial Review: "The foremost American historian of his generation delves into the nation's European origins, illuminating how the new country embodied the principles of the Enlightenment--ideals that Europe, trapped by tradition and privilege, could not itself realize. "...crystalline clarity of...writing [causes] explosions in the reader's mind...history to be pondered and cherished."--The New York Times"
Selections from the Federalist: A Commentary on the Constitution of the United States
by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay, Henry Steele Commager
Amazon.com Book Description: "These essays on the Constitution were written by busy men in the midst of an active public and professional life, written with immense haste, and without proper time for consultation.... Yet even when they first appeared, the Federalist papers were recognized as the best explanation of and defense of the Constitution available, and they took their place, almost at once, as a classic."
The American Spirit: The Paintings of Mort Kunstler
by Henry Steele Commager, Rod Gragg, Mort Kunstler
Amazon.com Book Description: "From traditions of Native Americans to depictions of the Civil War to the first man on the moon, more than 185 paintings by acclaimed American history artist Mort Kunstler are reproduced in full color in this beautiful volume. Commager's text provides an informative descriptive narrative."
The St. Nicholas Anthology
by Henry Steele Commager
Description: This anthology was written about the popular American children's magazine titled St. Nicholas. The St. Nicholas magazine was published between 1873 and 1941 and designed for children aged 5 to 18.
Lincoln and the Civil War in the Diaries and Letters of John Hay
by John Hay, foreword by Henry S. Commager, edited by Tyler Dennett
Description: A portrait of Abraham Lincon and the American Civil War as read through the writings of his private secretary and assistant, John Milton Hay.
Commager on Tocqueville
by Henry Steele Commager
Amazon.com Editorial Review: "That Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America has remained for over a century and a half one of the most important commentaries on American society and government is ironical. The Frenchman's primary interest lay in deriving lessons for France. Furthermore, as Commager (history, emeritus, Amherst) notes in this candid and engaging commentary, Tocqueville often did not present a single example or piece of evidence to support some of his generalizations."
Twenty Years at Hull-House
by Jane Addams, foreword by Henry S. Commager
Amazon.com Editorial Review: "While on a trip to East London in 1883, Jane Addams witnessed a distressing scene late one night: masses of poor people were bidding on rotten vegetables that were unsalable anywhere else. Their pale faces were dominated by that most unlovely of human expressions, the cunning and shrewdness of the bargain-hunter who starves if he cannot make a successful trade..."