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Author: Amir Alexander
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226820726
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 385
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Book Description
The surprising history behind a ubiquitous facet of the United States: the gridded landscape. Seen from an airplane, much of the United States appears to be a gridded land of startling uniformity. Perpendicular streets and rectangular fields, all precisely measured and perfectly aligned, turn both urban and rural America into a checkerboard landscape that stretches from horizon to horizon. In evidence throughout the country, but especially the West, the pattern is a hallmark of American life. One might consider it an administrative convenience--an easy way to divide land and lay down streets--but it is not. The colossal grid carved into the North American continent, argues historian and writer Amir Alexander, is a plan redolent with philosophical and political meaning. In 1784 Thomas Jefferson presented Congress with an audacious scheme to reshape the territory of the young United States. All western lands, he proposed, would be inscribed with a single rectilinear grid, transforming the natural landscape into a mathematical one. Following Isaac Newton and John Locke, he viewed mathematical space as a blank slate on which anything is possible and where new Americans, acting freely, could find liberty. And if the real America, with its diverse landscapes and rich human history, did not match his vision, then it must be made to match it. From the halls of Congress to the open prairies, and from the fight against George III to the Trail of Tears, Liberty's Grid tells the story of the battle between grid makers and their opponents. When Congress endorsed Jefferson's plan, it set off a struggle over American space that has not subsided. Transcendentalists, urban reformers, and conservationists saw the grid not as a place of possibility but as an artificial imposition that crushed the human spirit. Today, the ideas Jefferson associated with the grid still echo through political rhetoric about the country's founding, and competing visions for the nation are visible from Manhattan avenues and Kansan pastures to Yosemite's cliffs and suburbia's cul-de-sacs. An engrossing read, Liberty's Grid offers a powerful look at the ideological conflict written on the landscape.
Author: Thomas J. Sugrue
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ISBN: 0812970381
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 738
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Book Description
Sweet Land of Liberty is Thomas J. Sugrue’s epic account of the abiding quest for racial equality in states from Illinois to New York, and of how the intense northern struggle differed from and was inspired by the fight down South. Sugrue’s panoramic view sweeps from the 1920s to the present–more than eighty of the most decisive years in American history. He uncovers the forgotten stories of battles to open up lunch counters, beaches, and movie theaters in the North; the untold history of struggles against Jim Crow schools in northern towns; the dramatic story of racial conflict in northern cities and suburbs; and the long and tangled histories of integration and black power. Filled with unforgettable characters and riveting incidents, and making use of information and accounts both public and private, such as the writings of obscure African American journalists and the records of civil rights and black power groups, Sweet Land of Liberty creates an indelible history.
Author: Merle L. Bowen
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9781108928953
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
For Land and Liberty is a comparative study of the history and contemporary circumstances concerning Brazil's quilombos (African-descent rural communities) and their inhabitants, the quilombolas. The book examines the disposition of quilombola claims to land as a site of contestation over citizenship and its meanings for Afro-descendants, as well as their connections to the broader fight against racism. Contrary to the narrative that quilombola identity is a recent invention, constructed for the purpose of qualifying for opportunities made possible by the 1988 law, Bowen argues that quilombola claims are historically and locally rooted. She examines the ways in which state actors have colluded with large landholders and modernization schemes to appropriate quilombo land, and further argues that, even when granted land titles, quilombolas face challenges issuing from systemic racism. By analyzing the quilombo movement and local initiatives, this book offers fresh perspectives on the resurgence of movements, mobilization, and resistance in Brazil.
Author: Raymond Bial
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 9780618999439
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 64
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Book Description
The story of the island where the immigrants went when they came to America looking for a better way of life and the museum that preserves these memories.
Author: Thomas J. Humphrey
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780875803296
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 191
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Book Description
"In Land and Liberty, Thomas Humphrey recounts the story of the Hudson Valley land riots from the 1750s through the 1790s. He examines the social dimensions of the conflict, from individual landlord-tenant relations to cross-cultural alliances, in the context of colonial structure and Revolutionary politics. Humphrey offers a multilayered explanation of why inhabitants of the Hudson Valley resorted to extreme tactics - and why they achieved mixed results."--BOOK JACKET.
Author: Steven W. Bender
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 0814787223
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 255
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Book Description
One of the quintessential goals of the American Dream is to own land and a home, a place to raise one’s family and prove one’s prosperity. Particularly for immigrant families, home ownership is a way to assimilate into American culture and community. However, Latinos, who make up the country’s largest minority population, have largely been unable to gain this level of inclusion. Instead, they are forced to cling to the fringes of property rights and ownership through overcrowded rentals, transitory living arrangements, and, at best, home acquisitions through subprime lenders. In Tierra y Libertad, Steven W. Bender traces the history of Latinos’ struggle for adequate housing opportunities, from the nineteenth century to today’s anti-immigrant policies and national mortgage crisis. Spanning southwest to northeast, rural to urban, Bender analyzes the legal hurdles that prevent better housing opportunities and offers ways to approach sweeping legal reform. Tierra y Libertad combines historical, cultural, legal, and personal perspectives to document the Latino community’s ongoing struggle to make America home.
