U.S. history

High Life: Condo Living in the Suburban Century

by Matthew Lasner

Forthcoming from Yale University Press in 2012

Today, one in five homeowners in American cities and suburbs lives in a multifamily home rather than a single-family... more Today, one in five homeowners in American cities and suburbs lives in a multifamily home rather than a single-family dwelling. As the American dream evolves, precipitated by declining real estate prices and a renewed interest in city living, many predict that condos will become the predominant form of housing in the 21st century. In this unprecedented study Matthew Gordon Lasner explores the history of co-owned multifamily housing in the United States, from New York City's first co-op, in 1881, to contemporary condo and townhouse complexes coast to coast. Lasner explains the complicated social, economic, and political factors that have increased demand for this way of living, situating the trend within the larger housing market and broad shifts in residential architecture. He contrasts the prevalence and popularity of condos, townhouses, and other privately governed communities with their ambiguous economic, legal, and social standing, as well as their striking absence from urban and architectural history.

Abigail Adams

by Amelia Clark

This paper is about Abigail Adams and how she valued the ideals of Republican Motherhood while at the same time... more This paper is about Abigail Adams and how she valued the ideals of Republican Motherhood while at the same time providing important political advice to her husband, John Adams.

Judicial Supremacy and the Politics of Executive Judicial Relations

by David Miles

Honours Dissertation for my MA at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, 2010

Analysis of the emergence of judicial supremacy within American politics, as shown in the work of Whittington, reveals... more Analysis of the emergence of judicial supremacy within American politics, as shown in the work of Whittington, reveals the important role played by political actors and particularly the presidency in the formation of the Supreme Court’s power. This dissertation builds on Whittington’s work regarding judicial supremacy but differs in the extent to which it emphasises the salient role of judicial agency in the formation of the Court’s authority. Judicial agency sees the Court as a political actor making calculations in the context of the prevailing circumstances and adopting strategies to maximise its authority. The relationship between the Supreme Court and the presidency defies easy categorisation, yet the political benefits to presidents of the Court’s ability to render favourable rulings on preferred policies appear to outweigh the undeniable disadvantages which have accrued to presidents from their recognition of judicial authority.

Making an American Feminist Icon: Mary Wollstonecraft’s Reception in US Newspapers, 1800-1869

by Eileen Hunt Botting

History of Political Thought, forthcoming

This article examines Mary Wollstonecraft's public reception in American newspapers from 1800 to 1869. Wollstonecraft... more This article examines Mary Wollstonecraft's public reception in American newspapers from 1800 to 1869. Wollstonecraft was portrayed to the American public as a philosopher of women’s rights, a new model of femininity, and a pioneer of women’s political activism. Although these iconic uses of Wollstonecraft were regularly negative, they grew more positive as the women’s rights movement gained steam alongside the abolition movement. This study thus shows the significance of Wollstonecraft in early representations of women’s rights issues and debates in the US, and underscores the role of journalistic media in the spread and growth of feminism.

Struggling for Freedom: Arthur Miller, The

by Nathan Abrams

New Deal Roots of Anti-Communism

by Don Adams

February 2012 revision of paper first delivered at Missouri Conference on History February 2012 revision of paper first delivered at Missouri Conference on History

The Plausibility of Creationism: A Sociological Comment

by Mathew Guest

pp. 217-236 in S. Barton. & D. Wilkinson (eds) Reading Genesis After Darwin (New York: OUP, 2009).

Building on debates in the sociology of knowledge, this chapter explores how the recent popularity of creationist... more Building on debates in the sociology of knowledge, this chapter explores how the recent popularity of creationist ideas within contemporary western cultures may be explained with reference to social structural changes. A brief history of creationism within the twentieth century is followed by a discussion of how and why the claims associated with creationism are viewed as plausible by those who affirm them. 

