@lt;DIV@gt;Compelling firsthand accounts and primary source U.S. history documents underpin History Compass' popular Perspectives on History series. Excerpts from the diaries and letters of young people and adults, along with historic photographs and poems, depict immigrants from Russia, Lithuania, Italy, Greece, Sweden, and Ireland who passed through Ellis Island at the turn of the turn of the century.@lt;/div@gt;

@lt;DIV@gt;Compelling firsthand accounts and primary source U.S. history documents underpin History Compass' popular Perspectives on History series. By the 1780s, about 97,000 slaves a year were being sent to the Americas on more than 800 slave ships. Most went from Africa to the West Indies, where they were trade for molasses. In New England, colonists used molasses to make rum. British merchants completed the triangle of human misery by trading rum for more slaves. This anthology of primary and secondary sources covers the slave trade and its abolition.@lt;/div@gt;

Primary sources detail the course of the War of 1812 between the United States and Britain and its Native American allies, with emphasis on the course of land battles and raids. Students learn why many Native Americans supported the British. Soldiers' experiences come alive through personal accounts. The war did not create new boundaries between the U. S. and Canada or resolve many of the issues which caused the war. It did, however, give Americans a new self-image and led the U.S. to further westward expansion.

In 1898, American troops fought in what Secretary of State John Hay referred to as a splendid little war in Cuba and the Philippines. In its effort to oust Spanish rule in those colonies, the United States opened the door to world power for itself. Excerpts from the writings of Teddy Roosevelt, &yellow journalists, war correspondents, and American soldiers give the reader a sense of the fervor with which the Americans engaged in this war. The photographs from the war, an account of Clara Barton, the key role of Black regiments, recollections of the Rough Riders, and the poetry of Stephen...

The "Dust Bowl" describes both a time in American history (mid-1930s) and a region (the Great Plains). Severe weather, misuse of land by farmers, and economic pressures from the Great Depression meant that farmers and families in a large area of the central U.S. were faced with loss of usable land, lack of work, and poverty. This is their story, told in their words and in photographs. Included are newspaper accounts, letters, interviews, memoirs, songs, government documents, FDR's Second New Deal, and an excerpt from Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath."

In this popular compilation, letters, journals, artwork, and essays describe the origins of Quakerism, the Quakers in Colonial America, matters of conscience, and writings by and about Quakers in American literature. Readers will learn about George Fox, William Penn, Lucretia Mott, Levi Coffin, and others who were instrumental in establishing the "Quaker lifestyle" and Quaker pacifism in World War II and the Vietnam War. Also included are excerpts from Hawthorne, Melville, Whittier, and West.

The beginnings of the Revolutionary War at Lexington and Concord come alive through personal narratives from participants and observers and through primary sources representing British and Colonist points of view. Historian Jeanne Munn Bracken describes the events leading up to the revolt in her essay, The Seeds of Revolution. Also included are excerpts from Paul Revere's Reminiscences, poetry of H. W. Longfellow, the origins of Yankee Doodle, and more.

@lt;DIV@gt;When Franklin D. Roosevelt became President in March of 1933, the nation was near the depths of the Great Depression. Under his leadership, the "New Deal" quickly began to take shape. The series of programs gave the federal government a more substantial role in helping the nation's economy return to and then stay on a steady and prosperous course. The volume includes the major New Deal Programs, writing by Eleanor Roosevelt, a section on Roosevelt's critics, cartoons, and photographs.@lt;/div@gt;

@lt;DIV@gt;When World War II broke out, Roosevelt led the nation through a dramatic changeover to a wartime economy. Women found a new place in the workforce; Americans at home pulled together to economize through rationing of food, tires, gasoline, silk, and more; families grew their own produce in their victory gardens; and school children saved their pennies to invest in war bonds. This volume of life on the U. S. homefront tells the stories of the people, in their own words, who lived through those times: black Americans who faced increased prejudice, women who embarked on new careers,...

Labor historian Juliet Mofford presents the story of workers in the U.S. from the late 1700s to the present: the Industrial Revolution, the formation and role of unions, the quest for political reform, and the ongoing efforts for fair and safe labor conditions for migrant workers. Thoughts on labor from Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Samuel Gompers, Eugene Debs, Grover Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, FDR, John L. Lewis, Cesar Chavez, JFK, and others are presented in their own words.