This book explores the life of Abraham Lincoln on the eve of his bicentennial. To fully understand and appreciate Abraham Lincoln's legacy, it is important to examine the society that influenced the life, character, and leadership of the man who would become the Great Emancipator. Editors Joseph R. Fornieri and Sara Vaughn Gabbard have done just that in ""Lincoln's America: 1809-1865"", a collection of new and original essays by ten eminent historians that place Lincoln within his nineteenth-century cultural context.Among the topics explored in ""Lincoln's America"" are religion, education, middle-class family life, the antislavery movement, politics, and law. Of particular interest are the transition of American intellectual and philosophical thought from the Enlightenment to Romanticism and the influence of this evolution on Lincoln's own ideas.By examining aspects of Lincoln's life - his personal piety in comparison with the beliefs of his contemporaries, his success in self-schooling when frontier youths had limited opportunities for a formal education, his marriage and home life in Springfield, and his legal career - in light of broader cultural contexts such as the development of democracy, the growth of visual arts, the question of slaves as property, and French visitor Alexis de Tocqueville's observations on America, the contributors delve into the mythical Lincoln of folklore and discover a developing political mind and a changing nation. As ""Lincoln's America"" shows, the sociopolitical culture of nineteenth-century America was instrumental in shaping Lincoln's character and leadership. The essays in this volume paint a vivid picture of a young nation and its sixteenth president, arguably its greatest leader.

Nearby History by David E. Kyvig and Myron A. Marty is one of the essential volumes on any public historian's bookshelf and syllabus. Whereas every other "how to do history" book seems aimed at fledgling academic historians and grounds its advice on academic libraries and footnoting, it is Nearby History that shows the reader how to do hands-on public history research with the resources found in every community. First published in 1984, the book remains as important as ever. And yet the world of historical research has changed since 1984--not just the explosion of online historical sources but also the possibilities of using digital cameras and scanners for research, digital communities for historical collaboration, and podcasts, smartphone apps and websites to present research and interpretations of nearby history. It is time for an update. Newly updated by Larry Cebula, this fourth edition of Nearby History is a comprehensive handbook for those interested in investigating the history of communities, families, local institutions, and cultural artifacts, Nearby History helps its readers research the world near at hand. In this fourth edition, the authors discuss a variety of research approaches involving published literature, unpublished documents, oral histories, visual and material sources, and landscapes; offer guidance in the uses of technology, particularly digital photography and digital voice recording; and suggest methods of historical presentation. The authors also explore the promise and pitfalls of research in the digital age. Richly illustrated with photos and documents, Nearby History is an excellent resource for both professionally trained and self-taught historians.

Nearby History by David E. Kyvig and Myron A. Marty is one of the essential volumes on any public historian's bookshelf and syllabus. Whereas every other "how to do history" book seems aimed at fledgling academic historians and grounds its advice on academic libraries and footnoting, it is Nearby History that shows the reader how to do hands-on public history research with the resources found in every community. First published in 1984, the book remains as important as ever. And yet the world of historical research has changed since 1984--not just the explosion of online historical sources but also the possibilities of using digital cameras and scanners for research, digital communities for historical collaboration, and podcasts, smartphone apps and websites to present research and interpretations of nearby history. It is time for an update. Newly updated by Larry Cebula, this fourth edition of Nearby History is a comprehensive handbook for those interested in investigating the history of communities, families, local institutions, and cultural artifacts, Nearby History helps its readers research the world near at hand. In this fourth edition, the authors discuss a variety of research approaches involving published literature, unpublished documents, oral histories, visual and material sources, and landscapes; offer guidance in the uses of technology, particularly digital photography and digital voice recording; and suggest methods of historical presentation. The authors also explore the promise and pitfalls of research in the digital age. Richly illustrated with photos and documents, Nearby History is an excellent resource for both professionally trained and self-taught historians.

Students, teachers, and interested readers can use this important resource to examine the evolution of the everyday lives of ordinary people in the United States from 1960 to 1990. The volatility of the civil rights movement; the impact of the baby boom generation; the influences of television, advertising, and other media; the emergence of environmental and consumer-protection movements; and the effects the Vietnam War and Watergate had on the American public are just a few of the issues examined and outlined. From the space age to the computer age, the user can explore how change-induced discord and adjustment to postmodern times led to cultural standoffs, affecting everyday lives.

For the first time the social history of the United States is examined in four chronological periods: 1960-1966, when modern ideals flourished and then began to fade; 1967-1974, when cultural changes began to remake America; 1975-1980, when the cultural changes led to standoffs between opposing sides; and the 1980s, when postmodern conditions broadened their influence and discord became more pronounced. Marty explores the details of everyday living that these time periods reflected: * the American dream home in suburbia* the influences of new technologies such as computers, portable stereos, and microwave ovens * the initial excitement of space exploration * the growing realities of dual-income and single-parent families and a vast number of other topics that help the user trace the evolution of this mutable and exciting time period.