Once labeled the most dangerous black man in America, A. Philip Randolph was a tireless crusader for civil rights and economic justice. In Marching Across the Color Line: A. Philip Randolph and Civil Rights in the World War II Era, author David Welky examines Randolph's central role in the African American struggle for equality during the World War II era. Frustrated by unequal treatment in the military and civilian life, Randolph threatened to march 100,000 African Americans to Washington, DC, unless President Franklin Roosevelt expanded employment opportunities for blacks. Roosevelt backed down following a tense standoff, issuing an executive order guaranteeing equal opportunities for all Americans to get jobs in the growing defense industry. Armed with this victory, Randolph led wartime charges to integrate the military, further expand job opportunities, and end discrimination against minorities. He staged massive rallies, badgered political leaders, and pricked the conscience of a nation fighting for democracy overseas while reluctant to create it at home. A lively, engaging narrative set against a turbulent backdrop of political maneuvering, race riots, and the largest war in human history, Marching Across the Color Line exposes students to an array of fascinating characters who wrote the dramatic opening chapters in America's civil rights saga.

Marching Across the Color Line: A. Philip Randolph and Civil Rights in the World War II Era (Critical Historical Encounters Series)

Biographies & Memoirs

Welky, David

Community & Culture

Oxford University Press

In the early days of 1937, the Ohio River, swollen by heavy winter rains, began rising. And rising. And rising. By the time the waters crested, the Ohio and Mississippi had climbed to record heights. Nearly four hundred people had died, while a million more had run from their homes. The deluge caused more than half a billion dollars of damage at a time when the Great Depression still battered the nation. Timed to coincide with the flood's seventy-fifth anniversary, The Thousand-Year Flood is the first comprehensive history of one of the most destructive disasters in American history. David Welky first shows how decades of settlement put Ohio valley farms and towns at risk and how politicians and planners repeatedly ignored the dangers. Then he tells the gripping story of the river's inexorable rise: residents fled to refugee camps and higher ground, towns imposed martial law, prisoners rioted, Red Cross nurses endured terrifying conditions, and FDR dispatched thousands of relief workers. In a landscape fraught with dangers—from unmoored gas tanks that became floating bombs to powerful currents of filthy floodwaters that swept away whole towns—people hastily raised sandbag barricades, piled into overloaded rowboats, and marveled at water that stretched as far as the eye could see. In the flood's aftermath, Welky explains, New Deal reformers, utopian dreamers, and hard-pressed locals restructured not only the flood-stricken valleys, but also the nation's relationship with its waterways, changes that continue to affect life along the rivers to this day. A striking narrative of danger and adventure—and the mix of heroism and generosity, greed and pettiness that always accompany disaster—The Thousand-Year Flood breathes new life into a fascinating yet little-remembered American story.

The Thousand-Year Flood: The Ohio-Mississippi Disaster of 1937

History

Americas

University of Chicago Press

Everything Was Better in America: Print Culture in the Great Depression (The History of Media and Communication)

As a counterpart to research on the 1930s that has focused on liberal and radical writers calling for social revolution, David Welky offers this eloquent study of how mainstream print culture shaped and disseminated a message affirming conservative middle-class values and assuring its readers that holding to these values would get them through hard times. Through analysis of the era's most popular newspaper stories, magazines, and books, Welky examines how voices both outside and within the media debated the purposes of literature and the meaning of cultural literacy in a mass democracy. He presents lively discussions of such topics as the newspaper treatment of the Lindbergh kidnapping, issues of race in coverage of the 1936 Olympic games, domestic dynamics and gender politics in cartoons and magazines, Superman's evolution from a radical outsider to a spokesman for the people, and the popular consumption of such novels as the Ellery Queen mysteries, Gone with the Wind, and The Good Earth. Through these close readings, Welky uncovers the subtle relationship between the messages that mainstream media strategically crafted and those that their target audience wished to hear.

