Best of
American-History

1968

Speeches and Writings 1832–1858


Abraham Lincoln - 1968
    Covering the years 1832 to 1858, this Library of America volume contains 240 speeches, letters, drafts, and fragments that record his emergence as an eloquent anti-slavery advocate and defender of the Constitution.From the beginning, Lincoln’s career and the style of his writing nurtured each other. During his years as a lawyer, he argued hundreds of cases before judges and juries. As a stump speaker, he became familiar with the ebb and flow of public sentiment. He never spoke down to the “common people” and his engaging idiomatic style is free of irrelevant ornamentation and resounds with the wordplay, sarcasm, and self-mockery of frontier humor as well as with the cadences of the Bible. His speeches and letters echo the political philosophy of and his “beau ideal of a statesman” Henry Clay and the rhetoric of Daniel Webster, while reflecting the ambition of a resolute politician who hoped to be “truly esteemed by my fellow men.”His private letters show how much Lincoln learned about politics as a stalwart of the Illinois Whigs in the 1830s and 40s—how to measure his support, to form alliances, and to avoid divisive quarrels. His public writings reveal his abilities as a party spokesman and orator, equally adept at articulating positions and ridiculing opponents. Included are his speech in Congress attacking the war against Mexico, his fervent call before the Springfield Lyceum for a reverent obedience to the law, and the satiric “Rebecca” letter that nearly involved him in a duel with its enraged target. There are in addition more personal letters and poems that further testify to the complexities of his character.The renewed threat of slavery’s expansion into the territories transformed Lincoln’s political life in 1854. This volume includes several speeches on the subject, notably from his 1858 Senate race against Stephen A. Douglas, along with the complete texts of their seven debates. The exchanges are marked by personal jibes, accusations of falsehood, appeals to human sympathies and racial prejudices, and profound disagreements on whether the spread of slavery was merely a local question or one that imperiled the future of free government. Still the most famous confrontation in American political history, the debates have the tense drama of two powerful minds disagreeing with all the intensity that characterized mid-nineteenth-century American democracy.

Seize the Time: The Story of the Black Panther Party and Huey P. Newton


Bobby Seale - 1968
    In the words of Seale the book "...continues to have a universal apppeal as an account of an oppressed people's struggle for human liberation."

The Gettysburg Campaign: A Study in Command


Edwin B. Coddington - 1968
    This book contends that Gettysburg was a crucial Union victory, primarily because of the effective leadership of Union forces—not, as has often been said, only because the North was the beneficiary of Lee's mistakes. Scrupulously documented and rich in fascinating detail, The Gettysburg Campaign stands as one of the landmark works in the history of the Civil War.

The Johnstown Flood


David McCullough - 1968
    In the mountains above Johnstown, an old earth dam had been hastily rebuilt to create a lake for an exclusive summer resort patronized by the tycoons of that same industrial prosperity, among them Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and Andrew Mellon. Despite repeated warnings of possible danger, nothing was done about the dam. Then came May 31, 1889, when the dam burst, sending a wall of water thundering down the mountain, smashing through Johnstown, and killing more than 2,000 people. It was a tragedy that became a national scandal. Graced by David McCullough's remarkable gift for writing richly textured, sympathetic social history, The Johnstown Flood is an absorbing, classic portrait of life in nineteenth-century America, of overweening confidence, of energy, and of tragedy. It also offers a powerful historical lesson for our century and all times: the danger of assuming that because people are in positions of responsibility they are necessarily behaving responsibly.

Lone Star: A History Of Texas And The Texans


T.R. Fehrenbach - 1968
    Never before has the story been told with more vitality and immediacy. Fehrenbach re-creates the Texas saga from prehistory to the Spanish and French invasions to the heyday of the cotton and cattle empires. He dramatically describes the emergence of Texas as a republic, the vote for secession before the Civil War, and the state's readmission to the Union after the War. In the twentieth century oil would emerge as an important economic resource and social change would come. But Texas would remain unmistakably Texas, because Texans "have been made different by the crucible of history; they think and act in different ways, according to the history that shaped their hearts and minds."

Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis


Robert F. Kennedy - 1968
    Kennedy. In this unique account, he describes each of the participants during the sometimes hour-to-hour negotiations, with particular attention to the actions and views of his brother, President John F. Kennedy. In a new foreword, the distinguished historian and Kennedy adviser Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., discusses the book's enduring importance, and the significance of new information about the crisis that has come to light, especially from the Soviet Union.

