 First edition cover of The Glorious Cause, the first book published in the series | |
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| Genre | Narrative history |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
| Media type | Books |
The Oxford History of the United States is an ongoing multivolume narrative history of the United States published by Oxford University Press. Conceived in the 1950s and launched in 1961 under the co-editorship of historians Richard Hofstadter and C. Vann Woodward, the series has been edited by David M. Kennedy since 1999.
Since its inception, the series editors have invited numerous historians to write for the Oxford History of the United States. Contracting authors and procuring manuscripts from them has been a perennial challenge for the series' publication. No author originally commissioned to write for the series has ultimately gone on to publish a volume with the Oxford History of the United States. Multiple authors have withdrawn from the series for a variety of reasons including health and age, and more than once editors have decided to ultimately reject an author's manuscript submission on the grounds of it not fitting the series.
The first book published in the series released in 1982. Since then, the series has published nine out of twelve planned volumes. Oxford University Press' original idea was to publish six volumes covering chronological eras and six volumes treating specific historical themes. The planned volumes changed, with more chronological volumes added to the series and planned volumes on economic and intellectual history cancelled.
Multiple books published in the series have received or been nominated for awards. Three received a Pulitzer Prize. Reviews have been mostly positive. Some volumes faced criticism for being "intellectually flabby".[1]