Trade Books for Courses :: Trade Books For Courses: History United States: 1860 to 1900 Books

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To Tell the Truth Freely

The Life of Ida B. Wells

Mia Bay Hill and Wang

"Superb . . . Having been squeezed out of a role in national civil and women's rights organizations, Wells lost a prominent place in the historical record. It took several generations before her relentless and often discomforting agitation for social justice received the appreciation it deserved, as scholars over the last twenty years gradually reestablished her place in history. Mia Bay's lucid biography contributes enormously to this project."—Andrew Feffer, History News Network

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From Bloody Shirt to Full Dinner Pail

The Transformation of Politics and Governance in the Gilded Age

Charles W. Calhoun Hill and Wang

“In our time, the scope, cost, effectiveness, and integrity of government have again become stormy public issues. Despite all the loose parallels drawn by some present-day writers, the Gilded Age is gone, and we do not live in a new one. Yet in this accessible narrative of national politics during the late nineteenth century, the respected historian Charles W. Calhoun offers clear and convincing analysis of a period whose political divisions and issues are now manifestly relevant, and one that has never deserved its exceptionally low reputation.”—Alan Lessoff, Professor of History, Illinois State University, and editor of Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era

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Elizabeth Cady Stanton

An American Life

Lori D. Ginzberg Hill and Wang

"Lori Ginzberg makes a convincing case for Stanton as the founding philosopher of the American women’s rights movement in a lively voice that enhances her eccentric subject."—Andrea Cooper, American History

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Andrew Johnson

The American Presidents Series: The 17th President, 1865-1869

The American Presidents

Annette Gordon-Reed; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., and Sean Wilentz, General Editors Times Books

"In this short and brilliantly written book, award-winning author Gordon-Reed argues that the nation went from the best President to the worst during this most crucial period of its history . . . This concise, well-documented, and accessible book is recommended for all college and public libraries."—Theresa McDevitt, Indiana University of Pennsylvania Library, Library Journal

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Starving the South

How the North Won the Civil War

Andrew F. Smith St. Martin's Press

"'An army travels on its stomach,' wrote Napoleon Bonaparte in one of his most astute maxims. That truth certainly applied to Union and Confederate armies in the Civil War, giving a weighty advantage to the normally well fed Federals in their campaigns against enemy armies weakened by hunger. Malnutrition on the home front also sapped the will of Southern people to sustain the war effort, as Andrew Smith demonstrates in this important and readable study."—James McPherson, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era

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Hoboes

Bindlestiffs, Fruit Tramps, and the Harvesting of the West

Mark Wyman Hill and Wang

“Vivid, accessible prose . . . Wyman colorfully describes the rough camaraderie among hobos riding the rails and sharing their scant food in outdoor ‘jungles,’ the only accommodations available to transients so distrusted by settled folks that any hobo venturing into a town was likely to be jailed as a vagrant. Later chapters stirringly cover the battles fought by the radical Industrial Workers of the World, the only group willing to represent migrant workers viewed by other labor unions as unskilled and impossible to organize.”—Wendy Smith, Los Angeles Times

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Shadows of Blue & Gray

The Civil War Writings of Ambrose Bierce

Ambrose Bierce; Edited by Brian M. Thomsen Forge Books

Ambrose Bierce didn't just write about the Civil War, he lived through it--on the battlefields and over the graves--and in doing so gave birth to a literary...

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Mordecai

An Early American Family

Emily Bingham Hill and Wang

"In Mordecai: An Early American Family, Emily Bingham brings to life a compelling family whose struggles illuminate the first century of the American Republic. From the American Revolution to the Civil War and beyond, this 'little faithful band of love and duty' balanced their devotion to each other, their Jewish faith, and their identity as Southerners through periods of intellectual, political, and economic turmoil. Drawing on published writings and thousands of letters by the men and women of this articulate family, Emily Bingham tells a vivid and fascinating story. The Mordecais take their place as one of the great American families in this lively, compassionate, and probing group portrait."—Joy Kasson, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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The Soldier's Pen

Firsthand Impressions of the Civil War

Robert E. Bonner; Foreword by James G. Basker Hill and Wang

"For anyone interested in viewing America's traumatic Civil War from the perspective of ordinary individuals who found themselves in the Union and Confederate armies, Robert E. Bonner's The Soldier's Pen: Firsthand Impressions of the Civil War will be a very rewarding experience. This expertly edited collection of letters and drawings mailed to the families and friends of sixteen 'typical' but quite diverse citizen-soldiers conveys a deeply human dimension to America's most dehumanizing war."—David Brion Davis, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and author of Inhuman Bondage: The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World

Trade Paperback : $17.00 Buy	Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee An Indian History of the American West Dee Brown Holt Paperbacks Now a special 30th-anniversary edition in both hardcover and paperback, the classic bestselling history The New York Times called "Original, remarkable, and...

Hardcover : $35.00 Buy	The Nature of Sacrifice A Biography of Charles Russell Lowell, Jr., 1835-64 Carol Bundy Farrar, Straus and Giroux Charles Russell Lowell, Jr., led a brief, intense life. Born in 1835 to a Boston family that for more than a century was a guiding force in the history of New...

