The Civil War claimed more American lives than the Revolutionary War, World Wars I and II, the War of 1812, and the Vietnam War combined. It involved many different groups of citizens, including women, who dressed as men in order to fight, and Native Americans, some of whom fought their own civil wars at the same time. Their unique perspectives all played a role in shaping a nation struggling to define itself.

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Lisa Tendrich Frank - Civil War, People and Perspe ctives (2009).pdf

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Milan Zafirovski - The Protestant Ethic and the Sp irit of Authoritarianism, Puritanism, Democracy, a nd Society (2007).jpg

USA Books - Milan Zafirovski - The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit...horitarianism, Puritanism, Democracy, and Society 2007.jpg

This book explores the historical and contemporary relationships of Protestant Puritanism to political and social authoritarianism. It focuses on Puritanism’s original, subsequent and modern influences on and legacies in political democracy and civil society within historically Puritan Western societies, with emphasis on Great Britain and particularly America, from the 17th to the 21th century.
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Authoritarianism: Puritanism, Democracy and Society's importance and novelty lie in its original theoretical argument and empirical demonstration that Puritanism constitutes or reproduces political-social authoritarianism rather than liberal-secular political democracy and free civil society, contrary to the conventional wisdom in Puritan societies, especially America. The book’s methodological approach is thoroughly interdisciplinary by integrating methods, theories and data in sociology with those in other social sciences such as political science, history and economics. In addition, the book uses a comparative-historical method through comparisons of Western (and other) societies at various points of history in terms of the impact of Puritanism on authoritarianism.

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Milan Zafirovski - The Protestant Ethic and the Sp irit of Authoritarianism, Puritanism, Democracy, a nd Society (2007).pdf

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Dawn E. Bastian, Judy K. Mitchell - Handbook of Na tive American Mythology (2008).jpg

This revealing work introduces readers to the mythologies of Native Americans from the United States to the Arctic Circle-a rich, complex, and diverse body of lore, which remains less widely known than mythologies of other peoples and places.
In thematic chapters and encyclopedia-style entries, Handbook of Native American Mythology examines the characters and deities, rituals, sacred locations and objects, concepts, and stories that define mythological cultures of various indigenous peoples. By tracing the traditions as far back as possible and following their evolution from generation to generation, Handbook of Native American Mythology offers a unique perspective on Native American history, culture, and values. It also shows how central these traditions are to contemporary Native American life, including the continuing struggle for land rights, economic parity, and repatriation of cultural property.
With more than 40 photographs, illustrations, and maps, here is the most comprehensive and accessible introduction to the mythological heritage of Native North Americans available in one volume.

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Bob Colacello - Ronnie and Nancy, Their Path to th e White House - 1911 to 1980 (2004).jpg

Colacello is the former editor of Interview magazine and currently a special correspondent for Vanity Fair. Six years of research and approximately 200 interviews, including many talks with Nancy Reagan herself, stand behind this first volume in a planned two-part dual biography of the late president and his controversial First Lady. In nice and easy prose, in a tone that is both friendly toward his subjects but also balanced in his estimation of them (for instance, about Nancy, "I agreed that the press has been unduly hard on her. Yet it crossed my mind [that she] seemed to have a talent for playing the martyr"), Colacello takes what he calls "a social approach" to the lives of the Reagans. His basic premise, well supported here, is that the importance of Nancy and her social connections to the career of Ronald cannot be overestimated. The biography's actual structure is impeccable as the author profiles the two of them individually, in a series of alternating chapters, and then draws their stories together. This first volume deals with the pre-presidential years, which admirers of the president and Nancy will enjoy learning about; even readers less than admiring of the couple will be curious about the details of their lives, both separately and in tandem. Expect much demand.

