Product Description
This book is concise, easy -to-use guide to the individuals, peoples, parties, movements, events, decisions and wars that have shaped the history of the United States. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Excellent
I used this book for when I was doing IB US History and also AP American History. This book is full of detailed explanations for cases and incidents.

Very Informative
This dictionary of American History is amongst the best out there.It was very informative in my classes and very helpful for AP/IB exams.I heavily suggest this book for students or people with interest in American History. ... Read more

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The seventh edition of the Encyclopedia of American History updates this indispensable and classic reference book to cover the history of the United States from pre-Columbian times through the first year of the Clinton Administration. Unequaled in the amount of information contained within a single volume, and designed to be read as a narrative, the Encyclopedia chronicles all the essential facts of American history, from government and politics to science, thought and culture.

The Encyclopedia is divided onto four parts:

Part 1: "THE BASIC CHRONOLOGY" presents the main political and military events in the history of the United States, beginning with the era of discovery. It has been updated to reflect newly discovered facts and modern perspectives on domestic and foreign affairs.

Part 2: "THE TOPICAL CHRONOLOGY" records the nonpolitical aspects of American life and has been extensively revised to include a newly titled section "Land, Natural Resources, Energy and the Environment," as well as updated sections dealing with the American economy. A few of the topics covered in this section are the fine arts, religion, medicine, education, television and radio, immigration, population, United States expansion and Supreme Court decisions.

Part 3: "NOTABLE AMERICAN BIOGRAPHIES" contains profiles of 450 influential Americans from all walks of life and their outstanding achievements.

Part 4:"THE STRUCTURE OF FEDERAL GOVERNMENT" includes tables of U.S Presidents and their cabinets, party strength in Congress from 1789, and Supreme Court justices, as well as the complete texts of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States.

Jeffrey B. Morris, is professor of law at the Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center of Touro College. Associate editor for the last two revised editions of the Encyclopedia of American History, Morris is the author of over a dozen books, including Federal Justice in the Second Circuit and To Administer Justice on Behalf of All the People: The United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, 1965-1990. He has been professor of political science at City College of the City University of New York and the University of Pennsylvania and visiting professor of law at the Brooklyn Law School. From 1976 to 1981 Morris served as the chief research associate to Chief Justice Warren E. Burger in Burger's role as head of the federal court system.

Richard B. Morris, (1904-1989) was Gouverneur Morris Professor of History at Columbia University and past president of the American Historical Association. Morris wrote more than 40 books spanning legal, labor, diplomatic, political and social history, including The Peacemakers: The Great Powers and American Independence, The Forging of the Union 1781-1789, Witnesses at the Creation, Government and Labor in Early America and Studies in The History of American Law. He lectured throughout the world, serving as Fulbright Research Professor at the Sorbonne and Distinguished Professor at the John F. Kennedy Institute of the Free University of Berlin.

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Customer Reviews (7)

Desk Staple
II am a professional corporate historian.I research the corporate histories of many companies.I have very few things on my desk that are permanent, of which, three are books--the Chicago Manual of Style, the newest Merriam Webster's Dictionary, and the Encyclopedia of American History (7th ed).Whether you are a professional in the history field, a history "buff" or just an amateur social scientist, this is a book that you need to own.The four sections of this book are extremely helpful when looking for grand historical events or the smallest tidbit of information.While the internet is great for finding some of these items, this book is the most comprehensive volume of American History ever put together.I highly recommend this book--it is worth the money.

A must buy
As a student of American history, I have not seen a better book that gives you an overview of American history.No this encyclopedia will not go in-depth on everything you want, but is merely a general look at our nation's history.If you want an in-depth study you do need to look for a book that deals with that issue, but if you want a good general book, this is the one to get.I believe it is a must get for any student of history, especially American history.And if you just like American history as a hobby, this book is still a must get.