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Ulysses S. Grant

The American Presidents Series: The 18th President, 1869-1877

The American Presidents

Josiah Bunting III; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., General Editor Times Books

"Vivid, enjoyable, and well-written."—Kevin Baker, The New York Times Book Review

More Formats: Audio

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The Age of Lincoln

Orville Vernon Burton Hill and Wang

"We can be grateful if any are half as learned, lively and enriching as Orville Vernon Burton's The Age of Lincoln . . . He makes a virtue of jargon-free, accessible prose. But his language also allows readers to soak up the texture and complexity of developments with his sprawling, interlacing stories—stories with which all scholars may not always agree, but compelling tales that shed new light on America's complex heritage . . . The Age of Lincoln reminds us that ideas are everything, and a book bursting with so many of them will provide robust reading for years to come."—Catherine Clinton, Chicago Tribune (cover review)

Outstanding Academic Title

Bonus

Awards

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The Essential Lincoln

Speeches and Correspondence

Edited by Orville Vernon Burton Hill and Wang

“Orville Vernon Burton notes that ‘Lincoln chose his words deliberately,’ and so does Burton. His introductions and editorial notes are concise, lively, and reliable, and Lincoln’s words, as always, are gripping, brilliant, and deeply moving. There have been many collections of Lincoln’s writings, but this slender, thoughtfully selected compendium more than lives up to its title: essential.”—Harold Holzer, co-chairman of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission

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Hardcover : $23.00 Buy	Benjamin Harrison The American Presidents Series: The 23rd President, 1889-1893 The American Presidents Charles W. Calhoun; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., General Editor Times Books The scion of a political dynasty ushers in the era of big government Politics was in Benjamin Harrison's blood. His great-grandfather signed the...

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Sea of Gray

The Around-the-World Odyssey of the Confederate Raider Shenandoah

Tom Chaffin Hill and Wang

The sleek, 222-foot, black auxiliary steamer Sea King left London on October 8, 1864, ostensibly bound for Bombay. The subterfuge was ended off the shores of...

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The H. L. Hunley

The Secret Hope of the Confederacy

Tom Chaffin Hill and Wang

"Tom Chaffin's The H.L. Hunley: The Secret Hope of the Confederacy is a captivating history of the Civil War-era Confederate submarine. The book follows the secret weapon from its planning stages in New Orleans to its sinking of a Union ship in Charleston Harbor to its own fateful sinking. The H.L. Hunley also chronicles archaeological work being done on the ship at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in North Charleston."—Myles Hutto, Charleston City Paper

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Bonus

Video

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Guarding the Golden Door

American Immigration Policy and Immigrants since 1882

Roger Daniels Hill and Wang

"Ambitious . . . Both an introductory survey of immigration policy and a masterful assessment of the state of the field by one of its founders . . . [Daniels] provides a much-needed perspective on both the continuities and changes in the United States' efforts to regulate immigration . . . Guarding the Golden Door is rich with details, statistics, and the author's own unique viewpoint. The book is exemplary."—Erika Lee, Reviews in American History

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Towers of Gold

How One Jewish Immigrant Named Isaias Hellman Created California

Frances Dinkelspiel St. Martin's Griffin

Isaias Hellman, a Jewish immigrant, arrived in California in 1859 with very little money in his pocket and his brother Herman by his side. By the time he...

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The Day Dixie Died

The Battle of Atlanta

Gary Ecelbarger Thomas Dunne Books

The only book dedicated to the day-long Battle of Atlanta, the most decisive battle in the most decisive campaign of the Civil War The Battle of Atlanta,...

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Hardcover : $29.00 Buy	Year of Meteors Stephen Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, and the Election that Brought on the Civil War Douglas R. Egerton Bloomsbury Press In early 1860, pundits across America confidently predicted the election of Illinois senator Stephen A. Douglas in the coming presidential race. Douglas, after...

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Clash of Extremes

The Economic Origins of the Civil War

Marc Egnal Hill and Wang

“Challenging a great deal of modern scholarship, Clash of Extremes promises to be the most talked-about book in years on the origins of the Civil War.”—Daniel W. Crofts, The College of New Jersey

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Democracy Reborn

The Fourteenth Amendment and the Fight for Equal Rights in Post-Civil War America

Garrett Epps Holt Paperbacks

"The 14th Amendment was 'by far the most sweeping and complex change ever made in the original Constitution,' argues Garrett Epps in this valuable history of the amendment's adoption. Over time, he writes, it has 'changed almost every detail of our national life.' A University of Oregon law professor and former Washington Post reporter who has published two novels, Epps brings crisp writing to a story whose political complexities and obscure cast of characters pose tall hurdles for any popular history."—David Garrow, The Washington Post

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Trade Paperback : $15.00 Buy	Edison and the Electric Chair A Story of Light and Death Mark Essig Walker & Company A Discover magazine Top Science Book Thomas Edison stunned America in 1879 by unveiling a world-changing invention--the light bulb--and then launching the...