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Books > Humanities > History > American history
A bold and original argument that upends the myth of the Fifties as
a decade of conformity to celebrate the solitary, brave, and
stubborn individuals who pioneered the radical gay rights,
feminist, civil rights, and environmental movements, from historian
James R. Gaines. In a fascinating and beautifully written series of
character portraits, The Fifties invokes the accidental
radicals-people motivated not by politics but by their own most
intimate conflicts-who sparked movements for change in their time
and our own. Among many others, we meet the legal pathfinder Pauli
Murray, who was tortured by both her mixed-race heritage and her
"in between" sexuality. Through years of hard work and
self-examination, she turned her demons into historic victories.
Ruth Bader Ginsberg credited her for the argument that made sex
discrimination illegal, but that was only one of her gifts to
21st-century feminism. We meet Harry Hay, who dreamed of a national
gay-rights movement as early as the mid-1940s, a time when the US,
Soviet Union, and Nazi Germany viewed gay people as subversives and
mentally ill. And in perhaps the book's unlikeliest pairing, we
hear the prophetic voices of Silent Spring's Rachel Carson and
MIT's preeminent mathematician, Norbert Wiener, who from their very
different perspectives-she in the living world, he in the
theoretical one-converged on the then-heretical idea that our
mastery over the natural world carried the potential for disaster.
Their legacy is the environmental movement. The Fifties is a
dazzling and provocative work of history that transforms our
understanding of a seemingly staid decade and honors the pioneers
of gay rights, feminism, civil rights, and environmentalism. The
book carries the powerful message that change actually begins not
in mass movements and new legislation but in the lives of
de-centered, often lonely individuals, who learn to fight for
change in a daily struggle with themselves.
David Danelo spent three months traveling the 1,952 miles that
separate the United States and Mexico - a journey that took him
across four states and two countries through a world of rivers and
canals, mountains and deserts, highways and dirt roads, fences and
border towns. Here the border isn't just an abstraction thrown
around in political debates in Washington; it's a physical reality,
infinitely more complex than most politicians believe. Danelo's
investigative report about a complex, longstanding debate that
became a central issue of the 2016 presidential race examines the
border in human terms through a cast of colorful characters. As
topical today as it was when Danelo made his trek, this revised and
updated edition asks and answers the core questions: Should we
close the border? Is a fence or wall the answer? Is the U.S.
government capable of fully securing the border?
Focuses on the military, political, diplomatic, and economic
aspects of the War or Revolution - allowing the reader to grasp the
complex web of interactions that occurred at different times
throughout the war. This is a key topic in American history and on
American history courses. Other books don't focus so clearly on the
military aspects, in totality from a practical viewpoint.
The map of the United States is peppered with Scottish place-names
and America's telephone directories are filled with surnames
illustrating Scottish ancestry. Increasingly, Americans of Scottish
extraction are visiting Scotland in search of their family history.
All over Scotland and the United States there are clues to the
Scottish-American relationship, the legacy of centuries of trade
and communication as well as that of departure and heritage. The
experiences of Scottish settlers in the United States varied
enormously, as did their attitudes to the lifestyles that they left
behind and those that they began anew once they arrived in North
America. Scots in the USA discusses why they left Scotland, where
they went once they reached the United States, and what they did
when they got there.
"New York Times" Bestseller,
With a New Afterword
"Schlosser has a flair for dazzling scene-setting and an arsenal of
startling facts . . . "Fast Food Nation" points the way but, to
resurrect an old fast food slogan, the choice is yours."--"Los
Angeles Times"
In 2001, "Fast Food Nation" was published to critical acclaim and
became an international bestseller. Eric Schlosser's expose
revealed how the fast food industry has altered the landscape of
America, widened the gap between rich and poor, fueled an epidemic
of obesity, and transformed food production throughout the world.
The book changed the way millions of people think about what they
eat and helped to launch today's food movement.
In a new afterword for this edition, Schlosser discusses the
growing interest in local and organic food, the continued
exploitation of poor workers by the food industry, and the need to
ensure that every American has access to good, healthy, affordable
food. "Fast Food Nation" is as relevant today as it was a decade
ago. The book inspires readers to look beneath the surface of our
food system, consider its impact on society and, most of all, think
for themselves.
