A Brief Introduction to Life in the United States

A Brief Introduction to Life in the United States PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : United States
Languages : en
Pages : 16

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A Brief Introduction to Life in the United States

A Brief Introduction to Life in the United States PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : United States
Languages : en
Pages : 16

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Book Description


American History

American History PDF Author: Paul S. Boyer
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019538914X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 182

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Book Description
This volume in Oxford's A Very Short Introduction series offers a concise, readable narrative of the vast span of American history, from the earliest human migrations to the early twenty-first century when the United States loomed as a global power and comprised a complex multi-cultural society of more than 300 million people. The narrative is organized around major interpretive themes, with facts and dates introduced as needed to illustrate these themes. The emphasis throughout is on clarity and accessibility to the interested non-specialist.

Industrialization and the Transformation of American Life: A Brief Introduction

Industrialization and the Transformation of American Life: A Brief Introduction PDF Author: Jonathan Rees
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317468058
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
This book provides a descriptive, episodic yet analytical synthesis of industrialization in America. It integrates analysis of the profound economic and social changes taking place during the period between 1877 and the start of the Great Depression. The text is supported by 30 case studies to illustrate the underlying principles of industrialization that cumulatively convey a comprehensive understanding of the era.

The History of Life: A Very Short Introduction

The History of Life: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: Michael J. Benton
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199226326
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 185

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Book Description
This Very Short Introduction presents a succinct and accessible guide to the key episodes in the story of life on earth - from the very origins of life four million years ago to the extraordinary diversity of species around the globe today.

Astrobiology

Astrobiology PDF Author: Kevin W. Plaxco
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421400960
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 347

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Book Description
Informed by new planetary discoveries and the findings from recent robotic missions to Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, scientists are rapidly replacing centuries of speculation about potential extraterrestrial habitats with real knowledge about the possibility of life outside our own biosphere -- if it exists, and where. This second edition of Kevin W. Plaxco and Michael Gross's widely acclaimed text incorporates the latest research in astrobiology to bring readers the most comprehensive, up-to-date, and engaging introduction to the field available. Plaxco and Gross expand their examination of the origin of chemical elements, the developments that made the Universe habitable, and how life continues to be sustained. They discuss in great detail the formation of the first galaxies and stars, the diverse chemistry of the primordial planet, the origins of metabolism, the evolution of complex organisms, and the feedback regulation of Earth's climate. They also explore life in extreme habitats, potential extraterrestrial habitats, and the current status of the search for extraterrestrial life. Weaving together the relevant threads of astronomy, geology, chemistry, biophysics, and microbiology, this broadly accessible introductory text captures the excitement, controversy, and progress of the dynamic young field of astrobiology. New to this edition is a glossary of terms and an epilogue recapping the key unanswered questions, making Astrobiology an ideal primer for students and, indeed, for anyone curious about life and the Universe. Praise for the first edition of Astrobiology "Certainly the most readable introduction to astrobiology now available." -- Chemical and Engineering News "Plaxco and Gross bring us as close to aliens as we can currently get. I recommend this book to anyone interested in science's newest kid on the block." -- Astronomy Now "A good read for all those who are fascinated by the search for extraterrestrial life and the origin of life on our own planet. I shall certainly value it in my own library." -- Chemistry World "An accessible guide to this young and interdisciplinary field." -- Physics World "The fascinating world of extremophiles is well presented, and a broad overview of the searches for evidence of life beyond Earth rounds off the book. The text is liberally illustrated with relevant figures that greatly enhance the content, and entertaining snippets of information detailing the quirks of research in this field nicely supplement the scientific content." -- Astrobiology "A comprehensive yet concise introduction to the field." -- The Space Review

Life in the United States

Life in the United States PDF Author: Willie Seth
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789987160013
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 170

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Book Description
This is a general introduction to life in the United States. The focus is on contemporary times. It covers a wide range of subjects on life in the United States.Subjects covered include the American culture,a profile of the nation,geography,the American dream and what it means,the people of different races and cultures who constitute the United States and much more. It's useful to those who want to learn about life in the United States and how Americans live; what they should expect when they go to the United States for the first time and some of the things they should and should not do if they want to fit in the American society and when they interact with Americans. The book also contains some information even Americans themselves may find to be useful.

