During the decades following the American Civil War, the economy of the United States experienced phenomenal growth. At every turn - in agriculture, shipping, merchandizing, manufacturing, and transportation - a new American system of production and distribution was born. As the economy grew, so did the personal wealth of a handful of intrepid investors, dealmakers, and Wall Street financiers. A new class of business leaders was born, dominating their sectors of the nation's ever-expanding industrial base. To some, they were the mighty titans of industry. To others, they were greedy robber barons.As the American people came to question the robber barons' self-serving business practices, observers called for reform. The call was answered in 1890 with the passage of the Sherman Antitrust Act, a piece of legislation designed to bring down these controlling interests in the U.S. economy. "The Robber Barons and the Sherman Antitrust Act" explores the foundations and repercussions of the law that reshaped American business.

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Milestones American History - Tim McNeese - The Ro bber Barons and the Sherman Antitrust Act, Reshapi ng American Business (2008).pdf

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T. Adams Upchurch - Historical Dictionary of the G ilded Age (2009).jpg

This series on Historical Dictionaries of U.S. Historical Eras is filling in the blanks, and as noted above, the Gilded Age was an important but often overlooked period.

This dictionary contains articles chosen for their comparative significance to the broad panorama of American history during the Gilded Age. Many important people, issues, and events have been excluded in the interest of brevity. Choices of what to include were subjective, so exclusion does not necessarily indicate insignifi cance. In some cases, collective entries proved more useful than individualized ones. For instance, the entries “Literature,” “Periodicals,” and “The Press” cover most of the major authors, editors, literary movements, books, and infl uential publications of the Gilded Age much more succinctly than several dozen individual entries could.

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T. Adams Upchurch - Historical Dictionary of the G ilded Age (2009).pdf

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David W Garland - Mass Imprisonment, Social Causes and Consequences (2001).jpg

The growth of the US prison population is a social phenomenon without precedent. It has increased every year for the last 25 years, producing a rate of imprisonment that is by far the highest of any western democratic nation. There are now 2 million people incarcerated in the USA, 5 times as many as there were in 1973. Other comparable nations lock up their citizens at a rate that is 6 to 10 times lower than that of the USA.
Mass imprisonment, American-style, involves the penal segregation of large numbers of the poor and minorities. In a nation where 13% of the population is black 11% Hispanic, the ethnic composition of the prison population is two-thirds minority. 1 out of every 3 young black men aged 20-29 is currently in prison, in jail, on probation or on parole. Imprisonment has become a central institution for the social control of the urban poor, and above all for young black and Hispanic men.
America is only now beginning to face up to the consequences of this emerging institution. And other countries are now looking to the USA to see what should be learned from this massive and controversial social experiment. This major new volume of papers by leading criminologists, sociologists and historians, sets out what is known about the political and penological causes of this phenomenon. It describes its impact upon crime, upon crime, upon the minority communities most affected, upon social policy and, more broadly upon national culture. It is a book that all citizens and policy makers should read.

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David W Garland - Mass Imprisonment, Social Causes and Consequences (2001).pdf

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Imam Hassan Qazwini - American Crescent, A Muslim Cleric on the Power of His Faith, the Struggle Aga inst Prejudice (2007).jpg

USA Books - Imam Hassan Qazwini - American Crescent, A Muslim Cler...ower of His Faith, the Struggle Against Prejudice 2007.jpg

In this inspiring narrative, one of this country’s most important Muslim leaders reveals the story of his life and his faith, and why Islam is good for America. As the religious leader of the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn, Michigan, Imam Hassan Qazwini serves the largest Muslim congregation in the United States. His dramatic journey to these shores began in 1971, when his father’s anti-Baathist views forced his family to flee from Saddam’s Iraq to Kuwait and then to war-torn Iran. Then, in 1992, with his father’s blessing, he left for the United States, a place where young Muslims were seeking spiritual guidance and where his children could grow up in the peace Qazwini had been denied.
First in California and then in Michigan, Qazwini saw a shocking new world in which leaders were openly mocked, women’s bodies were on display in public, and Christian symbols were disparaged without consequence. He also saw a land in which the lack of a common faith necessitated a great effort to create a shared community. By counseling American Muslims–and sharing his religion with those of other beliefs–he came to feel at home in the country he already loved, and he became a trusted advisor to local and national politicians.