Full of Invaluable Information
The Encylopedia of American History is a wonderfully detailed and comprehensive reference book on almost everything to do with American history. Practically every conceivable aspect of America's history is within these pages; if you have a query concerning anything about the USA, then look no further than here. Neatly laid out in mainly chronological form, the book varies through subjects from politics, military, literature, science and many more. The biographies section contains brief biographies of over 400 influential Americans, from presidents and scientists to Stephen Spielberg. Whether you want to become a walking reference on American history, or are already familiar with the subject and require a reliable reference source, then this book is for you.

Professional Opinion
The Encyclopedia of American History by Richard B. Morris is an outstanding source of information for the student of history or the professional educator.It contains factual information for the consensus historian.It is not revisionist.I highly recommend this book.

Outstanding Reference Book
Individuals interested in purchasing an American History book for the sole purpose of quickly researching a specific historical happening need to look no further. Scarcely illustrated, this is a fully encompassing text which provides a brief description of each event. Most descriptions range in length from one-quarter to one-half of a page. For example, it required less than two-hundred words to recount the assasssination of President Kennedy. Lengthy historical events such as the Vietnam War are also discussed in a concise manner. The Vietnam War required seven pages, including the full page map, to educate the reader. Those interested in an American History book that can be enjoyably read cover to cover must look elsewhere. Brief, fragmented event depictions cause the reader's attention to quickly wane. This book is being awarded four stars for its use as an encyclopedia. ... Read more

Product Description
This book reflects the best of contemporary scholarship on the history of the American South. Each contributor is an authority--one a Pulitzer Prize winner. The essays examine what life was like for the slaves; for the victims of terror and lynchings; for workers who dared strike and demand fairness; and for dissenters who challenged the accepted truths. The essays are grouped around three major research areas: history and the social sciences, history and biography, and the "new" labor history. ... Read more

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This book remedies a long-standing wrong the neglect of the Indians of the San Francisco Bay Area in the published anthropological literature, and especially the all-too-common statement in that literature to the effect that the Ohlone (or Costanoans) have long been extinct. Here we have the living descendants of the people found here by the Spanish missionaries and explorers in the 1770s telling us how very much present they are in the 1990s, and what has been happening to them and their families through the two hundred and twenty some years since Fages and Crespi led their party up through the Santa Clara Valley to what are now Alameda and Contra Costa counties. The book begins with an account of that Fages/Crespi trip, with a map to show just where each encounter of Spaniards and Native Americans took place. Following that, archaeologists, ethnographers, historians, and Native Americans present papers bearing on the prehistory, culture, history, and present situation of the Ohlones of the San Francisco Bay region. Most of these papers were presented at the Ohlone Conference at California State University, Hayward in 1992. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Intriguing!
This book is a compilation ofvarious articles based on the Ohlone.I was worried that these technical papers or dissertations would be quite dry.I was quite wrong!If you want to understand this unique culture, without worry of extreme bias either way, then this book is for you.Other books I've read, even the "classic" one, didn't quite complete the feel and urgency of understanding the Ohlone as this book did.As you study this book and the Ohlone, you will discover more about humanity! ... Read more

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Psychological insight is the creed of our time. A quiet academic discipline two generations ago, psychology has become a voice of great cultural authority, informing everything from family structure to government policy. How has this fledgling science become the source of contemporary America's most potent ideology?
In this groundbreaking book--the first to fully explore the political and cultural significance of psychology in post-World War II America--Ellen Herman tells the story of Americans' love affair with the behavioral sciences. It began during wartime. The atmosphere of crisis sustained from the 1940s through the Cold War gave psychological "experts" an opportunity to prove their social theories and behavioral techniques. Psychologists, sociologists, and anthropologists carved a niche within government and began shaping military, foreign, and domestic policy. Herman examines this marriage of politics and psychology, which continued through the tumultuous 1960s.
Psychological professionals' influence also spread among the general public. Drawn by promises of mental health and happiness, people turned to these experts for enlightenment. Their opinions validated postwar social movements from civil rights to feminism and became the basis of a new world view. Fascinating and long overdue, this book illuminates one of the dominant forces in American society. ... Read more

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Gathering the best of essays produced at a conference at Utah State University, this collections aims to produce compelling assessment of the newest Western historiography. ... Read more

