First Generations

Indian, European, and African women of seventeenth and eighteenth-century America were defenders of their native land, pioneers on the frontier, willing immigrants, and courageous slaves. They were also - as traditional scholarship tends to omit - as important as men in shaping American culture and history. This remarkable work is a gripping portrait that gives early-American women their proper place in history.

Celebrate the genius, diversity, and grit of immigrants and refugees in this boldly illustrated guide to 36 American trailblazers. The men and women in this book represent nations from Somalia to Germany, from Syria to China, from Mexico to Sweden, and more. They are people like Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, international singing sensation Celia Cruz, star basketball player Dikembe Mutombo, world-renowned physicist Albert Einstein, and influential journalist Jorge Ramos. And they are all immigrants or refugees to the United States of America. Their courage, their achievements, and their determination to change the world have helped make our country a stronger place. Perhaps after reading their stories, you will be inspired to make the world a better place, too.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Discover the game-changing theory of the cycles of history and what past generations can teach us about living through times of upheaval—with deep insights into the roles that Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials have to play. First comes a High, a period of confident expansion. Next comes an Awakening, a time of spiritual exploration and rebellion. Then comes an Unraveling, in which individualism triumphs over crumbling institutions. Last comes a Crisis—the Fourth Turning—when society passes through a great and perilous gate in history. William Strauss and Neil Howe will change the way you see the world—and your place in it. With blazing originality, The Fourth Turning illuminates the past, explains the present, and reimagines the future. Most remarkably, it offers an utterly persuasive prophecy about how America’s past will predict what comes next. Strauss and Howe base this vision on a provocative theory of American history. The authors look back five hundred years and uncover a distinct pattern: Modern history moves in cycles, each one lasting about the length of a long human life, each composed of four twenty-year eras—or “turnings”—that comprise history’s seasonal rhythm of growth, maturation, entropy, and rebirth. Illustrating this cycle through a brilliant analysis of the post–World War II period, The Fourth Turning offers bold predictions about how all of us can prepare, individually and collectively, for this rendezvous with destiny.

First Published in 1997. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Given the importance of Latino issues in the current social and economic times, the publication of Latinos in a Changing Society is both timely and prescient in its contributions to the current discourse of how Latinos are being influenced by U.S. norms and culture and how Latinos are also affecting U.S. society. This volume contributes to our need for comprehensive analysis of how Latin communities compare and contrast with other underserved groups. It also examines how changes are taking place within specific Latino groups particularly between first and second generation Cubans, returning Puerto Ricans, Dominican poverty, and emergent Mexican leaders in the New England area. The opportunities that Latinos and dominant mainstream interests share are identified in this volume, but so are the many areas in need of change. In this current atmosphere of anger and suspicion toward immigrants, this volume presents an analytical perspective that is too often absent from politically motivated debates about Latinos and their role in a changing society. Undocumented immigrants are often portrayed as people who come to this country to take advantage of a generous welfare system contributing little to the economic and social development of the country. This volume critically examines issues such as the Latino commitment to labor participation, the ways that Latino parents engage in schools and in their communities, health access and social programs, the policing concerns within the Latino community, the academic adjustments made by Latino college students as well as the educational opportunities that exist for Latinos across the country. Unlike publications that seek to summarize knowledge about the Latino population in the United States, Latinos in a Changing Society provides a broader range of insights into the types of policy analysis, research, and public consciousness needed to advance the educational, social, cultural, and political participation and incorporation of Latinos in the new century. This volume critically examines such issues as the disparity in poverty among Latino groups, the lack of access to health services, the Latino commitment to labor participation, the ways that Latino parents engage in schools and in their communities, and the educational dropout rates of Latinos across the country and the underlying causes of those rates. Unlike publications that seek to summarize knowledge about the Latino population in the United States, Latinos in a Changing Society provides a broader range of insights into the types of policy analysis, research, and public consciousness needed to advance the educational, social, cultural, and political participation and incorporation of Latinos in the new century.