American Struggle
At your speed≈ 10 hrs
Pages509
Audiobook≈ 17 hrs
509 pages works out to roughly 153,000 words. At an average 250 words a minute that is 10 hrs — about a week of evenings.
Only 1 reader has rated it on Hardcover so far — too few to tell you much either way.
How long does it take to read American Struggle?
American Struggle is 509 pages, or roughly 153,000 words. How long that takes depends on how fast you read:
| Your pace | Words per minute | Time to finish |
|---|---|---|
| Slow | 175 | 14½ hrs |
| Average | 250 | 10 hrs |
| Fast | 400 | 6½ hrs |
Estimated at about 300 words per page. Most adults read between 200 and 300 words a minute — use the reading-speed control to set your own pace and every time on the site adjusts.
Every reading time on the site updates to your pace. Page counts are an estimate, so treat the hours as a good guide, not a stopwatch.
Common questions
- How long does it take to read American Struggle?
- About 10 hrs at an average reading speed of 250 words per minute. American Struggle runs 509 pages, roughly 153,000 words — so at a slower 175 wpm it is nearer 14½ hrs, and at 400 wpm closer to 6½ hrs.
- How many pages is American Struggle?
- 509 pages, which is about 153,000 words and 10 hrs of reading. Editions vary, so we take the figure two of our three sources agree on.
- Is American Struggle worth reading?
- Only 1 reader has rated it on Hardcover so far — too few to tell you much either way. What we can tell you for certain is the cost: 509 pages and about 10 hrs of your time, or 6½ hrs if you read quickly. Whether that is worth it depends on the hours you have.
- How long is the American Struggle audiobook?
- About 17 hrs, estimated from the 153,000 words at a typical narration pace of 150 words a minute. Real editions vary by narrator, usually by well under an hour.
From the publisher
The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Soul of America offers an empowering lens to understand our national debates and divisions from 1619 to the present, with his signature commentary on the consequential speeches, letters, and essays that led us to this moment.
In a polarized era, history can become a subject of political…
contention. Many have seen America as perfect; many others argue that the national experiment is fundamentally flawed. The truth, Meacham shows, likely lies in between these extremes. America has had shining hours, and also dark ones. In American Struggle, Jon Meacham looks to the nation's complicated past for lessons on the way forward. This rich and diverse collection covers a wide spectrum of history, from 1619 to the present, with primary-source documents that spotlight in their own words those who sought unity or division, and with Meacham's commentary throughout--from the founders to Lincoln; to leaders in the South; to leaders during the World Wars; to figures in the modern era such as Martin Luther King, Jr., JFK, LBJ, Shirley Chisolm, Walter Cronkite, Ronald Reagan, Barack Obama, and many more. As clashes over liberty and slavery, inclusion and exclusion play out, these voices, brilliantly framed by Meacham's singular commentary, remind us that contentious citizenship and fair-minded observations are essential to bringing about the more perfect union envisioned in the preamble to the Constitution, which Frederick Douglass called a "glorious liberty document". Conflict is nothing new in American life; rather, as Meacham and these texts show, these arguments are built into the nation's character. To know what has come before, to watch as long-running disputes rise and fall, is to be armed against despair.


