A provocative case for integration as the single most radical, discomfiting idea in America, yet the only enduring solution to the racism that threatens our democracy. Americans have prided ourselves on how far we've come from slavery, lynching, and legal segregation-measuring ourselves by incremental progress instead of by how far we have to go. But fifty years after the last meaningful effort toward civil rights, the US remains overwhelmingly segregated and unjust. Our current solutions -- diversity, representation, and desegregation -- are not enough. As acclaimed writer Calvin Baker argues in this bracing, necessary book, we first need to envision a society no longer defined by the structures of race in order to create one. The only meaningful remedy is integration: the full self-determination and participation of all African-Americans, and all other oppressed groups, in every facet of national life. This is the deepest threat to the racial order and the real goal of civil rights. At once a profound, masterful reading of US history from the colonial era forward and a trenchant critique of the obstacles in our current political and cultural moment, A More Perfect Reunion is also a call to action. As Baker reminds us, we live in a revolutionary democracy. We are one of the best-positioned generations in history to finish that revolution.

The American fixation with marriage, so prevalent in today's debates over marriage for same-sex couples, owes much of its intensity to a small group of reformers who introduced Americans to marriage counseling in the 1930s. Today, millions of couples seek help to save their marriages each year. Over the intervening decades, marriage counseling has powerfully promoted the idea that successful marriages are essential to both individuals' and the nation's well-being. Rebecca Davis reveals how couples and counselors transformed the ideal of the perfect marriage as they debated sexuality, childcare, mobility, wage earning, and autonomy, exposing both the fissures and aspirations of American society. From the economic dislocations of the Great Depression, to more recent debates over government-funded "Healthy Marriage" programs, counselors have responded to the shifting needs and goals of American couples. Tensions among personal fulfillment, career aims, religious identity, and socioeconomic status have coursed through the history of marriage and explain why the stakes in the institution are so fraught for the couples involved and for the communities to which they belong. Americans care deeply about marriages—their own and other people's—because they have made enormous investments of time, money, and emotion to improve their own relationships and because they believe that their personal decisions about whom to marry or whether to divorce extend far beyond themselves. This intriguing book tells the uniquely American story of a culture gripped with the hope that, with enough effort and the right guidance, more perfect marital unions are within our reach.

Twenty years after their college graduation, four Radcliffe girls return to their Harvard class reunion with mixed emotions and curiosity. It is the first time they have met since their hopeful student years, when each of them had wonderful dreams of becoming wives, mothers, and successful career women. But much has changed since the fifties, and the former classmates’ lives have been altered by events none of them could have foreseen. Humorous, heartwarming, often poignant and nostalgic, Class Reunion captures the spirit of the fifties brilliantly in contrast to the changing world the four girls have embraced, often with straightforward and pithy commentary on the social conventions of the past.

The popular sequel to Class Reunion, Rona Jaffe’s After the Reunion continues the heartwarming story of Daphne, Emily, Chris, and Annabel five years after their class reunion. The affluent quartet, now in their mid-forties, is each coping with romantic and domestic problems at home while trying to outgrow the social and moral codes that controlled them during their Harvard years. After the Reunion is a return to some of Rona Jaffe’s most beloved characters, and readers will undoubtedly embrace their own reunion with these characters on the page.

Be the person you long to be -- someone overflowing with immense joy, experiencing deep connection, expressing your creativity, and feeling profound peace. In this spiritual self-help book, Victoria Price shows you how to turn aside the fears that stand between you and self-fulfillment and to embrace the healing power of love, permitting it to transform every aspect of your life. From creating a daily routine of joy and gratitude to developing a practice of presence and forgiveness, she provides the tools for taking delight in being alive, countering fear, and developing compassion and openness. Victoria Price is the author of the critically acclaimed Vincent Price: A Daughter's Biography and The Way of Being Lost: A Road Trip to My Truest Self. She is a popular inspirational speaker on topics ranging from the daily practice of joy, living your legacy of yes, and making peace with your past stories to expand your creative future. Price has appeared on Good Morning America and NPR's "Fresh Air" and "Morning Edition," and her work has been featured in USA Today, People, and The New York Times.

Remembering the Civil War: Reunion and the Limits of Reconciliation

The reunion is a worldwide phenomenon celebrating life, treasured memories, enduring relationships, shared experiences, and the unique bonds that have held groups of people together. For families, the reunion is a living tapestry of decades past and futures beckoning, an opportunity to revisit intimate history and the foundations upon which many lives have been built. Planning and hosting such an important event require superior organizing skills, dedicated attention to detail, and the ability to reinforce and reaffirm the ties that have shaped your family. The Family Reunion Planner is a comprehensive step-by-step guide that explores all the facets of creating and hosting a successful family reunion, including: Selecting the type of reunion, from simple picnics to more elaborate weekend gatherings Organizing attendance and compiling guest lists Locating relatives Planning budgets Creating menus and buying gifts Selecting themes and activities Communicating with the family throughout the year via postcards, flyers, and newsletters Compiling a recorded history of the event using the written word, photographs, and videos And much more Indispensaable and one-of-a-kind, The Family Reunion Planner is the perfect resource for anyone—from the seasoned party planner to the first-time host—considering organizing a family reunion.

Inspired by true events, A More Perfect Union is an epic story of love and courage, desperation and determination, and three people whose lives are inescapably entwined… Henry O’Toole sails to America in 1848 to escape the famine in Ireland, only to face anti-immigrant prejudice. Determined never to starve again, he changes his surname to Taylor and heads south to Virginia, seeking work as a traveling blacksmith on the prosperous plantations. Torn from her home and sold to Jubilee Plantation, Sarah must navigate its intricate hierarchy. And now an enigmatic blacksmith is promising her not just the world but also her freedom. How could she say no? Enslaved at Jubilee Plantation, Maple is desperate to return to her husband and daughter. With Sarah’s arrival, she sees her chance to be reunited at last with her family—but at what cost?

In a brilliantly conceived and elegantly written book, Rogan Kersh investigates the idea of national union in the United States. For much of the period between the colonial era and the late nineteenth century, he shows, "union" was the principal rhetorical means by which Americans expressed shared ideals and a common identity without invoking strong nationalism or centralized governance. Through his exploration of how Americans once succeeded in uniting a diverse and fragmented citizenry, Kersh revives a long-forgotten source of U.S. national identity. Why and how did Americans perceive themselves as one people from the early history of the republic? How did African Americans and others at the margins of U.S. civic culture apply this concept of union? Why did the term disappear from vernacular after the 1880s? In his search for answers, Kersh employs a wide range of methods, including political-theory analysis of writings by James Madison, Frederick Douglass, and Abraham Lincoln and empirical analysis drawing on his own extensive database of American newspapers. The author's findings are persuasive—and often surprising. One intriguing development, for instance, was a strong resurgence of union feelings among Southerners—including prominent former secessionists—after the Civil War. With its fascinating and novel approach, Dreams of a More Perfect Union offers valuable insights about American political history, especially the rise of nationalism and federalism. Equally important, the author's close retracing of the religious, institutional, and other themes coloring the development of unionist thought unveils new knowledge about the origination and transmittal of ideas in a polity.

In this practical book, Michelle McColm takes the adoptee and birth parent carefully through the process of adoption reunion; drawing on extensive interviews and the experience of her own reunion.