"As disturbing as it is irresistible . . . Exhaustively researched,
frighteningly convincing . . . channeling the spirits of Upton
Sinclair and Rachel Carson."--"San Francisco Chronicle"
"Schlosser shows how the fast food industry conquered both appetite
and landscape."--"The New Yorker"
Eric Schlosser is a contributing editor for the "Atlantic "and the
author of "Fast Food Nation," "Reefer Madness," and "Chew on This"
(with Charles Wilson).
Is modern racism a product of secularisation and the decline of
Christian universalism? The debate has raged for decades, but up to
now, the actual racial views of historical atheists and
freethinkers have never been subjected to a systematic analysis.
Race in a Godless World sets out to correct the oversight. It
centres on Britain and the United States in the second half of the
nineteenth century, a time when popular atheist movements were
emerging and scepticism about the truth of Christianity was
becoming widespread. Covering racial and evolutionary science,
imperialism, slavery and racial prejudice in theory and practice,
it provides a much-needed account of the complex and sometimes
contradictory ideas espoused by the transatlantic community of
atheists and freethinkers. It also reflects on the social dimension
of irreligiousness, exploring how working-class atheists'
experiences of exclusion could make them sympathetic to other
marginalised groups. -- .
• Designed to be concise yet comprehensive with the undergraduate
student in mind • Will serve as a companion to many secondary and
primary sources on Wilson • Contains primary source documents to
help bring the subject to life
"A profound and uplifting account of Robert F. Kennedy's brave
crusade for racial equality. This is narrative history at its
absolute finest, with RFK squarely at the center of the 1960s civil
rights movement along with Martin Luther King Jr., James Baldwin,
Cesar Chavez, and other fearless activists. Bare-knuckled, with a
golden heart, RFK was a visionary force to reckon with. This
towering biographical portrait will stand the test of time."
-Douglas Brinkley, author of Rosa Parks A leading civil rights
historian places Robert Kennedy for the first time at the center of
the movement for racial justice of the 1960s-and shows how many of
today's issues can be traced back to that pivotal time. History,
race, and politics converged in the 1960s in ways that indelibly
changed America. In Justice Rising, a landmark reconsideration of
Robert Kennedy's life and legacy, Patricia Sullivan draws on
government files, personal papers, and oral interviews to reveal
how he grasped the moment to emerge as a transformational leader.
When protests broke out across the South, the young attorney
general confronted escalating demands for racial justice. What
began as a political problem soon became a moral one. In the face
of vehement pushback from Southern Democrats bent on massive
resistance, he put the weight of the federal government behind
school desegregation and voter registration. Bobby Kennedy's
youthful energy, moral vision, and capacity to lead created a
momentum for change. He helped shape the 1964 Civil Rights Act but
knew no law would end racism. When the Watts uprising brought calls
for more aggressive policing, he pushed back, pointing to the root
causes of urban unrest: entrenched poverty, substandard schools,
and few job opportunities. RFK strongly opposed the military
buildup in Vietnam, but nothing was more important to him than "the
revolution within our gates, the struggle of the American Negro for
full equality and full freedom." On the night of Martin Luther
King's assassination, Kennedy's anguished appeal captured the hopes
of a turbulent decade: "In this difficult time for the United
States it is perhaps well to ask what kind of nation we are and
what direction we want to move in." It is a question that remains
urgent and unanswered.
"A smart, well-documented book about a group of people determined
to hold the powerful to account."-2021 NPR "Books We Love"
"Journalism at its best."-2022 Southwest Books of the Year: Top
Pick A 2021 Immigration Book of the Year, Immigration Prof Blog
Investigative Reporters & Editors Book Award Finalist 2021 How
Latino activists brought down powerful Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio.
Journalists Terry Greene Sterling and Jude Joffe-Block spent years
chronicling the human consequences of Sheriff Joe Arpaio's
relentless immigration enforcement in Maricopa County, Arizona. In
Driving While Brown, they tell the tale of two opposing movements
that redefined Arizona's political landscape-the restrictionist
cause advanced by Arpaio and the Latino-led resistance that rose up
against it. The story follows Arpaio, his supporters, and his
adversaries, including Lydia Guzman, who gathered evidence for a
racial-profiling lawsuit that took surprising turns. Guzman joined
a coalition determined to stop Arpaio, reform unconstitutional
policing, and fight for Latino civil rights. Driving While Brown
details Arpaio's transformation-from "America's Toughest Sheriff,"
who forced inmates to wear pink underwear, into the nation's most
feared immigration enforcer who ended up receiving President Donald
Trump's first pardon. The authors immerse readers in the lives of
people on both sides of the battle and uncover the deep roots of
the Trump administration's immigration policies. The result of
tireless investigative reporting, this powerful book provides
critical insights into effective resistance to institutionalized
racism and the community organizing that helped transform Arizona
from a conservative stronghold into a battleground state.
