Mapping the ways in which unequally empowered groups claimed and transformed statements associated with the discourse of national identity, Sale succeeds in recovering a historically informed sense of the discursive and activist options available to people of another era.

The Haitian Revolution began in 1791 as a slave revolt on the French colonial island of Saint Domingue and ended thirteen years later with the founding of an independent black republic. Waves of French West Indians -- slaves, white colonists, and free blacks -- fled the upheaval and flooded southern U.S. ports -- most notably New Orleans -- bringing with them everything from French opera to voodoo. Alfred N. Hunt discusses the ways these immigrants affected southern agriculture, architecture, language, politics, medicine, religion, and the arts. He also considers how the events in Haiti influenced the American slavery-emancipation debate and spurred developments in black militancy and Pan-Africanism in the United States. By effecting the development of racial ideology in antebellum America, Hunt concludes, the Haitian Revolution was a major contributing factor to the attitudes that led to the Civil War.

The Wonder Book of Volcanoes and Earthquakes by Edwin J. Houston: "The Wonder Book of Volcanoes and Earthquakes" is an educational book by Edwin J. Houston that explores the fascinating world of volcanoes and earthquakes. Houston's work offers readers insights into the geological processes behind these natural phenomena, making it an informative and engaging resource for those curious about the Earth's dynamic forces. Key Aspects of the Book "The Wonder Book of Volcanoes and Earthquakes": Geological Exploration: The book delves into the science of volcanoes and earthquakes, explaining the underlying geological processes. Natural Phenomena: Houston provides a detailed look at these awe-inspiring natural events, their causes, and their impact. Educational Resource: "The Wonder Book of Volcanoes and Earthquakes" serves as an educational tool for understanding Earth's dynamic geology. Edwin J. Houston (1847-1914) was an American electrical engineer and inventor known for his contributions to the field of electricity. His work in "The Wonder Book of Volcanoes and Earthquakes" reflects his interest in science education and natural phenomena.

A riveting history of the Mount St. Helens eruption that will "long stand as a classic of descriptive narrative" (Simon Winchester). For months in early 1980, scientists, journalists, sightseers, and nearby residents listened anxiously to rumblings in Mount St. Helens, part of the chain of western volcanoes fueled by the 700-mile-long Cascadia fault. Still, no one was prepared when an immense eruption took the top off of the mountain and laid waste to hundreds of square miles of verdant forests in southwestern Washington State. The eruption was one of the largest in human history, deposited ash in eleven U.S. states and five Canadian providences, and caused more than one billion dollars in damage. It killed fifty-seven people, some as far as thirteen miles away from the volcano’s summit. Shedding new light on the cataclysm, author Steve Olson interweaves the history and science behind this event with page-turning accounts of what happened to those who lived and those who died. Powerful economic and historical forces influenced the fates of those around the volcano that sunny Sunday morning, including the construction of the nation’s railroads, the harvest of a continent’s vast forests, and the protection of America’s treasured public lands. The eruption of Mount St. Helens revealed how the past is constantly present in the lives of us all. At the same time, it transformed volcanic science, the study of environmental resilience, and, ultimately, our perceptions of what it will take to survive on an increasingly dangerous planet. Rich with vivid personal stories of lumber tycoons, loggers, volcanologists, and conservationists, Eruption delivers a spellbinding narrative built from the testimonies of those closest to the disaster, and an epic tale of our fraught relationship with the natural world.

Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in Maryland; Herman Melville was born into prosperity in New York. Despite their divergent backgrounds, these contemporary American authors shared amazingly similar ideas about the most pressing issues of their day, including war, slavery, abolition, and race relations. They also lived and worked near each other during the peak of their careers. Did they meet? Author Robert K. Wallace raises that provacative question, seeking clues as he follows their parallel footsteps through New Bedford, New York City and Albany in this most unusal and fasicnating book! File it under "biography," or "American History" or "American literature" or "abolition" or just plain "good reading!"

In How the Earth Feels Dana Luciano examines the impacts of the new science of geology on nineteenth-century US culture. Drawing on early geological writings, Indigenous and settler accounts of earthquakes, African American antislavery literature, and other works, Luciano reveals how geology catalyzed transformative conversations regarding the intersections between humans and the nonhuman world. She shows that understanding the earth’s history geologically involved confronting the dynamic nature of inorganic matter over vast spans of time, challenging preconceived notions of human agency. Nineteenth-century Americans came to terms with these changes through a fusion of fact and imagination that Luciano calls geological fantasy. Geological fantasy transformed the science into a sensory experience, sponsoring affective and even erotic connections to the matter of the earth. At the same time, it was often used to justify accounts of evolution that posited a modern, civilized, and Anglo-American whiteness as the pinnacle of human development. By tracing geology’s relationship with biopower, Luciano illuminates how imagined connections with the earth shaped American dynamics of power, race, and colonization.