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American Pageant is a much nicer read than Traditions and Encounters... although a lot of that is probably the subject (World History - learn ALL of human history that has EVER happened in 1 year! Ha.)
Here are some quotes from American Pageant I copied from someone who posted them on CC. (can't remember who or where, sorry)
"Jackson men also hit below the belt...He was even accused of having procured a servant girl for the lust of the Russian tsar-- in short, of having served as a pimp."
"Americans did not feel they could offend the tsar by hurling his walrus-covered icebergs back in his face."
"The physical growth of New York was correspondingly retarded."
"What nation in its right mind, they reasoned, would refuse so lavish a dowry? The radiant Texan bride, officially petitioning for annexation in 1837, presented herself for marriage. But the expectant groom, Uncle Sam, was jerked back by the black hand of slavery."
"What other power would have spurned the imperial domain of Texas? The bride was so near, so rich, so fair, so willing...Nine long years were surely a decent wait between the beginning of the courtship and the consummation of the marriage"
"Forming a strong attachment for the Filipinos, he [William Taft] called them his 'little brown brothers' and danced light footedly with their tiny women"
"Seemingly the farmer had only to tickle the soil with a hoe, and it would laugh with a harvest."
"Babies went unborn as pinched budgets and sagging self-esteem wrought a sexual depression in American bedrooms."
"They claimed that the sickly Europe was indeed vomiting on America "the wretched refuse of its teeming shore"
"To many Americans, the Japanese were getting too big for their kimonos."
"This so-called dream of loveliness, which was visited by 27 million people, did much to raise American artistic standards and promote city planning, although many of the spectators were attracted primarily by the contortions of a hootchy-kootchy dancer, 'Little Egypt.'"
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