Pham Xuan An was a Communist agent whose espionage adventures -
under the cover story of a celebrated war correspondent in the
Western Media -- were as brilliant for Hanoi as they were
shattering for Washington during the tumultuous days of the Vietnam
War. He has been dubbed "the perfect spy" and affectionately
referred to by some as "the spy who loved us". Not quite.
Journalist and Southeast Asian specialist Luke Hunt prises this
story open. He knew and interviewed An for many years, along with
many friends and colleagues in journalism who knew him best in war,
on the journalistic beat and amid the collapse of South Vietnam.
American Exception seeks to explain the breakdown of US democracy.
In particular, how we can understand the uncanny continuity of
American foreign policy, the breakdown of the rule of law, and the
extreme concentration of wealth and power into an overworld of the
corporate rich. To trace the evolution of the American state, the
author takes a deep politics approach, shedding light on those
political practices that are typically repressed in "mainstream"
discourse. In its long history before World War II, the US had a
deep political system--a system of governance in which
decision-making and enforcement were carried out within--and
outside of--public institutions. It was a system that always
included some degree of secretive collusion and law-breaking. After
World War II, US elites decided to pursue global dominance over the
international capitalist system. Setting aside the liberal
rhetoric, this project was pursued in a manner that was by and
large imperialistic rather than progressive. To administer this
covert empire, US elites created a massive national security state
characterized by unprecedented levels of secrecy and lawlessness.
The "Global Communist Conspiracy" provided a pretext for
exceptionism--an endless "exception" to the rule of law. What
gradually emerged after World War II was a tripartite state system
of governance. The open democratic state and the authoritarian
security state were both increasingly dominated by an American deep
state. The term deep state was badly misappropriated during the
Trump era. In the simplest sense, it herein refers to all those
institutions that collectively exercise undemocratic power over
state and society. To trace how we arrived at this point, American
Exception explores various deep state institutions and
history-making interventions. Key institutions involve the
relationships between the overworld of the corporate rich, the
underworld of organized crime, and the national security actors
that mediate between them. History-making interventions include the
toppling of foreign governments, the launching of aggressive wars,
and the political assassinations of the 1960s. The book concludes
by assessing the prospects for a revival of US democracy.
Until the 1970s, if you suffered a medical crisis, your chances of
survival were minimal. A 9-1-1 call might bring police or even the
local funeral home. But that all changed with Freedom House EMS in
Pittsburgh, a group of Black men who became America's first
paramedics and set the gold standard for emergency medicine around
the world, only to have their story and their legacy erased-until
now. In American Sirens, acclaimed journalist and paramedic Kevin
Hazzard tells the dramatic story of how a group of young,
undereducated Black men forged a new frontier of healthcare. He
follows a rich cast of characters that includes John Moon, an
orphan who found his calling as a paramedic; Peter Safar, the Nobel
Prize-nominated physician who invented CPR and realized his vision
for a trained ambulance service; and Nancy Caroline, the idealistic
young doctor who turned a scrappy team into an international
leader. At every turn, Freedom House battled racism-from the
community, the police, and the government. Their job was gruelling,
the rules made up as they went along, their mandate nearly
impossible-and yet despite the long odds and fierce opposition,
they succeeded spectacularly. Never-before revealed in full, this
is a rich and troubling hidden history of the Black origins of
America's paramedics, a special band of dedicated essential
workers, who stand ready to serve day and night on the line between
life and death for every one of us.
America's Arab Nationalists focuses in on the relationship between
Arab nationalists and Americans in the struggle for independence in
an era when idealistic Americans could see the Arab nationalist
struggle as an expression of their own values. In the first three
decades of the twentieth century (from the 1908 Ottoman revolution
to the rise of Hitler), important and influential Americans,
including members of the small Arab-American community,
intellectually, politically and financially participated in the
construction of Arab nationalism. This book tells the story of a
diverse group of people whose contributions are largely unknown to
the American public. The role Americans played in the development
of Arab nationalism has been largely unexplored by historians,
making this an important and original contribution to scholarship.
This volume is of great interest to students and academics in the
field, though the narrative style is accessible to anoyone
interested in Arab nationalism, the conflict between Zionists and
Palestinians, and the United States' relationship with the Arab
world.
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