San Antonio College Library

"In some respects ... a condensation of Rose Wilder Lane's book, The discovery of freedom."--Page vi. Includes bibliographical references (p. 236-244) and index.

"In the late nineteenth century, the United States underwent an extremely rapid industrial expansion that moved the nation into the front ranks of the world economy. At the same time, the nation maintained democratic institutions as the primary means of allocating political offices and power. As the combination of robust democratic institutions and rapid industrialization is rarely found in world history, this book explains how development and democracy...

Here's something true for almost every American. The democracy you live in today is different, completely different, than the democracy born into. Since 1980, the number of Americans legally barred from voting has more than doubled. Since the 1990s, odds of living in a competitive Congressional district have fallen by more than half. In the twenty-first century alone, the amount of money spent on Washington lobbying has increased by more than 100...

"Struggles over women's suffrage and the ERA have publicized how much women have related their struggle for equality to rights. That the history of citizens' obligations is also linked to gender has been less understood." "In this landmark book, the historian Linda K. Kerber opens up this important and neglected subject for the first time. She begins during the Revolution, when married women did not have the same obligation as their husbands to be...

"This is the first study in half a century to focus on the election of 1796. At first glance, the first presidential contest looks unfamiliar--parties were frowned upon, there was no national vote, and the candidates did not even participate (the political mores of the day forbade it). Yet for all that, Jeffrey L. Pasley contends, the election of 1796 was 'absolutely seminal, ' setting the stage for all of American politics to follow."--Jacket.

Conrad Waligorski argues that, despite individual differences, liberal economists are bound together by a common vision of the public good. Collectively, these thinkers represent a strong countertradition to the laissez-faire, free-market philosophy of James Buchanan, Milton Friedman, F.A. Hayek, Newt Gingrich, and other proponents of minimalist government and trickle-down economics. Waligorski locates the roots of the liberal economic tradition in...

"The Paradox of American Democracy is a penetrating examination of our democracy that illuminates the forces and institutions that once enlivened it and now threaten to undermine it." "Judis revisits particular moments - the Progressive Era, the New Deal, the 1960s - to discover what makes democracy most efficacious and, consequently, most inefficacious. What has worked in the past is a balancing act between groups of elites - trade commissions,...

"Over the course of our history, freedom has been a living truth for some Americans and a cruel mockery for others. In Eric Foner's stirring history, freedom's story is not the simple unfolding of a timeless truth, but an open-ended history of accomplishment and failure. Its impetus lies in the aspirations and sacrifice of millions of Americans, celebrated and anonymous, who have sought freedom's blessings. Its meaning is shaped not only in congressional...

"How did the acquisition of overseas colonies affect the development of the American state? How did the constitutional system shape the expansion and governance of American empire? American Imperialism and the State offers a new perspective on these questions by recasting American imperial governance as an episode of state building. Colin Moore argues that the empire was decisively shaped by the efforts of colonial state officials to achieve greater...