The Civil War was not the end, as is often thought, of reformist activism among abolitionists. After emancipation was achieved, they broadened their struggle to pursue equal rights for women, state medicine, workers' rights, fair wages, immigrants' rights, care of the poor, and a right to decent housing and a healthy environment. Focusing on the work of a key group of activists from 1835 to the dawn of the twentieth century, From Abolition to Rights for All investigates how reformers, linked together and radicalized by their shared experiences in the abolitionist struggle, articulated a core natural rights ideology and molded it into a rationale for successive reform movements. The book follows the abolitionists' struggles and successes in organizing a social movement. For a time after the Civil War these reformers occupied major positions of power, only to be rebuffed in the later years of the nineteenth century as the larger society rejected their inclusive understanding of natural rights. The narrative of perseverance among this small group would be a continuing source of inspiration for reform. The pattern they established—local organization, expansive vision, and eventual challenge by powerful business interests and individuals—would be mirrored shortly thereafter by Progressives.
Long celebrated as a symbol of the country's origins, Plymouth Rock no longer receives much national attention. In fact, historians now generally agree that the Pilgrims' storied landing on the Rock never actually took place--the tradition having emerged more than a century after the arrival of the Mayflower. In Memory's Nation, however, John Seelye is not interested in the factual truth of the landing. He argues that what truly gives Plymouth Rock its significance is more than two centuries of oratorical, literary, and artistic celebrations of the Pilgrims' arrival. Seelye traces how different political, religious, and social groups used the image of the Rock on behalf of their own specific causes and ideologies. Drawing on a wealth of speeches, paintings, and popular illustrations, he shows how Plymouth Rock changed in meaning over the years, beginning as a symbol of freedom evoked in patriotic sermons at the start of the Revolution and eventually becoming an icon of exclusion during the 1920s. Originally published in 1998. A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.
The reformer James Redpath (1833–1891) was a focal figure in many of the key developments in nineteenth-century American political and cultural life. He befriended John Brown, Samuel Clemens, and Henry George and, toward the end of his life, was a ghostwriter for Jefferson Davis. He advocated for abolition, civil rights, Irish nationalism, women's suffrage, and labor unions. In Forgotten Firebrand, the first full-length biography of this fascinating American, John R. McKivigan portrays the many facets of Redpath's life, including his stint as a reporter for the New York Tribune, his involvement with the Haitian emigration movement, and his time as a Civil War correspondent. Examining Redpath's varied career enables McKivigan to cast light on the history of journalism, public speaking, and mass entertainment in the United States. Redpath's newspaper writing is credited with popularizing the stenographic interview in the American press, and he can be studied as a prototype for later generations of newspaper writers who blended reportage with participation in reform movements. His influential biography of John Brown justified the use of violent actions in the service of abolitionism. Redpath was an important figure in the emerging professional entertainment industry in this country. Along with his friend P. T. Barnum, Redpath popularized the figure of the "impresario" in American culture. Redpath's unique combination of interests and talents—for politics, for journalism, for public relations—brought an entrepreneurial spirit to reform that blurred traditional lines between business and social activism and helped forge modern concepts of celebrity.
