Download or read book Inventing American Tradition written by Jack David Eller and published by Reaktion Books. This book was released on 2018-09-15 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What really happened on the first Thanksgiving? How did a British drinking song become the US national anthem? And what makes Superman so darned American? Every tradition, even the noblest and most cherished, has a history, none more so than in the United States—a nation born with relative indifference, if not hostility, to the past. Most Americans would be surprised to learn just how recent (and controversial) the origins of their traditions are, as well as how those origins are often related to such divisive forces as the trauma of the Civil War or fears for American identity stemming from immigration and socialism. In pithy, entertaining chapters, Inventing American Tradition explores a set of beloved traditions spanning political symbols, holidays, lifestyles, and fictional characters—everything from the anthem to the American flag, blue jeans, and Mickey Mouse. Shedding light on the individuals who created these traditions and their motivations for promoting them, Jack David Eller reveals the murky, conflicted, confused, and contradictory history of emblems and institutions we very often take to be the bedrock of America. What emerges from this sideways take on our most celebrated Americanisms is the realization that all traditions are invented by particular people at particular times for particular reasons, and that the process of “traditioning” is forever ongoing—especially in the land of the free.

Download or read book Congress and the American Tradition written by James Burnham and published by Transaction Publishers. This book was released on with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is organized into three distinct parts: "The American System of Government," "The Present Position of Congress," and "The Future of Congress," which discusses democracy and liberty, and ultimately asks, "Can Congress survive?"

Download or read book Civilizing Torture written by W. Fitzhugh Brundage and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-10 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pulitzer Prize Finalist Silver Gavel Award Finalist “A sobering history of how American communities and institutions have relied on torture in various forms since before the United States was founded.” —Los Angeles Times “That Americans as a people and a nation-state are violent is indisputable. That we are also torturers, domestically and internationally, is not so well established. The myth that we are not torturers will persist, but Civilizing Torture will remain a powerful antidote in confronting it.” —Lawrence Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell “Remarkable...A searing analysis of America’s past that helps make sense of its bewildering present.” —David Garland, author of Peculiar Institution Most Americans believe that a civilized state does not torture, but that belief has repeatedly been challenged in moments of crisis at home and abroad. From the Indian wars to Vietnam, from police interrogation to the War on Terror, US institutions have proven far more amenable to torture than the nation’s commitment to liberty would suggest. Civilizing Torture traces the history of debates about the efficacy of torture and reveals a recurring struggle to decide what limits to impose on the power of the state. At a time of escalating rhetoric aimed at cleansing the nation of the undeserving and an erosion of limits on military power, the debate over torture remains critical and unresolved.

Download or read book The American Tradition written by Robert P. Green and published by . This book was released on 1986 with total page 832 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Afro American Tradition in Decorative Arts written by John Michael Vlach and published by University of Georgia Press. This book was released on 1990 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Included in the examples are works from the Charleston and Old Slave Mart museums and the ironwork of Philip Simmons.

Download or read book El Cinco de Mayo written by David Hayes-Bautista and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2012-05-05 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why is Cinco de Mayo—a holiday commemorating a Mexican victory over the French at Puebla in 1862—so widely celebrated in California and across the United States, when it is scarcely observed in Mexico? As David E. Hayes-Bautista explains, the holiday is not Mexican at all, but rather an American one, created by Latinos in California during the mid-nineteenth century. Hayes-Bautista shows how the meaning of Cinco de Mayo has shifted over time—it embodied immigrant nostalgia in the 1930s, U.S. patriotism during World War II, Chicano Power in the 1960s and 1970s, and commercial intentions in the 1980s and 1990s. Today, it continues to reflect the aspirations of a community that is engaged, empowered, and expanding.

Download or read book Divorce written by Glenda Riley and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 1997-01-01 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: According to Glenda Riley, “the historical conflict between anti-divorce and pro-divorce factions has prevented the development of effective, beneficial divorce laws, procedures, and policies. Today we still lack processes that move spouses out of unworkable marriages in a constructive fashion and get them back into the mainstream of life in a stable, productive condition.” Her pioneering historical overview offers proposals for dealing with a subject that now pertains to nearly half of all marriages.

Download or read book American Tradition in Literature written by George Perkins and published by . This book was released on 1985-01-01 with total page 4000 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The American Tradition written by Buford Carson Clarence and published by Hardpress Publishing. This book was released on 2013-12 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Download or read book The American Political Tradition written by Richard Hofstadter and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2011-12-21 with total page 562 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The American Political Tradition is one of the most influential and widely read historical volumes of our time. First published in 1948, its elegance, passion, and iconoclastic erudition laid the groundwork for a totally new understanding of the American past. By writing a "kind of intellectual history of the assumptions behind American politics," Richard Hofstadter changed the way Americans understand the relationship between power and ideas in their national experience. Like only a handful of American historians before him—Frederick Jackson Turner and Charles A. Beard are examples—Hofstadter was able to articulate, in a single work, a historical vision that inspired and shaped an entire generation.

