Chronicles how Americans responded to the changes unleashed by the Civil War and the end of slavery

""History," wrote James Baldwin, "does not refer merely, or even principally, to the past. On the contrary, the great force of history comes from the fact that we carry it within us, are unconsciously controlled by it in many ways, and history is literally present in all that we do."" "Rarely has Baldwin's insight been more forcefully confirmed than in our current conflict-ridden times. History itself has become a matter of public controversy as Americans...

From one of our most distinguished historians, a new examination of the vitally important years of Emancipation and Reconstruction during and immediately following the Civil War-a necessary reconsideration that emphasizes the era's political and cultural meaning for today's America. Drawing on a wide range of long-neglected documents, Eric Foner places a new emphasis on the centrality of the black experience to an understanding of the era. We see...

Examines the major social and political issue of the Lincoln era, including slavery, emancipation, the economy, regionalism, and the Civil War itself. Illustrated with items from the Chicago Historical Society's exhibition.

"Few issues in our history have proved as shameful as the white man's long conflict with Native Americans. The Indian Removal Act passed by Congress in 1830 was actively fostered by President Andrew Jackson. It called for eastern Indians to relocate west of the Mississippi River to the Oklahoma Territory - an early example of our government's racist policies." "Anthony F.C. Wallace deals briefly with Indians of the Northeast, but focuses on the Five...

Encyclopedia of the United States from the origins of its native people to the 1990s. Covers political, economic, cultural, and social history.