From grocery store to doctor's office, alternative medicine is everywhere. A recent survey found that more than two in five Americans uses some form of alternative medicine. "The Politics of Healing" brings together top scholars in the fields of American history, history of medicine, anthropology, sociology, and politics to counter the view that alternative medical therapies fell into disrepute in the decades after physicians established their institutional authority during the Progressive Era. From homeopathy to Navajo healing, this volume explores a variety of alternative therapies and political movements that have set the terms of debate over North American healing methods.

From grocery store to doctor's office, alternative medicine is everywhere. A recent survey found that more than two in five Americans uses some form of alternative medicine. The Politics of Healing brings together top scholars in the fields of American history, history of medicine, anthropology, sociology, and politics to counter the view that alternative medical therapies fell into disrepute in the decades after physicians established their institutional authority during the Progressive Era. From homeopathy to Navajo healing, this volume explores a variety of alternative therapies and political movements that have set the terms of debate over North American healing methods.

According to their national myth, all Americans are "middle class," but rarely has such a widely-used term been so poorly defined. Do we identify the middle class by a house in the suburbs, a white collar job, or a political outlook that is right-of-centre? Or is the middle class in fact more complex? These fascinating essays provide much-needed context to the subject of class in America.

"A historical tour de force of the Progressive era in a middle class city, Professor Johnston's book will begin to unravel the stultifying stereotyping of the middle classes and remove cobwebs of inaction from the minds of today's civic organizers and thinkers."--Ralph Nader

"This is one of the most original, provocative, and imaginative works about the modern U.S. that I have read in years. Johnston has produced far more than a splendid history about the neglected politics of a neglected city. His book is studded with insights about what it meant and means to be middle class and the fecund nature of populism in industrial and post-industrial America. What is more, he gives us hope for the future."--Michael Kazin, Georgetown University, author of "The Populist Persuasion: An American History"

"Johnston's daring, meticulous, subtle, and analytically acute study of Portland's lower middle class leaves hundreds of shallow and condescending cliches about the petite bourgeoisie mortally wounded or gasping for breath in its splendid wake. He succeeds in restoring the historical autonomy, particularity, and egalitarian moral economy of America's lower middle classes. As with E.P. Thompson's history of the English working class, subsequent work on the middle class in America must now take this study as its point of departure."--James C. Scott, author of "Seeing Like a State"

"Johnston seizes the Progressive Era and gives it back to the people. He argues that the roots of reform flourished among average citizens, those who thought that they could change the world by reasoning and voting together. This is a book about democracy at its best. Johnston recalls America's potential andunderscores the paramount importance of civic activism on the local level."--Glenda E. Gilmore, editor of "Who Were the Progesssives?" and author of "Gender and Jim Crow"

"In this very exciting study, Johnston has truly broken new ground. For all its theoretical sophistication, the book is written with flair and is blessedly free of arcane jargon. The prose is clear, powerful, and even jaunty at times. "The Radical Middle Class" will become one of those rare and important books that no scholar of U.S. class relations and politics will be able to ignore."--Elaine Tyler May, author of "Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era"

"Robert Johnston has written a terrific book, engaging one of the most neglected and important topics in U.S. history: the political history of the middle class. More successful than some of his predecessors, he gives middle-class Americans the history they so richly deserve. Powerfully argued, splendidly told, and provocatively fresh, "The Radical Middle Class" marks a milestone in the historiography of the American middle class. It is really the first book of its kind."--Sven Beckert, Harvard University, author of "The Monied Metropolis: New York City and the Consolidation of the American Bourgeoisie"

"Turn in the Road" tells the story of a young man coming of age in Shenandoah Valley during the Civil War. With his father away fighting the war in Richmond, Wade must look after his mother and sisters and protect them as best he can from rogue cavalrymen, renegades, and thieves. After an attack leaves his sister's life in the balance, Wade strikes out alone in the midst of the fighting, to confront the men responsible. Along the journey, Wade's young heart and mind are forever changed by the horrors of war.

