The Story of American Freedom
by Eric Foner
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"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 debates and political treatises, but show more on plantations and picket lines, in parlors and bedrooms. Its cast of characters ranges from Thomas Jefferson to Frederick Douglass, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan, from former slaves seeking to breathe real meaning into emancipation to the union organizers, freedom riders, and women's rights advocates of our time."--Jacket. show lessTags
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Foner reminds us that, in the American context, “freedom” is a value whose meaning and scope has been contested over time. To recognize that plantation owners and their slaves, religious fundamentalists and saloon keepers, union organizers and factory owners, suffragists and Birchers have all defined freedom differently at different times is to acknowledge the complexities and ambiguities inherent in a pluralist polity.
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Books recommended in the history category on FiveBooks.com
329 works; 4 members
Author Information
66+ Works 10,303 Members
Eric Foner is the preeminent historian of his generation. His books have won the top awards in the profession, and he has been president of both major history organizations, the American Historical Association and the Organization of American Historians. He is the author of Give Me Liberty!, which displays all of his trademark strengths as a show more scholar, teacher, and writer. A specialist on the Civil War/Reconstruction period, he regularly teaches the nineteenth-century survey at Columbia University, where he is DeWitt Clinton Professor of History. In 2011, Foner's The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery won the Pulitzer Prize in History, the Bancroft Prize, and the Lincoln Prize. His Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad is a 2015 New York Times bestseller. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Some Editions
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1998
- Important places
- USA
- Original language
- English
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 729
- Popularity
- 38,644
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.97)
- Languages
- English, Italian
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 10
- ASINs
- 4
