10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America

10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America is a 2006 work of historical nonfiction by author Steven M. Gillon. A professor and the resident historian for The History Channel television network, Gillon worked alongside a panel of other historians to debate and ultimately determine the 10 days that would be included; they range in time from English Puritans settling New England in the 1630s to the civil rights movement in the Deep South of the 1960s. While each of the book’s chapters focuses on a single day, themes develop to tie the chronological events together. These themes include change and reform, liberty and tyranny, and identity.

10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America was published as a companion book to the 10-part documentary series of the same title that aired on The History Channel in April 2006 and won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series.

Summary

Each chapter chronicles an event which transformed America, but many obvious days were purposely omitted to examine equally important days that have not received the same historical attention. Each chapter focuses on the individuals who changed the course of American history during the chapter’s events.