AMERICAN CONSUMER SOCIETY, 1865-2005: FROM HEARTH TO HDTV By Blaszczyk, Regina Lee A volume in The American History Series 384, paperback, ISBN: (978-0-88295-264-2 THREE PHOTO-ESSAYS, BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY, and INDEX Retail Price: $24.95 Online Price:$19.95   (instructors only)

This startlingly original and highly readable volume adds a new richness and depth to an element of U.S. history that is all too often taken for granted. In American Consumer Society, Regina Lee Blaszczyk examines the emergence of consumerism in the Victorian era, and, in tracing its evolution over the next 140 years, shows how the emergence of a mass market was followed by its fragmentation. Niche marketing focused on successive waves of new consumers as each made its presence known: Irish immigrants, urban African Americans, teenagers, computer geeks, and soccer moms, to name but a few. Blaszczyk demonstrates that middle-class consumerism is an intrinsic part of American identity, but exactly how consumerism reflected that identity changed over time. Initially driven to imitate those who had already achieved success, Americans eventually began to use their purchases to express themselves. This led to a fundamental change in American culture—one in which the American reverence for things was replaced by a passion for experiences. New Millennium families no longer treasured exquisite china or dress in fine clothes, but they’ll spare no expense on being able to make phone calls, retrieve emails, watch ESPN, or visit web sites at any place, any time. Victorian mothers just wouldn’t understand. Using materials and techniques from business history, art history, anthropology, sociology, material culture, and good story-telling, this lavishly illustrated and highly thoughtful narrative offers a compelling re-interpretation of American culture through the lens of consumerism, making it perfect for use not only as supplementary reading in the U.S. survey, but also for a variety of courses in Business, Culture, Economics, Marketing, and Fashion and Design history.

POLITICS IN THE GILDED AGE By CHERNY, ROBERT FRANKLIN / EISENSTADT 167 pages, paperback, ISBN: (0-88295-933-6) ILLUS & MAPS Retail Price: $19.95 Online Price:$15.96   (instructors only)

Often Gilded-Age politics has been described as devoid of content or accomplishment, a mere spectacle to divert voters from thinking about the real issues of the day. But by focusing too closely on dramatic scandals and on the foibles of prominent politicians, many historians have tended to obscure other aspects of late nineteenth-century politics that proved to be of great and long-term significance. With the latest scholarship in mind, Professor Cherny provides a deft and highly readable analysis that is certain to help readers better understand the characteristics and important products of Gilded-Age politics. Topics covered include: voting behavior; the relation between the popular will and the formation of public policy; the cause and effect of the deadlock in national politics that lasted from the mid-1870s to the 1890s; the sources of political innovation at state and local levels; and the notable changes wrought during the 1890s that ushered in important new forms of American politics. "Robert Cherny has written a crisp, well-informed, and incisive treatment of Gilded Age politics that will provide a new generation of students with a lucid introduction to key issues of the emerging industrial society of the late 19th century. Balanced and judicious, Cherny's narrative should stimulate many classroom discussions about the meaning of the era that culminated with the victory of William McKinley and the Republicans."-Lewis L. Gould, The University of Texas at Austin

HERITAGE AND CHALLENGE: THE HISTORY AND THEORY OF HISTORY By CONKIN, PAUL/STROMBERG, ROLAND 260 pages, paperback, ISBN: (0-88273-286-2) Retail Price: $18.95 Online Price:$15.16   (instructors only)

In many ways Heritage and Challenge is a unique book. Both synoptic and readable by nonexperts, it combines a brief yet scholarly history of historical writing with a concise, sophisticated analysis of the major philosophical or theoretical issues that confront historians. While many books attempt to describe historiography and the philosophy of history separately, no work manages to combine both topics in the effective, coherent manner of Conkin and Stromberg. The historical section is philosophically informed, and the philosophical section closely relates to historical practice. A chapter on recent trends (including women's history, "quantitative" history, and psychohistory) and a detailed bibliography add to the usefulness of this book.

NORTH to AZTLAN: A HISTORY OF MEXICAN AMERICANS IN THE UNITED STATES, 2nd Ed. By DE LEON, ARNOLDO, and RICHARD GRISWOLD del CASTILLO 312 pages, paperback, ISBN: (978-088295-243-7) MAPS, PHOTOGRAPHS, TABLES, BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY, CHRONOLOGY, GLOSSARY, NOTES and REFERENCES, and INDEX Retail Price: $28.95 Online Price:$23.16   (instructors only)

