Monthly Archives: August 2026

The Republic of Nature: An Environmental History of the United States

Author: Mark Fiege Publisher: University of Washington Press (Seattle), 2012. ISBN: 978-0-295-99167-2 Thesis Statement Mark Fiege’s The Republic of Nature argues that American history—from the Salem witch trials to the dropping of the atomic bomb—is fundamentally inseparable from the natural … Continue reading

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The Democratic Soul: Politics, Religion, and the Search for Order in America, 1900–1945

Bibliographic Details Author: Andrew T. Suttle Publisher: University of North Carolina Press Year: 2019 Thesis Statement Suttle argues that the Progressive Era through World War II witnessed not merely a political realignment but a profound transformation in how Americans understood … Continue reading

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The Democratic Soul: Politics, Religion, and the Search for Order in America, 1900–1945

Bibliographic Details Author: Jonathan H. Ebel Publisher: University of North Carolina Press Year: 2021 Thesis Statement Ebel argues that the crisis of American democracy between 1900 and 1945 was fundamentally a spiritual crisis—that Progressive-era reformers, New Deal administrators, and wartime … Continue reading

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The Republic of Nature: An Environmental History of the United States

Bibliographic Details Author: Mark Fiege Publisher: University of Washington Press Year: 2012 Thesis Statement Mark Fiege’s The Republic of Nature argues that the central narratives of American history—from the Salem witch trials and the Declaration of Independence to the building … Continue reading

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The Unknown Soldiers: African American Troops in World War I

Bibliographic Details Author: Chad L. Williams Publisher: Oxford University Press (2010) Thesis Statement Chad Williams’s The Unknown Soldiers: African American Troops in World War I argues that African American soldiers’ experiences during World War I—both on the battlefields of France … Continue reading

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American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865–1900

Bibliographic Details Author: H.W. Brands Publisher: Doubleday (an imprint of Penguin Random House) Year: 2010 ISBN: 978-0385523334 Thesis Statement H.W. Brands argues that the half-century following the Civil War represented not merely an era of industrial growth but a fundamental … Continue reading

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The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War, 1890-1914

Author: Barbara W. Tuchman Publisher: Macmillan (1966) Year: 1966 Thesis Statement Barbara Tuchman’s The Proud Tower argues that the decades preceding the First World War, frequently romanticized as a golden age of peace and prosperity, were in fact a period … Continue reading

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When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America

Bibliographic Details Author: Ira Katznelson Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Year: 2005 Thesis Statement Katznelson’s landmark study argues that the central policy achievements of the Progressive Era and New Deal—often celebrated as universal and race-neutral—were systematically designed to exclude African … Continue reading

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