Although Koreans immigrated to the United States in the early 20th century and again shortly after the Korean War, the largest wave of Korean immigrants didn't arrive here until after the Immigration Act of 1965. Korean Americans are the fourth-largest Asian group in the United States; 33 percent live in California. ""Korean Americans"" focuses on this important group, its history, culture, and contributions, and includes profiles of such notables as Jay Kim, who, in 1993, became the first Korean American elected to Congress, and ABC News anchor, Ju Ju Chang.

Barely 40 years after beginning a major immigration movement to the United States, Indian Americans have established vigorous, thriving communities in major metropolitan areas across the country. Author Padma Rangaswamy traces their history, from the early days of the Punjabi pioneers in California to the triumphs of the ""dot-com generation."" Combining human interest with critical analysis, historical data, and current information, ""Indian Americans"" relates this group's remarkable story in a clearly written style that will speak to a young generation of readers.

From Colin Powell, the first African American to be appointed U.S. secretary of state in 2000, to former NBA star Patrick Ewing and Grammy Award winner Harry Belafonte, Jamaican Americans have made important contributions to American society. Drawing on personal stories and historical fact, this fresh, full-color book focuses on this dynamic people and assesses their lasting impact. Three Jamaican characteristics - a passion for music, a respect for religion, and a tradition of travel and migration - are interwoven throughout the book to help convey how these immigrants have been able to preserve their culture in the United States.

According to their national myth, all Americans are "middle class," but rarely has such a widely-used term been so poorly defined. Do we identify the middle class by a house in the suburbs, a white collar job, or a political outlook that is right-of-centre? Or is the middle class in fact more complex? These fascinating essays provide much-needed context to the subject of class in America.

"However urban the nation has become," Catherine McNicol Stock and Robert D. Johnston write, "twenty percent of its citizens still live outside major metropolitan areas. Moreover, rural economic activity agricultural, extractive, recreational, and industrial has an enormous impact on the nation's overall economic well-being. The stories of contemporary rural people still have the power to move us. . . . They reflect the values, dreams, and ideals at the core of the economically, racially, and ethnically diverse American experience."

The Countryside in the Age of the Modern State moves rural history into explorations of modern politics: diverse rural peoples and their complex relationships to the American state in the twentieth century. The volume's contributors examine African American progressive farm organizers; the experiences of Caribbean and Mexican farm laborers; agrarian intellectuals in the New Deal; the politics of land and landscape in the Rocky Mountain west; and the origins of today's rural political movements."

"However urban the nation has become," Catherine McNicol Stock and Robert D. Johnston write, "twenty percent of its citizens still live outside major metropolitan areas. Moreover, rural economic activity agricultural, extractive, recreational, and industrial has an enormous impact on the nation's overall economic well-being. The stories of contemporary rural people still have the power to move us. . . . They reflect the values, dreams, and ideals at the core of the economically, racially, and ethnically diverse American experience."

The Countryside in the Age of the Modern State moves rural history into explorations of modern politics: diverse rural peoples and their complex relationships to the American state in the twentieth century. The volume's contributors examine African American progressive farm organizers; the experiences of Caribbean and Mexican farm laborers; agrarian intellectuals in the New Deal; the politics of land and landscape in the Rocky Mountain west; and the origins of today's rural political movements."

With the sudden end of the Vietnam War in April 1975, throngs of Vietnamese fled their country. Within months, more than 130,000 arrived in the United States, determined to begin their lives anew. In the three decades since that time, Vietnamese Americans have faced many struggles - from finding jobs and learning English to coping with the physical and emotional scars of war. Despite these hardships, many have distinguished themselves, especially as students and entrepreneurs. Here is an all-in-one place to begin a study of this vital segment of the American population. ""Vietnamese Americans"" incorporates a lively text and high-quality, full-color photographs. Fact boxes, sidebars, information on genealogy, and other features add scope, making this useful for reports and general interest.