Political corruption is easy to define--the use of public office for private gain--but it isn't so readily seen because politicians cover their tracks so well. Four of America's most corrupt mayors and their shady dealings are covered in this work. "Big Bill" Thompson, who was mayor of Chicago three times, is considered America's worst mayor, having, among other questionable activities, accepted support from gangster Al Capone. Frank Hague of Jersey City described his town as the "moralest city in the nation" and banished prostitution and pornography, but he saw no evil in gambling and Jersey City became a gambling mecca. Jimmy Walker of New York City was a "good time" mayor and did well as the city prospered, but cared little for the city's money and his own when the Great Depression struck. James Michael Curley of Boston openly asserted that "politics is my business," but he flaunted a lavish home built entirely at the public's expense and was elected again and again, once while he was still in jail.
A tumultuous stock market, a media obsessed with celebrity and scandal, a time new technologies were rocking society: the 1920s bear more than a little semblance to today, and 1927 is a snapshot of the period. Photographs and illustrations bring to life a year with astonishing parallels to the present. "[An] encyclopedic study with all the verve and excitement of a finely tuned novel.... An outstanding book." — Library Journal
The author of The Pageant of World History takes readers back into the heart of the "Roaring Twenties" to show a country with remarkable similarities to contemporary America.
My grandfather died when he was sixty-five, my father died at seventy. At eighty-eight, I am the eldest of three brothers all of us older than our father was at his death. Given a reasonable degree of vitality, however, I would like to live to forever. Wouldn't you? I would like to be at my grandchildren and great-grand children's weddings. Wouldn't you? I would like to see how it all comes out in the end of time, for my family, my country, for the world. Wouldn't you? Wouldn't it be great if the intellectual giants of centuries past could be with us yet. Many of them achieved their best work in literature, art, philosophy, science or mathematics at advanced ages. Wouldn't the world be a better place if the accumulated wisdo111 of these talented people could still be around to set us straight? The poet, William Wordsworth thought so when he eulogized John Milton: "Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour: England hath need of thee: she is a fen /Of stagnant waters." With England traumatized by Napoleon, Wordsworth sought Milton's help. Surely, these greats of yesteryear could contribute to our own trauma of global terrorism. It is asserted by some that the search for immortality is pornographic. Yet, it will be remembered of the twenty-first century that a conscious effort was made to confront and perhaps conquer death. Wasserman (helped conquer sexually transmitted diseases) Salk(the anti-polio vaccine." Pornographers? Nonsense? "Death be not proud," wrote the poet, John Donne. He was right. While searching for immortality we are baffled by age. My first wife for forty-three years died of rampaging breast cancer, my second wife for six years died of virulent brain cancer. How does one make sense as to why we are attacked by Parkinson's and Alzheimers, by heart disease and cancer? Why the Holocaust? Why the terror of 9/11 ?Thus, the young may see things as they are and ask, "Why?" while the old may still dream of things that never were and ask, "Why not?
Dear students, I want to share a dream with you. I dreamed that a young person of 14 whom I was going to be teaching would become president of the United States during the first half of the twenty-first century. As a teacher, I was struck by this immense responsibility. What should I teach my student about the world as preperation for this awesome task? How could my world history class help this person to mature into an intelligent and humane president and leader of the free world?
Looks at the history of American immigration, discusses immigration policy and illegal immigration, and looks at arguments for changing or keeping the current policy
Offers various definitions of heroes, discusses who becomes a hero in America and why hero-worship seems to have declined, and explores how to be a hero in one's own life.
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