In many ways, A panoramic History of American Civilization by Dr. Wei is a similar attempt in the same direction. As the author indicates in the Postscripts, the textbook, among other things, is also intended to help the Chinese students to acquire and improve their English language skills, not so much through learning of English itself, but through the study of American Civilization. What makes this textbooks stands out among a pile of similar textbooks is not just the subject matter it deals with, but rather the way in which the author approaches his work- singling out the most important historical events and political figures in American history and discussing their contributions to the making of American civilization. The merit of such an approach is, at least, twofold. For one thing, it allows the reader to get the hang of American civilization almost at on go, leading him/her directly to the discovery of America’s glorious but hard-won achievements in its civilization. For another by piecing together all the key events that have helped shape the nation, the textbook manages to present before the reader a vivid pictures of the nation’s evolutionary process almost in its entirely-birth, growth, development and success. Anyone who takes a good look at it is sure to conjure up a clear mental map of American civilization right away.
