Presents a variety of diverse perspectives through more than 230 primary sources. Offers well known primary sources such as Federalist 10 and President Eisenhower's farewell address, as well as Cotton Mather's admonitions on the evils of "self-pollution," a woman's description of the southern homefront during the Civil War, John Muir's essay on American forests, and recent East Asian immigrant's description of life in America.

Edited by Raymond M. Hyser and J. Christopher Arndt, VOICES OF THE AMERICAN PAST is a two-volume reader that presents a variety of diverse perspectives through more than 230 primary sources. Excerpts from speeches, letters, journals, political cartoons, magazine articles, hearings and government documents raise issues from both public and private aspects of American life throughout history. A "Guide to Reading and Interpreting Documents" in the front matter explains how and why historians use primary source evidence, and outlines basic points to help students learn to analyze sources. Brief headnotes set each source into context. "Questions to Consider" precede each document, offering prompts for critical thinking and reflection. The volumes are organized chronologically into 31 chapters, with the Reconstruction chapter overlapping in both volumes -- corresponding to the splits of most survey texts. In this new Third Edition, the selection of new documents was guided by the editors' desire to provide greater diversity of voices while also offering readable selections that speak to larger issues. This edition offers well known primary sources such as Federalist 10 and President Eisenhower's farewell address, as well as Cotton Mather's admonitions on the evils of "self-pollution," a woman's description of the southern homefront during the Civil War, John Muir's essay on American forests, and recent East Asian immigrant's description of life in America. The most significant change, however, is the addition of visual images, taking the text beyond the use of documents traditionally found in other readers.

Each chapter in CONTENDING VOICES examines the lives of two individuals, some of them familiar historical figures and some of them lesser known, who took opposing positions on important issues in American history. The “paired biographies” in the text are followed by a set of four to six related primary sources, many in the individuals’ own voices; a “Questions to Consider” section; and an annotated bibliography. This unique format promotes critical thinking and engages students in enlightening historical debates. Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.

Here in their own words are Frederick Douglass, George Jackson, Chief Joseph, Martin Luther King Jr., Plough Jogger, Sacco and Vanzetti, Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen, Mark Twain, and Malcolm X, to name just a few of the hundreds of voices that appear in Voices of a People's History of the United States, edited by Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove. Paralleling the twenty-four chapters of Zinn's A People's History of the United States, Voices of a People’s History is the long-awaited companion volume to the national bestseller. For Voices, Zinn and Arnove have selected testimonies to living history—speeches, letters, poems, songs—left by the people who make history happen but who usually are left out of history books—women, workers, nonwhites. Zinn has written short introductions to the texts, which range in length from letters or poems of less than a page to entire speeches and essays that run several pages. Voices of a People’s History is a symphony of our nation’s original voices, rich in ideas and actions, the embodiment of the power of civil disobedience and dissent wherein lies our nation’s true spirit of defiance and resilience.

Each chapter in [this book] examines the lives of two individuals who took opposing positions on an important issue in American history. This format engages students in both new and familiar topics while helping them exercise their critical thinking skills.-Back cover.

Presents a variety of diverse perspectives through more than 230 primary sources. Offers well known primary sources such as Federalist 10 and President Eisenhower's farewell address, as well as Cotton Mather's admonitions on the evils of "self-pollution," a woman's description of the southern homefront during the Civil War, John Muir's essay on American forests, and recent East Asian immigrant's description of life in America.