american history

Hardcover. New York, PowerHouse Books, 1st, 2005, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover. Like new in publisher's shrink-wrap.

Hardcover. New York, Funk Wagnalls, 4th pr., 1967, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Fair, Hardcover, 110 pages. Black & white illustrations by Eric Sloane. Dust jacket heavily chipped. Dust jacket is protected by a mylar cover.

Hardcover. Hoboken, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., First Edition, 2006, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 272 pages. Hardcover. Black cloth covered boards with red printed titles to spine. Dust jacket in very good condition. Illustrations in bw throughout. Clean & unmarked copy.

Hardcover. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1st, 2020, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. In Crap: A History of Cheap Stuff in America, Wendy A. Woloson takes seriously the history of objects that are often cynically-made and easy to dismiss: things not made to last; things we don't really need; things we often don't even really want. Woloson does not mock these ordinary, everyday possessions but seeks to understand them as a way to understand aspects of ourselves, socially, culturally, and economically: Why do we--as individuals and as a culture--possess these things? Where do they come from? Why do we want them? And what is the true cost of owning them? Woloson tells the history of crap from the late eighteenth century up through today, exploring its many categories: gadgets, knickknacks, novelty goods, mass-produced collectibles, giftware, variety store merchandise. As Woloson shows, not all crap is crappy in the same way--bric-a-brac is crappy in a different way from, say, advertising giveaways, which are differently crappy from commemorative plates. Taking on the full brilliant and depressing array of crappy material goods, the book explores the overlooked corners of the American market and mindset, revealing the complexity of our relationship with commodity culture over time.

Hardcover. NY, W.W. Norton & Co., 1st, 1995, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 405 pages. Clean copy.

Hardcover. New York, Oxford University Press, 1st, 2002, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, black leather with red gilt lettering on spine. 203 pages, gilt all edges, SIGNED BY AUTHOR on title page. It seemed that foreign governments were on the verge of recognizing the Confederacy and legitimizing its cause, and the Emancipation Proclamation had been shelved indefinitely. America's most eminent Civil War historian, James M. McPherson argues that the Union victory at Antietam sharply reversed all that. He paints a masterful account of this pivotal battle, the events that led up to it, and its aftermath. Spotless and tight copy.

Hardcover. NY, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1st, 1933, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, red cloth with cover and spine lettered in gilt, 16 pages of b&w plates. Popular memoirs of Alice Roosevelt Longworth (1884-1980), eldest child of President Theodore Roosevelt and Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt. Rubbing and fading to boards and spine. Internally clean, Sound copy.

Hardcover. Cambridge MA, Harvard University Press , 1st, 2017, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. 586 pages, b&w illustrations. Cuba's Revolutionary World examines in forensic detail how the turmoil that rocked a small Caribbean nation in the 1950s became one of the twentieth century's most transformative events. Initially, Castro's revolution augured well for democratic reform movements gaining traction in Latin America. But what had begun promisingly veered off course as Castro took a heavy hand in efforts to centralize Cuba's economy and stamp out private enterprise. Embracing the Soviet Union as an ally, Castro and his lieutenant Che Guevara sought to export the socialist revolution abroad through armed insurrection. Castro's provocations inspired intense opposition. Cuban anticommunists who had fled to Miami found a patron in the CIA, which actively supported their efforts to topple Castro's regime. The unrest fomented by Cuban-trained leftist guerrillas lent support to Latin America's military castes, who promised to restore stability. Brazil was the first to succumb to a coup in 1964; a decade later, military juntas governed most Latin American states. Thus did a revolution that had seemed to signal the death knell of dictatorship in Latin America bring about its tragic opposite. Clean copy.

Softcover. Fonthill Media, reprint, 2017, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 144 pages illustrated in color. Cuba Cars and Cigars is full of glorious color images of the rare and varied Cuban-owned 1950s American and European automobiles, trucks, and station wagons that were imported before 1961. Among the famous Marques that feature are Cadillacs, Chevys, Buick, Dodge, Oldsmobile, Ford, Packard, De Soto, Pontiac, Plymouth, Edsel, Mercury and Metropolitan, Hillman, Singer and Austin, Nash Sedans, a Lloyd 600 German 2-cylinder/4-stroke 596cc car, Ramblers and SAABs, Mercs, Humber, Standard Vanguard, Ford Consul/Zephyr, Hillman Husky and Minx, Singer Gazelle and Austin. Most of these vehicles are still in running order, and are passed down from generation to generation. Trucks include Fords, a Fargo, Dodges and Chevys, not forgetting cigars, street urchins, and the lovely ladies of Havana. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Pound Press, 1st, 2009, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket. Photographing the intersection between culture and nature for over 25 years, Virginia Beahan creates luminous and finely detailed images with an 8x10 view camera that describe the complexities of this relationship in diverse geographic settings. Her eight-year project in the waning years of Fidel Castro's revolutionary Cuba resulted in a major 2009 monograph entitled CUBA singing with bright tears. The images depict a country both tragic and beautiful, struggling beneath the weight of history. Larger-than-life images of revolutionary heroes Che Guevara and Jose Marti populate the island. The Bay of Pigs is sublime and treacherous; an atmospheric body of water rimmed with jagged black coral is the same unwelcoming shore that greeted invading CIA-trained Cuban exiles over forty-seven years ago. On a billboard, Fidel Castro reminds us that the US might invade again, and if so, he "will die fighting." Virginia Beahan's work falls within the tradition of great American photographers such as Walker Evans and Robert Adams. Her luminous and detailed large-format photographs reveal a landscape imbued with nuanced stories of culture shaped by geography and human action. Cuba's long and complicated relationship with the United States is part of this unfolding drama. Clean, bright copy.

