History 2112

Books about Jane Addams--founder of Hull House, social reformer, suffragist, pacifist, and one of the most greatly admired women in American history--come and go, but Allen Davis's account of her life, work, and ideas remains the standard biography. "A distinguished work of scholarship, mature, incisive....Davis has written not only the best study of Jane Addams but perhaps the best biography of any great American woman."--William L. O'Neill. "The first book that systematically and persuasively separates the real woman from the myth. It will be indispensable to anyone interested in the subject or the period."--Rosemarie Scherman, New York Times Book Review. "An important work, especially valuable for its cultural analysis and its sane, careful approach to the biographer's task."--Alonzo L. Hamby, History. "Detailed and well researched, this account...is the best thing written on Jane Addams I have seen."--Doris Grumbach, New Republic. "An impressively researched, perceptive biography." --Gertrude Benson, Philadelphia Inquirer.

This masterful biography of a giant of American industry triumphantly reveals every aspect of the man's complex personality and fabulous career. So varied were Carnegie's activities in industry, politics, education, philanthropy, and pacifism that his life encompasses much of the general history of the United States and of Great Britain down to the outbreak of World War I. Carnegie the man remains at the center of the book -- impulsive, haughty, idealistic, warm, loyal, and shrewd -- and the drama of his life from telegraphy boy to millionaire philanthropist is emphasized. This rounded, honest biography does not hesitate to call Carnegie to task for some of his financial dealings, his often arbitrary personal relationships and his occasional hypocrisy, or to show him at his worst. But the reader takes from the book a full understanding of why to many Americans Carnegie's death meant the end of an era in American history. -- From publisher's description

Frederick Douglass, the escaped slave who became the greatest orator of his day and one of the leading abolitionists and writers of the era. As a young man Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) escaped from slavery in Baltimore, Maryland. He was fortunate to have been taught to read by his slave owner mistress, and he would go on to become one of the major literary figures of his time. In his unique and eloquent voice, written and spoken, Douglass was a fierce critic of the United States as well as a radical patriot. David Blight has drawn on new information held in a private collection that few other historians have consulted, as well as recently discovered issues of Douglass's newspapers. Blight's biography tells the fascinating story of Douglass's two marriages and his complex extended family.

This brilliant examination of the great civil rights icon and the movement he led provides a lasting portrait of a man whose dream shaped American history. "Drawing on interviews with those who knew King, previously unutilized material at Presidential libraries, and the holdings of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center in Atlanta, Mr. Oates has written the most comprehensive account of King's life yet published. . . . He displays a remarkable understanding of King's individual role in the civil rights movement. . . . Oates's biography helps us appreciate how sorely King is missed." --Eric Foner, New York Times Book Review

Based on Eleanor Roosevelt's voluminous correspondence, this new biography focuses on the former first Lady's emotional life. Part of the character study comes from the recently available letters between Lorena Hickok and Eleanor. Presents the story of Eleanor's friendships, political work, family relations and close friends, including the author, who inspired or assisted Eleanor in her private and public lives.

Filled with new information and shocking revelations that go beyond the Autobiography, Malcolm X unfolds a sweeping story of race and class in America, from the rise of Marcus Garvey and the Ku Klux Klan to the struggles of the civil rights movement in the fifties and sixties. Reaching into Malcolm's troubled youth, it traces a path from his parents' activism through his own engagement with the Nation of Islam, charting his astronomical rise in the world of Black Nationalism and culminating in the never-before-told true story of his assassination. Malcolm X will stand as the definitive work on one of the most singular forces for social change, capturing with revelatory clarity a man who constantly strove, in the great American tradition, to remake himself anew.

In "Rosa Parks, " "the best of the new generation of American historians" (Stephen Ambrose) brilliantly examines an American heroine in the context of the tumultuous time of the Civil Rights movement.

Born to slaves in 1862, Ida B. Wells became a fearless antilynching crusader, women's rights advocate, and journalist. Wells's refusal to accept any compromise on racial inequality caused her to be labeled a "dangerous radical" in her day but made her a model for later civil rights activists as well as a powerful witness to the troubled racial politics of her era. Though she eventually helped found the NAACP in 1910, she would not remain a member for long, as she rejected not only Booker T. Washington's accommodationism but also the moderating influence of white reformers within the early NAACP. In the richly illustrated To Tell the Truth Freely, the historian Mia Bay vividly captures Wells's legacy and life, from her childhood in Mississippi to her early career in late-nineteenth-century Memphis and her later life in Progressive-era Chicago.

