This important reference work focuses on the lifestyles and economic life of working class families and looks, decade by decade, into the kind of work they did, the homes they lived in, the food and clothes they bought, the entertainment they sought as well as the society and history that shaped the world Americans worked in from 1880 to 1999. From the wealth of government surveys, social worker histories, economic data, family diaries and letters, newspaper and magazine features, this unique reference assembles a remarkably personal and realistic look at the lives of ordinary working Americans.
The late eighteenth century witnessed an influx of black women to the slave-trading ports of the American Northeast. The formation of an early African American community, bound together by shared experiences and spiritual values, owed much to these women's voices. The significance of their writings would be profound for all African Americans' sense of their own identity as a people.
Central Americans are one of the largest Latino population groups in the United States. Yet, Arturo Arias argues, the cultural production of Central Americans remains little known to North Americans.
"The Germans are an enigma not only to the rest of the world
but also to themselves." So Greg Nees begins this comprehensive analysis
of German culture as Americans encounter it. It is a culture Americans tend to
see as similar to their own until they experience it in some depth in Germany
or in the company of Germans elsewhere.
"Germany: Unraveling an Enigma is a concise guide for any teacher who
needs a course outline to teach topics in German culture in order to prepare
students for a study abroad program or an internship in Germany."
- Kerstin Somerholter, University of
Texas at Austin, Die Unterrichtspraxis Review
