William R. Handley examines literary interpretations of the Western American past. Handley asserts that although recent scholarship presents a narrative that counters optimistic frontier individualism by focusing on the victims of conquest, twentieth-century American fiction tells of intra-ethnic violence, involving marriages and families. He examines historiography and writing by Zane Grey, Willa Cather, Wallace Stegner and Joan Didion among others.

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Julian E. Zelizer - The American Congress, The Bui lding of Democracy (2004).jpg

Congress is the heart and soul of our democracy, the place where interests are brokered, laws are established, and innovation is turned into concrete action. It is also where some of democracy's greatest virtues clash with its worst vices: idealism and compromise meet corruption and bitter partisanship. The American Congress unveils the rich and varied history of this singular institution.
Julian E. Zelizer has gathered together forty essays by renowned historians to capture the full drama, landmark legislation, and most memorable personalities of Congress. Organized around four major periods of congressional history, from the signing of the Constitution to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, this volume brings a fresh perspective to familiar watershed events: the Civil War, Watergate, the Vietnam War. It also gives a behind-the-scenes look at lesser-known legislation debated on the House and Senate floors, such as westward expansion and war powers control. Here are the stories behind the 1868 vote to impeach President Andrew Johnson; the rise of Jeannette Rankin, the first woman elected to Congress and a leading advocate for pacifism; and the controversy surrounding James Eastland of Mississippi, who carried civil rights bills in his pockets so they could not come up for a vote. Sidebars further spotlight notables including Huey Long, Sam Rayburn, and Tip O'Neill, bringing the sweeping history of our lawmaking bodies into sharp focus.
If you've ever wondered how Congress worked in the past or what our elected officials do today, this book gives the engaging, often surprising, answers.

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Julian E. Zelizer - The American Congress, The Bui lding of Democracy (2004).pdf

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Alfred D. Chandler, James W. Cortada - A Nation Tr ansformed by Information, How Information Has Shap ed the United States from Colonial Times to the Pr esent (2000).jpg

USA Books - Alfred D. Chandler, James W. Cortada - A Nation Transf...United States from Colonial Times to the Present 2000.jpg

This book makes the startling case that North Americans were getting on the "information highway" as early as the 1700's, and have been using it as a critical building block of their social, economic, and political world ever since.
By the time of the founding of the United States, there was a postal system and roads for the distribution of mail, copyright laws to protect intellectual property, and newspapers, books, and broadsides to bring information to a populace that was building a nation on the basis of an informed electorate. In the 19th century, Americans developed the telegraph, telephone, and motion pictures, inventions that further expanded the reach of information. In the 20th century they added television, computers, and the Internet, ultimately connecting themselves to a whole world of information.
From the beginning North Americans were willing to invest in the infrastructure to make such connectivity possible. This book explores what the deployment of these technologies says about American society. The editors assembled a group of contributors who are experts in their particular fields and worked with them to create a book that is fully integrated and cross-referenced.

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Alfred D. Chandler, James W. Cortada - A Nation Tr ansformed by Information, How Information Has Shap ed the United States from Colonial Times to the Pr esent (2000).pdf

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Michel Cochrane - When AIDS Began, San Francisco a nd the Making of an Epidemic (2003).jpg

As the AIDS crisis reaches new heights globally with no cure in the immediate future, the time is ripe to step back and examine the roots of this epidemic. In When AIDS Began, Michelle Cochrane constructs the making of the disease and expels many of the misconceptions that surround it. By examining the early outbreaks in San Francisco, she unfolds the "creation" of this disease in one geographic location and then traces how and why major claims about the transmission of HIV were made, extrapolated and then disseminated to the rest of the world - all important factors in understanding.