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Imam Hassan Qazwini - American Crescent, A Muslim Cleric on the Power of His Faith, the Struggle Aga inst Prejudice (2007).pdf

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Adam W. Shepard - Scratch Beginnings, Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream (2008).jpg

Adam Shepard graduated from college in the summer of 2006 feeling disillusioned by the apathy he saw around him and incensed after reading Barbara Ehrenreich's famous works Nickel and Dimed and Bait and Switch—books that gave him a feeling of hopelessness over the state of the working class in America. Eager to see if he could make something out of nothing, he set out to prove wrong Ehrenreich's theory that those who start at the bottom stay at the bottom, and to see if the American Dream can still be a reality.

Shepard's plan was simple. Carrying only a sleeping bag, the clothes on his back, and $25 in cash, and restricted from using previous contacts or relying on his college education, he set out for a randomly selected city with one objective: work his way out of homelessness and into a life that would give him the opportunity for success. His goal was to have, after one year, $2,500, a working automobile, and a furnished apartment.

But from the start, things didn't go as smoothly as Shepard had planned. Working his way up from a Charleston, South Carolina homeless shelter proved to be more difficult than he anticipated, with pressure to take low-paying, exploitive jobs from labor companies, and a job market that didn't respond with enthusiasm to homeless applicants. Shepard even began donating plasma to make fast cash. To his surprise, he found himself depending most on fellow shelter residents for inspiration and advice.

Earnest, passionate, and hard to put down, Scratch Beginnings is a story that will not only inspire readers, but will also remind them that success can come to anyone who is willing to work hard—and that America is still one of the most hopeful and inspiring countries in the world.

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Charles K. Wolfe - Classic Country, Legends of Cou ntry Music (2000).jpg

Long before Garth Brooks, Shania Twain, Faith Hill, and The Dixie Chicks, the original pioneers of country music--The Carter Family, Vernon Dalhart, The Monroe Brothers, The Louvin Brothers, and others--paved the way for future country artists, influencing musicians for generations to come. Now for the first time, country music authority Charles K. Wolfe gathers together his profiles of 50 legends of country music. Classic Country includes such Hall of Famers as the father of bluegrass Bill Monroe, honky tonker Lefty Frizzell, and queen of country music Kitty Wells, as well as lesser-known but equally important artists like DeFord Bailey,first African-American star of the Grand Ole Opry, the mysterious Seven Foot Dilly, and the reclusive songwriter Arthur Q. Smith. Wolfe also offers portraits of recent artists who perform in the classic country style, such as Doc Watson, The Freight Hoppers, Hazel and Alice, and The Statler Brothers.

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Charles K. Wolfe - Classic Country, Legends of Cou ntry Music (2000).pdf

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David A. Jasen - Ragtime, An Encyclopedia, Discogr aphy, and Sheetography (2007).jpg

Ragtime: An Encyclopedia, Discography, and Sheetography is the definitive reference work for this important popular form of music that flourished from the 1890s through the 1920s, and was one of the key predecessors of jazz. It collects for the first time entries on all the important composers and performers, and descriptions of their works; a complete listing of all known published ragtime compositions, even those self-published and known only in single copies; and a complete discography from the cylinder era to today. It also represents the culmination of a lifetime’s research for its author, considered to be the foremost scholar of ragtime and early 20th century popular music. Rare photographs accompany most entries, taken from the original sheets, newspapers, and other archival sources.

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David A. Jasen - Ragtime, An Encyclopedia, Discogr aphy, and Sheetography (2007).pdf

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David Bacon - Illegal People, How Globalization Cr eates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants (2008).jpg