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Robert Dallek - An Unfinished Life, John F. Kenned y, 1917-1963 (2003).jpg

It's hard to believe that someone could find anything new to say about John F. Kennedy, but Dallek succeeds in this riveting and well-documented biography. Despite plentiful revelations about Kennedy's private life, the book is very much a political biography, which keenly explores Kennedy's grasp of modern political campaigning. (The account of how the Kennedy machine managed the issue of his Catholicism in the 1960 West Virginia primary is particularly telling.) But he wasn't always sure what to do with power once he had it. His ideas on domestic policy were surprisingly conventional, and his foreign policy seems jingoistic. Kennedy, however, had the ability to change his mind—no small accomplishment for a President—and by the time he died he was a considerably more sophisticated leader. One need not accept Dallek's fanciful, if familiar, conclusion—that, had Kennedy lived, he might have pulled the United States out of Vietnam—to think that J.F.K.'s political career was a work in progress that was arrested too soon.

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Stacy Enyeart - America's Home Front Heroes, An Or al History of World W (2009).jpg

America's Home Front Heroes: An Oral History of World War II brings together in one rich resource the voices of those whom history often leaves out—the ordinary men, women, and children caught up in an extraordinary time.
America's Home Front Heroes is divided into four sections: A Time for Heightened Passion, A Time for Caution and Prejudice, A Time for Flag Waving, and A Time for War Plant Women. The 34 brief oral histories within these sections capture the full diversity of the United States during the war, with contributions coming from men, women, and children of all backgrounds, including Japanese Americans, conscientious objectors, African Americans, housewives, and journalists. A treasure trove for researchers and World War II enthusiasts, this remarkable volume offers members of Òthe greatest generationÓ an opportunity to relive their defining era. For those with no direct experience of the period, itÕs a chance to learn firsthand what it was like living in the United States at a pivotal moment in history.

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Stacy Enyeart - America's Home Front Heroes, An Or al History of World W (2009).pdf

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Roger Buckley - The United States in the Asia-Paci fic since 1945 (2002).jpg

In a fast-moving and incisive narrative, Roger Buckley traces the evolution of the Asia-Pacific region from the surrender of Japan in 1945 to the present day. His perspective is from that of the United States, the main player in the region since the end of the First World War and he explores its policies through its relationship with the Soviet Union, China and, importantly, with Japan during occupation and beyond. As an expert in international relations, Buckley examines the subject from a geopolitical and military point of view.

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Lawrence W. Baker, Kevin Hillstrom, Laurie Collier Hillstrom - American Civil War Reference Library (1999).jpg

The American Civil War Reference Library offers comprehensive and wide ranging research options on this compelling era of American history.
American Civil War: Biographies (2 volumes, ISBN: 078763820X) offers detailed essays on the lives of 60 individuals in two volumes. The 1,200- to 2,400-word essays are accompanied by sidebars, further reading lists, cross-references and more. Each volume includes a chronology, project suggestions, a name/subject index and more.
American Civil War: Almanac provides in-depth background and interpretation of the era, events and topics. Subject chapters offer viewpoints, definitions, chronological coverage of battles, further reading and sidebars highlighting individuals, statistics and other attention-grabbing information.
American Civil War: Primary Sources offers text of 14 full or excerpted speeches, newspaper accounts, novels, memoirs and other documents that reflect a wide range of viewpoints. Each entry includes background information about the subject, definitions, and details on the impact the document had on the public.

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Stephen Ambrose - Citizen Soldiers, The U. S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Sur render of Germany (1998).jpeg

USA Books - Stephen Ambrose - Citizen Soldiers, The U. S. Army fro...Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany 1998.jpeg

Stephen E. Ambrose combines history and journalism to describe how American GIs battled their way to the Rhineland. He focuses on the combat experiences of ordinary soldiers, as opposed to the generals who led them, and offers a series of compelling vignettes that read like an enterprising reporter's dispatches from the front lines. The book presents just enough contextual material to help readers understand the big picture, and includes memorable accounts of the Battle of the Bulge and other events as seen through the weary eyes of the men who fought in the foxholes. Highly recommended for fans of Ambrose, as well as all readers interested in understanding the life of a 1940s army grunt. A sort of sequel to Ambrose's bestselling 1994 book D-Day, Citizen Soldiers is more than capable of standing on its own. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Library Journal
Military historian and author Ambrose offers a sequel to his best seller, D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II (LJ 5/1/94). A skillful blending of eyewitness accounts (gathered mostly from the oral history collection at the Univ. of New Orleans's Eisenhower Center and from personal interviews) gives the reader an intimate feel of what war was like for infantrymen in the European theater of operations?from the beaches of France to victory at the Elbe River. Additional chapters on the air war, medics, and prisoners of war offer firsthand accounts on topics rarely described in traditional histories. The book complements Paul Fussell's Doing Battle: The Making of a Skeptic (LJ 8/96) and Michael Daubler's Closing with the Enemy: How G.I.'s Fought the War in Europe, 1944-45 (Univ. of Kansas, 1994). This well-written oral history would also make an excellent general text. Highly recommended for all library collections.?Richard S. Nowicki, Emerson Vocational H.S., Buffalo, N.Y.

