The first intensive analysis of sense of place in American mining towns, Hard as the Rock Itself: Place and Identity in the American Mining Town provides rare insight into the struggles and rewards of life in these communities. David Robertson contends that these communities--often characterized in scholarly and literary works as derelict, as sources of debasing moral influence, and as scenes of environmental decay--have a strong and enduring sense of place and have even embraced some of the signs of so-called dereliction.

Robertson documents the history of Toluca, Illinois; Cokedale, Colorado; and Picher, Oklahoma, from the mineral discovery phase through mine closure, telling for the first time how these century-old mining towns have survived and how sense of place has played a vital role.

Acknowledging the hardships that mining's social, environmental, and economic legacies have created for current residents, Robertson argues that the industry's influences also have contributed to the creation of strong, cohesive communities in which residents have always identified with the severe landscape and challenging, but rewarding way of life.

Robertson contends that the tough, unpretentious appearance of mining landscapes mirrors qualities that residents value in themselves, confirming that a strong sense of place in mining regions, as elsewhere, is not necessarily wedded to an attractive aesthetic or even to a thriving economy.

Mining historians, geographers, and other students of place in the American landscape will find fascinating material in Hard As the Rock Itself.

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Amos Jay Cummings - A Remarkable Curiosity, Dispat ches from a New York City Journalist's 1873 Railro ad Trip (2008).jpg

USA Books - Amos Jay Cummings - A Remarkable Curiosity, Dispatches...om a New York City Journalists 1873 Railroad Trip 2008.jpg

In 1873, Amos Jay Cummings, a decorated Civil War veteran and journalist for the New York Sun newspaper, set out on a westward journey aboard the newly completed transcontinental railroad. For some time, miners, settlers, and entrepreneurs had already been heading west to make their fortunes, and Cummings made the trip in part to see what all the fuss was about. During his six-month expedition from Kansas to California, Cummings sent extraordinary and engaging accounts of the American West back to his readers in New York.

Collected in this volume for the first time are Cummings's portraits of a land and its assortment of characters unlike anything back East. Characters like Pedro Armijo, the New Mexican sheep tycoon who took Denver by storm, and more prominently the Mormon prophet Brigham Young and his 19th wife, Ann Eliza Young, who was filing for divorce at the time of Cummings's arrival.

Although today he is virtually unknown, during his lifetime Cummings was one of the most famous newspapermen in the United States, in part because of stories like these. Complete with a biographical sketch and historical introduction, A Remarkable Curiosity is an enjoyable read for anybody interested in the American West in the latter half of the nineteenth century.

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Amos Jay Cummings - A Remarkable Curiosity, Dispat ches from a New York City Journalist's 1873 Railro ad Trip (2008).pdf

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Robert C. Fuller - Spiritual, but not Religious, U nderstanding Unchurched America (2001).jpg

Over the past 30 years, sociologists of religion have coined the phrase "spiritual seeker" to describe those who are unaffiliated with organized religion but who are nonetheless looking for ways to enhance their understanding of religious questions. Fuller (Alternative Medicine in American Religious Life) observes that these seekers differentiate between spirituality and religion, connecting the former with a privately expressed faith and the latter with the creeds and rituals publicly expressed in religious institutions. These "spiritual but not religious" individuals, Fuller writes, pick and choose elements from a variety of beliefs and practices as they construct an individualized spirituality.

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10,6 MB
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Robert C. Fuller - Spiritual, but not Religious, U nderstanding Unchurched America (2001).pdf

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Franklyn S. Haiman - Religious Expression and the American Constitution (2003).jpg

This work focuses on the state of American law with respect to a broad range of controversial issues affecting religious expression, both verbal and nonverbal, along with a review of the up-to-date history of each issue to provide a full understanding.

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14,1 MB
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Franklyn S. Haiman - Religious Expression and the American Constitution (2003).pdf

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191 KB
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Alexander Tsesis - The Thirteenth Amendment and Am erican Freedom, A Legal History (2004).jpg

In this narrative history and contextual analysis of the Thirteenth Amendment, slavery and freedom take center stage. Alexander Tsesis demonstrates how entrenched slavery was in pre-Civil War America, how central it was to the political events that resulted in the Civil War, and how it was the driving force that led to the adoption of an amendment that ultimately provided a substantive assurance of freedom for all American citizens.

