Books in the Witness to History series

This engaging book harnesses the uncertainty and excitement of the Constitutional debates to show readers the clear departure the Constitution marked, the powerful reasons people had to view it warily, and the persuasive claims that Madison and his allies finally made with success.

It shows how Americans grappled with the issues of nationalism, sectionalism, and the meaning of union itself-issues that still resonate today.

Without San Juan, Van Atta argues, Roosevelt-whom the papers credited for the victory and lauded as a paragon of manhood-would never have reached a position to become president.

A lively narrative intended for history classrooms and anyone interested in abolitionism, slavery, Congress, and the coming of the Civil War, John Quincy Adams and the Gag Rule, 1835-1850, vividly portrays the importance of the political machinations and debates that colored the age.

Drawing on archival materials, secondary sources, and eyewitness accounts of the brave men and women who marched, this gripping account offers a brief and nuanced narrative of this critical phase of the black freedom struggle.

Touching on the major sedition trials while expanding the discussion beyond the usual focus on freedom of speech and the press to include the treatment of immigrants, Halperin's book provides a window through which readers can explore the meaning of freedom of speech, immigration, citizenship, the public sphere, the Constitution, and the Union.

Dennis's wide-angle perspective reveals the Memorial Day Massacre as not simply another bloody incident in the long story of labor-management tension in American history but as an illustration of the broad-based movement for social democracy which developed in the New Deal era.

An excellent overview of the field."-Journal of Legal History, reviewing Law and People in Colonial America

SeemanKing Philip's War: Colonial Expansion, Native Resistance, and the End of Indian Sovereignty by Daniel R. MandellThe Caning of Charles Sumner: Honor, Idealism, and the Origins of the Civil War by Williamjames Hull HofferBloodshed at Little Bighorn: Sitting Bull, Custer, and the Destinies of Nations by Tim Lehman

He addresses the importance of the event in the national crisis and shows why such actions are not quite as alien to today's politics as they might at first seem.

Commonly known as Custer's Last Stand, the Battle of Little Bighorn is the best recognized violent conflict between the indigenous people of North America and the government of the United States. This title puts the battle's details and characters into an historical context. It elucidates the key lessons of the conflict.

A masterful telling of a complicated story, Shays's Rebellion is aimed at scholars and students of American history.

Drawing on a rich blend of archival sources and thousands of firsthand accounts-including unit journals, interviews, oral histories, memoirs, diaries, letters, and published recollections-Hell Before Their Very Eyes focuses on the experiences of the soldiers who liberated Ohrdruf, Buchenwald, and Dachau and their determination to bear witness to this horrific history.

Well written and accessible, Allison's book provides a clear narrative of this historic moment and offers suggestions for how to come to terms with its aftermath.

His compelling narrative gives undergraduate students of early America and the Atlantic World a revealing glimpse into this fascinating-and surprising-meeting of cultures.

Aimed at students and the general public, Glorious Victory will reward readers with a clear understanding of Andrew Jackson's role in the War of 1812 and his iconic place in the postwar era.

Wolf by the Ears provides students in American history with an ideal introduction to the Missouri crisis while at the same time offering fresh insights for scholars of the early republic.

Despite running a gauntlet of ridicule, the marchers laid down a rough outline of what, some forty years later, emerged as the New Deal.

This fast-paced history incorporates the most recent scholarship on the region and features nine new maps and a bibliographic essay about Native-Anglo relations.