american history

Hardcover. London, Macgibbon & Kee, 1st, 1966, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Fair, Hardcover in a worn, chipped dust jacket, 204 pages. "A valuable well-researched study of brinkmanship and of people under pressure presented fully for the first time." Name on front fly leaf, otherwise clean.

Hardcover. London, Macgibbon & Kee, 1st, 1966, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Fair, Hardcover in a worn, chipped dust jacket, 204 pages. "A valuable well-researched study of brinkmanship and of people under pressure presented fully for the first time." Name on front fly leaf, otherwise clean.

Hardcover. Center for American Places, 1st, 2005, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 232 pages. The Mississippi River flows through American history and culture as a mythic waterway brimming with tragedy and hope, and awash in passionate ambitions and harsh realities. In 1953, a young Charles Dee Sharp traveled twice down the Mississippi (first by towboat and then by car along the renowned river road Highway 61) to make a documentary film of it, taking black-and-white photographs of the river, its communities, and its people.While Sharp's documentary never came to fruition, the striking images he captured survived as moving and evocative historical testaments to a lost era, now collected in his new book The Mississippi in 1953. These images create a vivid portrait of America's heartland a half century ago, and they are enriched with excerpts from Sharp's original trip journal, intriguing anecdotes from the people he encountered along his journey, and an engaging environmental history of the river by historian John O. Anfinson. The Mississippi in 1953 offers an original and poignant look at the living artery of the American landscape and how it molded the United States into the nation it is today.

Hardcover. University of Nebraska Press, 1st, 2016, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 512 pages. Historians, biographers, and scholars of John James Audubon and natural history have long been mystified by Audubon's 1843 Missouri River expedition, for his journals of the trip were thought to have been destroyed by his granddaughter Maria Rebecca Audubon. Daniel Patterson is the first scholar to locate and assemble three important fragments of the 1843 Missouri River journals, and here he offers a stunning transcription and critical edition of Audubon's last journey through the American West. Patterson's new edition of the journals--unknown to Audubon scholars and fans--offers a significantly different understanding of the very core of Audubon's life and work. Readers will be introduced to a more authentic Audubon, one who was concerned about the disappearance of America's wild animal species and yet also loved to hunt and display his prowess in the wilderness. This edition reveals that Audubon's famous late conversion to conservationism on this expedition was, in fact, a literary fiction. Maria Rebecca Audubon created this myth when she rewrote her grandfather's journals for publication to make him into a visionary conservationist. In reality the journals detail almost gratuitous hunting predations throughout the course of Audubon's last expedition.

Hardcover. Cambridge MA, Harvard University Press, 1st, 1956, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Fair, Hardcover in a worn, chipped dust jacket, 408 pages, index. Black and white frontis photo portrait of author. "Moffat served for a protracted period and with notable distinction in the key position of what was then termed Chief of the Division of European affairs; he accompanied me as my chief assistant when FDR sent me to Europe as his personal representative in the spring of 1940; and I was in the closest touch with him during the time he served as American Minister to Canada, a service so tragically terminated by his untimely death in 1943. I know of no man who came up through the ranks of the Foreign Service with whose work I am personally familiar who impressed me as having in his latter years greater knowledge, a wiser and more balanced judgement, or a greater devotion to the highest interests of this country." - Sumner Welles.

Hardcover. NY, Doubleday, 3rd pr., 2006, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. 527 pages, b&w illustrations. No one predicted success for Henry Ward Beecher at his birth in 1813. The blithe, boisterous son of the last great Puritan minister, he seemed destined to be overshadowed by his brilliant siblings--especially his sister, Harriet Beecher Stowe, who penned the century's bestselling book Uncle Tom's Cabin. But when pushed into the ministry, the charismatic Beecher found international fame by shedding his father Lyman's Old Testament-style fire-and-brimstone theology and instead preaching a New Testament-based gospel of unconditional love and healing, becoming one of the founding fathers of modern American Christianity. By the 1850s, his spectacular sermons at Plymouth Church in Brooklyn Heights had made him New York's number one tourist attraction, so wildly popular that the ferries from Manhattan to Brooklyn were dubbed "Beecher Boats." SIGNED BY APPLEGATE on the half-title page. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Kraus Reprint, reprint, 1977, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, brown cloth, 341 pages. A reprint of a book first published in 1856. No dust jacket issued.