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15,8 MB
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Alexander Tsesis - The Thirteenth Amendment and Am erican Freedom, A Legal History (2004).pdf

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Warschip 15 - USN Commander W. H. Cracknell - USS Enterprise, (CVAN-65) Nuclear Attack Carrier (1972 ).jpg

One of a series of booklets covering individual warships from around the world with an authoritative text and many black and white illustrations. Color profile center spread.

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5,2 MB
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Warschip 15 - USN Commander W. H. Cracknell - USS Enterprise, (CVAN-65) Nuclear Attack Carrier (1972 ).pdf

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Warschip 21 - William H. Cracknell - USS Tennessee (BB 43), Battleship 1920-1959 (1972).jpg

One of a series of booklets covering individual warships from around the world with an authoritative text and many black and white illustrations.

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5,5 MB
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Warschip 21 - William H. Cracknell - USS Tennessee (BB 43), Battleship 1920-1959 (1972).pdf

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Carroll Pursell - The Machine in America, A Social History of Technology (2007).jpg

From the medieval farm implements used by the first colonists to the invisible links of the Internet, the history of technology in America is a history of society as well. Arguing that "the tools and processes we use are a part of our lives, not simply instruments of our purpose," historian Carroll Pursell analyzes technology's impact on the lives of women and men, on their work, politics, and social relationships -- and how, in turn, people influence technological development. Pursell shows how both the idea of progress and the mechanical means to harness the forces of nature developed and changed as they were brought from the Old World to the New. He describes the ways in which American industrial and agricultural technology began to take on a distinctive shape as it adapted and extended the technical base of the industrial revolution. He discusses the innovation of an American system of manufactures and the mechanization of agriculture; new systems of mining, lumbering, and farming, which helped conquer and define the West; and the technologies that shaped the rise of cities. In the second edition of The Machine in America, Pursell brings this classic history up to date with a revised chapter on war technology and new discussions on information technology, globalization, and the environment.

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John Weeks - The Winchester Arms Company (1972).jpg

The story of the Wild West of the United States is a story compounded of a few simple items. Men, horses, cattle, sheep and guns. Guns that come in two forms, pistols or rifles. And these shoulder weapons are always Winchesters.

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3,1 MB
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John Weeks - The Winchester Arms Company (1972).pdf

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Judith Tick, Paul Beaudoin - Music in the USA, A D ocumentary Companion (2008).jpg

Music in the USA: A Documentary Companion charts a path through American music and musical life using as guides the words of composers, performers, writers and the rest of us ordinary folks who sing, dance, and listen. The anthology of primary sources contains about 160 selections from 1540 to 2000. Sometimes the sources are classics in the literature around American music, for example, the Preface to the Bay Psalm Book, excerpts from Slave Songs of the United States, and Charles Ives extolling Emerson. But many other selections offer uncommon sources, including a satirical story about a Yankee music teacher; various columns from 19th-century German American newspapers; the memoirs of a 19th-century diva; Lottie Joplin remembering her husband Scott; a little-known reflection of Copland about Stravinsky; an interview with Muddy Waters from the Chicago Defender; a letter from Woody Guthrie on the "spunkfire" attitude of a folk song; a press release from the Country Music Association; and the Congressional testimony around "Napster." "Sidebar" entries occasionally bring a topic or an idea into the present, acknowledging the extent to which revivals of many kinds of music play a role in American contemporary culture. This book focuses on the connections between theory and practice to enrich our understanding of the diversity of American musical experiences. Designed especially to accompany college courses which survey American music as a whole, the book is also relevant to courses in American history and American Studies.

