This work presents the thinking of thirteen distinguished foreign observers who examine and evaluate the imprint of America on their own lives and on their nation. It covers the whole spectrum of American political and cultural influences ranging from the material benefits of American influence to the violence which can be found in American life.

A picture of Philadelphia radically different from the conventional portrait of a staid old city, corrupt and contented. The men and women of Philadelphia who emerge in these pages are anything but staid, and certainly not contented. Although much has been written about elite Philadelphians, only in recent decades have historians paid attention to the Jews and working-class blacks, the immigrant Irish, Italians, and Poles who settled in the city and gave such sections as Moyamensing, Southwark, South Philadelphia, and Kensington their vitality. In this classic of social and ethnic history, the authors draw on census schedules, court records, city directories, and tax records as well as newspaper files and other sources to give a picture of the ways in which these less-privileged groups of Philadelphians lived. What emerges is a picture of Philadelphia radically different from the conventional portrait of a staid old city. "Just the kind of book that is needed. It should be stimulating to all historians interested in urban America."--"Journal of American History" Allen F. Davis has published many books, including "The American People: Creating a Nation and a Society" and "Spearheads for Reform: The Social Settlements and the Progressive Movement, 1890-1914." Mark Haller is the author of "Eugenics: Hereditarian Attitudes in American Thought." Both are professors of history at Temple University.

Books about Jane Addams-founder of Hull House, social reformer, suffragist, pacifist, and one of the most greatly admired women in American history-come and go, but Allen Davis's account of her life, work, and ideas remains the standard biography. "A distinguished work of scholarship, mature, incisive....Davis has written not only the best study of Jane Addams but perhaps the best biography of any great American woman."-William L. O'Neill. "The first book that systematically and persuasively separates the real woman from the myth. It will be indispensable to anyone interested in the subject or the period."-Rosemarie Scherman, New York Times Book Review. "An important work, especially valuable for its cultural analysis and its sane, careful approach to the biographer's task."-Alonzo L. Hamby, History. "Detailed and well researched, this account...is the best thing written on Jane Addams I have seen."-Doris Grumbach, New Republic. "An impressively researched, perceptive biography." -Gertrude Benson, Philadelphia Inquirer.