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In 1995 more than 100 historians gathered at the University of Notre Dame for a conference convened to honour the American historian Vincent P. De Santis. This collection of essays from the conference aims to describe and define the state of political history at the end of the 20th century. ... Read more

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This book is a major reassessment of an American region and a regional consciousness. Concentrating on moments of crisis in Southern history, as well as on major literary figures, Richard Gray shows how generations of Southerners have been engaged in 'writing the South', in reinventing their place even as they describe it. The first half of the book focuses on the colonial period, when the first white settlers tried to understand an unfamiliar land by seeing it in terms of familiar mythology; the years immediately prior to the Civil War, when the South had to defend its 'peculiar institution' of slavery; and the later nineteenth century, when Southerners were struggling to justify their past, explain the present, and prophesy the future. In the second half Dr Gray looks in detail at the twentieth-century South, and particularly at major writers of the Southern renaissance, such as William Faulkner and the Nashville Agrarians. ... Read more

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Nineteenth- or early twentieth-century visitors to Pittsburgh were often shocked by the ways the industrial environment dominated the natural landscape.Steel mills sprawled along rivers that ran brown from toxic chemicals, sewage, and refuse.The city was overrun by bridges, railroad tracks, pipelines, and a net of electrical, telephone, and telegraph wires.Coal mines, coke ovens, and their debris littered the bald, muddy hills while slag heaps from steel making intruded into the landscape.Forests were cut down for fuel, and the remaining flora and fauna died from the acidic effluents and garbage that piled up.Street lamps glowed day and night to compensate for the morass of thick, black smoke that hung in the air.As James Parton succinctly commented in 1866, Pittsburgh was "hell with the lid taken off."

Today, the steel industry that defined Pittsburgh for over a century is virtually gone.The sky is blue, fish swim in the rivers, the hillsides are green and lush, and residents enjoy access to many public parks and trails.

What forces brought about these changes? In Devastation and Renewal, leading environmental scholars provide a comprehensive examination of Pittsburgh's lengthy process of reclamation, the various interests (both public and private) involved, and the work that still remains to be done. ... Read more

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This text explores four major features of human society in their ecological and historical context: the origins of priests and organised religion; the rise of military men in an agrarian society; economic expansion and growth; and "civilising" and "decivilising" trends over time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Modern economic sociology with a long-term view
When these authors talk about long-term history, they are including hominid cultures in prehistorical Europe, and Asian and African cultures, not just historical Eurocentrism. They discuss how Marx and Weber sidestep everything except European experience, and how consideration of multiple civilizations shows that social development is not a straight line. There are not many other sociology books I've read whose bibliographies include articles such as "Hominid Use of Fire in the Lower and Middle Pleistocene." Of course, since I'm not a sociologist, there's much I don't know - perhaps there are many other such books out there. But I certainly didn't find them while collecting a shelf-full for a grad-school sociology course (required for a major in another social science). This was one of the most readable of the 30 or so books I plowed through.

The main concept the authors wish to convey is that history (and sociology) should not be concerned only with chronology, but also with long-term processes. Stages, or phases, have been commented on by previous sociologists, most of them having the view either that the stages showed a steady progress upward - or a steady deterioration downward. Life has either degenerated from a golden age to a machine age, or we are now the most civilized the world has ever been in all things. In both cases, the main concerns of such authors were primarily to explain conditions in the author's present world by showing how these had arisen out of previous conditions.Such stages were a favorite of 19th-century sociologists and anthropologists. However, twentieth century authors may have gone too far in rejecting stage models; our authors here feel that both chronology and "phaseology" should be taken into account.This leads the authors to "processes."

One of the most useful concepts presented is the authors' view of the major transformations in society: from a stage where there were no societies with control over fire, agriculture, or mechanical industry, to a stage where some societies controlled some of those, to a stage where some societies control all of those areas. Then, we can place particular societies into context - if we call a particular society "agrarian", is it coexisting with many other agrarian societies? Or with industrial societies? Are they on their way toward an industrial society?