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Judith Tick, Paul Beaudoin - Music in the USA, A D ocumentary Companion (2008).pdf

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Laurie D. Webster, Maxine A. McBrinn - Archaeology Without Borders, Contact, Commerce, and Change in the U.S. Southwest and Northwestern Mexico (2008).jpg

USA Books - Laurie D. Webster, Maxine A. McBrinn - Archaeology Wit...ge in the U.S. Southwest and Northwestern Mexico 2008.jpg

Archaeology without Borders presents new research by leading U.S. and Mexican scholars and explores the impacts on archaeology of the border between the United States and Mexico. It offers a synthesis of early agricultural adaptations in the region, groundbreaking archaeological research on social identity, and data previously not readily available to English-speaking readers.

The twenty-four essays discuss early agriculture, social identity, and cultural landscapes, as well as economic and social interactions within the area now encompassed by northern Mexico and the U.S. Southwest. Contributors examining early agricultural adaptations offer models for understanding the transition to agriculture, explore relationships between the spread of agriculture and Uto-Aztecan migrations, and present data from Arizona, New Mexico, and Chihuahua. Contributors focusing on social identity discuss migration, enculturation, social boundaries, and ethnic identities. They draw on case studies that include diverse artifact classes--rock art, lithics, architecture, murals, ceramics, cordage, sandals, baskets, faunal remains, and oral histories. Mexican scholars present data from Chihuahua, Durango, Zacatecas, Michoacan, Coahuila, and Nuevo Leon. They address topics including Spanish-indigenous conflicts, archaeological history, cultural landscapes, and interactions among Mesoamerica, northern Mexico, and the U.S. Southwest.

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Laurie D. Webster, Maxine A. McBrinn - Archaeology Without Borders, Contact, Commerce, and Change in the U.S. Southwest and Northwestern Mexico (2008).pdf

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Peter Charles Hoffer - The Brave New World, A Hist ory of Early America Second Edition (2006).jpg

The Brave New World covers the span of early American history, from 30,000 years before Europeans ever landed on North American shores to creation of the new nation. With its exploration of the places and peoples of early America, this comprehensive, lively narrative brings together the most recent scholarship on the colonial and revolutionary eras, Native Americans, slavery, politics, war, and the daily lives of ordinary people. The revised, enlarged edition includes a new chapter carrying the story through the American Revolution, the War for Independence, and the creation of the Confederation. Additional material on the frontier, the Southwest and the Caribbean, the slave trade, religion, science and technology, and ecology broadens the text, and maps drawn especially for this edition will enable readers to follow the story more closely. The bibliographical essay, one of the most admired features of the first edition, has been expanded and brought up to date. Peter Charles Hoffer combines the Atlantic Rim scholarship with a Continental perspective, illuminating early America from all angles -- from its first settlers to the Spanish Century, from African slavery to the Salem witchcraft cases, from prayer and drinking practices to the development of complex economies, from the colonies' fight for freedom to an infant nation's struggle for political and economic legitimacy. Wide-ranging in scope, inclusive in content, the revised edition of The Brave New World continues to provide professors, students, and historians with an engaging and accessible history of early North America.

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Lisa Levenstein - A Movement Without Marches, Afri can American Women and the Politics of Poverty in Postwar Philadelphia.jpg

USA Books - Lisa Levenstein - A Movement Without Marches, African ...n and the Politics of Poverty in Postwar Philadelphia.jpg

In this bold interpretation of U.S. history, Lisa Levenstein reframes highly charged debates over the origins of chronic African American poverty and the social policies and political struggles that led to the postwar urban crisis.A Movement Without Marches follows poor black women as they traveled from some of Philadelphia's most impoverished neighborhoods into its welfare offices, courtrooms, public housing, schools, and hospitals, laying claim to an unprecedented array of government benefits and services. Levenstein uncovers the constraints that led women to public institutions, emphasizing the importance not only of deindustrialization and racial discrimination but also of women's experiences with sex discrimination, inadequate public education, child rearing, domestic violence, and chronic illness.Women's claims on public institutions brought a range of new resources into poor African American communities. With these resources came new constraints, as public officials frequently responded to women's efforts by limiting benefits and attempting to control their personal lives. Scathing public narratives about women's "dependency" and their children's "illegitimacy" placed African American women and public institutions at the center of the growing opposition to black migration and civil rights in northern U.S. cities. Countering stereotypes that have long plagued public debate, A Movement WithoutMarches offers a new paradigm for understanding postwar U.S. history.