The Rise of Robert Millikan: Portrait of a Life in American Science

The Rise of Robert Millikan: Portrait of a Life in American Science PDF Author: Robert H. Kargon
Publisher: Plunkett Lake Press
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 167

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Book Description
“I do not consider myself to be Robert Millikan’s biographer. This book is not a full record of Millikan’s life or even of his scientific career. It is an essay, very selective, on themes that are illustrated and illuminated by Millikan’s life in American science. It is, as well, a portrait of the development of a scientist... Robert Millikan was among the most famous of American scientists; to the public of the 1920s, Millikan represented science. The first American-born physicist to win the Nobel Prize, Millikan was a leader in the application of scientific research to military problems during World War I and a guiding force in the rise of the California Institute of Technology to a preeminent place in American scientific education and research. His life is therefore peculiarly suited to illuminate and provide texture for the vast changes that have taken place in science during the twentieth century. In this extended essay, I employ the biographical mode to explore several important aspects of this theme. Millikan was successively a teacher, researcher, administrator, entrepreneur, and sage. By describing the novel roles that he assumed, I suggest how science grew in complexity and carved out an essential place for itself in our general culture.” — Robert H. Kargon, from the Preface of The Rise of Robert Millikan: Portrait of a Life in American Science “Professor Kargon... has given us a sympathetic account of Millikan’s scientific career, including his great triumphs, his rearguard actions to defend untenable positions, and the eventual rejection or revision of every major result or standpoint. But he is more concerned with Millikan’s influence on the developing American physics community and with Millikan’s role in advancing American science generally and American higher education... Together with the chemist A.P. Noyes and the astronomer G.E. Hale, Millikan... believed in an American scientific destiny... This picture of American science is presented with great insight, tremendous learning, and wit... Professor Kargon’s book strikes a happy balance between being an interpretive story of a scientific life and a social history of science in America. Every reader interested in science or in the place of science in society will come away from this book with new information, important insights and a better understanding of the growth of scientific ideas and institutions in the twentieth century.” — I. Bernard Cohen, Nature “With the publication of this volume by Kargon, readers now have new and valuable access to much material about Millikan that was previously unavailable... Kargon states that he is not writing a biography of Millikan but rather a portrait of the man and the scientific scene in early 20th-century America... he has succeeded well in this endeavor... the book is well written, and readers who are already reasonably conversant with 20th-century developments in physics will find much that is illuminating... a genuine contribution to the history of science.” — Katherine R. Sopka, American Scientist “[H]ere is an admirable piece of work... Kargon has not sought to make his readers like his subject, but only to understand his scientific style, his achievements, and his character, and to perceive how his life was ‘a microcosm of new roles assumed by the scientist during the course of the twentieth century’... Kargon’s [...] insights [are] important, and his book [is] deserving of a careful study. “ — Robert C. Post, The American Historical Review “A useful corrective to Millikan’s self-portrait that reveals some of the blemishes, as well as the embellishments, of an important life in American science.” — Robert W. Seidel, Science “For over thirty years, the only overview of Millikan’s life available to the layman was his own selective autobiography. That book either omitted or told only one side (sometimes biased by hindsight) of many important controversial episodes associated with his achievements and views... Kargon’s portrait-essay deals with some of these neglected incidents in a well-written and coherent manner aimed at a wide readership.” — John L. Michel, Technology and Culture “A very readable work with the virtue of containing a great deal of information in a brief compass. Kargon’s book deserves and will receive a wide audience as the successor to its subject’s autobiography... [Kargon] also merits credit for interesting discussions on Millikan as a statesman, administrator, and spokesman for science... a clearly first-rate narrative...” — Nathan Reingold, Isis “Admirably, Kargon combines institutional with intellectual history... Kargon offers a fascinating discussion of Millikan’s and George Hale’s contributions to war research, the California Institute of Technology, and the Mount Wilson Observatory. Kargon rightly stresses the collaborators’ links with the leaders of finance and industry developing Los Angeles... as a brief sketch of Millikan the scientific institution builder, Kargon’s book deserves the wide audience he seeks.” — Peter Galison, The Journal of American History “The book leaves us in no doubt about [Millikan’s] ability, but does not gloss over his occasional obstinacy or his wishful thinking about past errors, matters on which some histories tend to be silent. Millikan was not a revolutionary who started new ideas, but the author stresses — rightly — the importance of men like him for the progress of science.” — Rudolf Peierls, The New York Review of Books “A gem of a book — thought-provoking, insightful, highly interesting reading.” — Lawrence Badash, University of California, Santa Barbara “The author skillfully weaves the story of Millikan with the story of modern science in a book that will be well received by a variety of audiences from professional historians of science to the general public.” — Choice “Kargon’s background in physics serves him well in placing Millikan’s work in its theoretical context, in the analysis of the work itself, and in generally managing to capture both the intense excitement and the routine involved in testing the ideas of the giants of that period in physics... Kargon... has certainly opened enough questions in this perceptive work — in addition to the large number that he has settled; and he has demonstrated an important use for the biographical mode. The general American historian as well as the historian of science can profit from reading this volume.” — George H. Daniels, The Historian “Robert Millikan’s scientific career, his character, and his roles as teacher, administrator at the California Institute of Technology, entrepreneur, and public figure are the topics covered in this biography. Even in discussing Millikan’s later decline as a front-line scientist, author Robert Kargon treats the scientist with compassion and fairness and portrays him as a many-faceted, often controversial man with doubts and uncertainties at the height of his fame... The high school physics student will find this book engaging and insightful in its description of a scientist struggling with science, self, and society.” — A. Cordell Perkes, The Science Teacher “[V]ery well researched and written. Robert Kargon gives an excellent picture of the rise of American physics, from the years when every aspiring young American physicist wanted to go to Germany to study, to the years when every aspiring young European physicist wanted to come to the United States for the same purpose. He clearly understands science, yet knows how to present its history so that it is interesting and meaningful to non-scientists. He tells not only of Millikan’s triumphs, but of his doubts as well; of his discoveries, and also of his mistakes... All in all, this is an excellent book, strongly recommended to the reader who is interested in the history of American science, and in the life of an outstanding practitioner of it.” — Donald E. Osterbrock, The Wisconsin Magazine of History