Author: Amir Alexander
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226820726
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 385
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Book Description
The surprising history behind a ubiquitous facet of the United States: the gridded landscape. Seen from an airplane, much of the United States appears to be a gridded land of startling uniformity. Perpendicular streets and rectangular fields, all precisely measured and perfectly aligned, turn both urban and rural America into a checkerboard landscape that stretches from horizon to horizon. In evidence throughout the country, but especially the West, the pattern is a hallmark of American life. One might consider it an administrative convenience--an easy way to divide land and lay down streets--but it is not. The colossal grid carved into the North American continent, argues historian and writer Amir Alexander, is a plan redolent with philosophical and political meaning. In 1784 Thomas Jefferson presented Congress with an audacious scheme to reshape the territory of the young United States. All western lands, he proposed, would be inscribed with a single rectilinear grid, transforming the natural landscape into a mathematical one. Following Isaac Newton and John Locke, he viewed mathematical space as a blank slate on which anything is possible and where new Americans, acting freely, could find liberty. And if the real America, with its diverse landscapes and rich human history, did not match his vision, then it must be made to match it. From the halls of Congress to the open prairies, and from the fight against George III to the Trail of Tears, Liberty's Grid tells the story of the battle between grid makers and their opponents. When Congress endorsed Jefferson's plan, it set off a struggle over American space that has not subsided. Transcendentalists, urban reformers, and conservationists saw the grid not as a place of possibility but as an artificial imposition that crushed the human spirit. Today, the ideas Jefferson associated with the grid still echo through political rhetoric about the country's founding, and competing visions for the nation are visible from Manhattan avenues and Kansan pastures to Yosemite's cliffs and suburbia's cul-de-sacs. An engrossing read, Liberty's Grid offers a powerful look at the ideological conflict written on the landscape.
Author: Eric T. Freyfogle
Publisher: Beacon Press
ISBN: 9780807044162
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 220
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Book Description
A fresh legal argument on what it means to own land, navigating issues of eminent domain, sprawl, and conservation Private property poses a great dilemma in American culture. We revere the institution and are quick to protect private-property rights, yet we are troubled when landowners cause harm to their neighbors and communities, especially when new development fuels sprawl and degrades the environment. Recent Supreme Court cases and new state laws around eminent domain have generated great controversy, and yet many people are unsure where they stand on this issue. In this wide-ranging inquiry, law professor Eric Freyfogle explores the inner workings of the familiar but poorly understood institution of private property. He identifies the three threats it currently faces: government mismanagement, the recently reinvigorated property rights movement, and conservation groups' efforts to buy tracts of land in order to protect them. He then offers a solution in the middle ground between the extreme sides of these debates. In On Private Property, Freyfogle gives glimpses of landownership's surprising past, revealing its complex links to liberty and ultimately showing why private property rights must remain consistent with a community's overall good. In conclusion, Freyfogle constructs piece by piece a provocative new vision of landownership, at once respectful of private interests yet responsive to communal needs. "Freyfogle's new book, which probably should have been titled "Roll Over, John Locke," is just what the public debate over property rights needs. Straight talk, and an invitation to open a conversation about the real issues." --Joseph L. Sax, author of Playing Darts with a Rembrandt: Public and Private Rights in Cultural Treasures "A fresh perspective and penetrating legal and historical analysis of an issue that will continue to be in the forefront of land policy in the 21st century." --Anthony Flint, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, author of This Land: The Battle over Sprawl and the Future of America "In a work that eschews easy slogans, Eric Freyfogle proves the truth about American property rights--that original intent, early court opinions, and the realities of modern society all mandate that ownership brings with it weighty but reasonable responsibilities to the larger community. This beautifully-articulated book, at once bold and thoughtful, is bound to become a classic in American constitutional and property law." --Charles Wilkinson, Distinguished University Professor and Moses Lasky Professor of Law at the University of Colorado and author of Crossing the Next Meridian: Land, Water, and the Future of the West
Author: Charles E. IV Miller
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 059546470X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 278
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Book Description
Liberty is not synonymous with freedom. Without an historical, ethical, and moral understanding of liberty, freedom often becomes anarchy. In the Liberty Watch, journalist Charles E. Miller examines the various contexts in which liberty's meaning is obscured or misunderstood in today's society. For more than two hundred years, the United States has thrived due to the initial understanding that liberty does not come from a federal government, but from an omniscient God. Miller uses the founding documents of America's Judeo-Christian history, the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, to support this theory. Unfortunately, today's America has largely abandoned the Christian beliefs which inspired the founders in 1789. Morality and rebellion have corrupted the divine concept of liberty, resulting in a tainted view of our origins. Miller encourages us to make our own choices according to information, conscience, and moral-ethical discernment. In addition, he explores several concepts relating to liberty and freedom, including: Religious liberty as political power Moral choice and liberty The police state and civil liberty Liberty and individualism Liberty and religious tolerance Reminiscent of Thomas Paine's Common Sense, the Liberty Watch delivers a thoughtful, patriotic view of the incredible freedoms citizens of the United States of America enjoy daily.
Author: United States. Federal Communications Commission
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Telecommunication
Languages : en
Pages : 982
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Book Description
Author: Maya Jasanoff
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 1400075475
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 490
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Book Description
NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER • This groundbreaking book offers the first global history of the loyalist exodus to Canada, the Caribbean, Sierra Leone, India, and beyond. At the end of the American Revolution, sixty thousand Americans loyal to the British cause fled the United States and became refugees throughout the British Empire. Liberty's Exiles tells their story. “A smart, deeply researched and elegantly written history.” —New York Times Book Review This surprising account of the founding of the United States and the shaping of the post-revolutionary world traces extraordinary journeys like the one of Elizabeth Johnston, a young mother from Georgia, who led her growing family to Britain, Jamaica, and Canada, questing for a home; black loyalists such as David George, who escaped from slavery in Virginia and went on to found Baptist congregations in Nova Scotia and Sierra Leone; and Mohawk Indian leader Joseph Brant, who tried to find autonomy for his people in Ontario. Ambitious, original, and personality-filled, this book is at once an intimate narrative history and a provocative analysis that changes how we see the revolution’s “losers” and their legacies.
