Pines and Plains Libraries

This is Who We Were: Post Civil War 1880-1900 provides a deeper understanding of day-to-day life in America in the late 1800s, serving as both a serious research tool for students of American history and an intriguing climb up America's family tree. This brand-new addition to the This is Who We Were series features nearly 30 in-depth Personal Profiles that examine the home, work, and social lives of individuals and families living in the U.S. between...

This companion book to the 1980 Census provides the reader with a deeper understanding of day-to-day life in America from 1980 to 1989. Readers will uncover how American life was affected by the fall of the Berlin Wall, the rise of the Computer Age, and Reagan-era prosperity and decadence. Collecting information from government surveys, social worker histories, economic data, family diaries, letters, newspapers, and magazine features, this book assembles...

A comprehensive look at the decade that was shaped by the automobile, electricity, immigration, and World War I, through the eyes and ears of everyday Americans.

Wal-Mart is not just the world's largest company--it is the largest company in the history of the world. It is estimated that the company's low prices save American consumers $10 billion a year--but the #1 employer in 37 states has never let a union in the door. Though 70% of Americans now live within a 15-minute drive of a Wal-Mart, we have not even begun to understand the true power of the company. We know about the lawsuits and the labour protests,...

A look at what kind of work Americans did, the homes they lived in, the goods they bought, the entertainment they sought, and the society and history that shaped their world ...

This volume examines America's history through music, from the Civil War to the present time. Profiles range from professional musicians and singers, composers, record executives and talent agents, theater performers, composers, instrument salesmen, radio personalities, record producers, along with the musical hobbyist, to offer a thought-provoking and interesting look at how music helped shape this country.

"We live in an era of soaring corporate profits and anemic wage gains, one in which low-paid jobs and blighted blue-collar communities have become a common feature of our nation's landscape. Behind these trends lies a little-discussed problem: the decades-long decline in worker power. Award-winning journalist and author, Steven Greenhouse guides us through the key episodes and trends in history that are essential to understanding some of our nation's...