The 500th anniversary of the Columbian discovery of America is upon us, and with it the obligation to assess existing interpretations of the significance of the voyage and establishment of permanent links between the Old and New Worlds. The traditional, or bardic, version of the Columbian voyages and their consequences was the product of narrative…

Attempts to explain why despite declines in survey-reported racial prejudice and overt discrimination Blacks still experience racially motivated restrictions. Presents an overview of theories suggesting that prejudice itself is not a primary cause of racial discrimination and that racism has the capacity to change, adjust, and manifest itself in…

Reviews history of social class in U.S. society by Philip H. Burch. Notes that this study of social class has not fared well in the twentieth century even with rise of social history. Reviews works of "handful" of scholars who addressed question of social class and concludes that study forms valuable reference work for future scholarship. (JDH)

The book, "History of the Okinawans in North America," is reviewed by its translator, who also summarizes the history and culture of the Okinawan community in California. Okinawans long considered themselves an oppressed minority among Japanese and desire a separate history in order to preserve the community and its cultural heritage.…

This book, a history of handwriting in America ranging from colonial times to the present, explores the shifting functions and meanings of handwriting in this country. Script emerged in the 18th century as a medium intimately associated with the self, in contrast to the impersonality of print. Just what kind of self would be defined or revealed in…

Considers de Tocqueville's analysis of the American character as it applies today. The author concludes that the original American democratic impetus toward individual equality of condition has spread to other developing countries who now see the United States as an aristocrat among nations and subject to the same principles. (AM)

Critiques U.S. military assumptions concerning the war in Vietnam. Discusses the North Vietnamese strategic approach to gaining control of South Vietnam. Traces the history of the Vietnam War, analyzing specific U.S. military operations in Vietnam and reasons for their failure. Contends that U.S. strategic ethnocentrism lead to defeat in Vietnam.…

Examines uses of history writing in the United States, assessing it for Mexican-American stereotyping. Describes development of Chicano history, a rejection of perspectives based on values of dominant Anglo society. Assesses Chicano historians' accounts of colonialism in American Southwest, once Mexico. Describes colonialism as socioeconomic…

Analyzes 10 widely used secondary history textbooks for references to Christianity and the Religious Right in contemporary American history (after 1945). Discusses the relationship of private faith and public behavior, President Jimmy Carter's faith and motivations, the Religious Right and politics, television evangelism, and textbooks' inadequate…

This paper attempts to clarify: (1) the need to educate citizens to cope with contemporary global challenges and (2) the purpose of history and to examine the way to organize history in the global age. The document suggests that the purpose of world history and national history is to enable students to develop a global perspective and that world…

The evolution of the newspaper industry can be viewed within the perspective of a dialectic ecology that emphasizes the determinative influence of the environment on the development of newspapers in the three stages of variation, selection, and retention. This perspective also introduces the concept of contradictions that rupture into…

Abraham Lincoln rose from the depths of obscurity to guide the United States successfully through the turbulent and menacing years of the Civil War. Laborer, businessman, postmaster, politician, and lawyer were some of the vocations, not all successful, that Lincoln tried during the years leading to his ascent to the Presidency. This review of the…

Tracing both current concern for correctness in speech and writing and continued suspicion of formal language regulation, this book explores the history of American language reform and failure. The first three chapters examine early attitudes toward the English language in the New World, and the development of the concept of Federal English in…

Library historians and historians of literacy have been more creative than journalism historians in using individual-level historical data such as deeds, wills, depositions, surveys, and census figures to study reading behaviors of the past. For example, the series of family cost of living surveys conducted in the United States by state and…

States that autobiographies such as Patricia Hampl's may be the best source of information for revealing the effects of the Cold War on the American psyche. Maintains that such works may help counteract the narrow and naive view of superpower relations youth gain from such movies as "Rocky" and "Rambo." (JDH)