Through her fascinating analysis and research, Cochrane dispels the myths of AIDS by interviewing patients, public health officials, workers and gaining access to medical charts and documents from the San Francisco Public Health Department. She comes to question some of the orthodoxies of AIDS: mainly saying it's a "gay" disease spread by sexual contact. She boldly suggests that in the tracking ofthe disease sexual transmission is more often assumed rather than empirically documented. Instead, she suggests that IV drug use and socio-economic status may have played a much greater than acknowledged role among the risk factors for those who were infected.

When AIDS Began is an original and controversial addition to the ongoing dialogue on the disease. Clearly pushing boundaries, this is an important history of an epidemic that continues to plague the globe.

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Michel Cochrane - When AIDS Began, San Francisco a nd the Making of an Epidemic (2003).pdf

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Michele Micheletti - Political Virtue and Shopping , Individuals, Consumerism, and Collective Action (2003).jpg

Shoppers can express their values as they search for value. Political consumerism is turning the market into a site for politics and ethics, as consumer choices reflect personal attitudes and purchases are informed by ethical or political assessment of business and government practice. In such forms as boycotts, when consumers refuse to buy, or buycotts, where consumers shift their purchases, the ostensibly apolitical marketplace is a site of contestation at the intersection of globalization and individualization. This book opens readers' eyes to a new way of viewing everyday consumer choices and the role of the market in our lives, illuminating the broader theoretical and historical context of concerns about sweatshops, responsible coffee, and ethical and free trade.

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Michele Micheletti - Political Virtue and Shopping , Individuals, Consumerism, and Collective Action (2003).pdf

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Noam Kochawi - Nixon and Israel, Forging a Conserv ative Partnership (2009).jpg

Using a wealth of recently declassified American and Israeli documents, Nixon and Israel argues that ideational and psychological factors are an important complement to standard geopolitical explanations of American-Israeli relations during the Nixon years. Noam Kochavi looks at the emotional impact on senior American leadership of specific choices made by Israel outside the Middle East in the early 1970s, such as the acumen and sensitivity of Israel with regard to Nixon's fundamental concerns--"honorable extrication" from Vietnam and winning reelection. The book takes issue with the controversial argument that Israeli and American Jewish leaders joined forces to orchestrate a campaign designed to tilt American foreign policy in Israel's favor. To the contrary, the picture that emerges suggests that while Israel did adopt policies that altered Nixon's image of Israel, these policies were adopted not in concert with American Jews but despite American Jewish disapproval.

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Noam Kochawi - Nixon and Israel, Forging a Conserv ative Partnership (2009).pdf

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Emma Casey, Lydia Martens - Gender and Consumption , Domestic Cultures and the Commercialisation of E veryday Life (2007).jpg

USA Books - Emma Casey, Lydia Martens - Gender and Consumption, Do...ltures and the Commercialisation of Everyday Life 2007.jpg

This volume provides a unique insight into women's domestic consumption. Drawing from anthropological, sociological and historical perspectives, the chapters provide varied cases studies from gambling, consuming pleasure on the wedding day, to decor differences in boys' and girls' bedrooms. They explore and reconsider the nature of public and private spaces, and the subsequent nature of domestic space, often by challenging traditional notions of what constitutes "the domestic". The authors' argue that domestic consumption represents one lens through which to examine the everyday production and reproduction of socio-economic relations. The volume demonstrates the broad range of experiences that domestic consumption offers women and reveals some of the complex meanings and motivations underpinning women's consumption practices.

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Quentin R. Skrabec Jr - William McGuffey, Mentor t o American Industry (2009).jpg

Thanks to William Holmes McGuffey, frontier America's literacy rate was the world's highest, producing four generations of American leadership in the arts, science, and engineering. In his much-loved series of 'readers,' McGuffey revolutionized education in America, merging basic principles with classic readings.

Throughout Prof. Skrabec's research on American industrialists, the name William McGuffey kept popping up. William McGuffey was clearly the mentor of many of America's greatest capitalists. Almost all had been educated using the McGuffey Reader and developed their belief systems in one-room schoolhouses. Now his story, too, is told.