There is then a chapter showing the relationship between agrarian societies and religion; the function of priests as determiners of when it is time to plant is illustrated by both historic and not-too-long-ago examples. This is followed by a look at how an agrarian culture leads to socially stratified societies, and to warrior classes, and how the subsequent "taming" of warriors is a necessary element for further social development.

This book is somewhat academic, but not dense with jargon. It is not extremely heavy reading, and can be understood by someone without an intensive knowledge of sociology or economics. It's helpful if the reader is at least familiar with the names of such theorists as Marx, Spencer, Weber; for someone who has been introduced to those theorists in an undergraduate sociology class, and is looking for a more modern point of view from which to start a term paper or other further study, this book is a good starting point. Its multicultural viewpoint that includes Asian and African civilizations will be a welcome change from the Eurocentrism of the older theorists, and should also appeal to the professor for whom a student might be writing such a paper. Because of its title, it might not immediately come to such a reader's attention - since history, rather than social development, is in the title, some might pass over it. That would be a mistake. ... Read more

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In an absorbing account of the archaeology and culture of Indian tribes in the Great Lakes region from 1600 to 1820, George Quimby recounts the results of decades of careful study of archaeological sites in this 1966 classic. ... Read more

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A collection of essays on the intersections of American history and literature. Beginning with an overview of studies of colonial literature, the book goes on to discuss a variety of topics within 19th-century American, illustrating the complexity of America cultural history. ... Read more

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The 1992 Quincentennial of the encounter between the New World and the Old resulted in a veritable culture war- an extreme polarization of hardened ideological positions on different ideas of America. Monsters, Tricksters, and Sacred Cows brings a fresh perspective to the confusing question of American identity. It clears the minefields laid by the generals commanding the opposing camps, while demonstrating that both sides have been primarily interested in protecting and defending an idea of "Americanness" that cannot resist scrutiny. Some of the leading international scholars in anthropology, comparative literature, and history of the Americas show convincingly in this book that contacts between and among peoples and ethnic groups have, since early colonial times, produced new- and typically American- cultural forms throughout the hemisphere.

Monsters, Tricksters, and Sacred Cows will appeal to the general reader and will attract a wide readership in folklore and cultural anthropology as well as in Caribbean and Latin American studies, comparative literature, and history.

Product Description
This book seeks to step outside the simple stories of Indian/white relations--stories of conquest and assimilation and stories of cultural persistence. It is, instead, about a search for accommodation and common meaning. It tells how Europeans and Indians met, regarding each other as alien, as virtually nonhuman, and how between 1650 and 1815 they constructed a common, mutually comprehensible world in the region around the Great Lakes that the French called the "Pays d'en haut". Here the older worlds of the Algonquins and various Europeans overlapped, and their mixture created new systems of meaning and of exchange. Finally, the book tells of the breakdown of accommodation and common meanings and the recreation of the Indians as alien and exotic. The process of accommodation described in this book takes place in a middle ground, a place in between cultures and peoples, and in between empires and non-state villages. On the middle ground people try to persuade others who are different than themselvesby appealing to what they perceive to be the values and practices of those others. From the creative misunderstandings that result, there arise shared meanings and new practices. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

A World Neither Indian nor European: The Middle Ground
"The Middle Ground" is a professional and scholarly study of the complex relationships between the Whites and the Indians in the Great Lakes Region from 1650-1815.The term "Middle Ground" describes a land in which the European cultures that were not totally European and the Indian cultures that were not totally Indian.Substantively, this book deals with the Indians interactions with a series of White powers. Initially the French had the field unto themselves until they were later challenged by a rising British rival.After the French and Indian War, the British had the ascendency until the American Revolution brought a new competitor for the Indians' trade and loyalty.

