Book Five of A History of US is both the same old, same old and something different. Ms. Hakim actually backs up a bit and looks again at some of the years covered in Volume 4. But whereas in The New Nation she focused more on the political events of the era, in this volume she takes a more cultural path. Liberty for All? follows the mountain men, the forty-niners, the Mormons, the whalers, the suffragettes, the authors, poets and painters who all added to the tapestry of America. Of course, running throughout the book is the issue of slavery, which built up over the years. The book ends in 1860 with the fuse burning and the powder keg ready to explode.
--J. ( )