Books

This book examines the philosophical principles invoked by apologists of the Spanish empire that laid the foundations for the exploitation of the Andean region between 1520 and 1640. Orlando Bentancor ties the colonizers’ attempts to justify the abuses wrought on the environment and the indigenous population to their larger ideology concerning mining, science, and the empire’s rightful place in the global sphere. To Bentancor, their presuppositions were a major turning point for colonial expansion and paved the way to global mercantilism.

Traces the Arc of Pittsburgh’s Rise from Frontier Outpost to Dynamic Industrial Region

Calls for an Honest Reckoning of the Successes, Failures, and Unanticipated Results of International Developments

This book examines the strange marriage of convenience, from 1899 to 1939, between the French Catholic church and the ultra-rightist, chauvinist, monarchist, and anti-Semitic organization called the Acton Francaise.

Tells of the founding and subsequent history of Ephrata, a mystical religious community that flourished in eastern Pennsylvania in the mid-eighteenth century. Its leader, Conrad Beissel, a German Pietist who came to America in 1720 seeking spiritual peace and solitude. Settled in Lancaster County, his talents and charisma attracted other German settlers who shared his vision of a community built in the image of apostolic Christianity.

This book discerns Soviet leaders’ views of the United States and sees them in relation to foreign policy statements and actions.

Looking back through the prism of the severe economic crisis for filmmaking in the 1980s, this book trace the development of this industry in Brazil, focusing specifically on its relationship to the state.

A veteran reporter on American labor, John P. Hoerr analyzes the spectacular and tragic collapse of the steel industry in the 1980s. And the Wolf Finally Came demonstrates how an obsolete and adversarial relationship between management and labor made it impossible for the industry to adapt to a rapidly changing global economy.

Thomas Remington views the methods used by the Communist Party in official communications to Soviet society during the 1970s and 1980s.

Based on census data, Soltow presents an exhautive survey of wealth distribution in the early United States, with a particular focus on the 1798 census for the First Direct Tax.

The Classic, Lively Narrative of a Seminal Labor Dispute in Appalachian History

Twenty essays by major filmmakers and critics provide the first survey of the evolution of documentary film in Latin America. While acknowledging the political and historical weight of the documentary, the contributors are also concerned with the aesthetic dimensions of the medium and how Latin American practitioners have defined the boundaries of the form.

The definitive account of the expulsion laws passed in 1827-1829 and 1833-34 and the chaos they caused in the new Mexican republic.

Aronson refutes the widely-held belief that the anti-Jewish pogroms of 1881 in Russia were supported by the Czar, or those within his inner circle. He instead looks to social, economic and political forces of the time, and recounts the fateful events of this year in great detail.

An overview of scholarly research, both published and previously unpublished, on the history of a city that has often served as a case study for measuring social change. It synthesizes the literature and assesses how that knowledge relates to our broader understanding of the processes of urbanization and urbanism.