In the early parts of the book the French were building the economy of New France on the fur trade which could prosper only on a continent with light European settlement. During this period the Indians became dependent on French good and their protection form other tribes.French diplomacy consisted of establishing relationships with the tribes even as the Indians used their alliances to gain ascendency over rival tribes.All this time the Indians were becoming less dependent on their traditional ways as they relied more on their role as fur trappers and traders.Many lament the destruction of the Indian economy, but this was the process of division of labor which proceeded all over the world as technological advances made the production of surpluses possible.During the time that the Indians were becoming more dependent on the French and, therefore, less Indian, many French were absorbing more Indian culture.Their livelihood and even their lives became intertwined with Indian life.Many took Indian wives, even while retaining French wives back in Montreal and Quebec.

The advent of the British provided a competitor for Indian trade and loyalty.The Indians could now play one against the other in order to get the best goods and the most protection.It came as a shock and betrayal to the Middle Ground when European diplomats ceded the French interests to the British.The Indians were then deprived of commercial competitors who would vie for their furs.As British colonial settlement expanded the roles changed as the British became a source of protection from the colonists.When the colonists became rebellious the British were able to use their influence with the Indians against the Americans both in the Revolution and through the period of the War of 1812.

This book is an outstanding work of historical research which is recognized as authoritative.I have heard it cited during at least one historical conference.Because of its nature it does go into more detail than many casual readers would want.Just work through it and remember what is important to you.You will learn examples of mistakes on both sides that, if avoided, could have made the settlement of America a more peaceful process.This is a book that does not just tell you, it leads you to an understanding.Although the Middle Ground is defined early, it takes hundreds of pages for the concept to gradually sink in.Only gradually does the reader come to realize how the cultures influenced each other, not to be blended in a melting pot, but to change each other none the less.As readers of my Amazon reviews know, I have read much about the French era in America as well as the Revolutionary period.This book helped me, not just to know, but to understand what was happening when those traders went among the Indians, when the British bought settlers scalps from the Indians and when and why the settlers chose not to live among the Indians, but to drive them out.A book that can achieve that is worth a read.

A seminal text on colonial history
The Middle Ground is one of the seminal texts on colonial history covering the converging areas that Europeans (British, French and eventually Americans) and Native Americans (Algonquins, Iroquois, Shanwees, and many more) shared in and around the great lakes region for the years 1650-1815.Before the term middle ground was taken out of context by a slew of authors following Richard White you see the narrow definition that was meant to exist. By finding an area where these cultures did not dominate but share to give something new in his so called Pays d'en haut.By focusing on the complex relationships that built up between these groups and not simply stopping at resistance and assimilation White puts into context Pontiac and Tecumseh through a look at the ebbing and flowing of political and economic power in the area.From the power plays between Europeans and the ways in which native Americans exploited them to win trade concessions and expand their goods.Europeans also exploited the differences not only in tribes but even in the familial relationships and this book does an excellent job of delving into the structure of Indian society dispelling the myth of the great Indian chief.The chiefs that many people envision are a European creation that did arise after Europeans were able to funnel goods through one person and often the one Europeans wound up fighting was a chief of their own creation. While this book can by dry and dense at times it really is the best on the subject and not one to be missed for those interested in colonial history.

