This reader is a compilation of current newspaper, magazine, and journal articles on American history. The issues discussed include: reconstruction and the gilded age; the emergence of modern America; and new directions for America. Annual Editions titles are supported by Dushkin Online (www.dushkin.com/online/), a student Web site designed for additional study support tools and links to related Web sites.

UNIT 1. Reconstruction and the Gilded Age

1. The New View of Reconstruction, Eric Foner, American Heritage, October/November 1983

Prior to the 1960s, according to Eric Foner, Reconstruction was portrayed in history books as “just about the darkest page in the American saga.” This article presents a balanced view of the era and suggests that, even though Reconstruction failed to achieve its objectives, its “animating vision” still has relevance.

2. The Nickel and Dime Empire, Joseph Gustaitis, American History, March 1998

When F. W. Woolworth opened his first stores in 1879, all merchandise sold for a nickel or less. In order to sell higher quality goods, he soon raised the top price to a dime. His five-and-ten-cent stores offered customers an unprecedented choice of goods at affordable prices. The idea caught on and his chain spread across the country.

3. Buffalo Soldiers, T. J. Stiles, Smithsonian, December 1998

Many writers have depicted Afro-American soldiers in the post–Civil War era as a footnote to history. “In fact,” Stiles writes, “black regulars took center stage in the Armys great Western drama, shouldering combat responsibilities far out of proportion to their numbers.” These “buffalo soldiers,” as the Indians called them, perservered in spite of poor food and equipment and the local prejudices that they found where they were stationed.

4. Undermining the Molly Maguires, Joseph H. Bloom, American History, August 1999

Mine workers in Pennsylvania faced the threats of explosions and cave-ins and put in long hours of backbreaking labor for wages that were barely sufficient for existence. Some miners joined secret organizations known as the “Molly Maguires” in order to improve conditions. These groups were alleged to have been responsible for murders and beatings over the years, and, in 1876, 20 accused Mollys were found guilty of murder, 10 of whom were hanged.

5. Deja Vu: Revisiting the 1876 Presidential Election, Jeremy F. Plant, USA Today Magazine (Society for the Advancement of Education), May 2001

“The 1876 presidential election was from the start a contest of major importance,” Jeremy Plant writes, “a vote for the future direction the nation would take.” The author examines how this hotly disputed election resulted in a stalemate over counting votes that in some ways resembles the controversy in the election of 2000. The deadlock ultimately was resolved and Republican candidate Rutherford B. Hayes became president.

6. The Death of Wilhautyah, Mark Highberger, American History, December 1998

The killing of a Nez Perce Indian in 1877 led to a brutal war between the Nez Perce and the United States Army. At its end, defeated Nez Perce Chief Joseph told a general that “from where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.”

UNIT 2. The Emergence of Modern America

7. American Football, Bruce K. Stewart, American History, December 1995

Some form of football has been played for centuries. Intercollegiate competition began in the late 1870s, and the codification of rules over the next two decades led to the modern game of football.

8. Where the Other Half Lived, Verlyn Klinkenborg, Mother Jones, July/August 2001

The Mulberry Bend section was one of the most notorious slums in New York City. Danish-born reformer Jacob Riis photographed and wrote about the squalor and unbelievably crowded conditions in which the mostly immigrant population of the Bend had to live.

9. “If You Men Dont Withdraw, We Will Mow Every One of You Down”, William C. Kashatus, American History, April 2000

On July 6, 1892, the Pinkerton National Detective Agency sent 300 armed men to the mill town of Homestead, Pennsylvania. Labor trouble had arisen there because wages had been lowered by mill owner Andrew Carnegie. Soon after the Pinkertons arrived, shots were fired and the “Homestead massacre” began. Carnegie had left the country before the violence began, but he had told his plant manager to break the union and said in advance that he would approve “anything you do” to bring this about.

10. Electing the President, 1896, Edward Ranson, History Today, October 1996

The election of 1896 was an emotional one, with both Democrats and Republicans predicting dire consequences if the other side won. Depression hung over the land, relations between labor and capital approached industrial warfare, and sectional antagonisms ran high. Democratic candidate William Jennings Bryan lost because he “was the champion of old America in the vain struggle against an emerging twentieth-century new America.”

11. Our First Southeast Asian War, David R. Kohler and James W. Wensyel, American History, January/February 1990

In 1898, the United States fought a short, victorious war with Spain. When President William McKinley decided to acquire the Philippine Islands from Spain, however, a bloody insurrection began that lasted for years. David Kohler and James Wensyel claim that this struggle should have provided lessons about Vietnam for American policymakers 60 years later.

