The nine chapters in this volume provide a clear and accessible overview of the 20th-century history of the American South. Topics covered include labour, intellectual and women's history as well as an analysis of the impact of Federal government policy on economic and social affairs. While embracing several fields, the authors all address the same theme: the slow loss of Southern distinctiveness and the effect this process has had on issues of race and class.

The idea that American historical development is different from that of other nations is an old one, yet it shows no sign of losing its emotive power. 'Exceptionalism' continues to excite, beguile, and frustrate students of the American past. The essays in this volume explore the ways in which the process of class formation in the United States can be said to be distinctive. Focusing upon the impact of liberal political thought, race and immigration, and the role of the war-time state, they challenge particularist and nation-centred modes of explanation. Comparing American historical development with Italian, South African, and Australian examples, the essays reinvigorate a tired debate.

Much has been written about the forging of a British identity in the 17th and 18th centuries, from the multiple kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland. But the process also ran across the Irish sea and was played out in North America and the Caribbean. In the process, the indigenous peoples of North America, the Caribbean, the Cape, Australia and New Zealand were forced to redefine their identities. This text integrates the history of these areas with British and imperial history. With contributions from both sides of the Atlantic, each chapter deals with a different aspect of British encounters with indigenous peoples in Colonial America and includes, for example, sections on "Native Americans and Early Modern Concepts of Race" and "Hunting and the Politics of Masculinity in Cherokee treaty-making, 1763-1775". This book should be of particular interest to postgraduate students of Colonial American history and early modern British history.

Much has been written about the forging of a British identity in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The process, unconfined to the British Isles, ran across the Irish Sea and Atlantic Ocean and was played out in North America and the Caribbean. The identities of Irish Catholics or Highland Scots who took part in the imperial venture abroad were subject to constant renegotiation. In the process, the indigenous peoples of North America, the Caribbean, the Cape, Australia, and New Zealand were forced to redefine their own identities. Although the encounter was far from equal, it was by no means simple or monolithic This collection explores the many complex ways in which identities were forged within Britain and among indigenous peoples through a process of collision and compromise. Contributions from Africa, Australia, and both sides of the Atlantic deal with different aspects of these encounters-for example, "Native Americans and Early Modern Concepts of Race" and "Hunting and the Politics of Masculinity in Cherokee Treaty-making, 1763-1775." Empire and Others provides a valuable study that will be of particular interest to students of Colonial American history and early modern British history. Contributors to the volume include Philip Morgan, Christopher Bayly, Andrew Porter, Hilary Beckles, and Peter Way.

The idea that American historical development is different from that of other nations is an old one, yet it shows no sign of losing its emotive power. 'Exceptionalism' continues to excite, beguile, and frustrate students of the American past. The essays in this volume explore the ways in which the process of class formation in the United States can be said to be distinctive. Focusing upon the impact of liberal political thought, race and immigration, and the role of the war-time state, they challenge particularist and nation-centred modes of explanation. Comparing American historical development with Italian, South African, and Australian examples, the essays reinvigorate a tired debate.

"Here is a piece of history not found in conventional textbooks. If ever there were a book our young needed, it is Meatpackers-it reveals an epoch in which trade unions fought and won whatever rights working people possess today. With these rights constantly imperiled, this book is mandatory reading."
"--Studs Terkel"

"The stories are dramatically and richly told, and they offer insights no scholarly study can quite adequately provide."
"--Peter Rachleff, Journal of American History"

Available for the first time in paperback, Meatpackers provides an important window into race and racism in the American workplace. In their own words, male and female packinghouse workers in the Midwest-mostly African-American-talk of their experiences on the shop floor and picket lines. They tell of their fight between the 1930s and 1960s for economic advancement and racial equality. In cities like Chicago, Kansas City, Omaha, Fort Worth, and Waterloo, Iowa, meatpackers built a union that would defend their interests as workers-and fight for their civil rights.

The nine chapters in this volume provide a clear and accessible overview of the 20th-century history of the American South. Topics covered include labour, intellectual and women's history as well as an analysis of the impact of Federal government policy on economic and social affairs. While embracing several fields, the authors all address the same theme: the slow loss of Southern distinctiveness and the effect this process has had on issues of race and class.