Essential reading for students of history, historiography and/or ideology
Word of warning: It has been several years since I read this book. There are several excellent review on this page which you should read first including Mr. Hendricks critical review (excellent summary, mistaken criticism). My purpose is to give support to those reviewers who have mentioned the influence of this book. I cannot speak to its influence in academia. Me, I work in a production fab as part of the maintenance team. But I read a lot of history and philosophy and the central concepts in this book clarified a lot of issues in those fields for me.
I frequently find myself understanding what I am reading in other histories in terms of this concept. Right now I am reading Renaissance Civic Humanism and came across the following line- "as Gilbert interpreted it, a republican ideology could easily become an instrument adopted and manipulated by both parties in a particular episode of class struggle." And the first thing I thought of was White's work. I think what makes this so useful is that White has taken an insight into social dynamics that was nebulous in the thought of many scholars and given it definition.
One of the central problems in any theory of ideology has been to explain how resistance and change is possible if there is this hegemonic ideology that shapes the perceptions and thinking of everyone.
White's central insight is that this hegemony is contested and fluid especially when the opposing parties are of equal power. The result is that the middle ground (the world of mutual understandings and misconceivings) is constantly changing. Sometimes (and this is where Mr. Hendricks goes wrong) it seperates into seperate spheres entirely where there is not mutuality and one side (like the British and later the Americans) simply misunderstand the other side because of their own conceptual limitations. [Mr. Hendricks also complains about White's reliance on European records to explore the thinking of the Algonquin peoples. I remember White as being fairly clear about that as a limitation. He spent a lot of time in the written records of the French missionaries because he felt they were the one European source that actually tried to understand the Algonquin peoples on their own terms (to better convert them). It struck me as I read White's book, however, that he was mostly claiming to present the European side of the middle ground. In any case, Mr. Hendricks brings up an important theme for any reader of the book to judge for themselves.]
As I said, many other scholars over the last forty years or so have circled around a similar insight in their work. By given it a clear definition and a well written historical example, White has given many different fields a research program, a conceptual focus that can be expanded, critiqued and improved.
Anyone who reads history should read this book. As a bonus, it is also a classic in the area of revisioning American colonial history. The American Indians were basically defeated after the death of Tecumseh. But prior to that, for over 300 years, they were a military and social equal in North America. There were hundreds of years when the Iroquois were the military equals of the British, the Dutch, the French and the Americans. As such they had to be negotiated with as equals. I found White's book to also be a valuable history of the Algonquin people of the Old Northwest.
So there you go- a great history exemplifying an important methodological
insight. My highest recommendation.

Top five
This belongs on any list of the five best books of American Indian history, or of North American colonial history. Richard White is brilliant. Read this book.

A professional work
Richard White managed to write a historical book that combines political, social, and cultural history with a wonderful writing style, which captures the readers' attention from the very beginning.

White indicated in the introduction of his book that he "seeks to step outside the simple stories of Indian/white relations- stories of conquest and assimilation and stories of cultural pesistence." The book is about a search of accommodation and common meaning, according to the author.

Richard White maintains that in the Middle ground of the Great Lakes, many different cultures met and accommodated their differences to be able to live together. This Middle ground of overlapping cultures and lifestyles brought mutual understanding, changes in all societies and influence on one another, not assimialtion. The big colonial wars, however, concludes White, led to sudden ruptures of accommodation and common meanings between Europeans and Indians. ... Read more

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An unabridged, digitally enlarged printing to include all photographs. ... Read more

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Title: The Indian Tribes of the Upper Mississippi Valley and Region of the Great Lakes : as Described by Nicolas Perrot, French Commandant in the Northwest; Bacquevile De La Potherie, French Royal Commissioner to Canada; Morrell Marston, American Army Officer; and Thomas Forsyth, United States Agent at Fort Armstrong ; Translated, Edited, Annotated, and With Bibliography and IndexVolume: 2Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : Arthur H. Clark Co.Publication date: 1911Subjects: Indians of North America -- Northwest, OldIndians of North America -- Northwestern StatesNotes: This is an OCR reprint. There may be numerous typos or missing text. There are no illustrations or indexes.When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. You can also preview the book there. ... Read more

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Explores the social and economic transformations of the mid-Hudson River Valley during the key expansionist period in American history. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent book on rural colonial life in New York
Professor Wermuth's book provides a great insight into life during the colonial and Revolutionary War era rural society in New York. The book is based on Dr. Wermuth's research into town records, Kingston being one, and business transactions within the towns. He puts forth the theory of a "corporate society" in which all townspeople have a share in their town. Dr. Wermuth provides numerous insightful examples of how the corporate societies of colonial New York towns functioned. Bread riots, price controls, and town government intervention were all apart of the rural farmer's economy.

