Monthly Archives: April 2026

Bibliographic Details Author: Thomas BorstelmannPublisher: Oxford University PressYear: 2011 Thesis Statement Borstelmann argues that the central, unifying theme of U.S. history in the first half of the twentieth century was the nation’s conflicted and evolving engagement with the global problem … Continue reading →

Bibliographic Details Author: George C. HerringPublisher: Oxford University PressYear: 2017 (Second Edition) Thesis Statement George C. Herring argues that the United States’ rise to global preeminence in the 20th century was not a linear or inevitable triumph, but rather a … Continue reading →

Bibliographic Details Author: C. Vann WoodwardPublisher: Oxford University PressYear: First published 1955; multiple revised editions, most notably 1974. Thesis Statement C. Vann Woodward argues that the rigid, legally codified system of racial segregation known as “Jim Crow” was not an … Continue reading →

Bibliographic Details Author: David M. KennedyPublisher: Oxford University PressYear: 1999 Thesis Statement David M. Kennedy argues that the twin crises of the Great Depression and World War II constituted a transformative “ordeal” that fundamentally reshaped the American state, economy, and … Continue reading →

Bibliographic Details Author: Richard White Publisher: Oxford University Press Year: 2017 Thesis Statement Richard White argues that the period from 1865 to 1896 was defined by a profound and ultimately failed struggle to realize the “free labor” vision that emerged … Continue reading →

Bibliographic Details Author: William H. Chafe Publisher: Oxford University Press Year: 2021 (9th Edition) Thesis Statement William H. Chafe argues that the central, defining narrative of modern America from the end of World War II through the early 21st century … Continue reading →

Bibliographic Details Author: Eric RauchwayPublisher: Oxford University PressYear: 2008 Thesis Statement Eric Rauchway argues that the New Deal was not merely a haphazard series of emergency responses to the Great Depression, but a coherent and transformative project that fundamentally redefined … Continue reading →

Bibliographic Details Author: William E. Leuchtenburg Publisher: University of Chicago Press Year: 1958 (Revised 1993) Thesis Statement William E. Leuchtenburg argues that the period between the outbreak of the First World War and the nadir of the Great Depression represents … Continue reading →

The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration Bibliographic Details Author: Isabel Wilkerson Publisher: Random House Year: 2010 Thesis Statement Wilkerson argues that the Great Migration—the decades-long exodus of six million African Americans from the Jim … Continue reading →

The Clash of Civilizations: America in the First World War Bibliographic Details Author: A. Scott Berg (or alternatively, for a more strictly academic monograph: The First World War and American Democracy by David M. Kennedy, though here we focus on … Continue reading →