, American Splendor Making History, Making History It's time to take history personally. This unique text takes a personal approach to American history to get readers excited about their own roles in making history and empower them to make changes for the betterment of their country. begins with the important point that while most standard textbooks refer to events that have shaped America, these events didn't happen to America - they happened to individual Americans. It is individuals who give their lives in armed conflicts and lose their homes during financial downturns. With this perspective in mind, students are prepared to read and think differently about post-Civil War history, including industrialization, the Spanish-American War and World Wars, the Depression, the Cold War, the Civil Rights Era, Vietnam, the rise of modern conservatism, and the country's current state of decline. This edition features a new chapter on reconstruction and an assessment of the Obama presidency and the 2016 presidential election. The first history textbook to include comic book pages, features artwork by comic book artist Gary Dumm of . With its non-traditional take on events and their impacts, is a fresh alternative for survey courses in American history and historiography or classes in American civilization or popular culture. has written five books and seven plays, and is a distinguished professor of history at Citrus College in Glendora, California. Dr. Solheim founded the Veterans Program at Citrus College and cofounded the transition course, which is the first college course aimed at returning veterans. He served for six years in the United States Army as a jail guard and helicopter pilot. Dr. Solheim earned his doctorate in history at Bowling Green State University and served as a Fulbright professor at the University of Tromsø in northern Norway.