Modern States

Lawrence M. Friedman is Professor of Law at Stanford University and author of 23 books about law and legal history. Hailed as American law's greatest living historian, Friedman traces the evolution of America's legal system from the colonial period to the present. A Modern Library Chronicle, this book is concise, insightful, and graced with wit.

In "Amerika: een moderne geschiedenis" zet prof. dr. Maarten van Rossem op humoristische wijze de ontwikkeling van de VS in de laatste eeuw uiteen. In een lezing van zes hoofdstukken rijgt Van Rossem moeiteloos verschillende onderwerpen als de emancipatie van de zwarte burgerbevolking, de New Deal en de periode van de Koude Oorlog aaneen. Een boeiende reis door de geschiedenis van de enige overgebleven supermacht.

The Conservative Collection reinforces fundamental holdings of the Right. A strong, free, and thriving America requires us to value our founding principles and apply them in a modern world. Yet constant assaults on the very philosophies that birthed American exceptionalism jeopardize our sustained superiority. It therefore falls upon conservatives to reenergize, inform, and strengthen the citizenry with the truths and successes stemming from conservatism. We need a strong America, one which will continue to be the home of liberty and prosperity.

The late 19th century was a period of explosive technological creativity, but arguably the most important invention of all was Thomas Edison’s incandescent light bulb. Unveiled in his Menlo Park, New Jersey, laboratory in 1879, the light bulb overwhelmed the American public with the sense of the birth of a new age. More than any other invention, the electric light marked the arrival of modernity.

Felipe Fernandez-Armesto is a world-renowned scholar, professor of history and geography at Queen Mary, University of London, and a member of the Faculty of Modern History of Oxford University. The Americas, part of the acclaimed Modern Library Chronicles series, offers an intriguing history of the world's western hemisphere.

Winston Churchill captivated the world with his voice and his writings. His books and speeches ooze with patriotism and faith in a just God. But he wasn’t always known for his oratory skills, his faith, or his ability to captivate. In fact, as a child, he was small for his age, accident-prone, and frequently sick. To make matters worse, he was stubborn and self-centered, had a lisp, and did poorly in school. Born to an aristocratic family, young Winston was whisked off to boarding school at an early age, ignored by his parents, and left in the care of a nanny, Elizabeth Everest.

Robert Benjamin Lewis (1802 - 1858) was an African American and Native American author, inventor, and entrepreneur. In the ethnological work Light and Truth, Lewis claims that Adam and Eve were people of color, as were the Egyptians and many great figures of the ancient world, including Julius Caesar and Plato. Denouncing notions of white superiority, he asserts that all humans have a common origin, and pointed to a shared cultural history between Africans and Native Americans.

Has God withdrawn his special blessing from the United States? Americans ponder that painful question in troubled times, as we did during the devastation of the Civil War and after the assassinations of the '60s, and as we do in our present polarization. Yet, somehow - on battlefields, across western wilderness, and in raucous convention halls - astounding events have reliably advanced America, restoring faith in the Republic’s providential protection. In this provocative historical narrative, Michael Medved brings to life 10 haunting tales that reveal this purposeful pattern.

The story of Andrew Jackson's improbable ascent to the White House, centered on the handlers and propagandists who made it possible. Andrew Jackson was volatile and prone to violence, and well into his 40s, his sole claim on the public's affections derived from his victory in a 30-minute battle at New Orleans in early 1815. Yet those in his immediate circle believed he was a great man who should be president of the United States. Jackson's election in 1828 is usually viewed as a result of the expansion of democracy.

On the morning of July 16, 1964, a white police officer in New York City shot and killed a black teenager, James Powell. Two nights later, a peaceful demonstration in Harlem degenerated into violent protests. During the next week, thousands of rioters looted stores from Brooklyn to Rochester and pelted police with bottles and rocks. Michael W. Flamm draws on personal interviews and delves into the archives to move briskly from the streets of New York, where black activists like Bayard Rustin tried in vain to restore peace, to the corridors of the White House.

En la actualidad, China constituye una de las economías más grandes del mundo, y, según diversos analistas, en las próximas décadas será la primera potencia del globo.

How did America become the superpower that it is today? If you have ever wondered this, then this book is for you. It presents the main events that shaped the American culture: how it developed from a group of colonists into the most prominent nation in the world. How did everything start? Who were the invaded and the invaders? This book will reveal each step that "constructed" America, aiming at addressing the most common questions concerning the difficulties of this "free land."

Written 200 years after Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln shared a birthday on February 12, 1809, this insightful account sheds new light on two men who changed the way we think about the meaning of life and death. Award-winning journalist Adam Gopnik's unique perspective, combined with previously unexplored stories and figures, reveals two men planted firmly at the roots of modern views and liberal values.

In 1969, America was still undergoing plenty of social turmoil, much of it the result of sweeping changes made via the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War, which helped spark the counterculture. Protests were prominent across the country, and one of the movements galvanized during this time was on behalf of the LGBT community, who were often subjected to discrimination in all facets of life.

In 1893, the 27.5 million visitors to the Chicago World’s Fair feasted their eyes on the impressive architecture of the White City, lit at night by thousands of electric lights. In addition to marveling at the revolutionary exhibits, most visitors discovered something else: beyond the fair’s 633 acres lay a modern metropolis that rivaled the world’s greatest cities. The Columbian Exposition marked Chicago’s arrival on the world stage, but even without the splendor of the fair, 1893 would still have been Chicago’s greatest year.

In Mavericks, Money and Men, football historian Charles Ross chronicles the AFL's key events, including Buck Buchanan becoming the first overall draft pick in 1963, and the 1965 boycott led by black players who refused to play in the AFL All Star game after experiencing blatant racism. He also recounts how the success of the AFL forced a merger with the NFL in 1969, which arguably facilitated the evolution of modern professional football.

Driven by eyewitness accounts and combining urban history with a life-and-death drama and a technological detective story, Floodpath grippingly reanimates the reality behind LA noir fictions like the classic film Chinatown. In an era of climate change, increasing demand on water resources, and a neglected American infrastructure, the tragedy of the St. Francis Dam has never been more relevant.

Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th president of the United States of America, serving from 1981 to 1989. He was the Republican political party's 33rd governor of California from 1967 to 1975, following a profession as a Hollywood star and labor organizer. Reagan was born in Tampico, Illinois, to a low-income family. In the year 1932, he finished from Eureka College and went to work in Iowa as a radio sports analyst.

Much is misunderstood about the man who bequeathed us with a framework of what it means to be free and live in a democracy. As a Founding Father, Thomas Jefferson was instrumental in defining and disseminating what it meant to be an American before an America existed. Washington may have won the battles on the field, but Jefferson won the battles in our hearts. That is why he is still fondly remembered and cherished. To understand America, one has to understand Jefferson. It is a course in citizenship.

In August 1969, two teenage Ojibwe cousins, Sher and Kris, leave their Northern Minnesota reservation for the lights of Minneapolis. The girls arrive in the city with only $12, their grandfather's WWII pack, two stainless steel cups, some face makeup, gum, and a lighter. But it's the ancestral connections they are also carrying—to the land and trees, to their family and culture, to love and loss—that shape their journey most. As they search for work, they cross paths with a gay Jewish boy, homeless White and Indian women, and men on the prowl for runaways.