Sum of Our Dreams

A Concise History of America
Erscheinungsjahr 2020
ISBN: 978-0-19-069257-5
Verlag: OXFORD UNIV PR

Buch, Englisch, 384 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 743 g

In The Sum of Our Dreams, Louis P. Masur offers a sweeping yet compact history of America from its beginnings to the current moment. For general readers seeking an accessible, single-volume account, one that challenges but does not overwhelm, and which distills and connects the major events and figures in the country's past in a single narrative, here is that book. Evoking Barack Obama's belief that America remains the "sum of its dreams," Masur locates the origin of those dreams-of freedom, equality, and opportunity-and traces their progress chronologically, illuminating the nation's struggle over time to articulate and fulfill their promise. Moving from the Colonial Era, to the Revolutionary Period, the Early Republic, and through the Civil War, Masur turns his attention to Reconstruction, the Gilded Age, the Progressive Age, World War One, the Great Depression, World War Two, the Cold War, Civil Rights, Vietnam, and Watergate, and then laying out clearly and concisely what underlies the divisiveness that has characterized American civic life over the last forty years-and now more than ever. Above all, however, Masur lets the story of American tell itself. Inspired by James Baldwin's observation that "American history is longer, larger, more beautiful and more terrible than anything anyone has ever said about it," he expands our notion of that history while identifying its individual threads. The Sum of Our Dreams will be the new go-to single volume for anyone wanting a foundational understanding of the nation's past, and its present.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Masur, Louis P.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Kultur Staatsbürgerkunde, Staatsbürgerschaft, Zivilgesellschaft
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Militärgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Amerikanische Geschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- Prologue: "Land of Hope and Dreams"

- Chapter 1: To Plant and to Conquer

- Virginia

- Massachusetts

- New York

- Native Americans

- Seven Years War

- Chapter 2: If Men Were Angels

- Revolution

- Constitution

- Political Parties

- War of 1812

- Missouri Compromise

- Chapter 3: Empire of Liberty

- Nullification

- Revival

- Removal

- Mexican-American War

- Westward Course of Empire

- Chapter 4: A Higher Law

- Compromise

- Abolition

- Bleeding Kansas

- Dred Scott

- John Brown's Raid

- Chapter 5: Government of the People

- Secession

- Civil War

- Emancipation

- Home Fronts

- Reconstruction

- Chapter 6: Survival of the Fittest

- Corruption

- Competition

- Cooperation

- Frontiers

- Imperialism

- Chapter 7: Land of Promise

- Immigration

- Progressivism

- Segregation

- Socialism

- World War I

- Chapter 8: This New Battle

- Prohibition

- Depression

- Dust Bowl

- New Deal

- WW II

- Chapter 9: Blowin' in the Wind

- Consumerism

- Cold War

- Civil Rights

- Counterculture

- Vietnam

- Chapter 10: Government is the Problem

- Watergate

- The Great Inflation

- New Right

- New Democrat

- New World Order

- Chapter 11: The Change That We Seek

- War on Terror

- Globalization

- Vote for Change

- Social Media

- American Ideals

- Epilogue: "Let America Be America Again"

Über Autor(innen)

Louis P. Masur is Distinguished Professor of American Studies and History at Rutgers University. He is the author of many books, including The Civil War: A Concise History, The Soiling of Old Glory, and Lincoln's Last Speech. His essays and reviews have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Slate and he lectures around the country for One Day University.