12. Lady Muckraker, Paula A. Treckel, American History, June 2001

During the first years of the twentieth century, reformer Ida Tarbell published a series of magazine articles that culminated in her 1904 book, The History of Standard Oil. She exposed the shady and ruthless practices the company employed to eliminate competition and to swindle the public. She and other “muckrakers” helped pave the way for the rise of the Progressive movement.

UNIT 3. From Progressivism to the 1920s

13. The Ambiguous Legacies of Womens Progressivism, Robyn Muncy, OAH Magazine of History, Spring 1999

Hundreds of thousands of women threw themselves into Progressive reform, the legacies of which are with us today. Most students assume that such activism and power must have tended unambiguously to liberate women. Robyn Muncy points out that the truth is not that simple, and that female Progressive activism left a complicated legacy.

14. The Fate of Leo Frank, Leonard Dinnerstein, American Heritage, October 1996

In 1913, Leo Frank, convicted for the murder of a young girl in Marietta, Georgia, was removed from jail and lynched by an angry mob. Frank was innocent, but the “injustices caused by industrialism, urban growth in Alanta and fervent anti-Semitism conspired to wreck one man.”

15. Margaret Sanger, Gloria Steinem, Time, April 13, 1998

In 1914 Margaret Sanger launched The Woman Rebel, a feminist newspaper that advocated birth control. She was arrested for inciting violence and promoting obscenity. Two years later she opened the first family-planning clinic in the United States, for which she was arrested again. Gloria Steinem discusses the career of one of the most important forerunners of womens liberation.

16. The Dark Side of Normalcy, Michael D. Haydock, American History, April 1999

Warren G. Hardings election to the presidency in 1920 promised a time of recovery to a nation wearied by the demands of wartime. His tenure did produce some accomplishments, but they are overshadowed by its reputation of being one of the most corrupt administrations in American history.

17. Marcus Garvey and the Rise of Black Nationalism, Elwood D. Watson, USA Today Magazine (Society for the Advancement of Education), November 2000

Black leader Marcus Garvey founded the United Negro Improvement Association in 1917. By the mid-20s it had more than 700 branches in 38 states. The organization ultimately collapsed under myriad charges of fraud and other financial misdeeds. “The larger significance of Garveyism,” Watson writes, was that it was able to “tap successfully the ambitions and emotions of people whose lives were held down by class, economics, and racism.”

UNIT 4. From the Great Depression to World War II

18. ‘Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?, Henry Allen, Washington Post National Weekly Edition, October 25, 1999

“Its not like you go out on your porch and see the Depression standing there like King Kong,” Henry Allen writes. “Most neighborhoods, things look pretty normal….” But beneath the appearance of normality, many people were leading lives of desperation from which they saw no escape.

19. A Monumental Man, Gerald Parshall, U.S. News and World Report, April 28, 1997

Gerald Parshall discusses Franklin D. Roosevelts personal characteristics: his famous smile, his speeches, “fireside chats,” and his ability to “treat kings like commoners and commoners like kings.” Special attention is paid to “FDRs splendid deception”his determination to conceal the fact that a 1921 bout with polio had left him unable to walk.

20. A War in Letters, Mary Beth Kennedy Voda, American History, June 2000

The tiny island of Iwo Jima is positioned about halfway between the American air bases in the Mariana Islands and Tokyo. Airfields on the island provided for emergency landings by damaged or malfunctioning bombers. The fight for Iwo in early 1944 was vicious and bloody. This essay contains letters written home by both an American enlisted man and a Japanese officer.

21. America and the Holocaust, William J. Vanden Heuvel, American Heritage,

Some historians claim that the American failure to impede or halt the Nazi extermination of Jews amounts to complicity. The author examines the alternatives available at the time, and he concludes that concentrating on winning the war as quickly as possible was vastly more effective in affecting the Holocaust than any rescue efforts proposed.

22. The G.I. Bill, Michael D. Haydock, American History, September/October 1996

The Servicemens Readjustment Act, more popularly known as “the G.I. Bill,” proved to be one of the most revolutionary pieces of legislation in American history. Some 2.25 million men and women received college tuition as well as a subsistence allowance by the time it expired.

23. The Biggest Decision: Why We Had to Drop the Atomic Bomb, Robert James Maddox, American Heritage, May/June 1995

Some critics have argued that Japan was so close to surrender during the summer of 1945 that the use of atomic bombs was unnecessary. Robert Maddox shows that this criticism is misguided. The Japanese army, which controlled the situation, was prepared to fight to the finish, and it hoped to inflict such hideous casualties on invading forces that the United States would agree to a negotiated peace.