By one of the nation's foremost legal historians, a groundbreaking history of the pioneering American role in establishing the modern laws of war. In the fateful closing days of 1862, just three weeks before Emancipation, Abraham Lincoln's top military advisors commissioned a code of rules to govern the armies of the United States in a newly intensified war effort. The code Lincoln issued the next spring helped shape the remaining two years of Civil War. Its rules on torture, prisoners of war, assassination, and more quickly became foundations of the modern laws of war and today's Geneva Conventions. Yet the hidden story of Lincoln's code, and of the decades of controversy that lay behind it, has never been told. In this masterful and strikingly original history, John Witt charts the alternately troubled and triumphant course of the laws of war in America from the Founding Founders to the dawn of the modern era, revealing the history of a code that reshaped the laws of war the world over. Ranging from the Revolution to the War of 1812, from war with Mexico to the Civil War, from Indian wars to the brutal counterinsurgency campaign in the Philippines, Witt tells a story that features presidents as well as men in the throes of battle, one that spans war-makers and pacifists, Indians and slaves. In a time of heated controversy about the nation's conduct in the war on terror, Lincoln's Code is a compelling story of ideals under pressure and a landmark contribution to our understanding of the American experience."--
At a time when the U.S. flag is both a source of both pride and controversy, this volume provides the first encyclopedic A-to-Z treatment of the U.S. flag in American history, culture, and law. This title is a comprehensive resource for understanding all aspects of the American flag and its relationship to the American people. The encyclopedia provides a thorough historical examination of key developments in the flag's design as well as laws and court decisions related to the flag and the First Amendment. In relation to the flag's history, it also discusses evolving public attitudes about its importance as a national symbol. The encyclopedia contains illuminating scholarly essays on presentations of the flag in American politics, the military, and popular culture including art, music, and journalism. Additionally, these essays address important rules of flag etiquette and modern controversies related to them, from flag-burning to refusing to stand during the playing of the U.S. National Anthem.
It was sung at Ronald Reagan's funeral, and adopted with new lyrics by labor radicals. John Updike quoted it in the title of one of his novels, and George W. Bush had it performed at the memorial service in the National Cathedral for victims of September 11, 2001. Perhaps no other song has held such a profoundly significant--and contradictory--place in America's history and cultural memory than the "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." In this sweeping study, John Stauffer and Benjamin Soskis show how this Civil War tune has become an anthem for cause after radically different cause. The song originated in antebellum revivalism, with the melody of the camp-meeting favorite, "Say Brothers, Will You Meet Us." Union soldiers in the Civil War then turned it into "John Brown's Body." Julia Ward Howe, uncomfortable with Brown's violence and militancy, wrote the words we know today. Using intense apocalyptic and millenarian imagery, she captured the popular enthusiasm of the time, the sense of a climactic battle between good and evil; yet she made no reference to a particular time or place, allowing it to be exported or adapted to new conflicts, including Reconstruction, sectional reconciliation, imperialism, progressive reform, labor radicalism, civil rights movements, and social conservatism. And yet the memory of the song's original role in bloody and divisive Civil War scuttled an attempt to make it the national anthem. The Daughters of the Confederacy held a contest for new lyrics, but admitted that none of the entries measured up to the power of the original. "The Battle Hymn" has long helped to express what we mean when we talk about sacrifice, about the importance of fighting--in battles both real and allegorical--for the values America represents. It conjures up and confirms some of our most profound conceptions of national identity and purpose. And yet, as Stauffer and Soskis note, the popularity of the song has not relieved it of the tensions present at its birth--tensions between unity and discord, and between the glories and the perils of righteous enthusiasm. If anything, those tensions became more profound. By following this thread through the tapestry of American history, The Battle Hymn of the Republic illuminates the fractures and contradictions that underlie the story of our nation.
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography Louisa May Alcott is known universally. Yet during Louisa's youth, the famous Alcott was her father, Bronson—an eminent teacher and a friend of Emerson and Thoreau. He desired perfection, for the world and from his family. Louisa challenged him with her mercurial moods and yearnings for money and fame. The other prize she deeply coveted—her father's understanding—seemed hardest to win. This story of Bronson and Louisa's tense yet loving relationship adds dimensions to Louisa's life, her work, and the relationships of fathers and daughters.
