Readable and provocative and written with Paul Johnson's customary vigorous, direct and colourful style, A History of the American People charts the sweep and drama of America's history through its politics and economics, its art and literature and science, its society and manners and, not least, its complex religious beliefs. From Walter Raleigh to Bill Clinton, Paul Johnson casts an admiring but not uncritical eye over events and personalities through the past 400 years. 'Written with a wonder and affectionate curiosity that sweep the reader along...This is the kind of book that brings new readers to its subject by its freshness, its enthusiasm and the quality of its writing' Godfrey Hodgson, Independent 'A masterly rendition of America's unique and rambunctious past that is vivid, thoughtful and absorbing...The book is a gallery of engaging pen portraits, elegantly wrought in a few strokes...Much of the book is a collection of these colourful patches which the author has artfully sewn together into a giant, vibrant, breathtaking American quilt - Johnson at his entertaining best' Raymond Seitz, Sunday Telegraph