Contemporary observers often quip that the American Southwest has become “Mexicanized,” but this view ignores the history of the region as well as the social reality. Mexican people and their culture have been continuously present in the territory for the past four hundred years, and Mexican Americans were actors in United States history long before the national media began to focus on them—even long before an international border existed between the United States and Mexico. North to Aztlán, an inclusive, readable, and affordable survey history, explores the Indian roots, culture, society, lifestyles, politics, and art of Mexican Americans and the contributions of the people to and their influence on American history and the mainstream culture. Though cognizant of changing interpretations that divide scholars, Drs. De León and Griswold del Castillo provide a holistic vision of the development of Mexican American society, one that attributes great importance to immigration (before and after 1900) and the ongoing influence of new arrivals on the evolving identity of Mexican Americans. Also showcased is the role of gender in shaping the cultural and political history of La Raza, as exemplified by the stories of outstanding Mexicana and Chicana leaders as well as those of largely unsung female heros, among them ranch and business owners and managers, labor leaders, community activists, and artists and writers. In short, readers will come away from this extensively revised and completely up-to-date second edition with a new understanding of the lives of a people who currently compose the largest minority in the nation. Completely revised, re-edited, and redesigned, featuring a great many new photographs and maps, North to Aztlán is certain to take its rightful place as the best college-level survey text of Americans of Mexican descent on the market today.

Japanese Americans and World War II: Mass Removal, Imprisonment, and Redress, 3rd Ed. By Hata, Donald Teruo, and Nadine Ishitani Hata 36 pages, paperback, staple binding, ISBN: 978-0-88295-248-2 Map of Concentration Camps and Extensive Bibliography Retail Price: $5.50 Online Price:$4.40   (instructors only)

Like its predecessors, the third edition of Japanese Americans and World War II—a 36-page bound pamphlet—provides students of U.S., Asian American, World War II history with essential but too-often overlooked (at least in most standard U.S. survey textbooks) information on what may well be one of the most disgraceful episodes in American history. Yet as painful as the details of the so-called internment of American citizens and legal immigrants was, Japanese Americans in World War II also chronicles the courage and resourcefulness of the Nikkei, during their imprisonment and in the years that followed, never abandoning the United States but demanding the respect they had earned—even as they struggled within the Japanese American community to define exactly what “citizenship” meant and how best to ask for—and get—the official apology they had waited so long to hear. Completely updated and including a complete and expanded bibliography, this highly readable and affordable little pamphlet is a perfect supplement to the U.S. survey and a variety of more-specialized courses.

THE UNITED STATES: A BRIEF NARRATIVE HISTORY, 2nd Ed. By HULLAR, LINK, and SCOTT NELSON 248 pages, paperback, ISBN: (978-088295-229-1) MAPS, HIGLIGHTED TERMS, CHAPTER REVIEWS, INDEX. APPENDICES INCLUDE THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES, and a LIST OF U.S. PRESIDENTS Retail Price: $18.95 Online Price:$15.16   (instructors only)

Like its popular predecessor, the second edition of The United States: A Brief History is a basic, readable, and affordable core text for the introductory survey of United States history. The book is not intended as the only resource for students in such courses: its length, approach, and price encourage the use of supplementary books, research projects, and primary documents (many of which are now available on the Internet). Nevertheless, this innovative survey will come as a welcome relief to the average student, who may be intimidated, overwhelmed, and overextended financially by the massive texts that dominate the genre. Even many so-called brief editions can weigh in a nearly a thousand pages, leaving many student readers lost in a maze of confusing, daunting, and expensive information. The new edition boasts an introduction by Philip Weeks on the pre-Columbian American Indian nations who inhabited what became the continental United States—an important chapter in the history of the nation. Furthermore, the text has been refined or altered in places—both to accommodate new information and in response to the feedback of both students and instructors. In taking a cultural literacy approach to decide what to include in the text, Hullar and Nelson highlight names, terms, and concepts common to an educated person’s understanding of American history. Big ideas, major themes, important events, and basic facts unfold in a chronological narrative that tells a lively story in user-friendly fashion. Each chapter concludes with a list of important terms for study and short-essay questions. The appendices include for handy reference an annotated text of The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution of the United States, and a list of the Presidents of the United States.

AMERICAN BUSINESS SINCE 1920: HOW IT WORKED, 2nd Ed. By McCraw, THOMAS K. A volime in The American History Series 354 pages, paperback, ISBN: 978-0-88295-266-6 THREE PHOTO-ESSAYS, BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY, and INDEX Retail Price: $24.95 Online Price:$19.96   (instructors only)

It’s safe to say that since the first appearance of Thomas McCraw’s contribution to Harlan Davidson’s American History Series in 2000, American business has taken some of the most dramatic, perhaps most incredible, turns in its history. Far more than an update, the second edition of one of our most popular texts has been carefully revised and reorganized—not only to include necessary new coverage but to present more fully and forcefully the book’s central argument and major themes, making this new edition even more “teachable” for instructors and accessible to student readers. Unique in the market for its breadth of coverage and depth of analysis, the new edition of our uncommonly readable book by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Thomas K. McCraw will continue as a classic supplementary text in a variety of undergraduate as well as graduate courses and seminars. Featuring three banks of striking photographs and a completely up-to-date bibliographic essay, this compact, enjoyable work will be highly appreciated by all students of U.S. business history and the art of administration.