McGuffey Readers were best sellers only surpassed in America by the Bible and Webster's Dictionary. In 2008, the McGuffey Eclectic Reader was ranked with Thomas Paine's Common Sense and Alexander Hamilton's The Federalist Papers as 'books that changed the course of U.S. history.' Published originally in the early 1830s, by 1920 over one hundred fifty million had been sold. Even today, sales average about thirty thousand a year. No single series of books dominated America as the McGuffey Readers did from 1836 to 1920.

The texts were the source of knowledge and motivation for American industrialists such as Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, H. J. Heinz, George Westinghouse, Thomas Edison, and John D. Rockefeller, as well as the founder of Kroger Company, A. H. Morrill. McGuffey instilled the basic principles of capitalism and democracy, while promoting the basic virtue of giving to and helping the poor.Â The McGuffey Readers are as much the root of American philanthropy as they are the root of American capitalism. Many American presidents, such as Lincoln, Harrison, Grant, Hayes, Cleveland, Harding, Garfield, McKinley, Truman, and Roosevelt attributed their scholarship to the McGuffey Reader. The list of Supreme Court and Federal judges is just as long.

McGuffey approached education as a moralistic adventure. He interwove morals, American history, religion, and virtues into basic lessons. McGuffey more than anyone helped defined the American psyche.

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Quentin R. Skrabec Jr - William McGuffey, Mentor t o American Industry (2009).pdf

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Adam Śmigielski - Amerykańskie olbrzymy. Iowa, New Jersey, Missouri, Wisconsin (2000).jpg

Te ostatnie amerykańskie pancerniki nigdy nie miały okazji stanąć do walki z ich japońskimi odpowiednikami. Dobrze opancerzone i doskonale zaprojektowane uważane są przez wielu za najlepsze okręty w swojej klasie. Modernizowane, służyły w linii jeszcze kilka lat temu, używając swoich dział w Wietnamie, Libanie czy odpalając swe rakiety przeciw Irakowi .

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Adam Śmigielski - Amerykańskie olbrzymy. Iowa, New Jersey, Missouri, Wisconsin (2000).PDF

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Robin Smith - Brassey's History of Uniforms - Amer ican Civil War Union Army (1996).jpg

This is another great book from Ron Smith,in this book uniforms are examined in terms of style, quality and color. What emerges is a fascinating glimpse on the government' "make do" efforts, ranging from the exotic to the hilarious. Federal troops often sported uniforms with strong European ties, including chasseur-style coats and the famous French Zouave outfit. The 39th New York Volunteers wore colorful uniforms copied from the Italian bersaglieri.

When President Abraham Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to fight the South in April 1861, he placed a heavy burden on an unprepared quartermaster department. Supplies of good-quality cheap cloth for uniforms were lacking. Some states were asked to provide their own uniforms for their recruits, and the quality and variety seemed limitless. Many early Union militia units adopted gray as their dress color, while the quality of material ranged from superior to poor. The North, faced numerous problems in providing uniforms for its troops. States issued jackets, shirts and trousers sewed by womens' volunteer aid societies. A shortage of material meant that a mixture of shades and hues was commonplace.

There are also chapters on the many colourful militia regiments raised to swell the Northern Army, including Zouaves, Chasseurs, Lancers, and Hussars in their own spectacular uniforms as well as the little known role of American Indian Cavalry units

The book contains 150 colour & b/w illustrations(more w/b that colour)if you would like to buy this book you can also consider Don Troiani's Soldiers in America 1754-1865 and Don Troiani's Civil War

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Robin Smith - Brassey's History of Uniforms - Amer ican Civil War Union Army (1996).pdf

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Lawrence E. Mitchell - The Speculation Economy, Ho w Finance Triumphed Over Industry (2008).jpg

American businesses today are obsessed with the price of their stock, and no wonder. The consequences of even a modest decrease can be so dire that some executives would rather damage their corporation's long-term health than allow quarterly returns to fall below projections. But how did this situation come about? When did the stock market become the driver of the American economy? Lawrence E. Mitchell identifies the moment in American history when finance triumphed over industry. He shows how the birth of the giant modern corporation spurred the rise of the stock market and how, by the dawn of the 1920s, the stock market left behind its business origins to become the very reason for the creation of business itself.