University of Illinois Press

As a counterpart to research on the 1930s that has focused on liberal and radical writers calling for social revolution, David Welky offers this eloquent study of how mainstream print culture shaped and disseminated a message affirming conservative middle-class values and assuring its readers that holding to these values would get them through hard times. Through analysis of the era's most popular newspaper stories, magazines, and books, Welky examines how voices both outside and within the media debated the purposes of literature and the meaning of cultural literacy in a mass democracy. He presents lively discussions of such topics as the newspaper treatment of the Lindbergh kidnapping, issues of race in coverage of the 1936 Olympic games, domestic dynamics and gender politics in cartoons and magazines, Superman's evolution from a radical outsider to a spokesman for the people, and the popular consumption of such novels as the Ellery Queen mysteries, Gone with the Wind, and The Good Earth. Through these close readings, Welky uncovers the subtle relationship between the messages that mainstream media strategically crafted and those that their target audience wished to hear.

A Wretched and Precarious Situation: In Search of the Last Arctic Frontier

A Booklist Best Literary Travel Book of 2017 A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of 2016 A remarkable true story of adventure, betrayal, and survival set in one of the world’s most inhospitable places.
In 1906, from atop a snow-swept hill in the ice fields northwest of Greenland, hundreds of miles from another human being, Commander Robert E. Peary spotted a line of mysterious peaks looming in the distance. He called this unexplored realm “Crocker Land.” Scientists and explorers agreed that the world-famous explorer had discovered a new continent rising from the frozen Arctic Ocean.
Several years later, two of Peary’s disciples, George Borup and Donald MacMillan, assembled a team of amateur adventurers to investigate Crocker Land. Before them lay a chance at the kind of lasting fame enjoyed by Magellan, Columbus, and Captain Cook. While filling in the last blank space on the globe, they might find new species of plants or animals, or even men; in the era of Jules Verne and H. G. Wells, anything seemed possible. Renowned scientific institutions, and even former president Theodore Roosevelt, rushed to endorse the expedition.
What followed was a sequence of events that none of the explorers could have imagined. Trapped in a true-life adventure story, the men endured howling blizzards, unearthly cold, food shortages, isolation, a fatal boating accident, a drunken sea captain, disease, dissension, and a horrific crime. But the team pushed on through every obstacle, driven forward by the mystery of Crocker Land and faint hopes that they someday would make it home.
Populated with a cast of memorable characters, and based on years of research in previously untapped sources, A Wretched and Precarious Situation is a harrowing Arctic narrative unlike any other. 16 pages of illustrations

World

W.W.Norton&Company

A Booklist Best Literary Travel Book (2017) and Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book (2016) “A penetrating study of human character in a challenging environment. . . . [David Welky’s] seamless narrative, chilling at times and always thought-provoking, transports the reader to a time when the Arctic was virtually as harsh and inaccessible a place as the Moon or Mars.” ―Natural History From a snow-swept hill in the ice fields northwest of Greenland, famed Arctic explorer Robert E. Peary spots a line of mysterious peaks dotting the horizon. In 1906, he names that distant, uncharted territory “Crocker Land.” Years later, two of Peary’s disciples, George Borup and Donald MacMillan, take the brave steps Peary never did: with a team of amateur adventurers and intrepid native guides, they endeavor to reach this unknown land and fill in the last blank space on the globe. What follows is hardship and mishap the likes of which none of the explorers could possibly have imagined. From howling blizzards and desperate food shortages to crime and tragedy, the explorers experience a remarkable journey of endurance, courage, and hope. Set in one of the world’s most inhospitable places, A Wretched and Precarious Situation is an Arctic tale unlike any other. 16 pages of illustrations

