How entrepreneurial housebuilders fueled a rapid economy. "A well-written and easily read business book with a historical perspective, quite fit for a general readership interested in the history of American enterprise."—APT Bulletin
A Companion to the Civil War and Reconstruction addresses the key topics and themes of the Civil War era, with 23 original essays by top scholars in the field. An authoritative volume that surveys the history and historiography of the U.S. Civil War and Reconstruction Analyzes the major sources and the most influential books and articles in the field Includes discussions on scholarly advances in U.S. Civil War history.
A concise history of labor and work in America from the birth of the Republic to the Industrial Age and beyond From the days of Thomas Jefferson, Americans believed that they could sustain a capitalist industrial economy without the class conflict or negative socioeconomic consequences experienced in Europe. This dream came crashing down in 1877 when the Great Strike, one of the most militant labor disputes in US history, convulsed the nation’s railroads. In The Dawning of American Labor a leading scholar of American labor history draws upon first-hand accounts and the latest scholarship to offer a fascinating look at how Americans perceived and adapted to the shift from a largely agrarian economy to one dominated by manufacturing. For the generations following the Great Strike, “the Labor Problem” and the idea of class relations became a critical issue facing the nation. As Professor Greenberg makes clear in this lively, highly accessible historical exploration, the 1877 strike forever cast a shadow across one of the most deeply rooted articles of national faith—the belief in American exceptionalism. What conditions produced the faith in a classless society? What went wrong? These questions lie at the heart of The Dawning of American Labor. Provides a concise, comprehensive, and completely up-to-date synthesis of the latest scholarship on the early development of industrialization in the United States Considers how working people reacted, both in the workplace and in their communities, as the nation’s economy made its shift from an agrarian to an industrial base Includes a formal Bibliographical Essay—a handy tool for student research Works as a stand-alone text or an ideal supplement to core curricula in US History, US Labor, and 19th-Century America Accessible introductory text for students in American history classes and beyond, The Dawning of American Labor is an excellent introduction to the history of labor in the United States for students and general readers of history alike.
Based on papers delivered at the Bicentennial Conference for Lewis & Clark, held in Philadelphia in Aug. 2003, these essays grapple in different ways with the motives underlying the Corps of Discovery & the impact on American culture. The question of failure is used by the authors as a means of interrogating the intellectual & cultural context in which the expedition was framed & in which its results were distributed. Contributors include Robert S. Cox (also the Ed. of the vol.), Domenic Vitiello, S.D. Kimmel, John W. Jengo, Brett Mizelle, & Andrew J. Lewis. Illus.
Based on papers delivered at the Bicentennial Conference for Lewis & Clark, held in Philadelphia in Aug. 2003, these essays grapple in different ways with the motives underlying the Corps of Discovery & the impact on American culture. The question of failure is used by the authors as a means of interrogating the intellectual & cultural context in which the expedition was framed & in which its results were distributed. Contributors include Robert S. Cox (also the Ed. of the vol.), Domenic Vitiello, S.D. Kimmel, John W. Jengo, Brett Mizelle, & Andrew J. Lewis. Illus.
Taking his cue from Philadelphia-born novelist Charles Brockden Brown's Annals of Europe and America, which contends that America is shaped most noticeably by the international struggle between Great Britain and France for control of the world trade market, Stephen Shapiro charts the advent, decline, and reinvigoration of the early American novel. That the American novel "sprang so unexpectedly into published existence during the 1790s" may be a symptom of the beginning of the end of Franco-British supremacy and a reflection of the power of a middle class riding the crest of a new world economic system. Shapiro's world-systems approach is a relatively new methodology for literary studies, but it brings two particularly useful features to the table. First, it refines the conceptual frameworks for analyzing cultural and social history, such as the rise in sentimentalism, in relation to a long-wave economic history of global commerce; second, it fosters a new model for a comparative American Studies across time. Rather than relying on contiguous time, a world-systems approach might compare the cultural production of one region to another at the same location within the recurring cycle in an economic reconfiguration. Shapiro offers a new way of thinking about the causes for the emergence of the American novel that suggests a fresh way of rethinking the overall paradigms shaping American Studies.
Nineteenth-century Canada experienced two other revolutions apart from those of W.L. Mackenzie and Louis Riel: the transition to capitalism, and to responsible government. Union Is Strength argues that these major socio-political changes happened in Ontario without a revolutionary moment because of the intertwined relationship of reformers with capitalists. Examining a small, utopian socialist group named the Children of Peace, Albert Schrauwers traces the emergence of a vibrant democratic culture in the province from the decade before the Rebellions of 1837. Schrauwers shows how the overlapping boards of unincorporated joint stock companies managed by both Toronto reformers and the Children of Peace produced a culture of deliberative democracy in competition with the "gentlemanly capitalism" of chartered corporations. Noting the ways in which Ontario's capitalist and democratic revolutions were linked through cooperative joint stock operations, he also situates these revolutions in an international context and links them to the development of Owenite socialism and Chartism in the United Kingdom. Union Is Strength is an insightful study of both nineteenth century Canada and the ways in which regional political cultures arise.
A “first-rate” biography of the seamstress and patriot and a vivid portrait of life in Revolutionary-era Philadelphia: “Authoritative and engrossing” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). Finalist, Cundill Prize in History Betsy Ross and the Making of America is the first comprehensively researched and elegantly written biography of one of America’s most captivating figures of the Revolutionary War. Drawing on new sources and bringing a fresh, keen eye to the fabled creation of “the first flag,” Marla R. Miller thoroughly reconstructs the life behind the legend. This authoritative work provides a close look at the famous seamstress while shedding new light on the lives of the artisan families who peopled the young nation and crafted its tools, ships, and homes. Betsy Ross occupies a sacred place in the American consciousness, and Miller’s winning narrative finally does her justice. This history of the ordinary craftspeople of the Revolutionary War and their most famous representative “reinvigorate[es] a timeworn American icon by placing her firmly into historical and social context [and] illuminates the significant role that ordinary citizens—especially women—played in the birth of the new nation” (Booklist). “An engaging biography.” —The New York Times Book Review “Fascinating.” —Cokie Roberts, New York Times–bestselling author of Founding Mothers “A stupendous literary achievement. It’s not easy to accurately write about a real folk legend. Miller does so with historical accuracy, vivid descriptive language, and an encyclopedic knowledge of her subject.” —Douglas Brinkley, New York Times–bestselling author of The Wilderness Warrior
Throughout much of the twentieth century, economists paid little heed to the role of financial intermediaries in procuring a beneficial allocation of capital. By the end of the century, however, some financial historians had begun to turn the tide, and the phrase 'finance-growth nexus' became part of the lexicon of modern economics. Recent experience has added another dimension in that countries with broader, deeper and more active financial systems might be prone to financial crises, particularly if regulatory structures are inadequate. In this book, Peter L. Rousseau and Paul Wachtel have gathered together some of today's most distinguished financial historians to examine this finance-growth nexus from both historical and modern perspectives. Some essays examine the nexus in a particular historical or cross-country context. Others, in the light of recent experience, explore the expanded nexus of finance, growth, crises, and regulation.