Capturing History: Brief Readings on America from Discovery to 1877 deftly combines primary source documents with historical narrative to give readers an engaging account of early American history. A range of writing styles and methods are featured in 150 small document excerpts on topics ranging from demography to economics, politics to foreign policy.

The fifteen chapters begin with writing on the world the Europeans encountered when first discovering and colonizing North America. Subsequent chapters are devoted to England and the 18th Century colonies, the ascendancy of the Federalists, Jeffersonian America, the rise of the Cotton South, the Civil War, and the Reconstruction Era.

Designed to show students the kinds of documents historians use to construct a story about the past, while also demonstrating how conceptions regarding history are related to current political, economic, and social debates, Capturing History is well-suited to introductory United States history courses.