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The soul of America : the battle for our better angels / Jon Meacham.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: [New York, New York] : Random House Large Print, [2018]Copyright date: ©2018Description: xiv, 751 pages (large print) : illustrations ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781984832085 (softcover : large print) :
  • 1984832085
Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
To hope rather than to fear -- The confidence of the whole people: visions of the presidency, the ideas of progress and prosperity, and 'We, the people' -- The long shadow of Appomattox: the Lost Cause, the Ku Klux Klan, and Reconstruction -- With soul of flame and temper of steel: "the melting pot," TR and his "bully pulpit," and the progressive promise -- A new and good thing in the world: the triumph of women's suffrage, the Red Scare, and a new Klan -- The crisis of the old order: the Great Depression, Huey Long, the New Deal, and America First -- Have you no sense of decency?: 'making everyone middle class," the GI Bill, McCarthyism, and modern media -- What the hell is the presidency for?: 'segregation forever,' King's crusade, and LBJ in the crucible -- The first duty of an American citizen.
Summary: To better understand the present moment in American politics, we must look back at critical times in our history when hope overcame division and fear. Meacham shows us how what Abraham Lincoln called the "better angels of our nature" have repeatedly won the day during turning points in American history. Among other subject, he writes about the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the birth of the Lost Cause; the anti-Communist witch-hunts led by Senator Joseph McCarthy; and Lyndon Johnson's crusade to finish the fight against Jim Crow.
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Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Large Print Book Large Print Book Main Library Large Print NonFiction 973 M479 Available 33111009208592
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham helps us understand the present moment in American politics and life by looking back at critical times in our history when hope overcame division and fear.

"Gripping and inspiring, The Soul of America is Jon Meacham's declaration of his faith in America."-- Newsday

ONE OF OPRAH'S "BOOKS THAT HELP ME THROUGH" * A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: NPR, The Christian Science Monitor, Southern Living

Our current climate of partisan fury is not new, and in The Soul of America Meacham shows us how what Abraham Lincoln called the "better angels of our nature" have repeatedly won the day. Painting surprising portraits of Lincoln and other presidents, including Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, and Lyndon B. Johnson, and illuminating the courage of such influential citizen activists as Martin Luther King, Jr., early suffragettes Alice Paul and Carrie Chapman Catt, civil rights pioneers Rosa Parks and John Lewis, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and Army-McCarthy hearings lawyer Joseph N. Welch, Meacham brings vividly to life turning points in American history.

He writes about the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the birth of the Lost Cause; the backlash against immigrants in the First World War and the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s; the fight for women's rights; the demagoguery of Huey Long and Father Coughlin and the isolationist work of America First in the years before World War II; the anti-Communist witch-hunts led by Senator Joseph McCarthy; and Lyndon Johnson's crusade against Jim Crow. Each of these dramatic hours in our national life have been shaped by the contest to lead the country to look forward rather than back, to assert hope over fear--a struggle that continues even now.

While the American story has not always--or even often--been heroic, we have been sustained by a belief in progress even in the gloomiest of times. In this inspiring book, Meacham reassures us, "The good news is that we have come through such darkness before"--as, time and again, Lincoln's better angels have found a way to prevail.

To hope rather than to fear -- The confidence of the whole people: visions of the presidency, the ideas of progress and prosperity, and 'We, the people' -- The long shadow of Appomattox: the Lost Cause, the Ku Klux Klan, and Reconstruction -- With soul of flame and temper of steel: "the melting pot," TR and his "bully pulpit," and the progressive promise -- A new and good thing in the world: the triumph of women's suffrage, the Red Scare, and a new Klan -- The crisis of the old order: the Great Depression, Huey Long, the New Deal, and America First -- Have you no sense of decency?: 'making everyone middle class," the GI Bill, McCarthyism, and modern media -- What the hell is the presidency for?: 'segregation forever,' King's crusade, and LBJ in the crucible -- The first duty of an American citizen.

To better understand the present moment in American politics, we must look back at critical times in our history when hope overcame division and fear. Meacham shows us how what Abraham Lincoln called the "better angels of our nature" have repeatedly won the day during turning points in American history. Among other subject, he writes about the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the birth of the Lost Cause; the anti-Communist witch-hunts led by Senator Joseph McCarthy; and Lyndon Johnson's crusade to finish the fight against Jim Crow.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 635-693) and index.

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