Catalogue of the John Adams Library in the Public Library of the City of Boston


Book Description

The Adams Library of 2,756 volumes was presented to the town of Quincy, Mass., in 1822; a catalogue was issued in 1823 under title: Deeds and other documents relating to the several pieces of land, and to the library presented to the town of Quincy, by President Adams, together with a catalogue of the books. The library was lodged, after various transfers, in the Thomas Crane public library of Quincy in 1882, and deposited in the Boston public library in 1894. Additions to the original collection have brought the numbers to 3,019.




Sowing Modernity


Book Description

Contrary to those who regard the economic transformation of the West as a gradual process spanning centuries, Peter D. McClelland claims the initial transformation of American agriculture was an unmistakable revolution. He asks when a single crucial question was first directed persistently, pervasively, and systematically to farming practices: Is there a better way? McClelland surveys practices from crop rotation to livestock breeding, with a particular focus on the change in implements used to produce small grains. With wit and verve and an abundance of detail, he demonstrates that the first great surge in inventive activity in agronomy in the United States took place following the War of 1812, much of it in a fifteen-year period ending in 1830. Once questioning the status quo became the norm for producers on and off the farm, according to McClelland, the march to modernization was virtually assured. With the aid of more than 270 illustrations, many of them taken from contemporary sources, McClelland describes this stunning transformation in a manner rarely found in the agricultural literature. How primitive farming implements worked, what their defects were, and how they were initially redesigned are explained in a manner intelligible to the novice and yet offering analysis and information of special interest to the expert.







History of American Political Thought


Book Description

This book is a collection of secondary essays on America's most important philosophic thinkers--statesmen, judges, writers, educators, and activists--from the colonial period to the present. Each essay is a comprehensive introduction to the thought of a noted American on the fundamental meaning of the American regime.




Niles' Weekly Register


Book Description







Horsemen of the Trumpocalypse


Book Description

A line-up of the dirty dealers and defenders of the indefensible who are definitely not "making America great again" Donald Trump has assembled a rogue's gallery of alt-right hatemongers, crony capitalists, immigrant bashers, and climate-change deniers to run the American government. To survive the next four years, we the people need to know whose hands are on the levers of power. And we need to know how to challenge their abuses. John Nichols, veteran political correspondent at the Nation, has been covering many of these deplorables for decades. Sticking to the hard facts and unafraid to dig deep into the histories and ideologies of the people who make up Trump's inner circle, Nichols delivers a clear-eyed and complete guide to this wrecking-crew administration.




U.S. Presidents as Orators


Book Description

This first systematic critique on the rhetoric of 21 presidents shows how political constraints shaped rhetoric and how oratory shaped politics. An introduction places American public address in the context of classical rhetorical practices and theory and sets the stage for the bio-critical essays about presidents ranging from Washington to Clinton. Experts analyze the style and use of language, important speeches and their impact, and their ethical ramifications. Each essay on a president also keys major speeches to authoritative texts and offers a chronology and bibliography of primary and secondary sources. For students, teachers, and professionals in American public address, political communication, and the presidency.