John Wayne Treasures chronicles the life of this legendary actor, from his earliest movies and years out in the wilderness to his final films and eventual passing. Four pieces of memorabilia included in the book's pocket add vivid detail to this story of John Wayne's life. "Damn, I'm the stuff men are made of!" —John Wayne While people around the globe adore and cherish John Wayne, he remains the quintessential American icon. He embodied the definition of the American cowboy, soldier, and rugged individualist. Duke's extraordinary rise to fame—from hauling furniture around studio lots to becoming one of the most famous actors in the world—is chronicled in this handsome volume, complete with on-set and behind-the-scenes photographs, vintage movie posters, and cigarette cards from his most well-known movies. Clips of interviews, quotes from movies, and the testimony of the people he surrounded himself with tell the story of America's favorite western star. John Wayne Treasures contains a pocket in the back with four pieces of memorabilia spanning John Wayne's life and career. Included are a small movie poster for Stagecoach, excerpts from Duke's Glendale High School senior yearbook circa 1925, and proof sheets from Big Jake and The Shootist. Since John Wayne's death in 1979, he has been the subject of the public's fascination and has become a folk legend, of sorts. John Wayne's character, with biting wit and grit, has grown far bigger than the man himself. While alive, he embodied the persona he created with pride, patriotism, determination, and integrity. Written by true and loyal fans, every aspect of the Duke's life is covered in this book.

John Wayne Treasures: Featuring a Collection of Memorabilia from the Life of the Duke

ROBERTS, Randy

Humor & Entertainment

Crestline Books

In this fresh look at moviemaking during the Great Depression, David Welky examines Hollywood’s response to the rise of fascism and the beginning of the Second World War. Through innovative analysis of hundreds of movies―including The Dawn Patrol, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, and Sergeant York―Welky traces the shifting motivations and arguments of the film industry, politicians, and the public as they negotiated how―or whether―the silver screen should portray Nazism, depict conflict overseas, promote Americanism, and support President Roosevelt’s rearmament efforts. 
Hollywood, Welky argues, was a primary player in the debate between interventionists and isolationists. These competing groups vied for influence and control over the message Hollywood offered the public―either scorning it for being too timid or attacking it for being too aggressive. The national debate reached a fever pitch in September 1941, when isolationists in the U.S. Senate staged widely publicized hearings, accusing the movie industry of warmongering. 
While prewar Hollywood often reflected the principles of the Roosevelt administration, it also sometimes outpaced the cautious and politically astute president. Providing Americans with the psychological preparation they needed to enter World War II, popular movies familiarized audiences with the wartime experience, offered definitions of patriotism and Americanism, and established the fundamental distinctions between democracy and dictatorship. 
Welky'sdepth of research and focused, analytical approach will be appreciated by historians as well as film buffs.

The Moguls and the Dictators: Hollywood and the Coming of World War II

Movies

Johns Hopkins University Press

Fully revised, updated, and extended, the fifth edition of Hollywood’s America provides an important compilation of interpretive essays and primary documents that allows students to read films as cultural artifacts within the contexts of actual past events. <ul>
<li>A new edition of this classic textbook, which ties movies into the broader narrative of US and film history</li> <li>This fifth edition contains nine new chapters, with a greater overall emphasis on recent film history, and new primary source documents which are unavailable online</li> <li>Entries range from the first experiments with motion pictures all the way to the present day</li> <li>Well-organized within a chronological framework with thematic treatments to provide a valuable resource for students of the history of American film</li> </ul>

Hollywood's America: Understanding History Through Film

Mintz, Steven

Roberts, Randy W.

Wiley/Blackwell

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Welky, David. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Welky, David

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Welky, David. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Marching Across the Color Line: A. Philip Randolph and Civil Rights in the World War II Era (Critical Historical Encounters Series)

The Thousand-Year Flood: The Ohio-Mississippi Disaster of 1937

Everything Was Better in America: Print Culture in the Great Depression (The History of Media and Communication)

Everything Was Better in America: Print Culture in the Great Depression (The History of Media and Communication)

A Wretched and Precarious Situation: In Search of the Last Arctic Frontier

A Wretched and Precarious Situation: In Search of the Last Arctic Frontier

John Wayne Treasures: Featuring a Collection of Memorabilia from the Life of the Duke

The Moguls and the Dictators: Hollywood and the Coming of World War II

Hollywood's America: Understanding History Through Film