In 1934, audiences swooned when reporter Clark Gable and heiress Claudette Colbert bickered and then fell in love on a cross-country bus trip in It Happened One Night, an early American road trip movie. America's vast open spaces, colorful and varied locations, multicultural population, and love for cars, mobility, and speed make the road movie a peculiarly (though not exclusively) American fixture. This book is an academic study of American road movies as a "rebellion against conservative social norms" with "an embrace of the journey as a means of cultural critique." The emphasis here is on "outlaw" road movies. Laderman (film, Coll. of San Mateo) discusses literary sources and visions (On the Road), gay road movies (My Own Private Idaho), Native American films (Smoke Signals), and African American (Get on the Bus) and feminist road journeys. He dismisses most comedies, saying they fail to "incorporate any visionary rebellion." Indeed, the author's tone is humorless throughout. His complaint about "heavy-handed" irony in Raising Arizona, for instance, seems to be based on the fact that the irrepressible Coen brothers failed to follow his vision of what a road movie should be. There are some provocative ideas here, but Laderman's rigid approach causes the book to run out of gas. An optional purchase for large American film collections.

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Driving Visions - Exploring the Road Movie (2002).pdf

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Mary Ann Doane - The Desire to Desire, The Woman's Film of the 1940s (1987).jpg

What is female spectatorship? When Hollywood films are geared for an audience of women, what ideals do they tend to promote? How should feminist theory contend with the image of women that the cinema passes on? In The Desire to Desire Mary Ann Doane responds to these questions, focusing specifically on "woman's pictures" of the 1940s. She argues that while most of the films she discusses are conceived through lenses that are masculine in nature, feminists attempting to critique these films should not dismiss them as sexist or attempt to develop a way of seeing that is simply the opposite of the one handed down. Instead, Doane offers a critique of vision itself, contrasting the way the camera views the women in these films, the way the films' female characters look out onto their worlds, and the way the Hollywood movie industry manufactures images that it expects female audiences to consume.

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Mary Ann Doane - The Desire to Desire, The Woman's Film of the 1940s (1987).pdf

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Michael Gray - The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia (2005).jpg

Bob Dylan’s reach is too wide, too deep and too long for any book about him to cover it all. He’s a senior citizen. His career spans 45 years of American history! Naturally, though, it is Bob Dylan’s art that is the heart of the book: it is his art that has got inside our heads, has changed the world around us and justifies his being paid so much attention.

If in 100 years’ time Dylan’s art goes unheard and discounted, well, in 200 years’ time it may bounce back. If not, The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia might help some scholar of the future to sift through the rusted nuts and bolts of our mistaken enthusiasm. We can’t know...

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Nicholas Daniloff - Of Spies and Spokesmen, My Lif e As a Cold War Correspondent (2008).jpg

In this riveting memoir, Daniloff describes the reality of journalism behind the Iron Curtain: how Western reporters banded together to thwart Soviet propagandists, how their official sources were almost always controlled by the KGB--and how those sources would sometimes try to turn newsmen into collaborators. When Daniloff was arrested and thrown into prison as a spy, the incident threatened to undo the Reykjavik summit until a solution was worked out. Daniloff also tells how the news media played a crucial role in resolving the Cuban Missile Crisis, recalls the emotional impact of the JFK assassination on Soviet leadership, and describes the behind-the-scenes struggles that catapulted Mikhail Gorbachev to power.

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Nicholas Daniloff - Of Spies and Spokesmen, My Lif e As a Cold War Correspondent (2008).pdf

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Thomas J. Sugrue - Not Even Past, Barack Obama and the Burden of Race (2010).jpg

Barack Obama, in his acclaimed campaign speech discussing the troubling complexities of race in America today, quoted William Faulkner's famous remark "The past isn't dead and buried. In fact, it isn't even past." In Not Even Past, award-winning historian Thomas Sugrue examines the paradox of race in Obama's America and how President Obama intends to deal with it.

Obama's journey to the White House undoubtedly marks a watershed in the history of race in America. Yet even in what is being hailed as the post-civil rights era, racial divisions--particularly between blacks and whites--remain deeply entrenched in American life. Sugrue traces Obama's evolving understanding of race and racial inequality throughout his career, from his early days as a community organizer in Chicago, to his time as an attorney and scholar, to his spectacular rise to power as a charismatic and savvy politician, to his dramatic presidential campaign. Sugrue looks at Obama's place in the contested history of the civil rights struggle; his views about the root causes of black poverty in America; and the incredible challenges confronting his historic presidency.

Does Obama's presidency signal the end of race in American life? In Not Even Past, a leading historian of civil rights, race, and urban America offers a revealing and unflinchingly honest assessment of the culture and politics of race in the age of Obama, and of our prospects for a postracial America.