Download or read book The S Word written by John Nichols and published by Verso. This book was released on 2011-03-21 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Political reporter Nichols argues that socialism has a long, proud American history. This short, irreverent book gives Americans back a crucial part of their history and makes a forthright case for socialist ideas today.

Download or read book The American Tradition written by and published by . This book was released on 1984 with total page 816 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Human Tradition in the American Revolution written by Nancy L. Rhoden and published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This book was released on 2000-01-01 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of 17 biographies provides a unique opportunity for the reader to go beyond the popular heroes of the American Revolution and discover the diverse populace that inhabited the colonies during this pivotal point in history.

Download or read book Wildlands Philanthropy written by Tom Butler and published by Earth Aware Editions. This book was released on 2010-03-02 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This landmark book showcases the eco-heroism of people from all around North America who have protected the natural wildlands. Published with The Foundation for Deep Ecology, Wildlands Philanthropy is intended to inspire people to "take matters into their own hands" and save the planet, acre by acre. In Wildlands Philanthropy, veteran conservation writer Tom Butler and world-class landscape photographer Antonio Vizcaíno take readers on a visually spectacular tour of natural landmarks from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego and around globe. With more than 350 pages, 175 color photographs, and a large-format design with exquisite production values,Wildlands Philanthropy is a book grand enough to tell the inspiring stories of people who saved extraordinary places. From Muir Woods National Monument to Acadia National Park, from beloved icons to obscure natural areas, the forty parks, refuges, and sanctuaries featured in the book represent the incredible diversity of wildlife habitats that have been saved through private initiative during the past century. The amazing people who invested their passion and wealth to secure these scenic treasures come from every walk of life and every corner of the country, suggesting that everyone—regardless of means—can join this great American tradition of individual action on behalf of wild nature.

Download or read book Loathing Lincoln written by John McKee Barr and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 2014-04-07 with total page 634 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While most Americans count Abraham Lincoln among the most beloved and admired former presidents, a dedicated minority has long viewed him not only as the worst president in the country's history, but also as a criminal who defied the Constitution and advanced federal power and the idea of racial equality. In Loathing Lincoln, historian John McKee Barr surveys the broad array of criticisms about Abraham Lincoln that emerged when he stepped onto the national stage, expanded during the Civil War, and continued to evolve after his death and into the present. The first panoramic study of Lincoln's critics, Barr's work offers an analysis of Lincoln in historical memory and an examination of how his critics -- on both the right and left -- have frequently reflected the anxiety and discontent Americans felt about their lives. From northern abolitionists troubled by the slow pace of emancipation, to Confederates who condemned him as a "black Republican" and despot, to Americans who blamed him for the civil rights movement, to, more recently, libertarians who accuse him of trampling the Constitution and creating the modern welfare state, Lincoln's detractors have always been a vocal minority, but not one without influence. By meticulously exploring the most significant arguments against Lincoln, Barr traces the rise of the president's most strident critics and links most of them to a distinct right-wing or neo-Confederate political agenda. According to Barr, their hostility to a more egalitarian America and opposition to any use of federal power to bring about such goals led them to portray Lincoln as an imperialistic president who grossly overstepped the bounds of his office. In contrast, liberals criticized him for not doing enough to bring about emancipation or ensure lasting racial equality. Lincoln's conservative and libertarian foes, however, constituted the vast majority of his detractors. More recently, Lincoln's most vociferous critics have adamantly opposed Barack Obama and his policies, many of them referencing Lincoln in their attacks on the current president. In examining these individuals and groups, Barr's study provides a deeper understanding of American political life and the nation itself.

Download or read book The Anglo American Tradition of Liberty written by João Carlos Espada and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-06-03 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Joao Carlos Espada's provocative survey of a group of key Anglo-American and European political thinkers argues that there is a distinctive, Anglo-American tradition of liberty that is one of the core pillars of the Free World. Giving a broad overview of the tradition through summaries of the careers and ideas of fourteen of its key thinkers, neglected despite having been tremendously influential in the tradition of liberty, the author engages with current set ideas about the meaning of 'liberal' and 'conservative' to offer an engaging, intellectual case for liberal democracy.

Download or read book The Shaping of the American Tradition written by Louis Morton Hacker and published by . This book was released on 1947 with total page 1247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: