10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America (History Channel Presents) by Steven M. Gillon - 2006

Three Rivers Press. 2006. Paperback. Very Good. A companion book to The History Channel® special series of ten one-hour doc umentaries 10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America pinpoints pivotal days that trans formed our nation. For the series and the book, The History Channel challen ged a panel of leading historians, including author Steven M. Gillon, to co me up with some less well-known but historically significant events that tr iggered change in America. Together, the days they chose tell a story about the great democratic ideals upon which our country was built. You won't find July 4, 1776, for instance, or the attack on Fort Sumter tha t ignited the Civil War, or the day Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon. Bu t January 25, 1787, is here. On that day, the ragtag men of Shays' Rebellio n attacked the federal arsenal in Springfield, Massachusetts, and set the n ew nation on the path to a strong central government. January 24, 1848, is also on the list. That's when a carpenter named John Marshall spotted a few glittering flakes of gold in a California riverbed. The discovery profound ly altered the American dream. Here, too, is the day that noted pacifist Al bert Einstein unwittingly advocated the creation of the Manhattan Project, thus setting in motion a terrible chain of events. Re-creating each event with vivid immediacy, accessibility, and historical accuracy, 10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America comes together as a history of our country, from the first colonists' contact with Native Americans to the 1960s. It is a snapshot of our country as we were, are, and will be.