Poor Man's Fortune


Book Description

White working-class conservatives have played a decisive role in American history, particularly in their opposition to social justice movements, radical critiques of capitalism, and government help for the poor and sick. While this pattern is largely seen as a post-1960s development, Poor Man's Fortune tells a different story, excavating the long history of white working-class conservatism in the century from the Civil War to World War II. With a close study of metal miners in the Tri-State district of Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma, Jarod Roll reveals why successive generations of white, native-born men willingly and repeatedly opposed labor unions and government-led health and safety reforms, even during the New Deal. With painstaking research, Roll shows how the miners' choices reflected a deep-seated, durable belief that hard-working American white men could prosper under capitalism, and exposes the grim costs of this view for these men and their communities, for organized labor, and for political movements seeking a more just and secure society. Roll's story shows how American inequalities are in part the result of a white working-class conservative tradition driven by grassroots assertions of racial, gendered, and national privilege.













Colorado


Book Description

Since 1976, newcomers and natives alike have learned about the rich history of the magnificent place they call home from Colorado: A History of the Centennial State. In the fifth edition, coauthors Carl Abbott, Stephen J. Leonard, and Thomas J. Noel incorporate recent events, scholarship, and insights about the state in an accessible volume that general readers and students will enjoy. The new edition tells of conflicts, shifting alliances, and changing ways of life as Hispanic, European, and African American settlers flooded into a region that was already home to Native Americans. Providing a balanced treatment of the entire state’s history—from Grand Junction to Lamar and from Trinidad to Craig—the authors also reveal how Denver and its surrounding communities developed and gained influence. While continuing to elucidate the significant impact of mining, agriculture, manufacturing, and tourism on Colorado, the fifth edition broadens and focuses its coverage by consolidating material on Native Americans into one chapter and adding a new chapter on sports history. The authors also expand their discussion of the twentieth century with updated sections on the environment, economy, politics, and recent cultural conflicts. New illustrations, updated statistics, and an extensive bibliography including Internet resources enhance this edition.







Consulting Spirits


Book Description

Throughout history, people have been intrigued with spirits, angels, or devas as sources of wisdom and guidance. They are not only interesting as those who possess an insight into events and circumstances, but also as proof of life after death. In this clear and useful reference guide, Bjorling presents a listing of the literature on the various ways in which people of different cultures have consulted spirits—through shamans and oracles, magic, mediums, Voodoo, and psychics. Each chapter contains a general introduction to the respective topic as well as a listing of pertinent books, articles, and dissertations. His survey also includes early spirit contacts in Africa, Latin America, and Asia.







A Bibliography of New York State Communities


Book Description

Bibliographies of local history are essential research tools for historians, genealogists, and book collectors. This volume is an attempt to bring together citations to all the books and pamphlets dealing with New York State history at the local or community level, which were published between 1900 and 1987; also included are some of the more important local history publications published prior to 1900, as well as a few works published as recently as 1989. It is not an attempt to compile a complete bibliography of the state which would undoubtedly require several large volumes, but rather, is directed more specifically to the needs of the local history and genealogy researcher. Material pertaining to the history of the major cities of the state has generally been excluded. Periodical articles and manuscript materials have also been excluded. About 2,500 publications are described in the listings which are arranged by county and town. This revised and enlarged edition updates the 1988 work with numerous additional citations, well-annotated for informative and entertaining reading, covering the following new subjects: Hudson Valley, Indians, maps, northern and western New York, reference books which include a substantial amount of New York material, Revolutionary War, Shakers and books with statewide coverage.