Hardcover. Chapel Hill , University of North Carolina, 1st, 1949, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, dark green cloth, gilt lettering, design on spine, 280 pages. "The story of a Confederate childhood, a Reconstruction boyhood, and the education of a medical pioneer in the new South." This book is first of all a personal narrative that is alternately dramatic, thoughtful, and hilariously funny. It is also a vivid picture of plantation life before and during the Civil War and the beginnings of the building of a New South. Clean copy, spine a bit darkened.

Hardcover. Norman OK, University of Oklahoma Press, 8th pr., 1970, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a lightly worn dust jacket, 220 pages with black & white illustrations. A thorough study of the art of the Indian silversmiths of the Southwest. Includes the history of the craft as well as names and localities of pioneer artisans. Bookplate on inside front cover, otherwise clean.

Softcover. Washington DC, The Infantry Journal, reprint, 1944, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Small softcover, 335 pages. "The primary purpose of this book is to provide a guide to the main forces, institutional and ideological, in the Nazi system." Published for the American servicemen. Name on front cover,mild wear to covers.

Hardcover. NY, The Outlook Company, 1st, 1910, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, bright red cloth with gilt lettering, top edge gilt, 268 pages. Collects speeches made by Roosevelt in August and September 1910 on his tour of the United States, in which he espoused his political platform of social welfare and opposition to corporate political power. Bookplate on inside front cover, otherwise a clean, sharp copy.

Hardcover. Brattleboro VT, Stephen Greene Press, 1st, 1972, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 160 pages, b&w illustrations. Name on front fly leaf, otherwise clean.

Hardcover. NY, A. T. Goodrich, 1st, 1839, Book: Good, Hardcover, publisher's ribbed dark green cloth, gilt-lettered at the spine. Cloth tight and sound. 12mo, With four views and nine (of 10) maps, all in very good condition. The map opposite page 78 pertaining to the Niagara Falls area has been excised. Previous owner's 1840 ownership signature on reverse on copyright page bleeds through to title page. Water stain to front endpapers, affects first 10 pages, otherwise tight and clean.

Hardcover. NY, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1st, 1906, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, blue cloth with gilt stamping on spine and front cover. Hardcover. Light overall wear, very good, clean & sound condition without dust jacket. 443 pages with maps and a facsimile reproduction, all excellent condition. Publisher's promotional flyer jaid in. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, The Century Co., 1st, 1917, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, green cloth stamped in gilt. 346 pages. Frontis. portrait, illustrated with b&w plates and folding facsimile documents. "Authoritative information as to how the soldiers of the Allies are transported, housed and trained, how a battle is prepared for in advance, etc. " Author observed British Postal Censorship and war, including trench-fighting, during WWI. Eric Fisher Wood, Sr. (1889 1962) was an American civil engineer, architect, author, and officer in the United States Army, retiring with the rank of Brigadier General. Book shows mild shelf wear, name and stamp to front endpapers, otherwise clean. Good plus.

Hardcover. Chicago, University Of Chicago Press, 1st, 1990, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 280 pages. This American art history book explores the early cultural development of the movement in Chicago, pulling from previously unpublished primary sources. 20 color reproductions along with black and white photographs and sketches and a timeline in the back. First study of Modernism in Chicago, examining the struggle between the "old guard's" ideals of traditional 19th century art versus an "avant garde" of painters, illustrators, photographers, and sculptors. Focuses on the cultural context in which art evolved. Clean copy.

Softcover. NY, Vintage Books, reprint, 1982, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 309 pages. The "old revolutionaries" were Samuel Adams, Isaac Sears, Thomas Young, Richard Henry Lee, and Charles Carroll. Of widely varying backgrounds and interests, all of them had their greatest influence in the years between 1769 and 1776, and all of them saw their power transferred after the war to the men we know as "the Founding Fathers." In telling the stories of these men, Maier shows how the American Revolution was less a collective movement than a commitment to an ideal of a republic, which different people interpreted differently. She describes not just why Americans made the Revolution, but what the Revolution did to them.