In 'They Say,' James West Davidson recounts the first thirty years in the passionate life of Ida B. Wells--as well as the story of the great struggle over the meaning of race in post-emancipation America. Davidson captures the breathtaking and often chaotic changes that swept the South as Wells grew up in Holly Springs, Mississippi: the spread of education among free blacks, the rise of political activism, and the bitter struggles for equality in the face of entrenched social custom.

This biography of Frederick Douglass covers the life of the most famous black abolitionist and intellectual of the 19th century. It covers the major developments of Douglass's life from his birth in 1818 through his time as a slave and his rise to prominence as a black voice for freedom. Frederick Douglass was a champion of freedom who stood up for what he believed. He attended the Seneca Falls Convention and became an early supporter of women's right to vote. He led the recruiting effort for the 54th Massachusetts, the first all-black Union combat unit in the Civil War, and he founded The North Star, the second black newspaper published in America. The biography discusses Douglass's relationships with such figures as John Brown, the feminist Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and five presidents of the United States, including Abraham Lincoln. It analyzes his role in national politics before, during, and after the Civil War, and examines the way his life is tied to significant local, regional, and national events. By focusing on the importance of spirituality in Douglass's life, this work adds to our understanding of the man, the way he saw himself, and the many things he accomplished.

This book contains four essays by and about Frederick Jackson Turner (1861-1932), the Wisconsin-born historian whose ideas and writings have had such a profound impact upon the way Americans view their past, and their place in the world. It is a book not only for the scholar and teacher (who will find it both useful and incisive), but also for the mythic "general reader" who wants to broaden and enrich his aquaintanceship with Turner and the celebrated Frontier Thesis. In addition to essays by Turner and by Martin Ridge of The Huntington Library and the late Ray Allen Billington, the book is illustrated with photos from the State Historical Society of Wisconsin.

A biography of Turner, whose famous thesis, ``The Significance of the Frontier in American History,'' is known to generations of American history students. Bogue, emeritus professor of history at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, offers a comprehensive study of Turner, who was born in 1862 in Wisconsin farm country and eventually came to influence countless students who were specializing in the then emergent fields of Western and sectional history.

Robert Dallek's masterful John F. Kennedy: An Unfinished Life was a number one national bestseller, and it remains the most widely read one-volume biography of the 35th President. Now, in this marvelous short biography of John F. Kennedy, Dallek achieves a miracle of compression, capturing in a small space the essence of his renowned full-length masterpiece. Here readers will find the fascinating insights and groundbreaking revelations found in An Unfinished Life. The heart of the book focuses on Kennedy's political career, especially the presidency. ( A condensed version of An Unfinished Life)

"In "Saga of Chief Joseph," Helen Addison Howard has written the definitive biography of the great Nez Perce chief, a diplomat among warriors. In times of war and peace, Chief Joseph exhibited gifts of the first rank as a leader for peace and tribal liberty. Following his people's internment in Indian Territory in 1877, Chief Joseph secured their release in 1885 and led them back to their home country. Fiercely principled, he never abandoned his quest to have his country, the Wallowa Valley, returned to its rightful owners. The struggle of the Nez Perces for the freedom they considered paramount in life constitutes one of the most dramatic episodes in Indian history. This completely revised edition of the author's 1941 version (titled War Chief Joseph) presents in exciting detail the full story of Chief Joseph, with a reevaluation of the five bands engaged in the Nez Perce War, told from the Indian, the white military, and the settler points of view. Especially valuable is the reappraisal, based on significant new material from Indian sources, of Joseph as a war leader. The new introduction by Nicole Tonkovich explores the continuing relevance of Chief Joseph and the lasting significance of Howard's work during the era of Angie Debo, Alice Marriott, and Muriel H. Wright."--Provided by publisher.

Pringle’s Pulitzer Prize-winning biography not only chronicles the incidents that shaped Roosevelt’s career but also offers insight into the character and mind of this colorful American president. -Amazon

W. E. B. Du Bois was one of the most prolific African-American authors, scholars, and leaders of the twentieth century. In this book, Alexander's traces the development of Du Bois' thought over time.

Distinguished historian and social activist Manning Marable's book, W. E. B. Du Bois: Black Radical Democrat, brings out the interconnections, unity, and consistency of W. E. B. Du Bois's life and writings. Marable covers Du Bois's disputes with Booker T. Washington, his founding of the NAACP, his work as a social scientist, his life as a popular figure, and his involvement in politics, placing them into the context of Du Bois's views on black pride, equality, and cultural diversity.