The service of African-American soldiers during the Civil War is one of that conflict’s most stirring, if still not completely understood, aspects. In this comprehensive account—from recruitment into combat, and covering all the military, political, and social aspects of this story—John D. Warner recounts the history of the 5th Massachusetts Cavalry Regiment, the only Black cavalry regiment raised in the North during the war. After Massachusetts made history with the 54th and 55th Infantry Regiments, its governor wanted to continue the experiment of training African-Americans as Union fighting men, this time as cavalry. Where the infantry regiments recruited largely free Blacks from the North, the 5th focused on escaped slaves who it was believed would be better horsemen. (But not solely: the regiment’s members included a son of Frederick Douglass and, interestingly, several Hawaiian islanders.) This gave the regiment a sharper edge: not only would the former slaves be fighting for themselves, but they would be fighting to liberate loved ones still enslaved. The 5th’s officers were drawn from Boston’s abolitionist elite, including Charles Francis Adams Jr., great-grandson and grandson of U.S. presidents, son of the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom. In the spring of 1864, the regiment journeyed south and fought in Grant’s siege of Petersburg, where it joined attacks that nearly took the city in June. The 5th was then abruptly sent to Maryland to guard Confederate prisoners of war, until Col. Charles Francis Adams advocated for, and was granted, a return to combat duty. As part of the mostly Black XXV Corps, the cavalrymen found themselves at the vanguard of the Union army as it captured Richmond. On April 3, 1865, the 5th Massachusetts Cavalry Regiment was among the first units to enter the burning Confederate capital, at once a hellscape of destruction and a heaven for liberated slaves. Denied the rapid demobilization granted white regiments, the 5th ended the war in Texas on the Mexican border. In the spirit of the book One Gallant Rush and the movie Glory, Riders in the Storm covers—uncovers and indeed recovers—the story of the African-American cavalrymen of the 5th Massachusetts. Author John Warner has literal fingertip command of the primary sources, and after spending two decades researching letters, diaries, reports, newspapers, and more, he tells a story of resilience in the face of adversity, one that will resonate not just during the present moment of reckoning with race in the United States, but in the annals of American history for all time.
GOODBYE MORALITY is the novel about a man who takes the road less travelled to rise to unbelievable heights within the criminal world. John Forbes, the main character, comes from a modest background, but has grown up on the Craven Estate in Dorset, where his mother lives and works as a housekeeper. This is a place of strong contrast between being wealthy or poor. Through various criminal enterprises, which inevitably include the use of violence and murder, John builds a considerable fortune. His marriage to Catherine, the daughter of Lord and Lade Craven produces a son, Michael, upon whom John dotes. However, John continues a serious love affair with the artist Mona Hobson whose talent he helps validate by secretly buying up the paintings. Wise enough to know his own limitation, he goes into partnership with John Elgberg, a Dane with a past and his extrovert wife, Andrea, moving the ‘Invisible Company’ to Mallorca. After some years the company financial transaction attracts police attention. When John’s son Michael dies of leukaemia, his marriage falls apart. Devastated, John moves to a remote lavender farm in the South of France, where he is plagued with growing doubts about the life he has created, the death of his son and the shocking decisions he has taken. John is unable to make the break needed even if he finds love with the unimpressionable local woman Cecilia. An unforgettable crime thriller, with characters you will never forget.
Three to Ride chronicles the events leading to the actions taken by British colonists in America against British troops, ultimately concluding in independence for the colonies. The subject is explored over time, beginning with discord between a number of English subjects and the religious teachings of both the Church of England and the Catholic Church. The intervening years between the first settlements in America and the breakout of hostilities against Britain are discussed in an effort to examine the colonists’ mindset in their rejection of subservience to Great Britain. The history that drove the American colonists to rebellion is fascinating and engrossing; understanding the attitudes and actions of the colonists who experienced this history is likewise compelling. Three to Ride presents the courage of singular individuals and groups during a momentous period.
