Ideal for instructors seeking to present U.S. history in a global context, this innovative reader pairs comparative readings on key issues such as... slavery, immigration, imperialism, civil rights, and western expansion. Introductions to the selections provide historical context for the issue at hand, background information on the countries being compared, and discussion of ideas or arguments contained in the selections.

Here is the ultimate American road book, one with a perspective unlike that of any other. In January 1947 Simone de Beauvoir landed at La Guardia... airport and began a four-month journey that took her from one coast of the United States to the other, and back again. Embraced by the Condé Nast set in a swirl of cocktail parties in New York, where she was hailed as the "prettiest existentialist" by Janet Flanner in The New Yorker, de Beauvoir traveled west by car, train, and Greyhound, immersing herself in the nation's culture, customs, people, and landscape. The detailed diary she kept of her trip became America Day by Day, published in France in 1948 and offered here in a completely new translation. It is one of the most intimate, warm, and compulsively readable texts from the great writer's pen.Fascinating passages are devoted to Hollywood, the Grand Canyon, New Orleans, Las Vegas, and San Antonio. We see de Beauvoir gambling in a Reno casino, smoking her first marijuana cigarette in the Plaza Hotel, donning raingear to view Niagara Falls, lecturing at Vassar College, and learning firsthand about the Chicago underworld of morphine addicts and petty thieves with her lover Nelson Algren as her guide. This fresh, faithful translation superbly captures the essence of Simone de Beauvoir's distinctive voice. It demonstrates once again why she is one of the most profound, original, and influential writers and thinkers of the twentieth century.On New York:"I walk between the steep cliffs at the bottom of a canyon where no sun penetrates: it's permeated by a salt smell. Human history is not inscribed on these carefully calibrated buildings: They are closer to prehistoric caves than to the houses of Paris or Rome."On Los Angeles:"I watch the Mexican dances and eat chili con carne, which takes the roof off my mouth, I drink the tequila and I'm utterly dazed with pleasure."

The Declaration of Independence as you've never seen it beforeSome of us cherish it with near-scriptural reverence. Others simply take it for granted.... In this contentious new look at the Declaration of Independence, however, celebrated attorney Alan Dershowitz takes "America's birth certificate" and its principal author, Thomas Jefferson, to task.Dershowitz searches for the sources, history, and underlying reasoning that produced the Declaration and its particular language, from its reference to the "Laws of Nature and Nature's God" through the long list of complaints against the abuses of King George III. He points out contradictions within the document, notes how the meanings of Jefferson's words have changed over the centuries, and asks many disturbing questions, including:* Where do rights come from?* Do we have "unalienable rights"?* Do rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" have any meaning?* How could slaveowners claim to believe that "all men are created equal"?* Is the God of the Declaration the God of the Bible?* Does the Declaration establish a Christian State?* Are there "Laws of Nature and of Nature's God"?Challenging, upsetting, and controversial, this brilliant polemic may anger you, delight you, or force you to reexamine your opinions. One thing's for sure: after reading America Declares Independence, you'll never take the Declaration of Independence for granted again.

America Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s, Third Edition, is the definitive interpretive survey of the political, social, and cultural history of... 1960s America. Written by two top experts on the era--Maurice Isserman, a scholar of the Left, and Michael Kazin, a specialist in Right-wing politics and culture--this book provides a compelling tale of this tumultuous era filled with fresh and persuasive insights. For the third edition the authors have updated the text in light of new research, particularly scholarship on the war in Vietnam. They have also expanded the coverage of youth movements and the New Left to include Latino and Asian radical movements, deepened their analysis of the emergence of feminism, and added discussions of the Sixties of other countries. The chapters on religion and the revival of conservatism have been expanded to include recent studies that underscore how broad and deep the conservative movement of the 1960s proved to be. Now featuring new images to better illustrate the era, America Divided, Third Edition, defines, discusses, and analyzes all sides of the political, social, and cultural conflicts of the 1960s in a swiftly moving narrative. It is ideal for courses in 1960s America and America since 1945, or for anyone interested in the last fifty years of American History.

America Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s, Fourth Edition, is the definitive interpretive survey of the political, social, and cultural history of... 1960s America. Written by two top experts on the era-Maurice Isserman, a scholar of the Left, and Michael Kazin, a specialist in Right-wing politics and culture-this book provides a compelling tale of this tumultuous era filled with fresh and persuasive insights.For the fourth edition the authors have updated the text in light of new research, offering strong and thoughtful analysis of such key topics as the U.S. entry into the Vietnam War, youth culture, the New Left, and women and minority groups. Presenting the most even-handed overview of this turbulent period, America Divided, Fourth Edition, defines, discusses, and analyzes all sides of the political, social, and cultural conflicts of the 1960s in a swiftly moving narrative. It is ideal for courses in 1960s America and America since 1945, or for anyone interested in the last fifty years of American History.New to This Edition* New coverage of the "Global Sixties," demonstrating how the cultural and political conflicts taking place in the United States were also occurring in other countries around the world* Updated and expanded conclusion discusses the 2008 presidential election and its relation to the 1960s* More material on environmentalism, gay rights, and the women's movement* Greater coverage of popular culture, including cinema, theater, pop art, and music* Revised and expanded discussions of the labor and the feminist movement and of the economics of the era

Thomas Jefferson envisioned the United States as a great "empire of liberty." In this single-volume history of the United States, David Reynolds takes... Jefferson's phrase as a key to the American saga. He examines how the anti-empire of 1776 became the greatest superpower the world has seen and asks difficult questions about the cost of American greatness, from slavery to the War on Terror. Written with verve, insight, and humor, America, Empire of Liberty is a magisterial depiction of America in all its grandeur and contradictions.

With its distinctive focus on ordinary people, this primary documents reader offers a remarkable range of perspectives on America’s history from those... who lived it — from Jews in the Early Republic to strikers at an auto plant in 1940s Detroit, and from a Civil War battlefield nurse to a 1990s dot.com entrepreneur. Popular Points of View sections expose students to different perspectives on a specific event or topic, and Visual Portfolios invite analysis of the visual record. These features and the collection as a whole save instructors time finding consistently suitable source material on their own.

This distinctive, class-tested primary source reader tells America’s story through the words and other creative expressions of the ordinary and... extraordinary Americans who shaped it. Now featuring the contributions of new co-author John M. Giggie, an award-winning teacher and scholar from the University of Alabama, America Firsthand offers a remarkable range of first-person perspectives that bring the past vividly to life — from an African American minister’s message of racial liberation, to the prison notes of suffragists, to a writer’s recollections of Sputnik. “Points of View” sections provide varied vantage points on important topics, and “Visual Portfolios” draw students into interpreting the visual record. This carefully crafted, ready-to-go collection saves instructors time and effort in finding consistently engaging and informative sources.

This distinctive, class-tested primary source reader tells America’s story through the words and other creative expressions of the ordinary and... extraordinary Americans who shaped it. Now featuring the contributions of new co-author John M. Giggie, an award-winning teacher and scholar from the University of Alabama, America Firsthand offers a remarkable range of first-person perspectives that bring the past vividly to life — from an African American minister’s message of racial liberation, to the prison notes of suffragists, to a writer’s recollections of Sputnik. “Points of View” sections provide varied vantage points on important topics, and “Visual Portfolios” draw students into interpreting the visual record. This carefully crafted, ready-to-go collection saves instructors time and effort in finding consistently engaging and informative sources.

With its distinctive focus on ordinary people, this primary documents reader offers a remarkable range of perspectives on America’s history from those... who lived it — from Jews in the Early Republic to strikers at an auto plant in 1940s Detroit, and from a Civil War battlefield nurse to a 1990s dot.com entrepreneur.

Jean-Claude van Itallie is one of the most distinguished playwrights of the American avant-garde. A keen deconstruction of American popular culture, the... America Hurrah triptych served notice that here was a major new dramatic voice. America Hurrah and Other Plays is a definitive collection of the work of a major American playwright, with such works as Bag Lady, written in the voice of a deceptively insightful homeless woman; The Serpent, a fanciful interpretation of the story of Adam and Eve; The Traveller, which depicts a charismatic and brilliant artist recovering from a stroke; and van Itallie's dazzling play based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead.

When Columbus landed in 1492, the New World was far from being a vast expanse of empty wilderness: it was home to some seventy-five million people. They... ranged from the Arctic to Tierra del Fuego, spoke as many as two thousand different languages, and lived in groups that varied from small bands of hunter-gatherers to the sophisticated and dazzling empires of the Incas and Aztecs. This brilliantly detailed and documented volume brings together essays by fifteen leading scholars field to present a comprehensive and richly evocative portrait of Native American life on the eve of Columbus's first landfall.Developed at the D'Arcy McNickle Center for the History of the American Indian and edited by award-winning author Alvin M. Josehpy, Jr., America in 1492 is an invaluable work that combines the insights of historians, anthropologists, and students of art, religion, and folklore. Its dozens of illustrations, drawn from largely from the rare books and manuscripts housed at the Newberry Library, open a window on worlds flourished in the Americas five hundred years ago.