The Passport In America

In today's world of constant identification checks, it's difficult to recall that there was ever a time when "proof of identity" was not a part of everyday life. And as anyone knows who has ever lost a passport, or let one expire on the eve of international travel, the passport has become an indispensable document. But how and why did this form of identification take on such a crucial role? In the first history of the passport in the United States, Craig Robertson offers an illuminating account of how this document, above all others, came to be considered a reliable answer to the question: who are you? Historically, the passport originated as an official letter of introduction addressed to foreign governments on behalf of American travelers, but as Robertson shows, it became entangled in contemporary negotiations over citizenship and other forms of identity documentation. Prior to World War I, passports were not required to cross American borders, and while some people struggled to understand how a passport could accurately identify a person, others took advantage of this new document to advance claims for citizenship. From the strategic use of passport applications by freed slaves and a campaign to allow married women to get passports in their maiden names, to the "passport nuisance" of the 1920s and the contested addition of photographs and other identification technologies on the passport, Robertson sheds new light on issues of individual and national identity in modern U.S. history. In this age of heightened security, especially at international borders, Robertson's The Passport in America provides anyone interested in questions of identification and surveillance with a richly detailed, and often surprising, history of this uniquely important document.

Pack a bag and prepare to go to some of the most interesting places in the 50 states. Learn about each state’s flag, motto, fun fast facts, and more as you fill up your passport crisscrossing the country! From Native American history to how immigration impacted the nation, you will explore some of the sites and stories that make this vast land remarkable. Did You Know: Montgomery, Alabama, was the site of the first citywide electric trolley system in 1886. Tennessee is home to the largest underground lake in the United States, the Lost Sea, discovered by a 13-year-old boy in 1905. Ohio was home to the first professional baseball team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings in 1869. Benny Benson, an orphan, designed Alaska’s distinctive state flag in 1927. Montana’s Triple Divide Peak in Glacier National Park is the only place in North America that allows water to flow in three directions — the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, and Hudson Bay. Texas is the only state to have flags of six different countries fly over it, and it was an independent nation from 1836 to 1846.

It's here! Now you can stamp your way through the entire National Park System with the newest addition to the Passport To Your National Parks line of products: the Collector's Edition Passport. Beauty and practicality meet artfully in this deluxe version of the popular Passport, taking you above and beyond the original by providing space for Passport stickers and cancellation stamps for every single park, as well as space for extra cancellations. The park sites are color-coded by region, each area featuring a color map that pinpoints park locations. With a spiral binding that makes it easy to lie open flat, a hard cover that ensures durability and longer life, and pages graced with beautiful color photographs, it's the ultimate stamping ground.

The definitive history of the passport and why it became so important for controlling movement in the modern world.

This is the story of an illustrious Romanian-born, Hungarian-speaking, Vienna-schooled, Columbia-educated and Harvard-formed, middle-class Jewish professor of politics and other subjects. Markovits revels in a rootlessness that offers him comfort, succor, and the inspiration for his life’s work. As we follow his quest to find a home, we encounter his engagement with the important political, social, and cultural developments of five decades on two continents. We also learn about his musical preferences, from classical to rock; his love of team sports such as soccer, baseball, basketball, and American football; and his devotion to dogs and their rescue. Above all, the book analyzes the travails of emigration the author experienced twice, moving from Romania to Vienna and then from Vienna to New York. Markovits’s Candide-like travels through the ups and downs of post-1945 Europe and America offer a panoramic view of key currents that shaped the second half of the twentieth century. By shedding light on the cultural similarities and differences between both continents, the book shows why America fascinated Europeans like Markovits and offered them a home that Europe never did: academic excellence, intellectual openness, cultural diversity and religious tolerance. America for Markovits was indeed the “beacon on the hill,” despite the ugliness of its racism, the prominence of its everyday bigotry, the severity of its growing economic inequality, and the presence of other aspects that mar this worthy experiment’s daily existence.