Hardcover. NY, Pegasus Books, 1st, 2023, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. Chronicling two-hundred years of glamour, intrigue, and hedonism, this rich and vivid history of the French Riviera features a vast cast of characters, from Pablo Picasso and Coco Chanel to Andre Matisse and James Baldwin. In 1835, Lord Brougham founded Cannes, introducing bathing and the manicured lawn to the wilds of the Mediterranean coast. Today, much of that shore has become a concrete mass from which escape is an exclusive dream. In the 185 years between, the stretch of seaboard from the red mountains of the Esterel to the Italian border hosted a cultural phenomenon well in excess of its tiny size. A mere handful of towns and resorts created by foreign visitors - notably English, Russian and American - attracted the talented, rich and famous as well as those who wanted to be. For nearly two centuries of creativity, luxury, excess, scandal, war and corruption, the dark and sparkling world of the Riviera was a temptation for everybody who was anybody. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Gotham Books, 1st, 2012, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. 455 pages, b&w photos. The definitive biography of James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, with fascinating findings on his life as a Civil Rights activist, an entrepreneur, and the most innovative musician of our time. Playing 350 shows a year at his peak, with more than forty Billboard hits, James Brown was a dazzling showman who transformed American music. His life offstage was just as vibrant, and until now no biographer has delivered a complete profile. The One draws on interviews with more than 100 people who knew Brown personally or played with him professionally. Using these sources, award-winning writer RJ Smith draws a portrait of a man whose twisted and amazing life helps us to understand the music he made. The One delves deeply into the story of a man who was raised in abject-almost medieval-poverty in the segregated South but grew up to earn (and lose) several fortunes. Covering everything from Brown's unconventional childhood (his aunt ran a bordello), to his role in the Black Power movement, which used "Say It Loud (I'm Black and Proud)" as its anthem, to his high-profile friendships, to his complicated family life, Smith's meticulous research and sparkling prose blend biography with a cultural history of a pivotal era. Clean, bright copy.

Hardcover. NY, Norton, 1st US, 1985, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 192 pages. The photos are breathtaking not necessarily for their quality - many are washed out and most of the subject matter is routine day to day military stuff - but for their rarity. While the Germans seem to have been at least as far advanced in the use of color photography as the Americans, there is still a paucity of color photography in the public record. That is being addressed by the various nations who took large amounts of color film in an official capacity, including the US, UK, Germany and Canada.The book's captions are adequate to the task, and there are good historical sections, as well as an introduction by Max Hastings as well as commentary by an actual German war correspondent. The strength of the book is in its ability to bring the participants of the subject campaign - the German invasion of Russia up to and including Stalingrad - to life. The use of a large format allows one to note small details of the photos, and relate to the subject matter on a personal level. Despite the lack of "action" shots, there is much to see in facial expressions, uniform details, and especially geography as the Russian steppe is shown in summer and winter, as well as the famous Russian mud (Rasputitsa) about which so much has been written.

Softcover. New Haven, New Haven Colony Historical Society, 1st, 1971, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 100 pages in color illustrated wrappers. 45 b&w illustrations from a catalogue of 227 works in the collection. Preface by Robert R. MacDonald. Clean, tight copy

Softcover. Stanford CA, Hoover Institution Press, 1st, 1977, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 198 pages. History, politics, economics, and diplomacy surrounding the Panama Canal controversy in the 1970s. Illustrations., maps, appendix, bibliographic note, index. Name on front fly leaf, otherwise clean.

Hardcover. Charlottesville, University of Virginia Press, 1st, 1981, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 393 pages. Part of the monumental series comprised of all of the papers and correspondence of America's first President, George Washington (1732-1799). This stand-alone volume is "an executive daybook, a day-by-day account of many of the matters that engaged the attention of the executive departments during Washington's administration. The entries cover Washington's decisions on government contracts, appointments of office, and individual departmental problems. They throw considerable light on presidential and cabinet participation in decision-making during Washington's administration. Entries relating to the War Department are of particular value because of the destruction of most of the War Department's records by fire in 1800. ... Kept primariy by Washington's secretaries Tobias Lear and Bartholomew Dandridge, the Journal is written in th first person as if Washington were penning the entries himself." Name on front fly leaf, otherwise clean.