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Zain Abdullah - Black Mecca, The African Muslims o f Harlem (2010).jpg

The changes to U.S. immigration law that were instituted in 1965 have led to an influx of West African immigrants to New York, creating an enclave Harlem residents now call ''Little Africa.'' These immigrants are immediately recognizable as African in their wide-sleeved robes and tasseled hats, but most native-born members of the community are unaware of the crucial role Islam plays in immigrants' lives. Zain Abdullah takes us inside the lives of these new immigrants and shows how they deal with being a double minority in a country where both blacks and Muslims are stigmatized. Dealing with this dual identity, Abdullah discovers, is extraordinarily complex. Some longtime residents embrace these immigrants and see their arrival as an opportunity to reclaim their African heritage, while others see the immigrants as scornful invaders. In turn, African immigrants often take a particularly harsh view of their new neighbors, buying into the worst stereotypes about American-born blacks being lazy and incorrigible. And while there has long been a large Muslim presence in Harlem, and residents often see Islam as a force for social good, African-born Muslims see their Islamic identity disregarded by most of their neighbors. Abdullah weaves together the stories of these African Muslims to paint a fascinating portrait of a community's efforts to carve out space for itself in a new country.

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Zain Abdullah - Black Mecca, The African Muslims o f Harlem (2010).pdf

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Geoff Hamilton, Brian Jones - Encyclopedia of Cont emporary Writers and Their Work (2010).jpg

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Geoff Hamilton, Brian Jones - Encyclopedia of Cont emporary Writers and Their Work (2010).pdf

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Jay Parini - American Writers Classics, Vol. 1 (20 01).jpg

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Jay Parini - American Writers Classics, Vol. 2 (20 03).jpg

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Jay Parini - American Writers Retrospective Supple ment II, A Collection of Literary Biographies, Jam es Baldwin to Nathanael West, 2nd edition (2002).jpg

USA Books - Jay Parini - American Writers Retrospective Supplement...es, James Baldwin to Nathanael West, 2nd edition 2002.jpg

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Lea Baechler and A. Walton Litz - American Writers , Supplement III (2009).jpg

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Anthony Bianconi - Wal-Mart, The Bully of Bentonvi lle, How the High Cost of Everyday Low Prices is H urting America (2007).jpg

USA Books - Anthony Bianconi - Wal-Mart, The Bully of Bentonville,...gh Cost of Everyday Low Prices is Hurting America 2007.jpg

The largest company in the world by far, Wal-Mart takes in revenues in excess of $280 billion, employs 1.4 million American workers, and controls a large share of the business done by almost every U.S. consumer-product company. More than 138 million shoppers visit one of its 5,300 stores each week. But Wal-Mart’s “everyday low prices” come at a tremendous cost to workers, suppliers, competitors, and consumers.

The Bully of Bentonville exposes the zealous, secretive, small-town mentality that rules Wal-Mart and chronicles its far-reaching consequences. In a gripping, richly textured narrative, Anthony Bianco shows how Wal-Mart has driven down retail wages throughout the country, how their substandard pay and meager health-care policy and anti-union mentality have led to a large scales exploitation of workers, why their aggressive expansion inevitably puts locally owned stores out of business, and how their pricing policies have forced suppliers to outsource work and move thousands of jobs overseas.
Based on interviews with Wal-Mart employees, managers, executives, competitors, suppliers, customers, and community leaders, The Bully of Bentonville brings the truths about Wal-Mart into sharp focus.

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John Coleman - We Fight For Oil, A History of US P etroleum Wars (2008).jpg

A history of U.S. oil wars is a work-in-progress which began when President Wilson landed U.S. troops at Tampico. Future historians may very well have to fill in the blanks. The history of U.S. involvement in Persia (now Iran) and Mesopotamia (now Iraq) centered round the quest for oil and control of it as a vitally-needed natural resource. With this in mind, the reader may well come to the conclusion that news from U.S. (and British) sources has to be taken with a large grain of salt.

Oil diplomacy is governed by commercial and eventually, military considerations. Thus every U.S. President since Woodrow Wilson has formulated U.S. foreign policy to take care of oil interests. President McKinley said “isolation is no longer possible,” and President Wilson echoed that sentiment when he said: “We are participants whether we would or not in the life of the world. The interests of all nations are ours also. We are partners with the rest.” Therefore this book affects or should affect every American, because modern international power is economic, just as all wars are economic in origin.

Remember this the next time your sons and daughters are called to fight for the country. If Iraq did not contain huge oil resources, would the U.S. be bogged down in that country today? Fear of domestic shortages of oil seems to be the driving force at play. American strife over foreign resources has become the major factor in international affairs. These are issues examined in this book which should be read by every American interested in the future of their country.

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John Coleman - We Fight For Oil, A History of US P etroleum Wars (2008).pdf

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Paul E. Minnis, Wayne J. Elisens - Biodiversity an d Native America (2000).jpg

This book concerns the relationships between native peoples of North America and the various environments inhabited by them. Previous works in this vein have tended to suffer from one or more of what I refer to as the Three Major Flaws. The first is the characterization of Native Americans as inherently eco-friendly Others (cf. Lillios, Review of Redman, American Antiquity 66:382). The second is exaggerating the applicability of indigenous land-use practices in contemporary settings. The third is setting up "Western science" as a straw man. Attempts to challenge naive generalizations in these regards …

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Paul E. Minnis, Wayne J. Elisens - Biodiversity an d Native America (2000).rar