The book is well written and research. The reading can, however, become a bit dry at times. That being this book is not for a casual reader of history more interested in battles and the like. However, if the reader is interested in rural colonial life, especially in New York, this book is excellent. Finally, if you happen to be in the Poughkeepsie New York area Dr. Wermuth, and other members of the Marist College History Department, offer some excellent lectures. ... Read more

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Spanning the history of the island from pre-Columbian times to the present, this highly acclaimed survey examines Cuba's political and economic development within the context of its international relations and continuing struggle for self-determination. The dualism that emerged in Cuban ideology--between liberal constructs ofpatria and radical formulations of nationality --is fully investigated as a source not only of national tension but of competing notions of liberty, equality, and justice which would eventually determine the form and function of Cuban mobilization.Perez integrates local and provincial developments with issues of class, race, and gender to give students a full and fascinating account of the Cuban history of struggle for nationality. The new, second edition includes the latest research on Cuba, adding a new chapter on the political and economic changes that have occurred since the Soviet Union stopped subsidizing for the Cuban economy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Inaccuracies abound
I agree with L. Puig's review contending that the book is full of innaccuracies.

I was finishing my career at a Havana private university some fifty years ago when the opportunity to escape the "tropical paradise" presented itself upon graduation.

During all my school years I studied history textbooks published by Cuban scholars who actually lived and worked in Cuba. Among the most respected ones were Dr. Manual Marquez Sterling, Dr. E. Portell Vila, and the most popular, Dr.Ramiro Guerra.
,
Reading Mr. Perez's book I couldn't help but wonder about the methodology used by the author to put his book together. In fact, reading his description of Las Yaguas, Luyano, Jesus del Monte etc. made me wonder if he ever visited Havana...or the island for that matter.

Andrew J. Rodriguez
Award-winning author: "Adios, Havana," a Memoir

THE Historian of Cuba
As an anthropologist, I found this book an invaluable introduction to Cuban history, and I would certainly use it as a text for undergraduates.

Perez starts with Cuba's geography and a quick review of its pre-Columbian peoples, and ends with Cuba in the Post-Cold War World. The book is readable and concise, and gave me insights into U.S. designs on Cuba that began with our second President. Perez goes through Cuba's history in extricating itself from Spain only to be dominated by the U.S., and then gives a very good account of Cuba under its various presidents up until the Revolution. His account of the Revolution and its roots is dispassionate and unbiased, though it won't seem like that to right-wing exiles who would like to see everything about Castro totally demonized.
I disagree with other reviewers that the role of the U.S. is not included. It certainly is. With 329 pages, you can't go into extreme depth on all topics to everyone's tastes, but I for one was surprised by how old U.S. ambitions toward the island are. If you want to get into Cuba-U.S. relations in more depth get Perez' book "Ties of Singular Intimacy."

This third edition is an updated version that includes events in the exile community up to 2004, and includes a nice political chronology at the end, along with a 75 page guide to the literature. Make sure you get this one and not the older edition if you want an updated history. The older edition is blue with a white stripe across the middle. You can get the other one used here on Amazon for cheap if you don't need to go past 1996.

THIS is the book to read on Cuba if you want to get a thorough idea about its history without making the commitment necessary to read Hugh Thomas' book, which is about 1400 pages, or longer collected volumes.

Book contains some errors and needs revision
I do not recommend this book for the casual reader nor for the beginning student of Cuban History.

This text is filled with errors in various places. The most distorted portion seems to deal with the Pre-Revolutionary, Pre-Castro Cuba. Mr Perez explains, for example, that "approximately 892,000 Cubans were fully employed in 1958 and of these 62 percent earned $75 (US) a month or less."

The fact is that Cuban union workers earned about $40 per week in 1958. The lowest paid workers were those who worked in construction. They were paid more than what Mr. Perez believes. Bricklayers earned an average of $4 a day and other construction workers about $7 per day. Construction work in the decade of the 1950's was on the increase - not decrease.And even if we were to accept the figure of $75 per month (for which I'd love to know the source) this would be a decent salary in the Cuba of the 1950's. Rents at that time were as low as $15 or $20 per month, for apartments. Rent control existed in Cuba as far back as 1940. (Although new construction, anything built post-1940, did not have to be rent-controlled.) A gallon of gasoline in 1958 cost about $0.32...

