This text introduces students to both primary sources and analytical essys on important topics in U.S. history. The book asks students to evaluate primary surces, test the interpretations and draw their own conclusions.

This text introduces students to both primary sources and analytical essys on important topics in U.S. history. The book asks students to evaluate primary surces, test the interpretations and draw their own conclusions.

Designed to encourage critical thinking about history, the MAJOR PROBLEMS IN AMERICAN HISTORY series introduces readers to both primary sources and analytical essays on important topics in U.S. history. MAJOR PROBLEMS IN AMERICAN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY presents major themes and controversial issues from native American times to the present, drawn from compelling, readable sources that draw readers into the process of developing their own perspectives on American environmental history. This text presents a carefully selected group of readings organized to allow readers to evaluate primary sources, test the interpretations of distinguished historians, and draw their own conclusions. Each chapter includes introductions, source notes, and suggested readings.

Lewis Issues a Forceful Warning to Industry, 1936 5. GM Managers Work Behind Closed Doors on a Collective Bargaining Policy, 1936 6. Magazine of Wall Street Assesses Corporate Performance for Investors, 1929-1938 7. St. Louis Banker Heads the Defense Plant Corporation, 1940-1944 8. Life Celebrates Henry J. Kaiser and the U.S. Wartime Shipbuilding Program, 1942 9. Mill and Factory Explains How the Aircraft Industry Recruits Women, 1942 ESSAYS Michael A. Bernstein, Why the Great Depression Was Great Howell John Harris, GM, Chrysler, and Unionization Joel Davidson, World War II and the Birth of the Military-Industrial Complex 12. Postwar Challenges and Opportunities: The Culture of Affluence and the Cold War, 1945-1980 DOCUMENTS 1. National Association of Manufacturers Outlines a Plan for Postwar Prosperity, 1944 2. Real Estate Developers Lure Business to the Suburbs, 1948 3.A Concerned Consumer Asks a Big Businessman about the Price of a Nylon Shirt, 1950 4.U.S. News and World Report Explains What the Baby Boom Means to the Economy, 1957 5. Fortune Credits Federal Policies for the Explosion of Motels, 1959 6. Senator Hubert H. Humphrey Compares R & D Expenditures at Home and Abroad, 1962 7. Vietnam War Raises Business Hackles, 1971 ESSAYS Lizabeth Cohen, From Town Center to Shopping Center: The Reconfiguration of Marketplaces in Postwar America Bruce J. Schulman, Fortress Dixie: Defense Spending and the Rise of the Sunbelt 13. Business and the Public Interest: Corporate Responsibility for Environment, Health, and Safety, 1945-2005 DOCUMENTS 1.A Prominent Zoologist Speaks about the Threat of the Modern Economy, 1949 2. Weyerhauser Explains the Forest Industry's Practices, 1949 3. Ralph Nader Blames Detroit Carmakers for Automotive Accidents, 1965 4. Alcoa CEO Explains the Public Responsibility of Private Enterprise, 1967 5. Economist Milton Friedman Urges Business to Focus on Profits, 1970 6. Sun Oil Executives Outlines the Nation's Energy Dilemmas, 1973 7.A Lawmaker Explains the Necessity for Superfund, 1981 8. CIGNA Doctor Critiques Tobacco Advertising, 1987 9. Hawaiians Debate Airport Expansion on Maui, 1996 ESSAYS David B. Sicilia, The Corporation Under Siege Mansel G. Blackford, The Controversy over the Kahului Airport 14. The Great Transition from Manufacturing to Services, 1945-2005 DOCUMENTS 1. Economist Victor R. Fuchs Highlights the Growth of Services, 1965 2. Investment Bankers Association Predicts a Computer Boom, 1963 3. Bill Veeck Assesses Baseball's Marketing, 1963 4. Ray Kroc Explains How He Built the McDonald's Empire, 1968 5. Journalists Probe Transportation Workers' Lives in the Wake of Deregulation, 1992 6. Sam Walton, Ten Rules That Worked for Me, 1992 7.A Congressman Explores Wal-Mart's Labor Practices in the United States and Asia, 2004 ESSAYS Thomas S. Dicke, We Deliver: Domino's Pizza and the Franchising Method Richard H.K. Vietor, American Airlines Competes after Deregulation Simon Head, Inside Wal-Mart 15. American Business in the World, 1945-2005 DOCUMENTS 1, Fortune Urges Business to Export Capitalism and Democracy, 1947 2. High Labor Costs and Foreign Competition Confound Steelmakers, 1968 3. National Industrial Conference Board Assesses the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), 1969 4. Pharmaceutical Giant Bristol-Myers Encounters Cultural Differences in Japan and the USSR in the 1970s 5, Time Documents the Agricultural Surplus, 1986 6. Journalist Thomas L. Friedman Describes McDonald's Global Expansion, 1996 7. Washington Think Tank Calculates NAFTA's Impact on Jobs, 2001 (table and maps) 8. USDA Reports NAFTA's Benefits to Agricultural Exports, 2001 ESSAYS Geoffrey Jones, Multinationals and Globalization Martin N. Baily and Diana Farrell, Exploding the Myths about Offshoring.

Although it seems almost incredible today, the United States had relatively little interest in the Middle East before 1945. But the dynamics and outcome of World War II elevated the importance of the Middle East in the American mind, and the United States has viewed the region with vital interest to its security and economy ever since. The projection of American power into the region has had consequences that have forever changed the United States and the Middle East, with the rise of al Qaeda and the turbulent occupation of Iraq being the latest examples. Crisis and Crossfire surveys and analyzes the broad contours of U.S. involvement in the region. It probes the reasons why the United States implemented various policies and assesses the wisdom of American leaders as they accepted greater responsibilities for preserving stability and security in the Middle East. Major themes include U.S.-Middle East policy in the context of the Cold War, the rise of Arab and Iranian nationalism, decolonization, the U.S. approach to the Arab-Israeli conflict, the politics of Western dependence on Middle Eastern oil, and America's military interventions, particularly its two wars against Iraq. This book's concise narrative and selection of primary-source documents make it an ideal introduction to U.S.-Middle East relations for students and for anyone with an interest in understanding the history behind today's events.

This volume in the Major Problems in American History series chronicles the history of Mexican-Americans from the pre-Colonial era through the present.

This collection of primary source documents and essays provides in-depth coverage of the cultural, social, political, economic, and intellectual events of the 1920-1945 era. In keeping with the proven strengths of the Major Problems series, the compelling documents are grouped with important secondary sources, accompanied by chapter introductions, selection headnotes, and suggested readings.

Since 1945 the US economy has evolved from an expanding consumer society in which affluence was more widely distributed than ever before. Mike French's volume examines the principal economic developments and social changes in the US since 1945, including those in business, regional dynamics, protest movements, and population distribution. Social movements based on the civil rights demands of African-Americans, ethnic minorities, and women are also examined. The elements of continuity to pre-1945 trends and the points of departure, notably in the post-1970 period, are discussed to provide a more complete examination than previously available.

Discusses the Cold War, communism, Eisenhower, the civil rights movement, African-Americans and religion, Mormons, Vietnam, Catholics, feminism, cults, creationism and evolution, American Islam, home schooling, abortion, homosexuality and religion, and the Christian Right.