A man of as many names as motives, Edward Bancroft is a singular figure in the history of Revolutionary America. Born in Massachusetts in 1745, Bancroft moved to England as a young man in the 1760s and began building a respectable resume as both a scientist and a man of letters. In recognition of his works in natural history, Bancroft was unanimously elected to the Royal Society, and while working to secure French aid for the American Revolution, he became a close associate of such luminaries as Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane, and John Adams. Though lauded in his time as a staunch American patriot, when the British diplomatic archives were opened in the late nineteenth century, it was revealed that Bancroft led a secret life as a British agent acting against French and American interests. In this book, the first complete biography of Bancroft, historian Thomas J. Schaeper reveals the full extent of the agent's deception during the crucial years of the American Revolution. Operating under aliases, working in ciphers, and leaving coded messages in the trees of Paris's Tuileries Gardens, Bancroft filtered information from unsuspecting figures including Franklin and Deane back to his contacts in Britain, navigating a complicated web of political allegiances. Through Schaeper's keen analysis of Bancroft's correspondence and diplomatic records, this biography reveals whether Bancroft should ultimately be considered a traitor to America or a patriot to Britain.

Offering a day-by-day chronology of the people and events important to the American Revolution, this title provides a look at this historic time. It covers people, battles, and other details, and includes more than 130 maps, photographs, and illustrations pair with an index, a bibliography, cross-references, and a chronology.

Looks at the life of the American scientist and man of letters who led a secret life in Great Britain as British agent working against both the American colonies and the French during the Revolutionary War.

Now featuring a new section on public policy, and a wide range of new essays by many of the liveliest and most exciting figures in ethnic studies, this updated edition of a remarkably successful text introduces students to the diverse points of view on race and ethnicity in the U.S. Arranged in debate format, the essays address vital questions: How have the experiences of racial minorities in the United States been similar to and different from each other? Is "race" the same as "ethnicity"? How has culture shaped race and ethnic relations? What has been the relationship between race and class? How can race and gender be compared? Moreover, how can racial inequality be explained, and what public policies or strategies are needed to address it? One third of the selections are new, examining affirmative action, welfare dependency, and the Los Angeles riots, and including a debate between Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., and the editor on multicultural curricula and the campus "culture wars." Providing a fresh new look at America's complex and unique ethnic heritage, this text makes an invaluable contribution to any course on race, ethnicity, or social stratification.

In this classic work by one of America's most widely read historians, Daniel J. Boorstin demonstrates why and how, on the 250th anniversary of his birth, Thomas Jefferson continues to speak to us.

Attempted suicide began to increase inexorably in western societies following World War II. In Britain, it reached epidemic proportions in 1976 when 120,000 cases were reported. More accurately termed “self-poisoning” as the majority of cases involve deliberate, non-fatal overdosing on pills, this remarkable social-medical phenomenon remains without any generally accepted explanation. First published in 1992, Women and Attempted Suicide suggests that two factors have contributed to this failure, the neglect of gender issues and the influence of psychiatry on explanations of deviant behaviour. The book offers a new psycho-social explanation based on the theory of Causal Attribution. This suggests that as a result of their socialization, individuals differ in the causes to which they attribute their problems and that some causal attributions are more helpful than others in coping with problems. The volume argues that certain women – and others such as the unemployed and underprivileged who may have limited control over their lives – acquire a “helpless” attributional style. This renders them less able to cope with adversity, more likely to turn to doctors when it befalls them, and more likely to be prescribed psychotropic drugs. When pills fail to solve problems, helplessness may turn to hopelessness and self-poisoning. This book will be of interest to students and researchers in many disciplines and particularly of psychology, medical sociology, and women studies.