American Immigration: A Very Short Introduction

American Immigration: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: David A. Gerber
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197542441
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
An updated, penetrating, and balanced analysis of one of the most contentious issues in America today, offering a historically informed portrait of immigration. Americans have come from every corner of the globe, and they have been brought together by a variety of historical processes--conquest, colonialism, the slave trade, territorial acquisition, and voluntary immigration. In this Very Short Introduction, historian David A. Gerber captures the histories of dozens of American ethnic groups over more than two centuries and reveals how American life has been formed in significant ways by immigration. He discusses the relationships between race and ethnicity in the life of these groups and in the formation of American society, as well as explaining how immigration policy and legislation have helped to form those relationships. Moreover, by highlighting the parallels that contemporary patterns of immigration and resettlement share with those of the past - which Americans now generally regard as having had positive outcomes - the book offers an optimistic portrait of current immigration that is at odds with much present-day opinion. Newly updated, this book speaks directly to the ongoing fears of immigration that have fueled the debate about both illegal immigration and the need for stronger immigration laws and a border wall.

Writing the Nation: A Concise Introduction to American Literature 1865 to Present

Writing the Nation: A Concise Introduction to American Literature 1865 to Present PDF Author: Amy Berke
Publisher: Good Press
ISBN:
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 742

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Book Description
Writing the Nation displays key literary movements and the American authors associated with the movement. Topics include late romanticism, realism, naturalism, modernism, and modern literature. Contents: Late Romanticism (1855-1870) Realism (1865-1890) Local Color (1865-1885) Regionalism (1875-1895) William Dean Howells Ambrose Bierce Henry James Sarah Orne Jewett Kate Chopin Mary E. Wilkins Freeman Charles Waddell Chesnutt Charlotte Perkins Gilman Naturalism (1890-1914) Frank Norris Stephen Crane Turn of the Twentieth Century and the Growth of Modernism (1893 - 1914) Booker T. Washington Zane Grey Modernism (1914 - 1945) The Great War Une Generation Perdue... (a Lost Generation) A Modern Nation Technology Modernist Literature Further Reading: Additional Secondary Sources Robert Frost Wallace Stevens William Carlos Williams Ezra Pound Marianne Moore T. S. Eliot Edna St. Vincent Millay E. E. Cummings F. Scott Fitzgerald Ernest Hemingway Arthur Miller Southern Renaissance – First Wave Ellen Glasgow William Faulkner Eudora Alice Welty The Harlem Renaissance Jessie Redmon Fauset Zora Neale Hurston Nella Larsen Langston Hughes Countee Cullen Jean Toomer American Literature Since 1945 (1945 - Present) Southern Literary Renaissance - Second Wave (1945-1965) The Cold War and the Southern Literary Renaissance Economic Prosperity The Civil Rights Movement in the South New Criticism and the Rise of the MFA Program Innovation Tennessee Williams James Dickey Flannery O'Connor Postmodernism Theodore Roethke Ralph Ellison James Baldwin Allen Ginsberg Adrienne Rich Toni Morrison Donald Barthelme Sylvia Plath Don Delillo Alice Walker Leslie Marmon Silko David Foster Wallace

A People's History of the United States

A People's History of the United States PDF Author: Howard Zinn
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 9780060528423
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 764

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Book Description
Since its original landmark publication in 1980, A People's History of the United States has been chronicling American history from the bottom up, throwing out the official version of history taught in schools -- with its emphasis on great men in high places -- to focus on the street, the home, and the, workplace. Known for its lively, clear prose as well as its scholarly research, A People's History is the only volume to tell America's story from the point of view of -- and in the words of -- America's women, factory workers, African-Americans, Native Americans, the working poor, and immigrant laborers. As historian Howard Zinn shows, many of our country's greatest battles -- the fights for a fair wage, an eight-hour workday, child-labor laws, health and safety standards, universal suffrage, women's rights, racial equality -- were carried out at the grassroots level, against bloody resistance. Covering Christopher Columbus's arrival through President Clinton's first term, A People's History of the United States, which was nominated for the American Book Award in 1981, features insightful analysis of the most important events in our history. Revised, updated, and featuring a new after, word by the author, this special twentieth anniversary edition continues Zinn's important contribution to a complete and balanced understanding of American history.