Charles and Mary Beard are name brand historians. There are precious few historians that make it to that level. <p> This is an excellent textbook. Two general themes of the Beards are: <p> 1) economics is a dominant driver of history.<p> 2) America is a story of expanding rights – more groups of people are securing their rights as time goes on. <p> The book focuses on social issues such as how things were manufactured and societal heirarchy rather than battles,...