Come Spring


Ben Ames Williams - 1968
    It was the way in which towns were founded from the Atlantic seaboard west to the great plains, by stripping off the forest and putting the land to work. The people in this book were not individually as important as George Washington; the town they founded was not as important as New York. But people like them made this country, and towns like ths one were and are the soil in which this country s roots are grounded.ABOUT THE AUTHOR:Ben Ames Williams was born in 1889 in Macon, Mississippi. A graduate of Dartmouth, he became a reporter for the BOSTON AMERICAN, and published short stories in some of the nation s leading magazines. Williams wrote many historical novels before his death in 1953. He carefully researched each book. For COME SPRING, he read the records and diaries of the early settlers; he followed their trails and canoed the same rivers to the sites of their early dwellings. Another important resource was John Langdon Sibley s HISTORY OF UNION written in 1851. Sibley had known those founding families and was able to include accurate details in his history. Ben Ames Williams lived for a time in Union and his famiy still has a residence in the area.

Flying Forts


Martin Caidin - 1968
    The authoritative account of the B-17 Flying Fortress, the most formidable heavy bomber of World War II, with 32 pages of photographs.

White Over Black: American Attitudes Toward the Negro, 1550-1812


Winthrop D. Jordan - 1968
    And as the Englishman became the colonial, and then the revolutionary patriot, and finally the citizen of a new nation, seeking to find his identity in a new land, he created chattel slavery and was in turn confronted by it.White Over Black is Winthrop D. Jordan's masterly study of that process, from the 16th century through the early years of the Republic.

The Day Kennedy Was Shot


Jim Bishop - 1968
    Kennedy’s assassination, The Day Kennedy Was Shot captures the action, mystery, and drama that unfolded on November 22, 1963. Author Jim Bishop’s trademark hour-by-hour suspenseful storytelling drives this account of an unforgettable day in American history. His retelling tracks all of the major and minor characters—JFK, Lee Harvey Oswald, Jack Ruby, Jackie, and more—illuminating a human drama that many readers believe they know we

Southern Tradition at Bay


Richard M. Weaver - 1968
    Southern Tradition at Bay

The Indian Tipi: Its History, Construction, and Use


Reginald Laubin - 1968
    Since that time a tremendous resurgence of interest in the Indian way of life has occurred, resurgence due in part, at least, to the Laubins' life-long efforts at preservation and interpretation of Indian culture.As The Indian Tipi makes obvious, the American Indian is both a practical person and a natural artist. Indian inventions are commonly both serviceable and beautiful. Other tents are hard to pitch, hot in summer, cold in winter, poorly lighted, unventilated, easily blown down, and ugly to boot. The conical tipi of the Plains Indian has none of these faults. It can be pitched by one person. It is roomy, well ventilated at all times, cool in summer, well lighted, proof against high winds and heavy downpours, and, with its cheerful fire inside, snug in the severest winter weather. Moreover, its tilted cone, trim smoke flaps, and crown of poles, presenting a different silhouette from every angle, form a shapely, stately dwelling even without decoration.In this new edition the Laubins have retained all the invaluable aspects of the first edition, and have added a tremendous amount of new material on day-to-day living in the tipi: the section on Indian cooking has been expanded to include a large number and range of Indian foods and recipes, as well as methods of cooking over an open fire, with a reflector oven, and with a ground oven; there are new sections on making buckskin, making moccasins, and making cradle boards; there is a whole new section on child care and general household hints. Shoshoni, Cree, and Assiniboine designs have been added to the long list of tribal tipi types discussed.This new edition is richly illustrated with color and black and white photographs, and drawings to aid in constructing and living in the tipi. It is written primarily for the interested amateur, and will appeal to anyone who likes camping, the out-of-doors, and American Indian lore.

The Unfinished Odyssey of Robert Kennedy


David Halberstam - 1968
    Halberstam shows how Kennedy in his role as leader of the honorableopposition in the Democratic party became the caustic critic of the administration's ghetto policies as well as a more cautious critic of its Vietnam policy, placing himself at the exact median point of American idealism and American power. It is a fascinating story of realpolitik (the Kennedy staff wanted Mayor Daley's backing in Chicago) played for radical aims, but Halberstam demonstrates his thesis that Kennedy was the rare politician who surpassed his image. The Kennedy backers were a coalition of old eggheads, youngish radicals (Allard Lowenstein was a major booster and a radicalizer of the candidate), veterans like Larry O'Brien, and--possibly--because he was the first, candidate to visit them and make demands for them--the ghetto residents. Kennedy was a crucial bridge to the New Politics which was, like the country, in transition politically. Halberstam mourns him.

1897 Sears Roebuck Catalog


Sears, Roebuck and Co. - 1968
    It features products offered to consumers more than 100 years ago. It is suitable for collectors of Americana, social historians, and general readers.

