Twelve American Voices

DIVDesigned for non-native speakers of English, Twelve American Voices presents a series of entertaining and culturally rich radio documentaries by award-winning producer David Isay. These stories, which were first broadcast on National Public Radio, focus on a range of individuals living and working in contemporary America, from an immigrant Chinese restaurant owner in New York City to an African-American waitress who helped integrate a Southern lunch counter, from the owner of a pawnship–wedding chapel to a retired couple who have become disk jockeys. As students listen to these stories, they hear a variety of regional and ethnic “Englishes” and are introduced to some corners of American culture that are rarely seen in the media. In addition to transcripts of the documentaries, the book includes thought-provoking exercises that encourage students to analyze the language in the stories and to respond in both oral and written form. A CD of the broadcasts is included. Also available are an instructor’s manual and a cassette for language labs (both free)./div

Designed for non-native speakers of English, Twelve American Voices presents a series of entertaining and culturally rich radio documentaries by award-winning producer David Isay. These stories, which were first broadcast on National Public Radio, focus on a range of individuals living and working in contemporary America, from an immigrant Chinese restaurant owner in New York City to an African-American waitress in the South, from the owner of a wedding chapel to a retired couple who have become disc jockeys. As students listen to these stories, they hear a variety of regional and ethnic 'Englishes' and are introduced to some corners of American culture that are rarely seen in the media. In addition to transcripts of the documentaries, the book includes thought-provoking exercises that encourage students to analyse the language in the stories and to respond in both oral and written form. A CD of the broadcasts in included. Also available are an instructor's manual and a cassette for language labs (both free).

From dusty rural villages to northern ghettos, 12 Million Black Voices is an unflinching portrayal of the lives that many black Americans lived in the 1930s. It is a testament to the strength of black communities throughout America.

Twelve stories of protests and marches--and the people, movements, and moments behind them--that shaped our country's history, told by the bestselling author of Apollo 13! Perfect for today's young activists. Rise up! Speak out! March! Protests and demonstrations have spread throughout the United States in recent years. They have pushed for change on women's rights, racial equality, climate change, gun control, LGBTQI+ rights, and more. And while these marches may seem like a new phenomenon, they are really the continuation of a long line of Americans taking to their feet and raising their voices to cry out for justice. From the Boston Tea Party to the suffragists, from the Montgomery Bus Boycott to Stonewall, peaceful (and not-so-peaceful) protest has been a means of speaking up and enacting change from the very founding of America. This new collection recounts twelve of the major protests throughout the country's history, detailing the people behind them, the causes they marched for, and the impact they had. From the award-winning and bestselling author of Apollo 13 comes a book perfect for today's new generation of activists. Praise for Raise Your Voice: "[Kluger] expertly brushes in historical contexts . . . Cogent reminders that armed rebellion isn't the only answer to social injustice." --Kirkus "Show[s] how one person can inspire many . . . a strong resource for students." --Publishers Weekly "Readers will become absorbed in each protest's narrative due to Kluger's ­adept writing." --SLJ "Recommended for future activists." --SLC "Well-researched . . . An informative introduction to the history of American protests and their ongoing role in our society." --Booklist

Brother I cannot tell you what is best for you—staying there or coming here. If it only concerned yourself! would say, stay. But if you are concerned about your descendents I would say, come." Writing from his Michigan farm to relatives back in Overijssel, Jacob Dunnink voiced a perspective at once uniquely his own and typical of his immigrant community in 1856. Dutch American Voices brings together a full spectrum of such perspectives, as expressed in immigrants' letters to their families and friends in the Netherlands. From the terse notes of first-time writers to the polished chronicles of skilled correspondents, the letters are presented in engaging English translations that capture the diversity of their authors' personalities. Herbert J. Brinks has included twenty-three series of letters from the Dutch Immigrant Letter Collection at Calvin College, covering periods of correspondence from three to fifty-seven years. In addition to an introduction to Dutch immigration history, the book provides abundant illustrations and brief biographies of the correspondents. Most write from Dutch American agricultural communities in Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa, but some describe life in cities as far-flung as Paterson, New Jersey; Tampa, Florida; and Oak Harbor, Washington. Rural and urban, Protestant and Catholic, male and female, the letter writers capture moments from their arrival through decades of life in the New World. Affording glimpses into the daily experiences of becoming American, the letters describe the weather, the food, the price of crops, the economics of farm and factory, the peculiarities of neighbors, and the drama of politics. As they bring news of marriages, births, and deaths, sustain family members in faith, or squabble over money, they also offer an intimate view of the strength—and the frailty—of family ties over distance.

Offering a textured history of the Chinese in America since their arrival during the California Gold Rush, this work includes letters, speeches, testimonies, oral histories, personal memoirs, poems, essays, and folksongs. It provides an insight into immigration, work, family and social life, and the longstanding fight for equality and inclusion.

Using original documents from the U.S. Army Military History Institute (including extracts from letters and diaries of serving soldiers, as well as from official reports and papers), this book recalls the experiences of Americans who fought in the First World War. Individual chapters cover different periods, from Enlistment to Victory, in a chronological fashion. The book also features topics such as weaponry, medical services and entertainment.

The violent aftermath of the Civil War comes to dramatic life in this sweeping new collection of firsthand writing Few periods in American history are more consequential but less understood than Reconstruction, the tumultuous twelve years after Appomattox, when the battered nation sought to reconstitute itself and confront the legacy of two centuries of slavery. This anthology brings together more than one hundred contemporary letters, diary entries, interviews, testimonies, and articles by ordinary men and women and well-known figures such as Frederick Douglass, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Andrew Johnson, Thaddeus Stevens, Ulysses S. Grant, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Mark Twain, and Albion Tourgée. Through their eyes readers experience the fierce contest between President Andrew Johnson and the Radical Republicans resulting in the nation's first presidential impeachment; the adoption of the revolutionary 14th and 15th Amendments; the first achievements of black political power; and the murderous terrorism of the Klan and other groups that, combined with northern weariness, indifference, and hostility, eventually resulted in the restoration of white supremacy in the South. Throughout, Americans confront the essential questions left unresolved by the defeat of secession: What system of labor would replace slavery, and what would become of the southern plantations? Would the war end in the restoration of a union of sovereign states, or in the creation of a truly national government? What would citizenship mean after emancipation, and what civil rights would the freed people gain? Would suffrage be extended to African American men, and to all women?