This reader for the U.S. history survey course contains both primary and secondary sources concerned with motivation, causation, and the role of ideas and economic interests in history. The text's historiographical approach gives students the opportunity to strengthen their critical-thinking skills through the comparison of historical sources. Each chapter includes an introduction to the historical problem, information on the setting and the investigation, questions to consider, sources, and a conclusion.

This reader for the U.S. history survey course gives students the opportunity to apply critical thinking skills to the examination of historical sources, providing pedagogy and background information to help them draw substantive conclusions. The careful organization and the context provided in each chapter make the material accessible for students, thereby assisting instructors in engaging their students in analysis and discussion. Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.

Each chapter in CONTENDING VOICES examines the lives of two individuals, some of them familiar historical figures and some of them lesser known, who took opposing positions on important issues in American history. The “paired biographies” in the text are followed by a set of four to six related primary sources, many in the individuals’ own voices; a “Questions to Consider” section; and an annotated bibliography. This unique format promotes critical thinking and engages students in enlightening historical debates. Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.

"An effective blend of memoir, history and legal analysis."—Christopher Benson, Washington Post Book World In what John Hope Franklin calls "an essential work" on race and affirmative action, Charles Ogletree, Jr., tells his personal story of growing up a "Brown baby" against a vivid pageant of historical characters that includes, among others, Thurgood Marshall, Martin Luther King, Jr., Earl Warren, Anita Hill, Alan Bakke, and Clarence Thomas. A measured blend of personal memoir, exacting legal analysis, and brilliant insight, Ogletree's eyewitness account of the legacy of Brown v. Board of Education offers a unique vantage point from which to view five decades of race relations in America.