... with Spain, and they believed that the Native Americans could easily be taught the English ways and help spread the new religion around the New World. In chapter 5, Betty Wood says that slavery became a very important part of the social structure. The Puritans viewed slavery as a natural phenomenon, and something approved by ... They were allowed to sue, and their working lives were not nearly as strenuous as the lives of the slaves working on plantations. Throughout this book, Betty Wood focuses mainly on the economical reasons that West Africans were enslaved. It is my opinion that Be...

• Word Count: 982
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... Forest Service, and "The Big Burn," possibly the worst wildfire in American history. Egan effectively discusses many portions of his book, while others are not quite examined as well. Many different pieces of evidence are used in this monograph to persuade and to narrate the ... and untidy but Egan really reconciles this with his use of details. Egan must be applauded for the amount of detail he incorporated in his book. In chapter six, Egan easily could have said a few small fires near Wallace occurred but rather says, "a string of fires not far from Wallace ... . Many of the stories i...

• Word Count: 1161
• Approx Pages: 5

... has caused waves of anti-Catholic sentiment since the country's inception and up through the present day, and this prejudice is the topic of his book. Dr. Greeley is a Catholic priest and professor of sociology at the University of Chicago and the University of Arizona. He is also a Research ... and writes a weekly column for the Chicago Sun-Times, he has also been awarded numerous honorary degrees from many prestigious universities. The basis of his book is that though a large percentage of the United States population is Catholic, and most noticeably Polish, Irish, and Italian they are ...

• Word Count: 617
• Approx Pages: 2
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... to the formation of national and cultural identity in very different ways both in Africa and the African communities in the United States. The book has to main themes, "Remembering the Past" and "Reinventing the Present." In the introduction the author guides ... . Iyunolu Osagie suggests that this modernized African identity serves as a tool of resistance and resilience against a forced silence and invisibleness. In the final chapter, Iyunolu Osagie studies how the "unthinkable" in American jargon silences the African and African American voices in Steven Spielberg's movie Amistad. She ...

• Word Count: 725
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... clear that the Cold War is a war between the communists and non-communists. I feel that Roberts" transformations of different subjects in the same chapter are very well done; despite the fact that I feel he should have divided the book into more chapters. An example of how he makes this transaction is when he talks about the Berlin Airlift, which was when the ... Fidel Castro. It was good that he brought this subject up because with the Cuban missile crisis, it is still affecting us today. In chapter three Roberts uses an extensive amount of photographs and captions in the book, which a...

• Word Count: 1114
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... need to be exposed to a wide variety of literature in order to be able to find out more about different time periods. In chapter twelve Levstik writes, "Children often think that people in the Colonial Era lived in log cabins or that everyone in the 1800's dressed ... viewpoints or ideas. This way, children will be able to form their own opinions based on multiple perspectives. Another chapter in this book that I found extremely important was chapter 5. This chapter focuses on linking children to the past through family histories. It is important for students to personalize history beca...

• Word Count: 831
• Approx Pages: 3

... professor could find that was dealing with the material we cover in class. I was utterly wrong! The book in general was put together nicely and was well written in my opinion. I really enjoyed the chapter entitled, "The White Tigers". It amazed me to read how the little girl was taken from her home and trained ... was fun not knowing what she was going to run into next once she actually went on her journey where the white tigers were. I also enjoyed the chapter which talks about the mother going through school to become a doctor. I was shocked at how she described the delivering of the b...

• Word Count: 417
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... , life wasn't as effortless as they had previously hoped. For example, Lupe was unable to attend school for a while after coming to the United States. It is expressed in the book that Lupe loved to learn and it was one thing that she was most passionate about. After working in the fields she was then able to return to school. Despite ... job so that she would be able to support her family so that her parents no longer had to work in the fields. I believe that with the book's ending of "the beginning", a new chapter of life is commencing. Lupe and her family have accepted and put aside th...

