America in Quotations: A Kaleidoscopic View of American History

ISBN: 0313308837

Author: Langer, Howard J.

Condition: New

About the Author HOWARD J. LANGER is currently a freelance writer. He has worked as a journalist, magazine editor, textbook editor, marketing director, and director of publications. His other books include American Indian Quotations (Greenwood, 1996), The History of the Holocaust: A Chronology of Quotations (1997), and World War II: An Encyclopedia of Quotations (Greenwood, 1999). Product Description This is history from the inside out. What did Americans say about the great events in their own lifetimes? This book is a grassroots look at the country, as real people tell the story of America in their own voices. Quotations from more than 350 individuals are taken from speeches, interviews, editorials, letters, jokes, songs, and eyewitness accounts represent American thought from the ground up. This compendium includes the words of everyone from politicians and generals, to Native Americans, ethnic minorities, women, labor representatives, and slaves. The book is divided into 18 traditional historical periods from the pre-Columbus explorers to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.We hear the voices of Jefferson, Lincoln, Teddy and FDR, but also of Joe McCarthy, Huey Long, and Susan B. Anthony. We hear American law in action through watersheds like Brown v. the Board of Education, the Scopes case, the prosecution of Sacco and Vanzetti, and the Salem witch trials. Then there are the grace notes, the forgotten but significant stories-a black woman beaten and humiliated for encouraging others to vote; the G.I. who overthrew a German bunker at Normandy; the last letter of a Union soldier soon to die in battle. Their words are woven into American history, remembered and illuminated in this kaleidoscopic collection. From Library Journal Spanning U.S. history from the pre-Columbian era to the September 11 attacks, this volume provides quotations from over 350 prominent individuals, among them Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and Joe McCarthy. The 908 quotations are drawn from official sources (e.g., court decisions, inaugural addresses), popular culture items (e.g., jokes, movies), and memoirs, biographies, and other historical analyses. Langer, who has edited similar works for Greenwood, e.g., American Indian Quotations and World War II: An Encyclopedia of Quotations, pays special attention to the voices history often ignores including women, ethnic minorities, and individuals outside the establishment. Chronologically arranged within 18 chapters representing various eras of American history (e.g., the American Revolution, the Civil War), the entries vary in length from one word to over a page and include both the source of a quote and a brief note explaining its historical significance. The chapter divisions make the book easy to browse, but the notable number of secondary accounts diminishes the sense of immediacy created by the interesting assortment of primary sources. The approximately 20 black-and-white illustrations add little to the text, but extensive appendixes offering biographical sketches of people quoted, a chronology of U.S. history, a chronology of the U.S. presidency, and a lengthy bibliography all enhance the book's research value. The index provides access to both the sources quoted and the subjects of the quotes. Since this volume relies much more on written than on spoken words, it has greater value as a history resource than as a quotation reference and supplements such standards as Documents of American History and 100 Key Documents in American Democracy. For public and academic libraries. Vivian Reed, California State Univ. Lib., Long BeachCopyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. Review .,."offers an interesting approach to American history....More than just a collection of quotations, America in Quotations could serve as a text-book or a companion to one."-Booklist?...offers an interesting approach to American history....More than just a collection of quotat