IN THE WAKE OF COLUMBUS: THE IMPACT OF THE NEW WORLD ON EUROPE, 1492-1650, 2nd Ed. By Schlesinger, Roger A Volume in The European History Series 172 pages, paperback, ISBN: 978-0-88295-249-9 Illustrations, Bibliographical Essay, and Index Retail Price: $14.95 Online Price:$11.96   (instructors only)

About 500 years ago, Christopher Columbus “discovered” the Americas, an event that was to change radically the lives of all indigenous Americans and shape their subsequent histories. Often overlooked, is the fact that the encounter of the so-called old and new worlds also brought considerable, even momentous, changes to European peoples and societies. In the second edition of one of our most popular texts, Roger Schlesinger details the fascinating clash of cultures and considers the impact of the exploration and conquest of America on the civilization of early modern Europe—including the subsequent development of intellectual thought, the introduction of new products and foods that changed radically the diet, and how the acquisition of new lands and resources came to shape a culture of acquisitiveness that changed the world differential of power and saw Europe rise to global dominance. Updated throughout and featuring an entirely new bank of illustrations, the second edition of In the Wake of Columbus is certain to provide students with a brief, highly readable, and startlingly interesting insight into an often-neglected aspect of the dynamic flow of ideas and commodities—moving east as well as west—that followed first contact. Like its predecessor, this book makes perfect supplementary reading for survey courses in European, World, and Atlantic History and Western Civilization.

AMERICA'S CIVIL WAR By SIMPSON, BROOKS D. A volume in The American History Series 239 pages, paperback, ISBN: (0-88295-929-8 MAPS Retail Price: $19.95 Online Price:$15.96   (instructors only)

Such is the continuing volume of work on the Civil War that we are regularly in need of an authoritative and accessible brief synthesis to keep us up to date with this endlessly fascinating subject. Brooks Simpson meets that need for the 1990s in America's Civil War, a wonderful feat of compression in which he addresses all the great issues of the war in 200 pages of clear and readable prose. Rightly, he puts the military history of the conflict at the center of the picture, but he excels in relating the drama of the war itself to the politics of both Union and Confederacy, to the stresses and strains-and opportunities-of the home front, and to the great issues of emancipation and reconstruction. This book is a fine achievement, and it will be invaluable not only to students but to many other readers-and even Civil War specialists will benefit from its fresh insights.-Peter J. Parish, Cambridge University

MARTIN LUTHER: A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO HIS LIFE AND WORKS By WAIBEL, PAUL R. 152 pages, paperback, ISBN: (0-88295-231-5) CHAPTER SUMMARIES, KEY EVENTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, MAPS, APPENDIX: ANNOTATED CHRONOLOGY OF LUTHER'S REFORMATION WRITINGS, BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE, AND INDEX Retail Price: $12.95 Online Price:$10.36   (instructors only)

The fifteenth and sixteenth centuries witnessed a transition in the history of Western Civilization, during which the world of medieval Christendom began to give way to a new world order. Western medieval civilization—a synthesis of classical humanism and Judeo-Christianity—was overseen by the Holy Roman Empire and the Roman Catholic Church. People of the day believed in an orderly universe created by God and a great chain of being. This secure hierarchy was shattered when scientists, philosophers, and theologians began to explore the world around them with new eyes. Meanwhile, a number of national monarchs sought control of the church within their territories in order to secure a strong, unified nation-state apart from the influence of the Roman church. One avenue to control was provided for these monarchs by the Reformation, begun in 1517 by the obscure German monk Martin Luther. Because of his personal experience, reflection, and study of scripture, this religious scholar revised his Catholic faith to the alarm and contempt of Rome. Before long, Luther was accused of heresy, and the Reformation was underway. In this concise and thoughtfully prepared volume, Paul Waibel introduces readers to Luther with a brief biography followed by chapters that address why Luther chose to risk his life by challenging the authority of the papacy. Next, Luther’s most important Reformation writings are considered in chronological order. Among the writings discussed are his The Ninety Five Theses, To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, Concerning the Reform of the Christian Church, The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, The Freedom of the Christian, and The Bondage of the Will, as well as his two most controversial publications, Against the Robbing and Murdering Hordes of Peasants and On the Jews and Their Lies, which some books on Luther gloss over or ignore. In this highly readable and thoughtfully prepared volume, Dr. Waibel provides a brief and accessible introduction to one of the most influential persons in European and church history, making it an ideal supplement to wide variety of courses including World and Western Civilization, European History, Renaissance and Reformation, and, naturally, the History of Religion and Christianity. The appendix provides an annotated list of Luther’s extensive writings.