Geography Reader’s IV: Europe attempts to combine the best features of a textbook and those of a geographical reader. Contents include a description of most European countries’ physical features, along with a brief history of the main cities, industries, and climate. There are review questions at the end of each chapter. There are numerous black and white illustrations of peoples and activities. The red cover contains an illustration of two men seated within a shield-like frame and globe. One holds the tools of a farmer and the other the tools of a factory worker.
Issac Oscar Winslow (1856-1949) authored a series of Geography Readers that were widely used as textbooks. He also authored books on the principles of agriculture and arithmetic for use in public schools. In addition, Winslow served as the Superintendent of Providence Public Schools in Rhode Island.
The famed publishing company was founded in Boston by Edwin Ginn and Daniel Collamore Heath in 1885 and specialized in textbooks. D.C. Heath and Company was owned by Raytheon from 1966 to 1995. When Raytheon exited the textbook market, it sold the company to Houghton Mifflin. The deal gave Houghton Mifflin a substantial boost as a publisher of textbooks in modern languages, science, language arts, social studies and mathematics.
A School History of the United States is a thoughtful, chronological account of America from the age of European discovery and settlement, to the wars and disputes of the 18th and 19th Centuries. Later chapters are organized by themes (e.g., Growth of the Northwest, Mechanical and Industrial Progress), rather than by a list of Presidential administrations. There are many illustrations and maps, mostly in black and white.
The brown front cover has a red border at the spine and a floral pattern with early American symbols of an eagle, flag-shield, and laurel wreathes. The back cover is illustrated with a floral design in a shield pattern, crowned by an American eagle; while inside it is the publisher’s insignia of a lit torch, an open book, and eagle’s wings.
John Bach McMaster was a prominent historian and professor of early American history. He was born on June 29, 1852. McMaster attended public schools and graduated from the College of the City of New York with both a B.A. (1872) and an M.A. (1875), as well as a degree in Civil Engineering. He taught engineering at Princeton from 1877-1883.
In 1883, McMaster became a Professor of American History at the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned his PhD. Besides authoring A School History of the United States (1898), he wrote a five-volume History of the People of the United States from the Revolution to the Civil War (1883-1890), as well as biographies of Benjamin Franklin and Daniel Webster. His historical work differed from standard practice in that it departed from an exclusively political focus to delve into social history and the lives of ordinary people, as well as in its use of newspapers as sources.
The American Book Company (ABC) was an educational book publisher based in New York City. In 1890, it bought out the historically important branch of Harpers known for publishing school textbooks and library materials for schools. The ABC was later absorbed into D.C. Heath in 1981. Any remaining K-12 assets of the American Book Company were acquired by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 1995.
