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The Penguin History of the United States of America

book by Hugh Brogan

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJan 29, 2026
Entity authorityQ7756539 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Penguin History of the United States of America is a non-fiction book about the history of the United States written by Hugh Brogan and published by Penguin Books. It was originally titled The Longman History of the United States of America, published by the Longman company from 1985 through 1999. Longman and Penguin are both part of Pearson PLC. The book starts in the pre-Columbian era and, in the first edition, ends in the mid 1970s. The second edition, or "new edition", added a chapter covering through to the end of the 1980s. The book introduces a wide range of dynamic figures and events in American history from the beginning of the British colony to the Reagan era.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “The Penguin History of the United States of America” as book by Hugh Brogan. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Penguin, History and United.

Editorial reviewBest approached as a cultural-object dossier: authorship and date matter, but circulation and reception often explain the wider significance. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1985, 1999—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Penguin, History and United providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “The Penguin History of the United States of America”, the useful work is to connect “book by Hugh Brogan” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7756539. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1985 and 1999.

Critical limits

Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “The Penguin History of the United States of America”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow The Penguin History of the United States of America primary sources, The Penguin History of the United States of America archive and Penguin research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Penguin History of the United States of America”?
  2. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
  3. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “The Penguin History of the United States of America” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.