The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Daily Life in America: [4 volumes]

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Description

The course of daily life in the United States has been a product of tradition, environment, and circumstance. How did the Civil War alter the lives of women, both white and black, left alone on southern farms How did the Great Depression change the lives of working class families in eastern cities How did the discovery of gold in California transform the lives of native American, Hispanic, and white communities in western territories Organized by time period as spelled out in the National Standards for U.S. History, these four volumes effectively analyze the diverse whole of American experience, examining the domestic, economic, intellectual, material, political, recreational, and religious life of the American people between 1763 and 2005. Working under the editorial direction of general editor Randall M. Miller, professor of history at St. Joseph's University, a group of expert volume editors carefully integrate material drawn from volumes in Greenwood's highly successful Daily Life Through History series with new material researched and written by themselves and other scholars. The four volumes cover the following periods: The War of Independence and Antebellum Expansion and Reform, 1763-1861, The Civil War, Reconstruction, and the Industrialization of America, 1861-1900, The Emergence of Modern America, World War I, and the Great Depression, 1900-1940 and Wartime, Postwar, and Contemporary America, 1940-Present. Each volume includes a selection of primary documents, a timeline of important events during the period, images illustrating the text, and extensive bibliography of further information resourcesboth print and electronicand a detailed subject index.

Reviews

This encyclopedia is an absorbing read and a solid reference work for undergraduate and public libraries. Extensive bibliographies make it a useful purchase for schools with graduate programs in American social history. Summing Up: Highly recommended. * Choice *
This excellent resource effectively compiles into one product the narrative information on U.S. daily life widely scattered in books, journal articles, and documents. Covering the entire span of American history, the multivolume work is arranged chronologically and within each time period is subdivided into seven thematic sections covering domestic, economic, intellectual, material, political, recreational, and religious life. Although there are internal coverage variations among the four volumes, the parameters of the set are lucidly described in the preface. Attractively designed with an easy-to-read typeface and black-and-white illustrations interspersed throughout, the work contains a helpful, comprehensive index in each volume, unannotated bibliographies, primary documents with web source citations, and some sidebars and brief appendixes. * Library Journal *
Carefully compiled and clearly organized, this 4-volume reference offers students and the general reader a thorough overview of the various parts of daily life in America from its founding through 2005. * Reference & Research Book News *
Organized chronologically, each of the four volumes covers a different period in America's history, providing insight on how the events of these periods shaped the day-to-day lives of its citizens. . . . Although there are other encyclopedias on American social history, there are none as extensive in coverage or, even more importantly, as current as The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Daily Life in America. This reference resource is a much-needed addition to academic and large public libraries. * Booklist *

Author Bio

Randall M. Miller is professor of history at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia. He holds a PhD from Ohio State University and has published more than 20 books and over 80 articles on topics as varied as race and slavery, politics, religion, media culture, urban affairs, immigration and ethnicity, the American Civil War and Reconstruction eras, and regional history. He is also the series editor for two Greenwood Press book series: the 26-volume series, Greenwood Guides to Historic Events of the Twentieth Century, and the 11-volume (to date) series, Major Issues in American History. He is also set editor for the 4-volume Greenwood Encyclopedia of Daily Life in America.