Finalist, 2014 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature from the Jewish Book CouncilTraces American Jews' complicated relationship to alcohol through the years leading up to and after prohibitionFrom kosher wine to their ties to the liquor trade in Europe, Jews have a longstanding historical relationship with alcohol. But once prohibition hit America, American Jews were forced to choose between abandoning their historical connection to alcohol a...

American roots music, also known as Americana music, can be challenging to categorize, spanning the genres of jazz, bluegrass, country, blues, rock and roll, and an assortment of variations in between. In The Downhome Sound, Mandi Bates Bailey explores the messages, artists, community, and appeal of this seemingly disparate musical collective. To understand the art form's intended meanings and typical audiences, she analyzes lyrics and interviews Americana artists, journalists, an...

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Lies Among Us comes a magical tale about mothers and daughters, choices and consequences, and the real meaning of home when every place feels like a cage.Ten months. That’s the longest Elisa has stayed anyplace, constantly propelled by her fear that if she puts down roots, a family curse will turn her into a tree.But she’s grown tired of flitting from town to town and in and out of relation...

A mother and daughter try desperately to reconcile just as a decades-old secret threatens to shatter their relationship forever in this powerful story from the bestselling author of The Echo of Old Books.For social worker Mallory Ward, working with at-risk youth is a calling. But when one of her clients is tragically killed, she finds herself at a crossroads. Despite long-held resentments toward her distant mother, Mallory retreats to her childhood home on...

America, land of the Free…and home of the warlocks.The Founding Fathers were never ones to pass up a good weapon. America's first line of defense has been shrouded in secrecy, magical families who have sworn to use their power to protect our republic.But there are those who reject America's dream and have chosen the Left Hand Path. In this triumphant conclusion to Tom Doyle's imaginative alternate historical America, we start with a bloody wedding-night brawl with assassins...

A first major work of history on a crucial but under-examined topic, Sword of the Spirit, Shield of Faithexplores the role of religion in American foreign policy. From the first colonists to the presidents of the 21st Century, Andrew Preston's unparalleled study show us how religion has always shaped America's relationships with other nations, and what to expect in the future.During the presidency of George W. Bush, many Americans and others around the world viewed...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham presents “a nimble examination of how American leaders . . . have wrestled with God personally and publicly” (USA Today)—now featuring a new Afterword by the author“A revealing and useful primer on an important, timely, and often volatile topic.”—Chicago TribuneAt a time when our country seems divided by extremism, American Gospel draws...

“Fascists,” “Brownshirts,” “jackbooted stormtroopers”—such are the insults typically hurled at conservatives by their liberal opponents. Calling someone a fascist is the fastest way to shut them up, defining their views as beyond the political pale. But who are the real fascists in our midst?Liberal Fascism offers a startling new perspective on the theories and practices that define fascist politics. Replacing conveniently manufactured myths with surprising and enlightenin...

In this groundbreaking book, noted historian Thaddeus Russell tells a new and surprising story about the origins of American freedom. Rather than crediting the standard textbook icons, Russell demonstrates that it was those on the fringes of society whose subversive lifestyles helped legitimize the taboo and made America the land of the free.In vivid portraits of renegades and their “respectable” adversaries, Russell shows that the nation’s history has been driven by clashes betwee...

Winner of the 1964 Pulitzer Prize in NonfictionAnti-Intellectualism in American Life is a book which throws light on many features of the American character. Its concern is not merely to portray the scorners of intellect in American life, but to say something about what the intellectual is, and can be, as a force in a democratic society."As Mr. Hofstadter unfolds the fascinating story, it is no crude battle of eggheads and fatheads. It is a rich, c...

This fascinating history of socialism is “a chilling reminder of how much rich American history has been erased by shallow messaging” (Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine).During the Cold War, it became a dirty word in the United States, but “socialism” runs like a red thread through the nation’s history, an integral part of its political consciousness since the founding of the republic. In this unapologetic corrective to today’s collective amnesia, ...

How did immigrants to the United States come to see themselves as white?David R. Roediger has been in the vanguard of the study of race and labor in American history for decades. He first came to prominence as the author of The Wages of Whiteness, a classic study of racism in the development of a white working class in nineteenth-century America. In Working Toward Whiteness, Roediger continues that history into the twentieth century. He recounts ho...