• Word Count: 681
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... . The authors writing style was very easy to read and follow, this book is divided into seven chapters, Origins, American Resistance, Revolution, Constitution-making and War, Republicanism, Republican Society, The Federal Constitution. In every chapter the author gives very good facts about each segment covered in the chapter, the book doesn't keep on talking about certain events for too long it just gives ... you the most important facts. The book is more like a bibliography of the American Revolution, this period is very complicated and ... important and this book answers some questio...

• Word Count: 700
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... , in hopes of learning a deeper meaning of the significance of slavery and its relationship in shaping America. The basic and fundamental point that Morgan seems to drive home in this book is the close relationship between the establishment of freedom and the rise of slavery in America. Morgan believes that these two principals, as opposite as they seem, were both closely ... , trade, migration patterns, and acquisition of money between Virginia and Britain. Finally in the last chapter of the book, Morgan attempts to answer many of the questions posed from the onset. I actually wished I w...

• Word Count: 501
• Approx Pages: 2

... feel that you, too, can become great." Mark Twain The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain seems too many readers to be a racist book about slavery and the people of that time period. There are racist words used, racist comments, and many prejudices that are shared throughout the novel, ... the way. I says to the people, why ain't this nigger put up at auction and sold?" (Huck p.27). Huck seems confused at time in the book about black people, trying to understand that they are normal people with feelings and a heart like himself. This novel was written twenty years after...

• Word Count: 1244
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... Chapters 5, 7, and 8 cover a wide variety of topics expressed through the thoughts and actions of Jane Adams as she ventures through Chicago. The beginning of chapter 5 starts off by giving an analysis of the interdependency classes have on each other after a certain Mr. Davidson establishes that most people "lose themselves in the ... social relation is essentially a reciprocal relation, it gives a form of expression that has peculiar value." A central idea in this chapter is the expression of moral values like feeding the poor, or caring for the elderly. These values are what shape Jan...

• Word Count: 601
• Approx Pages: 2

... same light, one ought to scrutinize the Declaration of Independence in validating Zinn's arguments. The last sentence from chapter 4 of Howard Zinn's book, "tyranny is tyranny let it com from whom it may" (Zinn, cup 4), concludes his central theme of the chapter that the American Revolution was not an attempt of saving the country from colonialism with a legalized and democratic system ... Revolutionary War, as Zinn puts it, propelled people from the lower class to fight for the interest of the higher class, however unwilling or unaware they might have been. Following chapter 4, Zinn go...

• Word Count: 1008
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... lending the reader a glimpse of the somewhat serenity of the naval base before the attacks. The most interesting aspect of the book is the way it changes perspectives nearly every chapter, so in one you"re looking critically at the situation as an American, in the next you"re following Sagamaki, a member ... of the numerous diverse stand points was that it made the event more endearing, because it was based on experiences by real people, rather than a history book. I normally hate books about war, although the topic is a great interest of mine, because the books are generally not good a...

• Word Count: 1233
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... novel, The Politics of Rich and Poor: Wealth and the American Electorate in the Reagan Aftermath. He blended his ideas as well as an abundant amount of facts in the book. The topics that were touched upon alludes to these current times. The author compares the years President Reagan held office to two previous Republican heydays, the 1920s and the Gilded ... it had begun: amid a rising imperative for a new political and economic outlook, and with the imminent prospect of a very different chapter in the annals of the wealth and power of the United States. (page 221) The main idea of the ...

• Word Count: 731
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... the story of the American West in the eyes of the American Indians. That in itself makes Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee an important book because it is one of the few books that tell about the Indian's struggle and supports their cause. Many records, autobiographies, and stories told ... manifest destiny" and making sure that everyone followed our set ways. With the exception of a few soldiers and civilians, the white men in this book are portrayed as an prejudiced murderer. They killed Native Americans regardless of age or sex often scalping and mutilating the bodies, and even going as f...

• Word Count: 970
• Approx Pages: 4

... material like the Honolulu Daily Bulletin of January
17, 1893, and an editorial in the New York Evening Post on February 1, 1901 in the chapter, "A Hell of a Time Up at the Palace." Kinzer is equally sensitive to the kinds of documentary evidence that do not necessarily ... and symmetries." These stories are eye opening and quite interesting. They tell of patriots, high motives, extreme courage and cruel betrayal. This book brings them together for the first time, but it seeks to do more than simply tell what happened. By considering these operations as a ... these operations? and wh...

