Discovering the American Past: A Look at the Evidence, Volume II: Since 1865 » (6th Edition)

William Bruce Wheeler received his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia in 1967. He is co-author of DISCOVERING THE GLOBAL PAST (2012), DISCOVERING THE AMERICAN PAST (2012), and DISCOVERING THE WESTERN PAST (2008). He has also written books on Tennessee history and the Tellico Dam.

Susan Becker received her Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University in 1975. Her areas of interest include U.S. social, cultural, and women's history. She has written THE ORIGINS OF THE EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT (Greenwood Press, 1981), along with a host of articles on women's history.

Lorri Glover received her Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky in 1996 and is the John Francis Bannon, S.J., Professor of History at St. Louis University. She is the author of SOUTHERN SONS: BECOMING MEN IN THE NEW NATION (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007) and is the newest co-author of DISCOVERING THE AMERICAN PAST, 7e (Cengage Learning, 2012).

This primary source reader in the popular DISCOVERING series contains a six-part pedagogical framework that guides readers through the process of historical inquiry and explanation. The text emphasizes historical study as interpretation rather than memorization of data. Each chapter is organized around the same pedagogical framework: The Problem, Background, The Method, The Evidence, Questions to Consider, and Epilogue. The Seventh Edition integrates new documents and revised coverage throughout. For example, the Reconstruction chapter, appearing in Volumes I and II, now explores Thomas Nast's political cartoons and their effect on public opinion.

Preface     xi
The Reconstruction Era: Farmers and Workers in the West and North, 1866-1877     1
The Problem     1
Background     2
The Method     5
The Evidence     6
Excerpts from Inspirational Literature   Horatio Alger   Russell Conwell
Western Farmers
Photos of sod houses
Excerpts from observations, letters, circulars, and meeting notes concerning the lives of western farmers
Northern Workers
Excerpts from letters, preambles, government reports, and autobiographies concerning the lives of northern workers
Questions to Consider     26
Epilogue     28
The Road to True Freedom: African American Alternatives in the New South     30
The Problem     30
Background     32
The Method     36
The Evidence     39
Excerpt from Ida B. Wells's United States Atrocities (1892)
Booker T. Washington's Atlanta Exposition Address (1895)
Excerpt from Henry McNeal Turner's "The American Negro and His Fatherland" (1895)
Excerpts from W. E. B. Du Bois's "The Talented Tenth" (1903) and Niagara Address (1906)
Excerpt from Frances E. W. Harper's "Enlightened Motherhood" (1892)
Table showing migration of Negro population by U.S. region, 1870-1920
Questions to Consider     55
Epilogue     58
How They Lived: Middle-Class Life,1870-1917     61
The Problem     61
Background     61
The Method     68
The Evidence     70
Advertisements for clothing, beauty and health aids, firearms, books and home study courses, insurance, automobiles, household appliances and furnishings, 1882-1916
Architectural drawings and descriptions of houses, 1878-1909
Excerpts on the new business of advertising, 1898-1927
Questions to Consider     96
Epilogue     97
Progressives and the Family: The Redefinition of Childhood, 1880-1920     99
The Problem     99
Background     99
The Method     103
The Evidence     105
Photographs of children at play and work
Photographs of children and parents
Visuals of the pure milk campaign
Table of children's meals
Excerpts of a child neglect report
Letters to the children's bureau
Excerpts of advice to middle-class parents
Legislation and court rulings on child labor
Questions to Consider     122
Epilogue     123
Homogenizing a Pluralistic Nation: Propaganda During World War I     124
The Problem     124
Background     126
The Method     129
The Evidence     131
War song and poetry, advertisements, posters, editorial cartoons, speeches, movie stills
Questions to Consider     152
Epilogue     154
The "New" Woman: Social Science Experts and the Redefinition of Women's Roles in the 1920s     158
The Problem     158
Background     159
The Method     163
The Evidence     164
Excerpts from the 1920s' social science literature on sex and sexuality
Excerpts and charts on women's work and pay
Excerpts from the 1920s' social science literature on marriage and the family
Biographies and autobiographies of three "new" women   Margaret Sanger   Clara Bow   Margaret Mead
Questions to Consider     183
Epilogue     184
Documenting the Depression: The FSA Photographers and Rural Poverty     186
The Problem     186
Background     187
The Method     189
The Evidence     192
Documentary photographs as instruments of reform
Questions to Consider     201
Epilogue     201
Going to War with Japan: A Problem in Diplomacy and Causation     203
The Problem     203
Background     204
The Method     208
The Evidence 210
Excerpts from public opinion polls, foreign policy dispatches and memoranda from the United States and Japan, memoirs and diaries, press releases, and speeches
Questions to Consider     236
Epilogue     237
Separate but Equal? African American Educational Opportunities and the Brown Decision     239
The Problem     239
Background     240
The Method     244
The Evidence     246
First section of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution
Excerpts from Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
Photograph of doll experiment and excerpts from social science testimony
Excerpts from amicus curiae briefs, Brown v. Board of Education (1952)
Excerpts from the oral arguments, 1952 and 1953
Excerpts from the Brown I decision (1954)
Questions to Consider     258
Epilogue     259
A Generation in War and Turmoil: The Agony of Vietnam     261
The Problem     261
Background     262
The Method     268
The Evidence     272
Sample release forms for oral history interviews
Interviews and photographs with five males and two females (veterans and civilians) of the Vietnam War era
Questions to Consider     296
Epilogue     297
A Nation of Immigrants: The California Experience     299
The Problem     299
Background     300
The Method     304
The Evidence      305
Proverbs, statistics, and excerpts from life stories of Asian immigrants
Excerpts from life stories and testimonies of Hispanic immigrants
Photographs of fourth-wave immigrants
Questions to Consider     315
Epilogue     315