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Stephen Ambrose - Citizen Soldiers, The U. S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Sur render of Germany (1998).pdf

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Stephen Ambrose - The Victors, Eisenhower and His Boys, The Men of World War II (1999).jpeg

The Victors is like a compilation of Stephen E. Ambrose's greatest hits, drawing heavily from his biography of General Dwight D. Eisenhower and several military histories that recount the events of the Allied push across the European continent in 1944 and 1945 from the frontline trooper's perspective. The narrative is vintage Ambrose, full of engaging yet workmanlike prose that conveys the epic scope of its subject while paying careful attention to the details of the often inglorious lives of the GIs. Eisenhower looms large over this book, but it's the ordinary soldiers and their experiences who give the story real life. Readers who have already dipped into the Ambrose library may find sections of The Victors redundant, but for those who want an adept overview of what Ike and his men accomplished, this is a great place to start. --John J. Miller --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Publishers Weekly
Ambrose has established himself as both a major biographer of Dwight Eisenhower and the definitive chronicler of America's combat soldiers in the D-Day campaign of 1944-45. But after Citizen Soldiers, he'd sworn off war and given away his WWII books. Then his editor convinced him to do "a book on Ike and the GIs, drawing on my previous writings"Asuch as Citizen Soldiers, D-Day and The Supreme Commander. "Alice Mayhew made me do it," Ambrose writes here. Readers familiar with Ambrose's work will find familiar set pieces, familiar anecdotes, even familiar phrases, but this is more than a clip job. It stands on its own as the story of the GIs who fought their way from Normandy's beaches and hedgerows across Europe. Few were prepared for combat against a Wehrmacht that was dangerous even in decline, and both enlisted men and officers learned through hard-earned experience. While admiring Eisenhower's character and generally affirming his performance as supreme Allied commander, Ambrose is sharply critical of such costly slugging matches as the one in the Huertgen Forest, which continued during the fall and winter of 1944 on orders from senior officers unaware of conditions in the front lines and unable to develop an alternative to frontal assault. But by the final thrust into Germany in the spring of 1945, the U.S. Army's fighting power was second to none. Once more, Ambrose does what few others do as wellAvividly portray the sacrifices and achievements of democracy's army.

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Stephen Ambrose - Band of Brothers, E Company, 506 th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitle r's Eagle's Nest (2002).jpeg

USA Books - Stephen Ambrose - Band of Brothers, E Company, 506th R...t Airborne from Normandy to Hitlers Eagles Nest 2002.jpeg

The men of E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne, volunteered for this elite fighting force because they wanted to be the best in the army--and avoid fighting alongside unmotivated, out-of-shape draftees. The price they paid for that desire was long, arduous, and sometimes sadistic training, followed by some of the most horrific battles of World War II. Actor Cotter Smith--a veteran of numerous TV movies and Broadway plays--spins Stephen Ambrose's tale with almost laconic ease. Anecdote by anecdote, he lets the power of the story build. By the time the company has gotten through D-day and seized Hitler's Eagle's Nest in Bavaria, we feel we know as much about the men and their missions as we do about our own brothers. (Running time: 5 hours, 4 cassettes) --Lou Schuler --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
Ambrose ( Pegasus Bridge ) narrates in vivid detail the adventures, misadventures, triumphs and tragedies of a single U.S. Army infantry company over its span of organizational life. Formed in July 1944 and deactivated in November 1945, E Company was one of the most successful light infantry units in the European theater. Its troops saw their first action on D-Day behind the Normandy beachhead, took part in Operation Market Garden in Holland, held the perimeter around Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge, and were the first to reach Hitler's Bavarian outpost at Berchtesgaden. The book is enlivened with pertinent comments by veterans of "Easy Company," who recall not only the combat action but their relations with their officers (one company commander was a petty tyrant of the worst type, but his oppressive ways had much to do with the unit's impressive esprit de corps ) and their impressions of the countries through which they campaigned (hated the French, loved the Germans). This is a terrific read for WW II actions buffs. Photos. Military Book Club main selection; Literary Guild alternate.