UNIT 5. From the Cold War to 2001

24. Baseballs Noble Experiment, William C. Kashatus, American History, March/April 1997

Jackie Robinson broke the color line in major league baseball when he began playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. This article explains the role of Dodger president Branch Rickey and the hardships that Robinson had to endure. Robinson triumphed and went on to a Hall of Fame career. He inspired countless young blacks, “and in the process taught many white Americans to respect others regardless of the color of their skin.”

25. What Happened to Organized Labor?, Daniel Nelson, American Heritage, July/August 1999

Between 1935 and 1945, organized labor had quadrupled its membership. It emerged from the war apparently stronger than ever. This success produced a powerful backlash, which culminated in the punitive Taft-Hartley Act of 1947. Daniel Nelson examines the effect of that legislation and discusses why unions have continued to decline in strength.

26. 1948: The Presidential Election, Michael D. Haydock, American History, June 1998

Few believed Harry S. Truman had much of a chance to win the presidential election of 1948. With his party riven by defections from both right and left, Truman staged a vigorous campaign against the “do-nothing Congress” and against his well-financed opponent, Thomas E. Dewey. Polls nonetheless predicted a Dewey landslide. They were wrong.

27. The Split-Level Years, 1950–1960: Elvis, Howdy Doody Time, McDonalds and the Rumblings of Rebellion, Henry Allen, Washington Post National Weekly Edition, November 8, 1999

The 1950s brought us Elvis, Howdy Doody, and McDonalds. There were also rumblings of discontent during this decade of conformity. Henry Allen guides us through the era of Marilyn Monroe, “Ozzie and Harriet,” and teenage rebellion.

28. The Spirit of 68, John B. Judis, The New Republic, August 31, 1998

According to John Judis, “America passed irreversibly during the Sixties from a culture of toil, sacrifice, saving, and abstinence to a culture of consumption, lifestyle, and quality of life.” He attributes these changes to the emergence of consumer capitalism, in response to which the counterculture as well as the religious right emerged.

29. Nixons America, Michael Barone, U.S. News and World Report, September 20, 1999

Richard M. Nixon is best remembered for the scandals that forced him to become the first president to resign from office. Watergate, Michael Barone argues, should not blind us to his very real accomplishments. “Postwar America did not move gracefully into the quite different America we know today,” he writes, “but its movement was shaped in many ways by Richard Nixon and it cannot be imagined without him.”

30. Face-Off, John Lewis Gaddis, U.S. News and World Report, October 18, 1999

To many people, the essentially peaceful breakup of the Soviet Union could only have happened the way it did. Those who lived through the cold war could not have known the outcome, which at times seemed tin doubt. John Gaddis analyzes the evolution of this global struggle, concluding that tension between East and West defined the cold war but that it left a legacy of the victory of hope over fear.

31. What Kind of President?, Timothy J. Penny, The World and I, July 2001

“The Clinton presidency was one of highs and lows,” Timothy Penny writes, “many small successes, and several large failures.” This essay offers an even-handed evaluation of this controversial figures presidency.

32. What September 11th Really Wrought, The Economist, January 12, 2002

Most Americans will remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they first learned of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. This article examines the impact of the tragedy on American society and government.

UNIT 6. New Directions for American History

33. Breaking the Global-Warming Gridlock, Daniel Sarewitz and Roger Pielke Jr., The Atlantic Monthly, July 2000

The debates over global warming, the authors claim, have focused on the wrong issues and distracted attention from what needs to be done. They argue that it is imperative “to ameliorate the social and political conditions that lead people to behave in environmentally disruptive ways.”

34. America at the Apex: Empire or Leader?, Henry Kissinger, The National Interest, Summer 2001

Henry Kissinger believes that Americas leaders and the public have failed to shake the legacies of the 1990s. “The result,” he writes, “is that the countrys pre-eminence is coupled with the serious potential of becoming irrelevant to many of the currents affecting and ultimately transforming the global order.” We should learn what goals we are capable of attaining and what goals “are simply beyond our capacity.”

35. A Politics for Generation X, Ted Halstead, The Atlantic Monthly, August 1999

According to Ted Halstead, todays young adults may indeed be more disengaged politically than any others in American history. He claims they have less confidence in government and a weaker allegiance to country or party. They are also more materialistic. Will their political agendas become the wave of the future in this country?