In a devastating narrative that spans more than three centuries, from colonial times to the present day, Alienable Rights reveals how whites have excluded blacks from virtually every area of American life, denying them full citizenship and equality. Brought to America early in the seventeenth century, the first slaves were treated in much the same way as indentured white servants who had come from England. After only a few years, however, whites ostracized blacks, who were viewed as an inferior race, and passed laws making their enslavement permanent, denying even free blacks the most basic rights enjoyed by whites. Though many slaves fought honorably in the Revolutionary War, earning their freedom, the Constitution (1787) sanctioned slavery, making it -- in the words of one of the signers -- the document's "most prominent feature." Three years later, Congress passed the nation's first naturalization act, limiting citizenship to "free white persons" only. Throughout the country, a popular colonization movement developed, attracting whites who hoped to make the United States a purely white nation by transporting all blacks to Africa or the Caribbean. Though the Civil War ended slavery, the subsequent congressional attempt to remake southern society during Reconstruction failed because whites in both the North and the South were unwilling to accept blacks as equals, with the same rights to vote, to attend school, and to move freely throughout American society. Instead, the Supreme Court approved the subterfuge of "separate but equal," which allowed state governments to maintain racial segregation by providing blacks with inferior institutions of their own. The "Jim Crow" system was overturned by the civil rights movement that followed World War II, but much of the progress of the 1960s and 1970s was blunted by an angry backlash in the 1980s. The authors contend that the drive for African American equality has never had the support of the majority of white Americans. Racial progress has come in brief historical bursts when a committed militant minority -- abolitionists, radical Republicans, civil rights activists -- stirred the nation to action, pressuring it to change; but, invariably, advances have been followed by concerted efforts to restore white privilege.

Alienable Rights: The Exclusion of African Americans in a White Man's Land, 1619-2000

History

Sanders, Barry

Adams, Francis D.

Americas

Harper

In a devastating narrative that spans more than three centuries, the authors maintain that the drive for African-American equality has never had the support of the majority of Americans. Despite the great racial upheavals of the Civil War and Reconstruction periods, and the federal governments attempts to give blacks the right to vote, hold office, own land, and enjoy full citizenship, Jim Crow and "separate but equal" became the law of the land. And the spectacular gains of the civil rights era of the 1960s were followed by a discouraging backlash in the 1980s. Racial progress was made only in brief historical bursts when a committed militant minority - abolitionists, radical republicans, civil rights activists - stirred the nation, pressuring it to change. Invariably, however, these advances have been followed by concerted efforts to restore white privilege.

Harper Paperbacks

"It's a complex fate, being an American." — Henry James 
A Complex Fate offers the first full-length look at Gustav Stickley, who rose from unknown cabinetmaker to the most vocal spokesman in America for the early twentieth-century aesthetic revolution that became known as the Craftsman Movement. In the face of the Modern Age, Stickley espoused the values of the medieval craftsman, influencing the design of furniture, pottery, metalwork, jewelry, bookbinding, leatherwork, and architecture. Author Barry Sanders chronicles the progress of Stickley's wide-ranging career, from his rise to fame and wealth to his ultimate financial ruin. Rare photographs and renderings of Stickley's designs enhance this compelling portrait of the man and his work. It was a time of enormous upheaval in America. Sweeping and convulsive changes spilled into the new century in every conceivable shape: electric lights, overhead railways, airplanes, automobiles, the Ashcan school of painting, jazz, and Henry James. Yet, in the middle of this time of intense innovation, a movement dedicated to simple living began to take shape. It became known as the Craftsman Movement, and an unknown cabinetmaker, Gustav Stickley, became its most vocal spokesman, and in many ways, its embodiment. A Complex Fate chronicles Stickley's life and career—a career marked by the same contradictions that characterized America's transition from a largely rural society to a modern, technological one. He regarded himself as a modern, yet espoused a philosophy that celebrated simplicity, community, and skilled manual work. His furniture itself, at first glance simple, stark, and hand-built, was nevertheless mass-produced and regarded as thoroughly modern by a public eager to buy it. In this, the first full-length profile of Stickley, we follow his rise to staggering wealth, wide popularity, and enormous influence on the design of furniture, pottery, metalwork, jewelry, book-binding, leatherwork, and architecture. We see the power of his charisma and uncommon ego, his plans for rural crafts schools, and his messianic drive to spread the message of artisanship, community, and honest, unalienated labor. We watch, too, as his ambitions and contradictions finally become overwhelming, leaving him a bankrupt and broken man. A Complex Fate is the robust portrait of a man whose talent, nerve, and savvy have left a lasting imprint on design in America, and whose life offers us a window on the roiling tumult of a society on the brink of a new age.

A Complex Fate: Gustav Stickley and the Craftsman Movement

Arts & Photography

Architecture

Preservation Pr

RustyRiver offers fast daily shipping and 100% customer satisfaction GUARANTEED! Missing dust jacket.

The Sacred Paw: The Bear in Nature, Myth, and Literature

Shepard, Paul

Viking Adult

Explains how the culture of electronic media is altering cognitive development and social interaction among today's youth, examining literacy in terms of the fundamental issues of personal identity and social alienation. 10,000 first printing.

A Is for Ox: Violence, Electronic Media, and the Silencing of the Written Word

Reference

Words, Language & Grammar

Pantheon

The twin crises of illiteracy and youth violence haunt our age; the failure of increasing numbers of young people to attain even minimal levels of literacy signals a catastrophe at the deepest levels of our culture. A is for Ox is an important and impassioned work that both proves this conclusion and suggests what can be done to change it. Sanders argues that because of the omnipresence of electronically generated images and sounds in contemporary culture, children grow up lacking the oral experience of language crucial to attaining true literacy; without the technologies of reading and writing, the development of self is stunted. By tracing the long history of literacy in the West, Sanders demonstrates how the culture of electronic media is changing both cognitive development and social interaction. Taking the issue of literacy out of the narrow context of schooling and education, Sanders compels us to consider it in relation to the fundamental issues of both personal identity and a person's unforced consent to the social contract.

A Is for Ox: The Collapse of Literacy and the Rise of Violence in an Electronic Age

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Psychology & Counseling

Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

The Private Death of Public Discourse (American Society)

World

Beacon Pr

Explores the history of laughter, emphasizing the ways in which it has been used as a means of political subversion

Sudden Glory: A Brief History of Laughter

Humor & Entertainment

Humor

In this wonderful exploration of the meaning of laughter, Barry Sanders queries its uses from the ancient Hebrews to Lenny Bruce, turning up evidence of its age-old power to subvert authority and give voice to the voiceless.

Sudden Glory: Laughter as Subversive History

Beacon Press

Traces the historical evolution of written language, public literacy, and libraries; assesses the impact of the alphabet on thought processes and memory as well as society; and analyzes the potential effects of the current erosion of literacy on the future

ABC: The Alphabetization of the Popular Mind

Illich, Iván

Self-Help

NORTH POINT PRESS

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Books by Sanders, Barry