For two decades veteran photojournalist David Bacon has documented the connections between labor, migration, and the global economy. In Illegal People Bacon explores the human side of globalization, exposing the many ways it uproots people in Latin America and Asia, driving them to migrate. At the same time, U.S. immigration policy makes the labor of those displaced people a crime in the United States. Illegal People explains why our national policy produces even more displacement, more migration, more immigration raids, and a more divided, polarized society.
Through interviews and on-the-spot reporting from both impoverished communities abroad and American immigrant workplaces and neighborhoods, Bacon shows how the United States’ trade and economic policy abroad, in seeking to create a favorable investment climate for large corporations, creates conditions to displace communities and set migration into motion. Trade policy and immigration are intimately linked, Bacon argues, and are, in fact, elements of a single economic system.
In particular, he analyzes NAFTA’s corporate tilt as a cause of displacement and migration from Mexico and shows how criminalizing immigrant labor benefits employers. For example, Bacon explains that, pre-NAFTA, Oaxacan corn farmers received subsidies for their crops. State-owned CONASUPO markets turned the corn into tortillas and sold them, along with milk and other basic foodstuffs, at low, subsidized prices in cities. Post-NAFTA, several things happened: the Mexican government was forced to end its subsidies for corn, which meant that farmers couldn’t afford to produce it; the CONASUPO system was dissolved; and cheap U.S. corn flooded the Mexican market, driving the price of corn sharply down. Because Oaxacan farming families can’t sell enough corn to buy food and supplies, many thousands migrate every year, making the perilous journey over the border into the United States only to be labeled “illegal” and to find that working itself has become, for them, a crime.
Bacon powerfully traces the development of illegal status back to slavery and shows the human cost of treating the indispensable labor of millions of migrants—and the migrants themselves—as illegal. Illegal People argues for a sea change in the way we think, debate, and legislate around issues of migration and globalization, making a compelling case for why we need to consider immigration and migration from a globalized human rights perspective.
“David Bacon is the conscience of American journalism; an extraordinary social documentarist in the rugged humanist tradition of Dorothea Lange, Carey McWilliams, and Ernesto Galarza.” —Mike Davis, author of No One Is Illegal
“Illegal People documents how undocumented workers have become the world’s most exploited workforce—subject to raids and arrests, forced to work at low pay and under miserable conditions, and prevented from organizing on their own behalf. In this richly reported book, David Bacon makes a powerful case for the centrality of ‘illegals’—of all nationalities—in the global struggle for economic justice.” —Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America

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David Bacon - Illegal People, How Globalization Cr eates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants (2008).pdf

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Edmund Morris - Colonel Roosevelt (2010).jpg

"Now with Colonel Roosevelt, the magnum opus is complete. And it deserves to stand as the definitive study of its restless, mutable, ever-boyish, erudite and tirelessly energetic subject. Mr. Morris has addressed the toughest and most frustrating part of Roosevelt’s life with the same care and precision that he brought to the two earlier installments. And if this story of a lifetime is his own life’s work, he has reason to be immensely proud." –Janet Maslin, The New York Times

"Exemplary… Consistently rich and on point, with rapidly developing events providing a backdrop for the balanced examination [Morris] presents of his subject…The TR trilogy is masterful, and can rightfully take its place among the truly outstanding biographies of the American presidency." –LA Times

"Reading Edmund Morris on Teddy Roosevelt is like listening to Yo-Yo Ma play Bach: You know from the first note you’re in inspired hands. In Colonel Roosevelt—the final installment in a trilogy that began with The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt and Theodore Rex—Morris registers the Bull Moose’s last decade in handsome, sweeping prose that avoids the valedictory chord struck by biographers who, nearing the end of their prodigious labors, resort to swooning across the chapters, unwilling to let go of their muse." – The Washingtonian

"Colonel Roosevelt, the third part of his three-volume biography of Roosevelt, is a worthy and extremely engaging culmination of Mr. Morris' work. It is popular history at its best." –Claude R. Marx, The Washington Times

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Indians of North America - Loretta Fowler - The Ar apaho (2005).jpg

The Arapahos probably moved onto the western plains from the woodlands area near the Great Lakes, for they exhibit many traditions similar to Algonquian-speaking groups of that region. When they made the move is unknown. During the eighteenth century there were several divisions of Arapahos, which ranged from the Saskatchewan River south into Colorado and perhaps Oklahoma, west to the foothills of the Rockies, and east into western South Dakota and Kansas. The northernmost division, the Gros Ventres, settled in Montana. Two other main divisions are the Northern and Southern Arapahos. American traders adopted the Crow Indians' name for these people, which sounded like "Arapaho."

About 1730 the Arapahos began to hunt bison using horses acquired from Comanches who lived within reach of Spanish settlements. Horses enabled greater mobility, larger residence groups, and more elaborate rituals, and also led to wealth inequalities based on horse ownership. From the bison, the Arapahos obtained food, clothing, shelter, tools, and weapons. To accommodate seasonal movements of the bison, Arapaho bands (residence groups) were flexible in composition. A large network of kin facilitated cooperation in hunting.

