Page Smith (1917–1995)

For 12 years, I've housed Page Smith's multi-volume American history set on my shelves. From time to time, I marveled at how a single individual could have written such a seemingly magnificent set of works -- nearly 8000 pages of history -- in a mere 14 years. I've resolved from time to time to devote myself to reading it, despite the immense amount of time it would take from other endeavors. And I've wondered how such an intellectual giant was viewed by his colleagues: with admiration, show more surely, with envy perhaps, or at least with acknowledgement of his ambitious and magnificent accomplishments.

I finally took some time to actually look at the books, and to read about them online. Now I understand; and I am glad I never bothered to try to read any of them. The books have no footnotes, and no references. That fact alone makes one question their legitimacy. Readers are expected to take Smith's word on everything -- not just his ideas and interpretations but his claims, his statement of facts. In his defense, one might argue that his volumes are meant for the general public, which would be put off by footnotes; but why no references from which readers might glean further information, or alternative interpretations of controversial issues?

And then I noticed a factual error. John Quincy Adams is said to be the grandson (not the son) of John Adams -- the latter being an historical figure on which Smith has written a separate, for volume set. A visit to reviews at Amazon.com revealed plenty of other such errors. And wondering how professional historians viewed the works of their retired colleague, I sought some published reviews.

One needs to look no further than the review of volumes 1 and 2 by Forrest McDonald in the Virginia Quarterly Review. The reviewer notes mountains of factual errors, many of them elementary. In his view, Smith's interpretations are ideologically based and deeply suspect. McDonald calls the book "the worst book I have ever reviewed"... that for this work "to appear under the imprint of a respectable publisher and a reputable historian is nothing less than prostitution." The reviewer goes on to state: "The Supreme Court has defined an obscene book as one that is offensive to ordinary standards of decency and contains no redeeming social value. By that criterion, A New Age Now Begins is on a par with the movies of Linda Lovelace." A link to this review is available at the Library Thing page.

And so, Page Smith took up a full bookshelf shelf in my basement for 14 years, but mercifully, none of my valued reading time. I am deleting the set of books, unread, and without regrets. show less

The struggle against the political encroachment of Britain and the ensuing military struggle led to independence, but now the real problems began how to follow up. The Shaping of America: A People’s History of the Young Republic is the third volume of Page Smith’s A People’s History series going over the history of the United States with this volume covering the aftermath of the 1783 Treaty of Paris to the deaths of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson in 1826.

Smith viewed the young nation show more caught between two intellectual consciousnesses—the Classical-Christian of the Revolutionary generation, whose last gasp brought about the Constitution, and the Secular-Democratic inspired by the Enlightenment in the generation that followed the Founders, though ironically led by a few of the Founders. Though Secular-Democratic thought came out on top, it was deeply influenced by the intellectual viewpoint it had replaced especially as the international scene saw the resurgence of absolute monarchism in the aftermath of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. Though politically the Secular-Democratic intellectual view was victorious, socially the Protestant Christian emphasis on redeeming the world was a major thread in the American tapestry and eventually come up against the issue that the Founders and the next generation didn’t want to confront, black slavery. As Smith ended this volume, he highlighted the growing cloud that slavery was becoming for those in the North and South while the “original” West was beginning to pick sides. But once again I found Smith’s facts about Native American tribes inaccurate in some instances that I was shaking my head, and I don’t know much about that subject which speaks volumes. Overall, this was a well-written and fascinating look at the history of the young republic, while Smith’s analysis or chosen themes might not be for everyone but that is the point as it reveals the uncomfortable facts that need to be addressed.

The Shaping of America follows up the two-volume history of the American Revolution with a fascinating and engaging look at the young republic as Page Smith reveals all facets of the United States over four critical decades. show less

Noted historian Page Smith wrote this sometimes humorous, sometimes serious, and always thoughtful look at how America treats and uses (mostly does NOT) its older citizens back in the early 90s when he was himself in his mid-70s.

Smith tends to put little credence in all of the official pronouncements from "experts" on aging or all of the university degrees and courses on same, saying -

"Go and talk to your grandmother or your aunt instead. She is better than the best textbook. She has lived show more a life and, with a little urging, she will be glad to share it with you."

The chapter called "Wife to Mother" is absolutely hilarious, in which Smith, using his own long marriage as an example, tells how women with a "surplus of mothering instinct," finally have no one but their long-suffering and obviously imperfect husbands to use that instinct with. Think Earl and Opal from the PICKLES comic strip.

In another chapter on "Retirement" Smith shows his near prescience in a dream he had: "It was 2010 and I was a spry nonagenarian. More than half the nation was retired and the United States was a wholly-owned Japanese subsidiary." Hmm ... change that to Chinese-owned, and he wouldn't be far off.

In a penultimate chapter called "Surprised by Joy" (taken from a C.S. Lewis book), Smith reflects on the joy and wonder of old age, noting "... the whole process of having and raising children which my wife and I took more or less in stride without any particular reflection seems in retrospect quite an astonishing experience, and seeing our children in turn raising their children more astonishing still."

Well said; well said indeed. There could perhaps be added a final postscript to this thought-provoking book about our final years on earth. I'd call it "Mr Smith Goes to Heaven." Because reading this book, Smith's last one, was made even more meaningful and poignant to me by knowing that Smith died the same year OLD AGE IS ANOTHER COUNTRY was published. He was 77.

I'll note here that I am 68, and had little trouble identifying with most of what Smith wrote here. I intend to pass it along to my mother, who is 95. I'm sure she too will find much here she will recognize. This is simply an excellent book, for young and old alike. show less

The American Revolution began long before 1775, in fact the British colonists were technically rebelling in 1765 however during that decade the ‘American’ consciousness began. A New Age Now Begins: A People’s History of the American Revolution (Volume One) is the first of two books by Page Smith covering American Revolution as well as his American history series, A People’s History, in which he reveals how British colonists transformed into Americans.

Smith just doesn’t deal with show more the American Revolution with the immediate lead up but goes into the origins of each of the 13 colonies and their development in broad terms both internally but in relation to each other before 1763. The period between 1763 to the outbreak of armed conflict in 1775 covers a little over a third of the book as the British Parliament and colonists butted heads over taxes that brought the once selfish colonies closer together and the populace went from thinking of themselves as British to something new, Americans. The military phase of the Revolution takes up just under half of the rest of the volume and through just after the Trenton-Princeton campaign, but with several political developments like how the new states developed constitutions that would have implications later. This volume ends at page 872—with Volume Two continuing the page count—throughout which is a lot of information, but one of critiques I had was that there were no footnotes or bibliography until I glanced at Volume Two in which Page addressed the lack of footnotes—extending the length of an already large history, finding them personally pretentious, and including the sources within the text when quoting or revealing what an individual thought—and while an answer to my main critique, there is still a little doubt that affects my overall view of this very interesting history.

A New Age Now Begins (Volume One) is the first of a double volume history of the American Revolution with this dealing with the founding of colonies through the darkest hour of a young nation. show less