THE UNITED STATES.

By David SavilleMuzzey and Horace Kidger '03. Boston:Ginn, 1953- 668 pp. $4.12.

Here is a fine example of how high school texts in American History have changed since most of us were first exposed to them. Handsomely printed and bound, abundantly even lavishly supplied with pictures, maps, chaits, and drawings both black and white and colored, Muzzey and Kidger's The United States can hardly fail to make a favorable impression. As a matter of fact, this reviewer's copy has already been claimed by his foul teen-year-old

Beyond these good looks, the authors had as their goal a covering of all phases of American life as it has developed through our history. Their underlying intent was to create an understanding of the present, plus an appreciation of the advantages of the American system and of the challenges now facing it.

This book is built around four main topics, each treated chronologically in adequate factual detail without an overcrowding of names and dates. The first division takes up rather briefly the land and the people. The second and longest division covers the political story, from discovery to 1952, with most of the space devoted to the national period. The third division, the next largest, presents the social and economic side of the story, plus such topics as political reform and the conservation of natural and human resources. The fourth division is again political, with a description of our government, local and national, and of the advantages of democracy over Communism. It continues with an account of our relations with Latin America and Canada, together with enough of the history of these areas to make the relations more understandable. It concludes with a general description of our current foreign policies, again with some of their historical background. Each of the thirty-one chapters is followed by suggestions, questions, and a list of additional readings. There is an extensive final bibliography. and a full index.

The book is a worthy successor to Prof. Muzzey's earlier and well known texts, and the two authors should be well pleased with it.