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Lawrence E. Mitchell - The Speculation Economy, Ho w Finance Triumphed Over Industry (2008).pdf

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Squadron - Aircraft Specials 6061 - Ernest R. McDo well - Flying Scoreboards, Aircraft Mission & Kill Markings (1993).jpg

USA Books - Squadron - Aircraft Specials 6061 - Ernest R. McDowell...ying Scoreboards, Aircraft Mission Kill Markings 1993.jpg

...At some point back in the prehistoric period a man must have decided to boast of his prowess as a hunter or warrior by selecting some tangible method to publicly show how skillful or fierce he proclaimed himself to be. What form this took will never be known but it could have been the tooth of a saber-toothed tiger, the skin of some animal or perhaps the head of an enemy of his tribe.
History does recount the use of scalps, shrunken heads and other such items for this purpose. As man became more civilized he had to forsake such grisly means and rather than display the remains of his victory, he decided to use personal ornamentation. Fierce head dress and masks, warpaint, tattoos and other similar items served to show others" how great a warrior he was.
As warfare advanced the need for larger groups to be recognized as either friend or foe brought about the development of uniforms and in time these became very colorful and distinctive. Mention the Bengal Lancers, the U.S. 7th Cavalry, the Black Watch, Cossacks, Coldstream Guards. U.S. Marine Corps, French Foreign Legion, or the Green Berets and a picture of a man in a particular uniform quickly comes to mind and conveys the idea that he was part of an elite organization with a sense of pride and a strong esprit de corps.
It was this type of background and the need for recognition that was responsible for the use of victory and mission markings on aircraft that began during the First World War and have been carried forward to this day.

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Squadron - Aircraft Specials 6061 - Ernest R. McDo well - Flying Scoreboards, Aircraft Mission & Kill Markings (1993).pdf

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Steve Estes - I Am a Man!, Race, Manhood, and the Civil Rights Movement (2005).jpg

The civil rights movement was first and foremost a struggle for racial equality, but questions of gender lay deeply embedded within this struggle. Steve Estes explores key groups, leaders, and events in the movement to understand how activists used race and manhood to articulate their visions of what American society should be.

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Steve Estes - I Am a Man!, Race, Manhood, and the Civil Rights Movement (2005).pdf

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Wilbur D. Jones Jr - Football! Navy! War, How Mili tary ''Lend-Lease'' Players Saved the College Game and Helped Win World War II (2009).jpg

USA Books - Wilbur D. Jones Jr - Football Navy War, How Military L...aved the College Game and Helped Win World War II 2009.jpg

Not coincidentally, the sport of football naturally employs terms usually associated with war, such as "aerial attack," "blitz," and "trench warfare." During World War II, the U. S. military and colleges joined forces, fielding competitive teams to prepare men for combat. The book highlights the Department of the Navy's role in preserving the game and football's impact on national morale and the war effort through their "Lend-Lease" to colleges of officer candidates, including All-America and professional players. It describes wartime college and military football throughout the globe and features a foreword by veteran ESPN college football commentator Beano Cook. It contains 81 photographs and illustrations; listings of college and military teams, records, scores, big games, and statistics; player and team profiles; and a glossary of period football terminology.