A dramatic retelling of the story of the Transcendentalists, revealing them not as isolated authors but as a community of social activists who shaped progressive American values. Conflagration illuminates the connections between key members of the Transcendentalist circle—including James Freeman Clarke, Elizabeth Peabody, Caroline Healey Dall, Elizabeth Stanton, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Theodore Parker, and Margaret Fuller—who created a community dedicated to radical social activism. These authors and activists laid the groundwork for democratic and progressive religion in America. In the tumultuous decades before and immediately after the Civil War, the Transcendentalists changed nineteenth-century America, leading what Theodore Parker called “a Second American Revolution.” They instigated lasting change in American society, not only through their literary achievements but also through their activism: transcendentalists fought for the abolition of slavery, democratically governed churches, equal rights for women, and against the dehumanizing effects of brutal economic competition and growing social inequality. The Transcendentalists’ passion for social equality stemmed from their belief in spiritual friendship—transcending differences in social situation, gender, class, theology, and race. Together, their fight for justice changed the American sociopolitical landscape. They understood that none of us can ever fulfill our own moral and spiritual potential unless we care about the full spiritual and moral flourishing of others.
From the award-winning author of Poe the Detective: The Curious Circumstances Behind "The Mystery of Marie Roget" comes a compelling argument for the identity of Emily Dickinson’s true love Proud of my broken heart Since thou didst break it, Proud of the pain I Did not feel till thee . . . Those words were written by Emily Dickinson to a married man. Who was he? For a century or more the identity of Emily Dickinson’s mysterious “Master” has been eagerly sought, especially since three letters from her to him were found and published in 1955. In Emily Dickinson in Love, John Evangelist Walsh provides the first book-length treatment of this fascinating subject, offering a solution based wholly on documented facts and the poet’s own writings. Crafting the affair as a love story of rare appeal, and writing with exquisite attention to detail, in Part I Walsh reveals and meticulously proves the Master to be Otis Lord, a friend of the poet’s father and a man of some reputation in law and politics. Part II portrays the full dimensions of their thirty-year romance, most of it clandestine, including a series of secret meetings in Boston. After uncovering and confirming the Master’s identity, Walsh fits that information into known events of Emily’s life to make sense of facts long known but little understood—Emily’s decision to dress always in white, for instance, or her extreme withdrawal from a normal existence when she had previously been an active, outgoing friend to many men and women. In a lengthy section of Notes and Sources, Walsh presents his proofs in abundant detail, demonstrating that the evidence favors one man so irresistibly that there is left no room for doubt. Each reader will decide if he has truly succeeded in making the case for Otis Lord.
The story of an enormous step forward in both the struggle for black freedom and the defeat of the Confederacy: turning former enslaved men into Union soldiers. After President Lincoln issued the final Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863, Confederate slaves who could reach Union lines often made that perilous journey. A great many of the young and middle-aged among them, along with other black men in the free and border slave states, joined the Union army. These U.S. Colored Troops (USCT), as the War Department designated most black units, materially helped to win the Civil War—performing a variety of duties, fighting in some significant engagements, and proving to the Confederates that Northern manpower had practically no limits. Soldiering for Freedom explains how Lincoln’s administration came to recognize the advantages of arming free blacks and former slaves and how doing so changed the purpose of the war. Bob Luke and John David Smith narrate and analyze how former slaves and free blacks found their way to recruiting centers and made the decision to muster in. As Union military forces recruited, trained, and equipped ex-slave and free black soldiers in the last two years of the Civil War, white civilian and military authorities often regarded the African American soldiers with contempt. They relegated the men of the USCT to second-class treatment compared to white volunteers. The authors show how the white commanders deployed the black troops, and how the courage of the African American soldiers gave hope for their full citizenship after the war. Including twelve evocative historical engravings and photographs, this engaging and meticulously researched book provides a fresh perspective on a fascinating topic. Appropriate for history students, scholars of African American history, or military history buffs, this compelling and informative account will provide answers to many intriguing questions about the U.S. Colored Troops, Union military strategy, and race relations during and after the tumultuous Civil War.
Reprint of the original, first published in 1858. The publishing house Anatiposi publishes historical books as reprints. Due to their age, these books may have missing pages or inferior quality. Our aim is to preserve these books and make them available to the public so that they do not get lost.
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