A men's lodge organization promoted band cooperation, particularly for military purposes. This organization consisted of two youths' and five men's lodges, or ceremonial societies, each of which had specific political and ritual duties. Men earned their way through the entire series of seven lodges as they aged, through completion of initiation rites that involved apprenticing themselves to the next higher lodge. The lodges were ranked by members' age, the members of the old men's lodge having the most prestige and authority. A group of male and female priests directed the lodge rituals, which ensured the survival of the Arapahos.

During the 1850s, immigrants moving west to California and Oregon occasionally stopped in Colorado, in the heart of Arapaho hunting territory, to mine for gold, in violation of a treaty the Arapahos had signed with the federal government in 1851. In addition, immigrants disturbed the game and attacked the Arapahos. Troops did not distinguish one Indian from another when retaliating for Indian attacks on trespassing settlers. In the aftermath of the worst violence�the so-called Indian War of 1865-68�the Arapahos moved to reservations, where they thought they would be safe from further attacks.

About one thousand Northern Arapahos settled on the 2.3-million-acre Shoshone Reservation in Wyoming in 1878; they received individual allotments of land there in 1900. In 1937, the name of the reservation was changed to Wind River. Until 1947, when tribal leaders gained control over the tribes' mineral resources and instituted per capita distribution of several million dollars in income, the Arapahos struggled to sustain themselves on government rations, occasional wage work, and lease income from land allotted to individuals. After 1947, 15 percent of the income from mineral royalties was used for community services; the remaining 85 percent was distributed in monthly per capita payments.

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Indians of North America - Loretta Fowler - The Ar apaho (2005).pdf

Congress required the consent of tribal leaders, or "councilmen," on leases of tribally owned land, and the councilmen tried to use these moneys to improve living conditions. Elderly male and female ritual leaders supervised the actions of the councilmen. Leaders of all ages tried to mitigate the federal government's "civilization" policy by promoting changes that simultaneously reinforced traditional values and customs and indicated a desire to cooperate with federal officials.

In Oklahoma, about sixteen hundred Southern Arapahos settled on the Cheyenne-Arapaho Reservation, established by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1869. Federal officials pushed a "civilization program," and important headmen began building cattle herds and supervising labor on large gardens and hay fields. The federal government, under political pressure to open Oklahoma reservation lands to settlement by non-Indians, forced a cession from the Cheyennes and Arapahos in 1891. Individuals were allotted 160 acres, and the remainder of the 4-million-acre reservation was opened to settlement. Non-Indian settlers trespassed on Indian farms and ranches, stealing stock, equipment, wood, and other property. Pressure for land continued unabated, and in 1902 and 1906 Congress passed legislation that encouraged the sale of allotted Indian lands. Increasing poverty led to further land sales, so that today only about seventy-five thousand of the half million acres originally allotted remain in Arapaho hands.

Unable to support groups of followers and ignored by the federal government, political leaders lost authority. Peyote rituals were introduced to the Cheyennes and Arapahos in the late 1890s by Native Americans living to the south. The elderly leaders of the Arapaho ceremonial organization did not initiate successors, so that by the onset of World War II the Southern Arapahos had to apprentice themselves to the Northern Arapahos.

Today the Northern Arapahos number four thousand. A six-member elected business council oversees tribal operations, represents the tribe in dealings with the local and federal governments, and meets with the Shoshone council on matters of joint interest. There is no constitution and by-laws; rather, the business council attempts to operate by consensus, and a general council composed of eligible voters reserves veto power over their actions.

In 1975 Congress passed Public Law 638, which enabled tribes to contract for grants and programs formerly administered by federal agencies. This change allowed the business council to seek and control money for social programs. Families have continued to rely on the monthly per capita payment, for despite jobs created by the establishment of tribally owned businesses, unemployment remains high.

The three thousand Southern Arapahos have a few tribally owned oil wells on tribal land, but the income from these is sufficient for only a nominal annual per capita payment. Unemployment is lower than it is among the Northern Arapahos, because jobs in Oklahoma City and other urban areas are within commuting distance.