Hardcover. New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1st, 1898, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, tan cloth covers stamped in blue and red, 360 pages. 116 b&w photos throughout, color maps in rear. In 1898 America intervened in the Cuban War of Independence, leading to conflict with Spain. This is a detailed account of this campaign, together with American military sea and land operations on the island of Puerto Rico during the Spanish American War. Cloth spine darkened otherwise clean, tight copy.

Softcover. Durham NC, Duke University Press, reprint, 1995, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 312 pages plus index. Though written over fifty years ago, Cuban Counterpoint is recognized as one of the most important books of Latin American and Caribbean intellectual history. Treating tobacco and sugar both as agricultural commodities and as social characters in a historical process, he examines changes in their roles as the result of transculturation. Clean copy. Spine faded.

Softcover. Durham NC, Duke University Press, 1st, 1993, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 672 pages. Pointing to a glaring blind spot in the basic premises of the study of American culture, leading critics and theorists in cultural studies, history, anthropology, and literature reveal the "denial of empire" at the heart of American Studies. Challenging traditional definitions and periodizations of imperialism, this volume shows how international relations reciprocally shape a dominant imperial culture at home and how imperial relations are enacted and contested within the United States.Drawing on a broad range of interpretive practices, these essays range across American history, from European representations of the New World to the mass media spectacle of the Persian Gulf War. The volume breaks down the boundary between the study of foreign relations and American culture to examine imperialism as an internal process of cultural appropriation and as an external struggle over international power. Clean copy.

Softcover. Durham NC, Duke University Press, 1st, 1993, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, pages. Cultures of United States Imperialism represents a major paradigm shift that will remap the field of American Studies. Pointing to a glaring blind spot in the basic premises of the study of American culture, leading critics and theorists in cultural studies, history, anthropology, and literature reveal the "denial of empire" at the heart of American Studies. Challenging traditional definitions and periodizations of imperialism, this volume shows how international relations reciprocally shape a dominant imperial culture at home and how imperial relations are enacted and contested within the United States. Light shelf wear.

Hardcover. Philadelphia, J.B. Lippincott, 2nd Ed., 1865, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, dark green pebbled cloth with gilt lettering on spine, 4" x 6 1/4", 303 pages including index. A detailed instructional guide for the Civil War era soldier. Copyright page states 1964, title page says 1865. Probably a second edition. Still scarce in this nice condition. A few pages with dog ears, previous owner's pencil signature on front fly leaf. Otherwise clean, tight copy.

Hardcover. Vista CA, Ibis Publishing, 1st, 1997, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 315 pages. As Financial Advisor to China, Arthur N. Young had an intimate insight as an on-the-spot observer of events during the critical 18 years leading to the fall of the Nationalists and the Communist takeover. Along with Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, Dr. Young worked closely with the highest-ranking officials of the National Government in carrying out monetary and fiscal reforms prior to World War II, and stayed through the war to aid with problems of war finance, including procurement of American aid. As the Pacific Rim gains increasing international prominence, this book will prove to be of particular importance to students, scholars, business and political leaders with an interest in Asian affairs. Clean copy.

Chelsea, MI, Sleeping Bear Press, 1st, 2004, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover. Color illustrations by Victor Juhasz. SIGNED BY GRODIN AND JUHASZ on title-page. Sticker on dust jacket saying "Autographed Copy." Minor edgewear to dust jacket. Clever, colorful cartoon illustrations and caricatures help make this book attractive and fun...The text offers a great deal of information about the history of democracy, the development and processes of American government, and the people who have contributed to our country.

Hardcover. NY, Oxford University Press, 1st, 1993, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 365 pages. A fascinating and poignant exploration of wartime America and of one generation's odyssey from childhood to middle age. The author views the experiences of ordinary children through the lens of developmental psychology and argues that WW II left an indelible imprint on the dreams and nightmares of an American generation, not only in childhood, but in adulthood as well. Clean copy.

