"Snapshots of the U.S.'s last nine generations--from the creators of the Mindset List media sensation. Just as high school graduates in 1957 couldn't imagine life without zippers, those of 2009 can't imagine having to enter phone booths and deposit coins in order to call someone from the street corner. Every August, the Mindset List highlights the cultural touchstones that have shaped the lives of that year's incoming college class. Now this fascinating...

"Mahjong: A Chinese Game and the Making of Modern American Culture illustrates how the spaces between tiles and the moments between games have fostered distinct social cultures in the United States. This mass-produced game crossed the Pacific, creating waves of popularity over the twentieth century. Mahjong narrates the history of this game to show how it has created a variety of meanings, among them American modernity, Chinese American heritage,...

With informative text and bold illustrations that pay homage to America's past and present, this book features a diverse collection of historical figures from science, entertainment, politics, and education.

"The current climate of partisan fury is not new, and in The Soul of America, Meacham shows us how what Lincoln called the 'better angels of our nature' have won the day. Painting surprising portraits of Presidents, including Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Ulysses S. Grant, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, Lyndon B. Johnson, and others, and illuminating the courage of such influential citizen activists...

To secure the general welfare in a new century, the future of American unity lies not in monolithic nationalism. Rather, Samuel Goldman suggests we move in the opposite direction: go small, embrace difference as the driving characteristic of American society, and support political projects grounded in local communities.

"Identifies [what the author sees as] an epochal shift in the structure of American life--a shift unnoticed by many. Routines that once put doctors and lawyers in touch with grocers and plumbers--interactions that encouraged debate and cultivated compromise--have changed dramatically since the postwar era. Both technology and the new routines of everyday life connect tight-knit circles and expand the breadth of our social landscapes, but they've sapped...

"Discusses the decade 2000-2009 in the United States in terms of culture, art, science, and politics" --

Explores Minnesota's Scandinavian roots, tracing the arrival of Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish immigrants to Minnesota, and how their desires for better lives for their children manifested in traditions, foods, and institutions that still exist for their descendants.

Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro argues that Western Civilization is in the midst of a crisis of purpose and ideas. Our freedoms are built upon the twin notions that every human being is made in God's image and that human beings were created with reason capable of exploring God's world. We can thank these values for the birth of science, the dream of progress, human rights, prosperity, peace, and artistic beauty. Jerusalem and Athens built America,...

Charles Kuralt's classic bestseller is now on audio! On The Road With Charles Kuralt Featuring Charles Kuralt with an introduction by Wallace Kuralt "To read the front pages, you might conclude that Americans are mostly out for themselves...but you can't travel the back roads very long without discovering a multitude of gentle people doing good for others with no expectation of gain or recognition." In this collection of short audio essays, Charles...