Tag Archives: America

The Scotch-Irish

Posted on March 26, 2016 by smellincoffee

The Scotch-Irish: A Social History© 1989 James Leyburn397 pages         Though they have long ceased to be a distinct ethnic group outside of Appalachia, for years the greatest non-English minority in the United States were the Scotch-Irish. … Continue reading →

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Unstoppable

Posted on February 6, 2016 by smellincoffee

Unstoppable: the Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State© 2014 Ralph Nader224 pages George Carlin groused that when he heard the word bipartisanship, he knew a larger than usual deception was in the works. Ralph Nader’s Unstoppable offers a different … Continue reading →

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Horses at Work

Posted on December 23, 2015 by smellincoffee

Horses at Work: Harnessing Power in Industrial America© 2008 Ann Norton Greene322 pages The quintessential image of horses in American history is the cowboy, of rough men moving cattle in the wilderness on horseback. But follow the cattle, and their … Continue reading →

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The Horse in the City

Posted on November 21, 2015 by smellincoffee

The Horse in the City© 2007 Clay McShane, Joel A. Tarr242 pages To the American imagination, horses are the stuff of country dreams, of farms and cowboys. This is a recent conceit, however, as for most of American history humans … Continue reading →

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Downtown

Posted on October 24, 2015 by smellincoffee

Downtown: Its Rise and Fall (1880 – 1950)© 2001 Robert Fogelson544 pages Just listen to the music of the traffic in the city!Linger on the sidewalk where the neon signs are pretty — how can you lose? The lights are much brighter … Continue reading →

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Last Call

Posted on July 1, 2015 by smellincoffee

Last Call: the Rise and Fall of Prohibition © 2010 Daniel Okrent 480 pages “Law and order should not ruin the lives of law-abidin’ people! Like that stupid law of Prohibition they had in the old days. Gangsters had to go … Continue reading →

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The Colonial Experience

Posted on June 5, 2015 by smellincoffee

The Americans: The Colonial Experience© 1967 Daniel Boorstin528 pages               Daniel Boorstin’s The Americans delivers a cultural history of the American colonies, beginning first with profiles on the disparate groups that settled on the eastern seaboard (Puritans, Quakers, and … Continue reading →

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Harvest of Rage

Posted on May 28, 2015 by smellincoffee

Harvest of Rage: Why Oklahoma City is Only the Beginning© 1997 Joel Dyer307 pages In the spring of 1996, the peace of Oklahoma City was shattered when a truck bomb ignited outside a federal office.  Nearly two hundred people were … Continue reading →

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The Fiery Cross

Posted on May 26, 2015 by smellincoffee

The Fiery Cross: The Ku Klux Klan in America© 1998 Wyn Craig Wade528 pages Living in the country as I did,  the bus ride to school always lasted over an hour, and in elementary school I remember being utterly petrified … Continue reading →

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Runaway Slaves

Posted on March 13, 2015 by smellincoffee

Runaway Slaves: Rebels on the Plantation© 2000 John Hope Franklin, Loren Schweninger480 pages Easily the most horrible aspect of American history, is the institution of slavery.  Indentured servitude had been a historical norm for centuries before, of course,  usually the … Continue reading →

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