Biography

Wilbur D. Jones, Jr., is a nationally known, award-winning military historian and retired Navy captain with four decades of service to the Department of Defense, including as a professor and associate dean at the Defense Acquisition University. He served in the White House as an assistant and advance representative to President Ford. This is his 17th book. He founded and chairs the award-winning preservationist group World War II Wilmington Home Front Heritage Coalition in Wilmington, N.C., where he resides. Visit his website at www.wilburjones.com

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Wilbur D. Jones Jr - Football! Navy! War, How Mili tary ''Lend-Lease'' Players Saved the College Game and Helped Win World War II (2009).pdf

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Rob Craig - Ed Wood, Mad Genius, A Critical Study of the Films (2009).jpg

Filmmaker Ed Wood was controversial and critically maligned, even labeled "the worst director of all time," yet he achieved cult status and remains of great interest today. This book frames Wood's work, such as the cross-dressing themed Glen or Glenda? and the haphazard Bride of the Monster, as reflections of the culture of their era. Wood invariably worked with infinitesimal budgets, shooting at breakneck speed, incorporating plot twists that defied all logic. Yet there was a tangible if unfocused thematic thrust to Wood's films, which meditate fitfully on gender, religion and society, revealing a "holy trinity" of fixations--sex, death and resurrection. Wood's infamous Plan 9 From Outer Space encapsulates the fixations and flaws that were his hallmarks, and with 22 other films, is explored here. A filmography and 51 photographs are included.

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Rob Craig - Ed Wood, Mad Genius, A Critical Study of the Films (2009).pdf

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Christopher Shannon - Conspicuous Criticism, Tradi tion, the Individual, and Culture in American Soci al Thought, from Veblen to Mills (1995).jpg

USA Books - Christopher Shannon - Conspicuous Criticism, Tradition... in American Social Thought, from Veblen to Mills 1995.jpg

"The anthropological idea of 'culture' has provided twentieth-century American intellectuals with an ideology for the relentless textualization of everyday life through social-scientific inquiry. In this book I argue that the rise of 'culture' as a mode of critical self-consciousness has fostered a destabilization of received social meanings necessary for the expansion of both consumer capitalism and critical thought itself. Indeed, critical, humanistic social science, so often arrayed against the market, has just as often been at the vanguard of extending the logic of commodification to the most intimate aspects of people's lives."--from the IntroductionIn Conspicuous Criticism, historian Christopher Shannon argues that the social-scientific critique of American culture, whether liberal or radical, can only reproduce the social relations of bourgeois individualism. He analyzes in depth key works of scholars such as Thorsten Veblen, Robert and Helen Lynd (of Middletown fame), Ruth Benedict, John Dewey, and C. Wright Mills, among others, to demonstrate how American middle-class ideas of progress, individualism, and rationalism became embedded in their critique. These works embody an ideal of reason free from tradition which unites capitalism and its social-scientific critique. The critical attempt to detach oneself from society so as to study it objectively only reinforced the ideal of objective social relations at the heart of the market society itself.

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Robert Fyne - Long Ago and Far Away, Hollywood and the Second World War (2008).jpg

From the most jingoistic shorts to the most thoughtful examinations of war and its repercussions, Fyne captures them all in this overview of WW II films. Grouping the films in time periods, Fyne effectively creates an encapsulated portrait of how the films mirror America's national demeanor and emotional state. Starting with the 1941-1945 "We've Never Been Licked," each chapter brings the reader a better understanding of how Hollywood's interpretations of WW II were reflections of the national mood. The sheer number of films mentioned is amazing from the most obscure works, like "Warkill" and "Beach Red" to classics like "Casablanca" and "Schindler's List" nothing is ignored. When movies like "Flesh Feast" with its "guarding Hitler's corpse" plot are included you'll be hard-pressed to find a more complete collection of films.
Most films are mentioned with a brief synopsis, but the book really comes to life when Fyne does a more thorough examination of a film. When films like "The Best Years of Our Lives" and "From Here to Eternity" are examined by in this manner, the result is enthralling and filled with insight. It really makes you wish that this was done more often, but considering the scope of the book that would have been impossible. Any fans of film history should do themselves a favor and read this work.

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