• Word Count: 955
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... sea to shining see." While fulfilling America's "destiny", the newly acquired territories caused many disputes, which ultimately contributed to setting the stage for the Civil War. Groom's book recounts the thrilling, almost Hollywood-esque adventures and dangers that Kearny and his men encountered while venturing throughout the trail. Kearny's story also coincides along with famous mountain man Kit ... western frontier and helps broaden our understanding of the dangerous and dirty business that shaped our country. Winston Groom's qualifications and thoroughness were very present in the...

• Word Count: 693
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... Without the great depression, the stock market would be a quite superficial establishment; it would have had no checks and balances. Galbraith chose to write this book because he felt that the actual truth behind the crash needed to be put in a form that the public could understand, and that the public would ... that he had the wit and style to do so. I believe that if the author could synopsize the book it would consist of three sections. The events leading up to the collapse, up to chapter 7, were discussing the boom and its components as well as the elements of the disaster that was b...

• Word Count: 624
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... that worked jointly to educate community for participation in a democracy. Also, the success of democratic society was inseparably linked to education. Therefore, the question that I want to know after I read chapter 13 which is Secure the Future of Civic Engagement in Higher Education is should studying abroad is an important thing for higher education in the furture civic engagement? In ... chapter 13, the book said that educating students is a fundamental value of higher education and essential for the future of America democracy and for the health of our global society. There are tw...

• Word Count: 779
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... and three seconds. Come the Olympic games in August, Phelps did just that, winning the event in a time of four minutes and three seconds, setting a new world record. The next chapter is a great example of perseverance and defying the odds. It consisted of the United States 4x100 freestyle relay defeating the French even though they were major underdogs in that event ... 100 freestyle being one of his weaker events, and concluded with Jason Lezak running down the world record holder at the time from France to win the gold medal. In chapter four the 200 butterfly, Michael's goggles comple...

• Word Count: 1220
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... through all their arguments and disagreements, they remembered their goal of making the United States a better country. In reading the book, though, I came to the conclusion that Clinton Rossiter, although a seeming brain about this time period, greatly overdid this work. The introductory chapter, in which he again and again explained that 1787 was the greatest year ever, was uncalled for. The entire ... book just seemed to drag on, sometimes with no clear purpose other than showing off the amount of knowledge or information the ... five biographies, I honestly could not separate one m...

• Word Count: 1040
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... sleeve as he musters up adventure after adventure right before your eyes. Although the books exploits are nothing less of fascinating, another charming feature in the book is its themes. A genuinely unique aspect of the book is its immeasurable amount of themes. Ranging from magic to romance, mystery to life itself, the amount of themes seems almost endless. However, Glen David Gold ... , both real and imagined, reaching from the world-renowned Houdini, to Carter's wicked nemesis, Mysterioso. The book incorporates much from the real life of magician Charles Carter. Most of the book's cha...

• Word Count: 462
• Approx Pages: 2

... Mary Beirne-Smith, James R. Patton, and Richard Ittenbach, it states that many people in society viewed these people as buffoons, court jesters, and even demons. Also stated in the book entitled Mental Retardation that little service if any was provided to people with special needs, it was protective nature (i.e., providing housing and substance) and was usually offered in monasteries. My ... various disabilities, an enthusiasm displayed by a number of people in society. Those people in society were more willing to help the less fortunate people with solid intervention. In the book entitl...

• Word Count: 1098
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... 't say much about Thomas Jefferson's childhood in Virginia. He gives us a few paragraphs to the era of Jefferson's life but doesn't really go into much detail. Most of the first chapter discusses Thomas Jefferson's role in the Continental Congress and in his writing of the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson had served a two-year term as the governor of Virginia, from ... . I must say I am not a big history buff but this is one of the best books I have read that deals with history. This is also the first book I have read on Thomas Jefferson. This particular book won the National...

• Word Count: 729
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School