A lively, accessible introduction to the asymmetrical relationship between the United States and Mexico, one of the most formative international relationships in geopolitics today.The border between the US and Mexico is the world's longest between a wealthy industrialized nation and a part of the Global South. The economy, society, culture, and politics of the two nations have become inextricably linked.As the United States continues to assert its considera...

“My Bondage and My Freedom,” writes John Stauffer in his Foreword, “[is] a deep meditation on the meaning of slavery, race, and freedom, and on the power of faith and literacy, as well as a portrait of an individual and a nation a few years before the Civil War.” As his narrative unfolds, Frederick Douglass—abolitionist, journalist, orator, and one of the most powerful voices to emerge from the American civil rights movement—transforms himself from slave to fugitive to reformer, l...

In 1863, General Ulysses S. Grant appointed one of his regimental chaplains, John Eaton of Ohio, as general superintendent of contrabands for the Department of the Tennessee. As the American Civil War raged, the former chaplain’s approach to humanitarian aid and education for the newly freed people marked one of the first attempts to consider how an entire population of formerly enslaved people would be assimilated into and become citizens of the postwar Union. General superintendent Eaton...

What does it mean to love, to grieve, to hope, and to endure in the vastness of time? In The Reverence of Time, these eternal questions are explored through the lens of poetry—a tapestry of reflections on mortality, love, and existence.With themes that range from the whispers of lost love to the celestial wonders of the universe, this collection invites readers to journey through moments both intimate and universal. Each poem is a meditation on life’s frag...

Life's journey is marked by seasons-times of struggle, doubt, healing, and triumph. Inspired by the moving lyrics of "A Christmas Winter Song," this collection of poetry reflects the heart's passage through winter storms, the search for faith, and the enduring hope that leads to healing. With vivid imagery, contemplative tones, and a celebration of grace, these poems remind us that no matter how fierce the storm, we can find our way to light and peace. We will be fine in time.

The Presence of Knowing is a collection of 100 poems that explores the depths of the human experience through themes of love, loss, resilience, and self-discovery. Written with poignant reflection and a rhythmic cadence, these poems invite readers on an introspective journey to uncover the quiet strength that emerges from life's trials.Each poem is a window into the soul, offering solace and clarity, and a reminder that we are all connected through the sha...

From the late nineteenth century until World War I, a group of Columbia University students gathered under the mentorship of the renowned historian William Archibald Dunning (1857–1922). Known as the Dunning School, these students wrote the first generation of state studies on the Reconstruction—volumes that generally sympathized with white southerners, interpreted radical Reconstruction as a mean-spirited usurpation of federal power, and cast the Republican Party as a coalition of carpetb...

As a Unionist but also proslavery state during the American Civil War, Kentucky occupied a contentious space both politically and geographically. In many ways, its pragmatic attitude toward compromise left it in a cultural no-man's-land. The constant negotiation between the state's nationalistic and Southern identities left many Kentuckians alienated and conflicted.Lincoln referred to Kentucky as the crown jewel of the Union slave states due to its sizable population, agricultural ...

Frances Dallam Peter was one of the eleven children of Union army surgeon Dr. Robert Peter. Her candid diary chronicles Kentucky's invasion by Confederates under General Braxton Bragg in 1862, Lexington's monthlong occupation by General Edmund Kirby Smith, and changes in attitude among the enslaved population following the Emancipation Proclamation. As troops from both North and South took turns holding the city, she repeatedly emphasized the rightness of the Union cause and minced no word...

"Expands the range of what we consider the Civil War—temporally, geographically, conceptually. It features exceptional, high-quality essays." —Patrick A. Lewis, author of For Slavery and UnionIn this wide-ranging volume , eminent historians John David Smith and Raymond Arsenault assemble a distinguished group of scholars to build on the growing body of work on the "Long Civil War" and break new ground. They cover a variety of related subjects, incl...

"A sweeping yet rigorous analysis of Dixon and his work. The collection approaches the southern intellectual through multiple methodologies -- from literary theory and film studies to social history and religious studies. We get an exhaustive yet diverse perspective on Dixon's influence and legacy." -- Journal of American HistoryThomas Dixon Jr. (1864--1946), best remembered today as the author of the racist novels that served as the basis for D. W. Griffith's controversial 1915 cla...

Inspired and informed by the latest research in African American, military, and social history, the fourteen original essays in this book tell the stories of the African American soldiers who fought for the Union cause.An introductory essay surveys the history of the U.S. Colored Troops (USCT) from emancipation to the end of the Civil War. Seven essays focus on the role of the USCT in combat, chronicling the contributions of African Americans who fought at Port Hudson, Milliken's B...