Softcover. Urbana IL, University of Illinois Press, 1st, 2015, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 295 pages, b&w illustrations. INSCRIBED BY BECK on the title page. A daughter of freed African American slaves, Daisy Turner became a living repository of history. The family narrative entrusted to her--"a well-polished artifact, an heirloom that had been carefully preserved"--began among the Yoruba in West Africa and continued with her own century and more of life. In 1983, folklorist Jane Beck began a series of interviews with Turner, then one hundred years old and still relating four generations of oral history. Beck uses Turner's storytelling to build the Turner family saga, using at its foundation the oft-repeated touchstone stories at the heart of their experiences: the abduction into slavery of Turner's African ancestors; Daisy's father Alec Turner learning to read; his return as a soldier to his former plantation to kill his former overseer; and Daisy's childhood stand against racism. Other stories re-create enslavement and her father's life in Vermont--in short, the range of life events large and small, transmitted by means so alive as to include voice inflections. Beck, at the same time, weaves in historical research and offers a folklorist's perspective on oral history and the hazards--and uses--of memory. Clean copy.

Softcover. Durham NC, Duke University Press, 1st, 2014, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 416 pages. Open from 1942 until 1945, the Hollywood Canteen was the most famous of the patriotic home front nightclubs where civilian hostesses jitterbugged with enlisted men of the Allied Nations. Since the opening night, when the crowds were so thick that Bette Davis had to enter through the bathroom window to give her welcome speech, the storied dance floor where movie stars danced with soldiers has been the subject of much U.S. nostalgia about the 'Greatest Generation.' Drawing from oral histories with civilian volunteers and military guests who danced at the wartime nightclub, Sherrie Tucker explores how jitterbugging swing culture has come to represent the war in U.S. national memory. Yet her interviewees' varied experiences and recollections belie the possibility of any singular historical narrative. Some recall racism, sexism, and inequality on the nightclub's dance floor and in Los Angeles neighborhoods, dynamics at odds with the U.S. democratic, egalitarian ideals associated with the Hollywood Canteen and the 'Good War' in popular culture narratives. Clean copy in publisher's shrinkwrap.

Softcover. Durham NC, Duke University Press, 1st, 2014, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 416 pages. Open from 1942 until 1945, the Hollywood Canteen was the most famous of the patriotic home front nightclubs where civilian hostesses jitterbugged with enlisted men of the Allied Nations. Since the opening night, when the crowds were so thick that Bette Davis had to enter through the bathroom window to give her welcome speech, the storied dance floor where movie stars danced with soldiers has been the subject of much U.S. nostalgia about the 'Greatest Generation.' Drawing from oral histories with civilian volunteers and military guests who danced at the wartime nightclub, Sherrie Tucker explores how jitterbugging swing culture has come to represent the war in U.S. national memory. Yet her interviewees' varied experiences and recollections belie the possibility of any singular historical narrative. Some recall racism, sexism, and inequality on the nightclub's dance floor and in Los Angeles neighborhoods, dynamics at odds with the U.S. democratic, egalitarian ideals associated with the Hollywood Canteen and the 'Good War' in popular culture narratives. Clean copy in publisher's shrinkwrap.

Hardcover. Auburn, Miller, Orton & Mulligan, 1st, 1854, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, 390 pages. Noted as "Fifth Thousand" at top of title page. Previous owners name on front endpaper. Brown leather covers with gilt title on faded spine. Rubbing to cover corners. Light foxing to some pages. Copy tight and unmarked.

Hardcover. NY, Time Life, reprint, 1982, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 288 pages. Hardcover with no dust jacket. Dark blue leather bound with gilt titles to front cover and spine. Embossed decoration on front cover. Gilt text block edges, red ribbon marker. Light scuffing to fore edge gilt. Otherwise, clean, tight copy. A History of the Andrews Railroad Raid into Georgia in 1862, Embracing a Full and Accurate Account of the Secret Journey to the Heart of the Confederacy, the Capture of a Railway Train in a Confederate Camp, the Terrible Chase that Followed, and the Subsequent Fortunes of the Leader and His Party. Reprint of the 1877 edition.

Hardcover. NY, Norton, 1st, 2003, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 160 pages. A tribute to the barn by the master documentarian of our time. As an elemental part of our landscape and our history, barns evoke childhood memories for many of us, recollections of a simpler way of life. Regardless of their size or shape, their forms follow their functions. They are honest. They are beautiful. And they are rapidly vanishing. Across the land we see abandoned farms with barns falling down, being torn down, and only occasionally being converted to other uses. As urban sprawl eats up the countryside and food-producing Goliaths put small farmers out of business, the need for old barns has diminished. For most of his life as a photographer, David Plowden has admired and photographed barns. In recent years, as their disappearance accelerated, he made it his mission to document these beautiful structures, before they too are lost. The result is this beautiful book, his hymn to the American barn. 130 duotone photographs.