history / united states / 20th century

"A staunch proponent of breaking down racial and gender barriers, Shirley Chisholm had the esteemed privilege of being a pioneer in many aspects of her life. She was the first African American woman elected to the New York State legislature and, later, the United States House of Representatives. She also made a run for the Democratic Party nomination for president in 1972. Focusing on Chisholm's lifelong advocacy for fair treatment, access to education, and equal pay for all American minority groups, this book explores the life of a remarkable woman in the context of twentieth century urban America and the tremendous social upheaval that occurred after World War II. About the Lives of American Women series: Selected and edited by renowned women's historian Carol Berkin, these brief biographies are designed for use in undergraduate courses. Rather than a comprehensive approach, each biography focuses instead on a particular aspect of a women's life that is emblematic of her time, or which made her a pivotal figure in the era. The emphasis is on a "good read," featuring accessible writing and compelling narratives, without sacrificing sound scholarship and academic integrity. Primary sources at the end of each biography reveal the subject's perspective in her own words. Study questions and an annotated bibliography support the student reader. "--.

As the 1960s drew to a close, the United States was coming apart at the seams. From August 1969 to August 1970, the nation witnessed nine thousand protests and eighty-four acts of arson or bombings at schools across the country. It was the year of the My Lai massacre investigation, the Cambodia invasion, Woodstock, and the Moratorium to End the War. The American death toll in Vietnam was approaching fifty thousand, and the ascendant counterculture was challenging nearly every aspect of American society. Witness to the Revolution, Clara Bingham?s unique oral history of that tumultuous time, unveils anew that moment when America careened to the brink of a civil war at home, as it fought a long, futile war abroad.

"A unique collection of eulogies of the twentieth century's greatest figures, written by conservative icon William F. Buckley Jr. and compiled by National Review and Fox News chief Washington correspondent James Rosen. In a half-century on the national stage, William F. Buckley Jr. achieved unique stature as a polemicist and the undisputed godfather of modern American conservatism. He knew everybody, hosted everybody at his East 73rd Street maisonette, skewered everybody who needed skewering, and in general lived life on a scale, and in a swashbuckling manner, that captivated and inspired countless young conservatives across that half-century. Among all of his distinctions, which include founding the conservative magazine National Review and serving as host on the long running talk show Firing Line, Buckley was a master of that most elusive of art forms: the eulogy. Buckley drew on his unrivaled gifts in what he liked to call 'the controversial arts' to mourn, celebrate, or seek eternal mercy for the men and women who touched his life and the nation; to conjure their personalities, recall memorable moments, herald their greatness; or to remind readers of why a given individual, even with the grace that death can uniquely confer, should be remembered as evil. At all points, these remembrances reflect Buckley's singular voice, with its elegant touch and mordant humor, and lend to the lives of the departed a final tribute consistent with their own careers, lives, and accomplishments. Of the more than 200 eulogies located in Buckley's vast archive of published works, A Torch Kept Lit collects the very best, those remembering the most consequential lives (Kennedy, Nixon, Reagan), the most famous to today's readers (Elvis Presley, John Lennon, Jacqueline Onassis, Princess Diana), those who loomed largest in the conservative movement (Milton Friedman, Russell Kirk), the most accomplished in the literary world (Norman Mailer, Truman Capote, William Shawn), the most mysterious (Soviet spy Alger Hiss, CIA spymaster Richard Helms), and those most dear to WFB (his wife and parents)"--.

"Answering the Call is an extraordinary eyewitness account from an unsung hero of the battle for racial equality in America-a battle that, far from ending with the great victories of the civil rights era, saw some of its signal achievements in the desegregation fights of the 1970s and its most notable setbacks in the affirmative action debates that continue into the present in Ferguson, Baltimore, and beyond. Judge Nathaniel R. Jones's pathbreaking career was forged in the 1960s: as the first African American assistant U.S. attorney in Ohio; as assistant general counsel of the Kerner Commission; and, beginning in 1969, as general counsel of the NAACP. In that latter role, Jones coordinated attacks against Northern school segregation-a vital, divisive, and poorly understood chapter in the movement for equality-twice arguing in the pivotal U.S. Supreme Court case Bradley v. Milliken, which addressed school desegregation in Detroit. He also led the national response to the attacks against affirmative action, spearheading and arguing many of the signal legal cases of that effort. Judge Jones's story is an essential corrective to the idea of a post-racial America--his voice and his testimony offering enduring evidence of the unfinished work of ending Jim Crow's legacy. "--.

In this ambitious story of American imperial conquest and capitalist development, Pulitzer Prize?winning historian Steven Hahn takes on the conventional histories of the nineteenth century and offers a perspective that promises to be as enduring as it is controversial.

"Through a diversity of primary source resources that include works by politicians and literary figures, book reviews, and interviews, this book enables student readers to better understand literature of the Great Depression in context through original documents; provides readers with an understanding of the great cultural issues of life in America in the 1930s; integrates and aligns material for the ELA Common Core Standards and American literature and social studies curriculum, supplying useful tools to support literary works--analysis, history, document excerpts, discussion questions, and areas for study; places three of the most significant writers of the decade within the sources of turmoil that affected their fiction; enables readers to construct their own visions of how three great writers represented the changing aspects of American culture in that era"--Provided by publisher.

From master storyteller and historian H. W. Brands comes the riveting story of how President Harry Truman and General Douglas MacArthur squared off to decide America's future in the aftermath of World War II.

"On the fiftieth anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, an...account of the continuing battle over Americans' right to vote"--Provided by publisher.

Presents the case of a white seventeen-year-old Groveland, Florida, girl who cried rape against four young African American men and discusses how Thurgood Marshall became embroiled in the explosive and deadly case.

In 1933 Prohibition gave rise to the American gangster. Local cops were unauthorized to cross state lines in pursuit of criminals and kidnappers and there was no national police force. George "Machine Gun" Kelly and his wife, Kathryn, were two of the most celebrated gangsters of the era. When other sources of income dried up, they decided to cash in on the easy-money racket of kidnapping. J. Edgar Hoover needed a successful Justice Department prosecution to save his job. Hoover's agents were given the sole authority to follow the kidnappers across state lines. The twenty-thousand mile chase over the back roads of Depression-era America, across sixteen state lines, produced results and launched the FBI.