About This Edition
What this site is, where the text comes from, and how to cite it.
The Book
Our Country: A Household History of the United States for All Readers was written by Benson J. Lossing and published in 1888. Lossing wrote it to be read aloud at the family hearth — the whole American story, from the Northmen and Columbus to the restored Union, in plain and stirring words, illustrated throughout with the engravings reproduced on this site.
This Edition
This site reproduces the complete text of the original printing, digitized page by page and arranged as 904 short readings across 143 chapters and 12 eras, so you can begin at the beginning and click “next” through the entire history, or step into the timeline wherever you please. Nothing has been abridged, modernized or cleaned up: the period spelling, punctuation and opinions all stand exactly as Lossing printed them.
Editorial Policy
The book’s own words are never altered. Where we add anything of our own — context or a caution about dated language — it appears as a clearly marked 2026 Editor’s Note, signed and dated, set apart from the original text. A history written in 1888 reflects the attitudes of 1888, not least in its accounts of Native Americans and of slavery; those passages are preserved unchanged as part of the historical record, with a note where one is warranted.
Citing This Edition
The underlying work is in the public domain and may be quoted, taught from and reused freely — see Rights & Reuse below.