In Sports the Best Man Wins: How Joe Louis Whupped Jim Crow

by Theresa Runstedtler

In the anthology, In the Game: Race, Identity, and Sports in the Twentieth Century, ed. Amy Bass

The Civil War in Louisiana: General Banks' Failed Red River Campaign of 1864

by Michael Modica

Imagi-nations in Black and White: Cuba, Haiti, and the Performance of Difference in US National Projects, 1898-1940

by Shannon Rose Riley

Dissertation, University of California, Davis, 2006.
Performance Studies and Critical Theory
Committee: Lynette Hunter, Marc E. Blanchard, Jon D. Rossini

This project argues that Cuba and Haiti, both as site and as image, were crucial to the imaginative restructuring of... more This project argues that Cuba and Haiti, both as site and as image, were crucial to the imaginative restructuring of race and national identity in the U.S. at the turn of the twentieth century. By exploring the ways that national imaginaries—or imagi-Nations—were racialized between 1898 and 1940 through images of Cuba and Haiti, I am able to detail how such images compensated for white national hysteria while justifying U.S. economic imperialism, yet mediated a national black community in the U.S. Between 1898 and 1940, the U.S. occupied Cuba and Haiti for extended periods, creating an intercultural contact zone that facilitated a large body of cultural material by both black and white Americans, including plays, films, literature, and various forms of cultural performance. This body of material allows an examination of white U.S. imperialism and its popular culture in terms of its images of, and relations with, Cuba and Haiti. It also permits a study of the ways that black U.S. Americans re-imagined themselves as “Americans” through imagining, and traveling, to the two island republics. For example, the Harlem Renaissance, occurring during the occupation of Haiti, produced at least nine different plays on the theme of the Haitian Revolution. Through a focus on performance—from theatrical productions and cultural performance to thinking the nation as performance—I develop a theory of multiple racialized national imaginaries in order to increase our understanding of U.S. national identity and culture in the early twentieth century. Finally, given the odd repetition in the current occupation of Haiti by U.N. forces today, and the U.S. government’s increased efforts to bring liberal democracy to Cuba, there is some urgency to this project. In order to analyze both replication and change in national culture over time—from the persistence of the white imperial toolkit to the use of ironic citation as a kind of resistance within U.S. popular culture—I outline a theory of cultural palimpsest that addresses the circulation, citation, reinscription, and erasure of cultural forms and modes of production over time.

Imagi-nations in Black and White: Cuba, Haiti, and the Performance of Difference in US National Projects, 1898-1940

by Shannon Rose Riley

Dissertation, University of California, Davis, 2006.
Performance Studies and Critical Theory
Committee: Lynette Hunter, Marc E. Blanchard, Jon D. Rossini

This project argues that Cuba and Haiti, both as site and as image, were crucial to the imaginative restructuring of... more This project argues that Cuba and Haiti, both as site and as image, were crucial to the imaginative restructuring of race and national identity in the U.S. at the turn of the twentieth century. By exploring the ways that national imaginaries—or imagi-Nations—were racialized between 1898 and 1940 through images of Cuba and Haiti, I am able to detail how such images compensated for white national hysteria while justifying U.S. economic imperialism, yet mediated a national black community in the U.S. Between 1898 and 1940, the U.S. occupied Cuba and Haiti for extended periods, creating an intercultural contact zone that facilitated a large body of cultural material by both black and white Americans, including plays, films, literature, and various forms of cultural performance. This body of material allows an examination of white U.S. imperialism and its popular culture in terms of its images of, and relations with, Cuba and Haiti. It also permits a study of the ways that black U.S. Americans re-imagined themselves as “Americans” through imagining, and traveling, to the two island republics. For example, the Harlem Renaissance, occurring during the occupation of Haiti, produced at least nine different plays on the theme of the Haitian Revolution. Through a focus on performance—from theatrical productions and cultural performance to thinking the nation as performance—I develop a theory of multiple racialized national imaginaries in order to increase our understanding of U.S. national identity and culture in the early twentieth century. Finally, given the odd repetition in the current occupation of Haiti by U.N. forces today, and the U.S. government’s increased efforts to bring liberal democracy to Cuba, there is some urgency to this project. In order to analyze both replication and change in national culture over time—from the persistence of the white imperial toolkit to the use of ironic citation as a kind of resistance within U.S. popular culture—I outline a theory of cultural palimpsest that addresses the circulation, citation, reinscription, and erasure of cultural forms and modes of production over time.

Becoming American: Native American Influences on Revolutionary Political Thinking

by Don Adams

Native American influences on the thinking of pre-Revolutionary European colonists and framers of the U.S.... more Native American influences on the thinking of pre-Revolutionary European colonists and framers of the U.S. Constitution, with attention to the academic controversy surrounding the "influence thesis" in the 1990s.