Writing about Cuba in 1958, on page 304 of the Second Edition, Mr. Perez continues, "The neighborhoods of Luyano, Jesus del Monte and Las Yaguas were crowded with tens of thousands of poor, unemployed, unemployable, living in squalor and destitution, eight to a room in hovels of tin sheeting and cardboard without sanitary facilities, garbage collection, sidewalks, or street lighting, and increasingly without hope."

The statement above is only true of one neighborhood called 'Las Yaguas,' but the statement is not accurate about the other neighborhoods.

The fact is there were no 'Yaguas' in Jesus del Monte, nor in Luyano. Jesus del Monte had broad avenues, theaters, churches (The Passionists), homes - new construction of poured concrete and slab - built in the mid 20th century after the Great Depression and WWII, so that by 1958 the homes in this part of the city would have seemed new. In 1958, Luyano was also a middle class neighborhood. It too was a neighborhood composed of new homes, new construction - such as the home built by my own grandmother in 1953 on the corner of Fontz and Cumbre, hospitals (such as 'casa de socorros') etc.

Las Yaguas was a slum. It was home to perhaps as many as 5000 people. President Batista attempted to move its residents into new housing in the 1950's, into something akin to public housing here in the US, in a place called 'Mantillas,' but the people moved back to 'Las Yaguas' on their own because in Las Yaguas they paid no rent. Theose people would routinely illegally vandalize the homes in Mantillas - selling toilets or whatever they could - and returnon their own to Las Yaguas.

Castro then did finally move these indeed 'unemployable' people, as Mr. Perez describes them, out of Las Yaguas and into government-built housing after 1959. But this success was only due to Castro's mandate, this is to say it was something achieved by force, practically at the point of a gun.

Leonardo Puig
Union City, NJ

Cuba, from A to Z
This is a history book, wonderfully thorough, that unfortunately at times takes on the disguise of a dozen monographs torn apart and chronologically slapped back together into one volume.It is an appropriate jumping-off point for further study of Cuba.

What Perez presents in Cuba: Between Reform and Revolution is a book that few students of Cuban history can write:it is unbiased.My political and emotional perspective on Cuba is strong and personal, yet try as I may, the two times I've read this book, I did not ever find it tarnished by the rhetoric of propagandists.

I recommend this book to teachers and professors searching for a complete and honest history of Cuba for classroom use, and to independent students and learners who really want a strong background knowledge on the long history of Cuba.

A good internal political history of Cuba.
Louis Perez has written a good history of internal political developments in Cuba from Columbus to Castro.What is missing, however, is the role of the U.S.;Perez almost totally ignores it.He has a separate volumedealing with U.S.-Cuban relations, but it still seems that more should havebeen included in this one.Perhaps Perez views Cuban events as just that:purely Cuban with outside influences mattering little. ... Read more

Product Description
During the Civil War, Walt Whitman described his admiration for the Union soldiers' loyalty to the ideal of democracy. His argument, that this faith bonded Americans to their nation, has received little critical attention, yet today it raises increasingly relevant questions about American patriotism in the face of growing nationalist sentiment worldwide. Here a group of scholars explores the manner in which Americans have discussed and practiced their patriotism over the past two hundred years. Their essays investigate, for example, the extent to which the promise of democracy has explained citizen loyalty, what other factors--such as devotion to home and family--have influenced patriotism, and how patriotism has often served as a tool to maintain the power of a dominant group and to obscure internal social ills.

This volume examines the use of patriotic language and symbols in building unity in the early republic, rebuilding the nation after the Civil War, and sustaining loyalty in an increasingly diverse society. Continuing through the World Wars to the Clinton presidency, the essay topics range from multiculturalism to reactions toward masculine power. In addition to the editor, the contributors include Cynthia M. Koch, Cecilia Elizabeth O'Leary, Andrew Neather, Stuart McConnell, Gaines M. Foster, Kimberly Jensen, David Glassberg and J. Michael Moore, Lawrence R. Samuel, Robert B. Westbrook, Wendy Kozol, George Lipsitz, Barbara Truesdell, Robin Wagner-Pacifici, and William B. Cohen. ... Read more