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Joel Makower - Woodstock, The Oral History (2009).jpg

Understand the Woodstock experience better by putting it in its full historical context of what was happening in America from 1964 to 1970. Try Die at the Right Time! A Subjective Cultural History of the American Sixties.

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Joel Makower - Woodstock, The Oral History (2009).pdf

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Andrew Gelman - Red State, Blue State, Rich State, Poor State, Why Americans Vote the Way They Do (2 008).jpg

On the night of the 2000 presidential election, Americans sat riveted in front of their televisions as polling results divided the nation's map into red and blue states. Since then the color divide has become a symbol of a culture war that thrives on stereotypes--pickup-driving red-state Republicans who vote based on God, guns, and gays; and elitist, latte-sipping blue-state Democrats who are woefully out of touch with heartland values. Red State, Blue State, Rich State, Poor State debunks these and other political myths. With wit and prodigious number crunching, Andrew Gelman gets to the bottom of why Democrats win elections in wealthy states while Republicans get the votes of richer voters, how the two parties have become ideologically polarized, and other issues. Gelman uses eye-opening, easy-to-read graphics to unravel the mystifying patterns of recent voting, and in doing so paints a vivid portrait of the regional differences that drive American politics. He demonstrates in the plainest possible terms how the real culture war is being waged among affluent Democrats and Republicans, not between the haves and have-nots; how religion matters for higher-income voters; how the rich-poor divide is greater in red not blue states--and much more.

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Andrew Gelman - Red State, Blue State, Rich State, Poor State, Why Americans Vote the Way They Do (2 008).pdf

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Tony Smith, Richard C. Leone - America's Mission, The United States and the Worldwide Struggle for D emocracy in the Twentieth Century (1995).jpg

USA Books - Tony Smith, Richard C. Leone - Americas Mission, The U...e Struggle for Democracy in the Twentieth Century 1995.jpg

The strength and prestige of democracy worldwide at the end of the twentieth century are due in good measure to the impact of America on international affairs, argues Tony Smith. Here for the first time is a book that documents the extraordinary history of American foreign policy with respect to the promotion of democracy worldwide, an effort whose greatest triumph came in the occupations of Japan and Germany but whose setbacks include interventions in Latin America and Vietnam.

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Tony Smith, Richard C. Leone - America's Mission, The United States and the Worldwide Struggle for D emocracy in the Twentieth Century (1995).pdf

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Eric M. Patashnik - Reforms at Risk, What Happens After Major Policy Changes Are Enacted (2008).jpg

Reforms at Risk is the first book to closely examine what happens to sweeping and seemingly successful policy reforms after they are passed. Most books focus on the politics of reform adoption, yet as Eric Patashnik shows here, the political struggle does not end when major reforms become enacted. Why do certain highly praised policy reforms endure while others are quietly reversed or eroded away? Patashnik peers into some of the most critical arenas of domestic-policy reform--including taxes, agricultural subsidies, airline deregulation, emissions trading, welfare state reform, and reform of government procurement--to identify the factors that enable reform measures to survive. He argues that the reforms that stick destroy an existing policy subsystem and reconfigure the political dynamic. Patashnik demonstrates that sustainable reforms create positive policy feedbacks, transform institutions, and often unleash the ''creative destructiveness'' of market forces. Reforms at Risk debunks the argument that reforms inevitably fail because Congress is prey to special interests, and the book provides a more realistic portrait of the possibilities and limits of positive change in American government. It is essential reading for scholars and practitioners of U.S. politics and public policy, offering practical lessons for anyone who wants to ensure that hard-fought reform victories survive.