Frederick Douglass Fights For Freedom


Margaret Davidson - 1968
    After reaching freedom, Douglass became an abolitionist, orator, journalist, and one of the most famous freedom fighters of all time. Photos.

Southern Cooking


S.R. Dull - 1968
    The demand for reprints of perennial favorites or early, hard-to-find dishes prompted Mrs. Dull to compile them into her now-famous book. Not only does it include individual recipes, but it also suggests menus for various occasions and holidays. Her famous Georgia Christmas Dinner, for instance, consists of grapefruit, roast turkey, dry stuffing, dry rice, turkey gravy, candied sweet potatoes, buttered green peas, cranberry jelly, celery hearts, hot biscuits, sweet butter, syllabub, and cake.Mrs. Dull was one of the most sought-after caterers in Atlanta even before she began her newspaper column. Her vast, practical knowledge of food and its preparation, and her embrace of new, but never gimmicky, innovations in cooking served her readers well. Upon Mrs. Dull's death in 1964 at the age of 100, the Atlanta Journal said that her book was "the standard by which regional cooks have been measured since 1928." Southern Cooking is the starting place for anyone in search of authentic dishes done in the traditional style.

Gemini: A Personal Account of Man's Venture Into Space


Virgil I. Grissom - 1968
    The final chapter briefly discusses the future Apollo program.

Life of George Bent: Written from His Letters


George E. Hyde - 1968
    Hyde of Omaha concerning life at the fort, his experiences with his Cheyenne kinsmen, and the events which finally led to the military suppression of the Indians on the southern Great Plains. This correspondence, which continued to the eve of Bent's death in 1918, is the source of the narrative here published, the narrator being Bent himself.Almost ninety years have elapsed since the day in 1930 when Mr. Hyde found it impossible to market the finished manuscript of the Bent life down to 1866. (The Depression had set in some months before.) He accordingly sold that portion of the manuscript to the Denver Public Library, retaining his working copy, which carries down to 1875. The account therefore embraces the most stirring period, not only of Bent's own life, but of life on the Plains and into the Rockies. It has never before been published.It is not often that an eyewitness of great events in the West tells his own story. But Bent's narrative, aside from the extent of its chronology (1826 to 1875), has very special significance as an inside view of Cheyenne life and action after the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864, which cost so many of the lives of Bent's friends and relatives. It is hardly probable that we shall achieve a more authentic view of what happened, as the Cheyennes, Arapahos, and Sioux saw it.

O'Neill: Son and Playwright


Louis Sheaffer - 1968
    The turbulent, often tragic life of America's greatest playwright, Eugene O'Neill, is laid bare in this acclaimed and insightful biography

Ten blocks from the White House: An anatomy of the Washington riots of 1968


Ben W. Gilbert - 1968
    

Embers of October


Robert W. Wells - 1968
    This is a special reprint of Fire at Peshtigo, the original editions of which are out of print.

Puritans and Pragmatists: Eight Eminent American Thinkers


Paul K. Conkin - 1968
    In this study, the author finds a degree of continuity and some elements of underlying unity in the varied and idiosyncratic thoughts of these men. Instead of superficial similarities, he emphasizes a common moral tenor, an instrumental conception of knowledge, and a broad, ethical conception of art.

The American Heritage History of the Presidency


Marcus Cunliffe - 1968
    The American Heritage History of the Presidency

Politics and Policy: The Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson Years


James L. Sundquist - 1968
    Education reform, poverty, the environment, social services and more are shown rising from America's post-war boom but taking years, and often much effort, to come into being. This history is more complete than even many individual accounts of given programs as it examines presidential influence, public opinion, changes in Congress, the rise and fall of interest groups, and how each can lead or be led by the others.

Reminiscences of Levi Coffin, the Reputed President of the Underground Railroad


Levi Coffin - 1968
    Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

The Musket and the Cross: The Struggle of France and England for North America


Walter D. Edmonds - 1968
    

The Rise of Religious Liberty in America: A History


Sanford Hoadley Cobb - 1968
    This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

The President's Cookbook, Practical Recipes from George Washington to the Present


Poppy Cannon - 1968
    The "Present" of this book ends with Nixon since it was published in 1968. It is often a humorous look at the various whims and likes/dislikes of the various First Families, while providing a glimpse of the trends of the different eras.

The American Heritage Pictorial History of the Presidents of the United States, Volume 2: James A. Garfield through Lyndon B. Johnson


American Heritage - 1968
    Garfield through Lyndon B. Johnson

Before Mark Twain: A Sampler of Old, Old Times on the Mississippi


John Francis McDermott - 1968
    It includes discussions of the crafts that plied the river, life on the river and descriptions of famous towns along the river.

The Presidents' Own White House Cookbook


Robert Jones - 1968