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Harvey J. Kaye - Thomas Paine, Firebrand of the Re volution (2000).jpg

Thomas Paine (1737-1809) was one of the most fascinating figures of the late 18th century. His public antagonist and personal friend John Adams believed that their times would come to be known as the "Age of Paine." He came to America in middle age and became a radical-democratic pamphleteer, effectively turning colonial rebellion into a national liberation movement. He later returned to Europe where he played a prominent role in both the French Revolution and the cause of English radicalism. Paine is best remembered for his books: the controversial The Rights of Man and his book on the American Revolution, Common Sense. Harvey J. Kaye, well-known for his studies on Paine and his period, traces the English revolutionary's life and details his political writings in accessible, highly readable narrative that also covers important events of early American history.

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Harvey J. Kaye - Thomas Paine, Firebrand of the Re volution (2000).pdf

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William L, Barney - The Civil War and Reconstructi on, A Student Companion (2001).jpg

The Civil War was the most devastating event in U.S. history, in which over half a million Americans paid for their beliefs with their lives. The heroic battles, harrowing marches, and military genius of generals on both sides still inspire books, movies, and the imaginations of Civil War buffs. Less obvious are the economic, political, social, and cultural repercussions of the war, which continue to influence American life. Reconstruction and the end of slavery brought deep-seated problems to the reunited nation.

This single-volume encyclopedia includes 245 entries on all facets of the conflicted era. It features articles on:
* Battles and campaigns (Gettysburg, Shiloh, Sherman's March to the Sea)
* Culture (music, photography, religion)
* Economic affairs (cost of the war, gold, Richmond Bread Riot)
* Foreign affairs (France, Great Britain, Laird rams)
* Health and welfare (disease, medicine, prisons)
* Ideologies (federalism, free-labor ideology)
* Legislative landmarks (14th Amendment, Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, Wade-Davis bill)
* Military terms, strategy, and weaponry (cavalry, rifles, tactics)
* Minorities (black suffrage, emancipation, Native Americans)
* Political events and organizations (Constitutional Union party, election of 1860, fire-eaters)
* Prominent individuals (Clara Barton, Frederick Douglass, Robert E. Lee, Abraham Lincoln, Walt Whitman)
* Social reform (abolitionism, women's rights movement)
* Women (nurses, women in the war, individual women)
More than 200 black-and-white illustrations, including over a dozen maps, complement the entries. A list of selected Civil War museums and historic sites, suggestions for further reading, recommended websites, and a chronology of the war round out this essential resource.

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William L, Barney - The Civil War and Reconstructi on, A Student Companion (2001).pdf

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Frank Cullen - Vaudeville, Old and New, An Encyclo pedia of Variety Performers in America, 2 volumes (2006).jpg

This is a one-of-a-kind reference work to the history of vaudeville, performance art, burlesque, revue, and comic opera. Author Frank Cullen has done deep research, including archival work and personal interviews, to uncover the rich history of this American art form. Most of the artists profiled here are not examined in other reference books. This will be a must-have for students of theater history and performance art, and also for anyone interested in the cultural history of America.

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Frank Cullen - Vaudeville, Old and New, An Encyclo pedia of Variety Performers in America, 2 volumes (2006).pdf

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Indians of North America - Barbara Graymont - The Iroquois (2004).jpg

This is one of the volumes in the long and extensive "Indians of North America" series. It provides a good and brief introduction to the culture and history of the Iroquois tribes. Children who wish to learn more about native Americans will enjoy it, as will adults. We all learn of the importance of the League and their impact on the American Revolution as well as their impact today.

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Indians of North America - Barbara Graymont - The Iroquois (2004).pdf

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Leslie M. Alexander, Walter C. Rucker - Encycloped ia of African American History 3 volumes (2010).jpg

Encyclopedia of African American History introduces readers to the significant people, events, sociopolitical movements, and ideas that have shaped African American life from earliest contact between African peoples and Europeans through the late 20th century.

The encyclopedia places the African American experience in the context of the entire African diaspora, with entries organized in sections on African/European contact and enslavement, culture, resistance and identity during enslavement, political activism from the Revolutionary War to Southern emancipation, political activism from Reconstruction to the modern Civil Rights movement, black nationalism and urbanization, and Pan-Africanism and contemporary black America. Based on the latest scholarship and engagingly written, there is no better go-to reference for exploring the history of African Americans and their distinctive impact on American society, politics, business, literature, art, food, clothing, music, language, and technology.

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