"’The American Democrat’ Reads Democracy in America. Tocqueville and Cooper in the Transatlantic Hall of Mirrors."

by Thomas Clark

Amerikastudien/American Studies 52.2 (2007) 187-208.

”Repression and Exclusion as Keys to Liberty and Democracy. The Political Thought of James Fenimore Cooper.”

by Thomas Clark

Political Repression in US History. Ed. Cornelis van Minnen and Sylvia L. Hilton. Amsterdam: VU University Press, 2009: 41-55.

" '...to convert men into republican machines.' Rush, Foucault, and the Making of Virtuous Bodies in the Early Republic."

by Thomas Clark

Making National Bodies: Cultural Identity and the Politics of the Body in (Post-) Revolutionary America.  Ed. Stefan Brandt and Astrid Fellner. Trier: WVT , 2010: 61-79.

"…let Cato’s virtues fire:’ Das Catobild in der amerikanischen Revolution [The Image of Cato in the American Revolution]."

by Thomas Clark

Historische Zeitschrift. Beiheft No. 55 (2011): 203-217.

Growing up with a city: Exploring settlement youth work in London and Chicago c.1880-1940

by Kate Bradley

London Journal, vol 34 (3) November 2009 pp.286-99

The first university settlements were founded in East London in 1884, bringing young graduates to the area to live and... more The first university settlements were founded in East London in 1884, bringing young graduates to the area to live and to work for the benefit of impoverished local communities. The settlement model was soon adopted by social reformers around the world. This article considers the question of whether settlements should be seen by historians as a coherent body with shared values, or as institutions whose character and interests were uniquely shaped by their local neighbourhoods — and thus what the study of individual settlements can contribute to our understanding of working class life in East London and elsewhere. This is examined through a comparative study of settlements in London and Chicago and their work with children and young people. This article also considers how settlements
attempted to develop associational cultures and social capital among children and young people.

„Die USA und die russischen Revolutionen von 1917 – Reaktionen im Kongreß und in der New York Times“

by John Andreas Fuchs

In: Forum für osteuropäische Ideen- und Zeitgeschichte 2/2007, S. 59-84

"Fuchs’ article [...] deals with a topic which is too often neglected – the reception of the revolution of 1917... more "Fuchs’ article [...] deals with a topic which is too often neglected – the reception of the revolution of 1917 in elite circles in the United States. He points to Ambassador Francis’s keenness that the US should take the initiative and be first to recognise the Provisional Government and the exaggerated hopes placed in Russia’s new ‘republic’ (which was not officially proclaimed until September) by American opinion. Jewish hopes also rose. Expatriates were not immune. So excited was the congregation of one New York Russian Orthodox cathedral, that traditional prayers for the Tsar were instantly omitted from the liturgy. Once the Bolsheviks came to power the mood quickly soured and turned to stories of child murder and mass killings for fun. The only feature shared by these accounts is inaccuracy. The US did not really create a lasting impact by first recognition; the republic had little solid foundation; the lot of Jews did improve but not in line with expectations and the atrocity stories were often exaggerated or unsubstantiated. However, Fuchs’ excellent account does remind us that, although they were in conflict, liberal opinion in the US opposed both Tsar and Kaiser. Had the Tsar not been overthrown the chances of the United States joining the war would have been greatly reduced."

Christopher Read, Coventry, West Midlands

Source: Christopher Read über: Forum für osteuropäische Ideen- und Zeitgeschichte. Herausgegeben von Nikolaus Lobkowicz, Leonid Luks and Alexei Rybakov. Jg. 11, 2007, H. 2: Schwerpunktthema „Die Russische Revolution“. Böhlau Verlag Köln, Weimar, Wien 2007. ISBN: 978-3-412-21406-7, in: Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas. Neue Folge, 57 (2009) H. 4, S. 612-613: http://www.oei-dokumente.de/JGO/Rez/Read_Forum_11_2007_1.html (04.01.2010)

Foreign Infringement on Intellectual Property Rights

by Historically Digitized

Foreign Infringement on Intellectual Property Rights

Foreign Infringement on Intellectual Property Rights Foreign Infringement on Intellectual Property Rights

Education in the United States (in the Seventies)

by Carl L Bankston

The 1970's were a time of rapidly changing educational trends, and American communities experienced major struggles... more The 1970's were a time of rapidly changing educational trends, and American communities experienced major struggles over racial issues related to busing and school segregation.