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Lisa Levenstein - A Movement Without Marches, Afri can American Women and the Politics of Poverty in Postwar Philadelphia.pdf

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Toyin Falola, Amanda Warnock - Encyclopedia of the Middle Passage, Greenwood Milestones in African A merican History (2007).jpg

USA Books - Toyin Falola, Amanda Warnock - Encyclopedia of the Mid...Greenwood Milestones in African American History 2007.jpg

For the first time, the Middle Passage, the experience of slaves on the trans-Atlantic ships, receives a full reference treatment in an encyclopedia. This A-to-Z reference consists of 226 signed entries arranged alphabetically, exhaustively covering the Middle Passage from a variety of perspectives for student research and browsing. Each essay entry concludes with suggestions for further reading. The encyclopedia includes an introductory overview of the trans-Atlantic slave trade as well as illustrations, bibliography, and chronology. As a handy ready-reference, the Encyclopedia of the Middle Passage is the first of its kind. As schools continue to incorporate slavery in their curriculums, the volume will prove to be an essential reference for high school reports and research in History and Social Studies, as well as for college students and general readers. Its subject is of continuing interest, as evidenced by the extraordinary popularity of the film Amistad and the recent HBO special, The Middle Passage. Sample entries: Abolitionism, Asante, Barracoons, Black Sailors, Cargoes, Christianity, Credit and Finance, "Door of No Return," Eric Williams Thesis, Gold Coast, Import Records, Islam and Muslims, Museums, Oral History, Rape and Sexual Abuse, "Seasoning," Suicide, Triangular Trade, William Wilberforce, Women.

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Toyin Falola, Amanda Warnock - Encyclopedia of the Middle Passage, Greenwood Milestones in African A merican History (2007).pdf

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David G. Hackett - The Rude Hand of Innovation, Re ligion and Social Order in Albany, New York 1652-1 836 (1991).jpg

USA Books - David G. Hackett - The Rude Hand of Innovation, Religi...n and Social Order in Albany, New York 1652-1836 1991.jpg

This path-breaking study analyzes the social and religious transformation of Albany, New York, from the town's colonial origins through industrialization in the early nineteenth century. Rather than see the transformation of traditional societies as a process of modernization, Hackett adopts a broader conception of religion as a cultural system and argues that culture influences social order differently in different historical periods. During most of Albany's colonial period, the Dutch townspeople absorbed British people and customs into their Calvinist way of life. Following the Revolution, large scale immigration, urbanization, and the initial spurt of an industrial economy transformed Albany into a bustling commercial center. At the same time new political and religious ideologies that disagreed among themselves yet together advocated economic growth, democracy, education, and individual rights, challenged and finally replaced Calvinism. Drawing on the resources of sociology, social history, and religion, this study illuminates not only the social history of Albany but also presents a new interpretation of the relationship between religion and social order in American history.

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David G. Hackett - The Rude Hand of Innovation, Re ligion and Social Order in Albany, New York 1652-1 836 (1991).pdf

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Gunther Barth - Fleeting Moments, Nature and Cultu re in American History (2009).jpg

The tension between nature and culture, which accompanies the rise of any large society, has become a subject of great concern in our time. In this compelling study, Gunther Barth, acclaimed author of City People: The Rise of Modern City Culture in Nineteenth-Century America, identifies fleeting moments of concord between nature and culture in the course of American history. During the search for the Wilderness Passage, the progress of the Lewis and Clark expedition, and the building of park cemeteries and big city parks, Americans realized that nature was not merely a force to be reckoned with, not merely a resource to be exploited, but also an integral component of their lives. Through the engineering of nature and culture in the urban environment, the energetic attempts to conserve large-scale nature in the United States emerged as an offspring of the big city. Heightening our understanding of the historical complexity of the relationship between nature and culture, and suggesting that harmony between the two is a mark of civilization, this original study will be an invaluable guide to anyone concerned with the quality of life in America, past and future.

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