How the US Army Confronted Its Racial Crisis in the Vietnam Era
By the Tet Offensive in early 1968, what had been widely heralded as the best qualified, best-trained army in US history was descending into crisis as the Vietnam War raged without end. Morale was tanking. AWOL rates were rising. And in August of that year, a group of Black soldiers seized control of the infamous Long Binh Jail, burned buildings, ......
Douglas Little explores the stormy American relationship with the Middle East from World War II through the war in Iraq, focusing particularly on the complex and often inconsistent attitudes and interests that helped put the United States on a collision course with radical Islam early in the new millennium. After documenting the persistence of ......
The myth of light and progress has blinded us. In our electric world, we are everywhere surrounded by effortlessly glowing lights that simply exist, as they should, seemingly clear and comforting proof that human genius means the present will always be better than the past, and the future better still. At best, this is half the story. At worst, it ......
The Alternative Democracies of Mid-Nineteenth-Century Print Cultures
The study of nineteenth-century American literature has long been tied up with the study of American democracy. Just as some regions in the United States are elevated to stand in for the whole nation-New England is a good example-D. Berton Emerson argues, the same is true for American literature of the nineteenth century; a few canonical texts ......
The Alternative Democracies of Mid-Nineteenth-Century Print Cultures
The study of nineteenth-century American literature has long been tied up with the study of American democracy. Just as some regions in the United States are elevated to stand in for the whole nation-New England is a good example-D. Berton Emerson argues, the same is true for American literature of the nineteenth century; a few canonical texts ......
Marriage, Money, and the Law from the Ziegfeld Follies to Anna Nicole Smith
The stereotype of the "gold digger" has had a fascinating trajectory in twentieth-century America, from tales of greedy flapper-era chorus girls to tabloid coverage of Anna Nicole Smith and her octogenarian tycoon husband. The term entered American vernacular in the 1910s as women began to assert greater power over courtship, marriage, and ......
Cookbooks and Cocktails from the Library of Congress
Cookbooks offer key insights into what people eat, how they prepare it and share that knowledge, and what kinds of events demand certain dishes. They also tell us how tastes, expectations, and kitchen technology remain or change over time. American Feast: Cookbooks and Cocktails from the Library of Congress showcases some of the 40,000 books ......
Culture and Crisis in Residential Real Estate from the Great Recession to the COVID-19 Pandemic
Two decades punctuated by the financial crisis of the Great Recession and the public health crisis of COVID-19 have powerfully reshaped housing in America. By integrating social, economic, intellectual, and cultural histories, this illuminating work shows how powerful forces have both reflected and catalyzed shifts in the way Americans ......
Culture and Crisis in Residential Real Estate from the Great Recession to the COVID-19 Pandemic
Two decades punctuated by the financial crisis of the Great Recession and the public health crisis of COVID-19 have powerfully reshaped housing in America. By integrating social, economic, intellectual, and cultural histories, this illuminating work shows how powerful forces have both reflected and catalyzed shifts in the way Americans ......