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Daniel P. Mears - American Criminal Justice Policy , An Evaluation Approach to Increasing Accountabil ity and Effectiveness (2010).jpg

USA Books - Daniel P. Mears - American Criminal Justice Policy, An...h to Increasing Accountability and Effectiveness 2010.jpg

American Criminal Justice Policy examines many of the most prominent criminal justice policies on the American landscape and finds that they fall well short of achieving the accountability and effectiveness that policymakers have advocated and that the public expects. The policies include mass incarceration, sex offender laws, supermax prisons, faith-based prisoner reentry programs, transfer of juveniles to adult court, domestic violence mandatory arrest laws, drug courts, gun laws, community policing, private prisons, and many others. Optimistically, Daniel P. Mears argues that this situation can be changed through systematic incorporation of evaluation research into policy development, monitoring, and assessment. To this end, the book provides a clear and accessible discussion of five types of evaluation - needs, theory, implementation or process, outcome and impact, and cost-efficiency. And it identifies how they can be used both to hold the criminal justice system accountable and to increase the effectiveness of crime control and crime prevention efforts.

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Ben Bickenson - Hollywood's New Radicalism, War, G lobalisation and the Movies from Reagan to George W. Bush (2005).jpg

USA Books - Ben Bickenson - Hollywoods New Radicalism, War, Global...tion and the Movies from Reagan to George W. Bush 2005.jpg

"'Here's a book that explains how the industry we're in really works and how some of us try to get a human message through the system. Without question an enjoyable and stimulating read.' - Ed Asner Ambitious and refreshing. Ben Dickenson displays a rare and welcome use of political ideas, to make sense of Hollywood beyond its trivial surface.' - Tony Garnett".

Provides an up-to-date, insightful take on modern American cinema's relations with, and influence on Reagan's, Clinton's and both Bush's administrations. George W.Bush, Clinton and Ronald Reagan's relations are revealed with radical celebrities like Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon and Warren Beatty. It contains unique 'behind the scenes' stories and exclusive, revealing interviews with Hollywood celebrities.

Described by Tony Garnett as 'an ambitious and refreshing book', "Hollywood's New Radicalism" is a timely and contentious account of the last twenty-five years of American cinema. Ben Dickenson tells the story of the corporate take-over of the movies in the 1970s, and the subsequent transformation of Hollywood into the dominant force in the global media industry. Writing from the intersection where politics, society and cinema meet, and using exclusive interviews with Hollywood personalities, he explores the radicalising effect of such changes on liberal filmmakers like Warren Beatty, Michael Moore and Sean Penn in the past decade.

He demonstrates how left-wing messages smuggled their way into 1980s movies, found a fuller voice in independent American cinema during the 1990s and flirted with mainstream popularity at the start of the new millennium. Bringing the story up to and through the 2004 Presidential election, he reveals how important Hollywood figures have become key members of a vigorous left - wing opposition to George W. Bush's Presidency.

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Ben Bickenson - Hollywood's New Radicalism, War, G lobalisation and the Movies from Reagan to George W. Bush (2005).pdf

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Bryn O'Callaghan - An Illustrated History of the U nited States of America (1990).jpg

This is a companion volume to "An Illustrated History of Britain". It traces the history of the USA from the time of the Amerindians, through to the arrival of the Europeans, to the present day. Topics covered include colonial life, the Civil War and the American involvement in Vietnam. Each chapter consists of two or three double page spreads with inset material highlighting some of the characters or events mentioned in the main text.

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Carole A. Barrett - American Indian History (2003).jpg

Most essays in this set are taken from Ready Reference: American Indians (1995), Great Events from History: North America (rev. ed., 1997), and Racial and Ethnic Relations in America (1999). Fifteen newly commissioned articles on recent developments in American Indian history also appear. All articles over 1,000 words offer annotated bibliographies and the bibliographies of all previously published essays have been updated.

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Carole A. Barrett - American Indian History (2003).pdf

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David M. Kennedy, Lizabeth Cohen, Thomas A. Bailey - The American Pageant, A History of the Republic (2004).jpg

USA Books - David M. Kennedy, Lizabeth Cohen, Thomas A. Bailey - T...- The American Pageant, A History of the Republic 2004.jpg

THE AMERICAN PAGEANT enjoys a reputation as one of the most popular, effective, and entertaining texts in American history. The colorful anecdotes, first-person quotations, and trademark wit bring American history to life. The 14th edition places an even greater emphasis on the global context of American history through a new feature, "Thinking Globally." Revised primary source features excite student interest and help them learn to examine documents the way historians do. Additional pedagogical features make THE AMERICAN PAGEANT accessible to students: part openers and chapter-ending chronologies provide a context for the major periods in American history, while other features present primary sources, scholarly debates, and key historical figures for analysis.

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Eric Greene - Planet of the Apes as American Myth, Race, Politics, and Popular Culture (1998).jpg

Eric Greene's book is a thoughtful discussion of the ideas present in the Apes movies. Even if the makers might deny that they intended them to be social commentary, the Apes movies certainly inspire a review of the social scene in the 1960's from which these movies sprang forth.
By comparison, how something like Star Wars can be praised as mythology and the Apes movies ignored is beyond me.

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