America's Promise is a concise, highly readable introduction to American History. Designed to clearly explain major themes and events, it also captures the rich and often amusing character of the American people. The strong narrative emphasizes public life and how individuals constructed public structures in which they lived and worked. Including the latest scholarship in social, cultural, and political history, the work integrates the history and importance of women and minorities. To aid students in learning and reviewing, each chapter begins with a preview of the main ideas that will be discussed and ends with a conclusion that reinforces the key concepts. Rather than being simply declaratory signposts, section headings highlight main ideas and help carry along the narrative. A glossary defines main terms, and a timeline helps students keep track of events. Selected readings are also included to encourage further reading and study. Finally, carefully selected illustrations and maps portray, pinpoint, and illuminate important episodes in American history. The most concise and competitively priced book available, America's Promise is a breath of fresh air in the introductory market.

In The Struggle for America's Promise, Claire Goldstene seeks to untangle one of the enduring ideals in American history, that of economic opportunity. She explores the varied discourses about its meaning during the upheavals and corporate consolidations of the Gilded Age. Some proponents of equal opportunity seek to promote upward financial mobility by permitting more people to participate in the economic sphere thereby rewarding merit over inherited wealth. Others use opportunity as a mechanism to maintain economic inequality. This tension, embedded with the idea of equal opportunity itself and continually reaffirmed by immigrant populations, animated social dissent among urban workers while simultaneously serving efforts by business elites to counter such dissent. Goldstene uses a biographical approach to focus on key figures along a spectrum of political belief as they struggled to reconcile the inherent contradictions of equal opportunity. She considers the efforts of Booker T. Washington in a post-Civil War South to ground opportunity in landownership as an attempt to confront the intersection of race and class. She also explores the determination of the Knights of Labor to define opportunity in terms of controlling one's own labor. She looks at the attempts by Samuel Gompers through the American Federation of Labor as well as by business elites through the National Association of Manufacturers and the National Civic Federation to shift the focus of opportunity to leisure and consumption. The Struggle for America's Promise also includes such radical figures as Edward Bellamy and Emma Goldman, who were more willing to step beyond the boundaries of the discourse about opportunity and question economic competition itself.

A gripping, heart-wrenching story of love and betrayal across the boundary of the American Revolutionary War. The next captivating story for readers who loved My Dear Hamilton, Flight of the Sparrow and Outlander. 1780. Addie looks around at the soldiers celebrating their latest victory. American independence is within reach, but her heart feels heavy with grief. With her husband gone, she must leave the army camp, and the people she has come to love, and choose a respectable path to guard the secret she now carries alone. Seeking shelter with her aunts in Virginia, Addie tries to mold herself back into the proper and dutiful woman she was before the war, and before the love of a fierce, dark-eyed warrior, changed her forever. But when a band of rogue British soldiers arrives on the farm, will the strength she has gained from travelling with the Revolutionary army be enough to save her loved ones? Fighting turmoil in Virginia, Addie faces an even worse trial when terrible news arrives from the front: should she stay silent and keep her family safe, or divulge her secret and save an innocent man's life? The heartbreaking conclusion to the epic, emotional trilogy. Readers love Celeste De Blasis: "UNPUTDOWNABLE!... If I could give it more stars I would give it more!" Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars "One of my all-time FAVORITE books!!!!!!!!" Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars "I didn't want it to end... always kept me in suspense... truly brilliant and I loved every second... absolutely fantastic." Charlotte's Book Corner "Read it OVER and OVER." Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars "Made me laugh, cry and feel all the range of emotions." Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars "My favorite book of all time." Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars "A week doesn't go by that this book doesn't pop into my head. A great story." Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars "I had a hard time putting it down and lost more than an hour or two of sleep." Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars "This book has an extra special place in my heart... A historical romance in the vein of Outlander (except without the time travel)." Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars

A “persuasive . . . heartfelt and vividly written” call to counter systemic racism and build national solidarity in America (Publishers Weekly). The American Promise enshrined in our Constitution states that all men and women are inherently equal. And yet racism continues to corrode our society. If we cannot overcome it, Theodore Johnson argues, the promise that made America unique on Earth will have died. In When the Stars Begin to Fall, Johnson presents a compelling blueprint for the kind of national solidarity necessary to mitigate racism. Weaving together history, personal memories, and his family’s multi-generational experiences with racism, Johnson posits that solutions can be found in the exceptional citizenship long practiced in Black America. Understanding that racism is a structural crime of the state, he argues that overcoming it requires us to recognize that a color-conscious society—not a color-blind one—is the true fulfillment of the American Promise. Fueled by Johnson’s ultimate faith in the American project, grounded in his family’s longstanding optimism and his own military service, When the Stars Begin to Fall is an urgent call to undertake the process of overcoming what has long seemed intractable.

Spreading democracy abroad or protecting business at home: this book offers a new look at the history of the contest between isolationalism and internationalism that is as current as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and as old as America itself, with profiles of the people, policies, and events that shaped the debate.

“A funny yet surprisingly nuanced look at the legends and ideas of the self-help industry” (People, 3.5 stars), Promise Land explores the American devotion to self-improvement—even as the author attempts some deeply personal improvements of her own. Raised by a child psychologist who was himself the author of numerous self-help books, as an adult Jessica Lamb-Shapiro found herself both repelled and fascinated by the industry: did all of these books, tapes, weekend seminars, groups, posters, t-shirts, and trinkets really help anybody? Why do some people swear by the power of positive thinking, while others dismiss it as so many empty promises? Promise Land is an irreverent tour through the vast and strange reaches of the world of self-help. In the name of research, Jessica attempted to cure herself of phobias, followed The Rules to meet and date men, walked on hot coals, and even attended a self-help seminar for writers of self-help books. But the more she delved into the history and practice of self-help, the more she realized her interest was much more than academic. Forced into a confrontation with the silent grief that had haunted both her and her father since her mother’s death when she was a baby, she realized that sometimes thinking you know everything about a subject is a way of hiding from yourself the fact that you know nothing at all. “A jaunty, cannily written memoir” (Chicago Tribune), Promise Land is cultural history from “a witty and enjoyably self-aware writer…Jessica Lamb-Shapiro’s talent as a storyteller is undeniable” (The New York Times Book Review).

When Rosa and her little brother Benji move to a new neighborhood, they meet Mrs. Mayberry, who has created a clubhouse in her basement so the neighborhood children have a safe place to play.