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Peter Cozzens - Shenandoah 1862, Stonewall Jackson 's Valley Campaign (2008).jpg

Cozzens (The Darkest Days of the War) is an independent scholar and a master of Civil War military history at tactical and operational levels. He deploys a large body of unfamiliar primary material in this detailed analysis of a campaign less one-sided than the accepted view that it represented Union blundering and the triumph of Confederate planning and execution signaling the emergence of one of history's great generals, Stonewall Jackson. Without debunking Jackson, Cozzens describes a commander still learning his craft. Jackson's obsession with keeping his strategic intention to himself too often left his subordinates confused. As a tactician he tended to commit his forces piecemeal. The Union generals opposing him performed reasonably well in the context of divided command, inadequate logistics and constant micromanaging by Abraham Lincoln. In particular the president's concern for Washington's safety led him to withhold troops from McClellan's Peninsular Campaign—a decision Cozzens reasonably says enhanced McClellan's natural caution. Jackson's victories revitalized a Confederacy whose morale was at its lowest after a string of Union victories. The South now had a new hero, whose personal idiosyncrasies and overt religiosity only enhanced his appeal. 13 illus., 13 maps.

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Peter Cozzens - Shenandoah 1862, Stonewall Jackson 's Valley Campaign (2008).pdf

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Sophia Raday - Love in Condition Yellow, A Memoir of an Unlikely Marriage (2009).jpg

Go on a date with a soldier turned police officer? Me? And discuss Gandhi’s experiments with truth with a gun-toting Republican?
The last thing Berkeley-dwelling peace activist Sophia Raday expected was to fall in love with a straightlaced Oakland police officer. As someone who had run away from cops dressed in riot gear at protests, Sophia was ambivalent, to say the least, at the prospect of dating Barrett, who was not only a cop but also a West Point graduate, an Airborne Ranger, and a major in the Army Reserve.
During their courtship the two argued about many of the matters that divide the United States, things like drug policy and race relations. Startled by the freedom she found in a relationship of differences, by the challenge of sparring with Barrett, and by his steadfast acceptance of her, Sophia unwittingly fell in love. Then, just when Sophia believed her family was starting a new chapter with the birth of their son, came September 11. Barrett’s belief that he must always stay in Condition Yellow—the terminology coined by his favorite Guns & Ammo writer for a state of alert in which you realize your life is in danger and you may need to shoot someone—was suddenly in the forefront of their lives. Sophia and Barrett began to confront, on a very personal level, their differing viewpoints on polarizing values like fear, duty, family, and patriotism.
When Barrett’s military duties escalated along with the country’s, Sophia found herself in the surprising position of military wife, living on an army base during the 2004 elections, and struggling to find peace with herself and her husband in this new world. It was a struggle that would continue up to the point of Barrett’s deployment to Iraq.
Love in Condition Yellow not only provides a vivid, poignant portrait of this unusual union, but also tells the larger story of how love doesn’t necessarily come from sameness, and peace doesn’t necessarily come from agreement.

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Sophia Raday - Love in Condition Yellow, A Memoir of an Unlikely Marriage (2009).pdf

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Battles That Changed the World - Richard Worth - T et Offensive (2002).jpg

Details the pivotal battle of the Vietnam War.

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Battles That Changed the World - Richard Worth - T et Offensive (2002).pdf

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Battles That Changed the World - Richard Worth - S aratoga (2002).jpg

Grade 7-10-The battles that centered around the Hudson River and Saratoga during the Revolutionary War were crucial for control of the Canadian border and upper New York State. Each chapter focuses on the events leading up to British General Burgoyne's surrender. The various styles of paintings and sketches used to depict specific events throughout this time period enhance the somewhat stifling text that tends to be confusing, dry, and choppy. The chronology does aid in the understanding of the book as a whole. Additional information boxes explain certain ideas and people in deeper detail, but don't help the overall presentation. Most of the books listed for further reading are out of print; almost all of them are adult titles. There is no bibliography, and quotes are not documented. Marginal, at best.

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