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american villains in history: Bad Guys in American History George Cantor, 2020-11-12 Bad Guys in American History recounts the events related to our country's most compelling outlaws, from colonial times to the 1930s. Complete with photographs of the outlaws and their haunts, this book investigates some of American history's most infamous acts and informs readers where they happened and how to visit those sites today. Both a history book and a travel guide, Bad Guys in American History shines a revealing light on the dark side of America's past. |
american villains in history: Villains, Scoundrels, and Rogues Paul Martín, 2014 From the back pages of history, vivid, entertaining portraits of little-known scoundrels whose misdeeds range from the simply inept to the truly horrifying. |
american villains in history: American Villains , 2008 Covers 177 of the most infamous assassins, serial killers, frauds, gangsters, murderers, terrorists, thieves, and traitors of American history. |
american villains in history: Hoodlums William L. Van Deburg, 2004-11-15 Du Bois to classic blaxploitation films like Black Caesar and The Mack, Van Deburg demonstrates how African Americans have combated such negative stereotypes and reconceptualized the idea of the badman through stories of social bandits - controversial individuals vilified by whites for their proclivity toward evil, but revered in the black community as necessarily insurgent and revolutionary.--BOOK JACKET. |
american villains in history: The American Villain Richard A. Hall, 2020-12-02 The American Villain: Encyclopedia of Bad Guys in Comics, Film, and Television seeks to provide one go-to reference for the study of the most popular and iconic villains in American popular culture. Since the 1980s, pop culture has focused on what makes a villain a villain. The Joker, Darth Vader, and Hannibal Lecter have all been placed under the microscope to get to the origins of their villainy. Additionally, such bad guys as Angelus from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Barnabas Collins from Dark Shadows have emphasized the desire for redemption—in even the darkest of villains. Various incarnations of Lucifer/Satan have even gone so far as to explore the very foundations of what we consider evil. The American Villain: Encyclopedia of Bad Guys in Comics, Film, and Television seeks to collect all of those stories into one comprehensive volume. The volume opens with essays about villains in popular culture, followed by 100 A–Z entries on the most notorious bad guys in film, comics, and more. Sidebars highlight ancillary points of interest, such as authors, creators, and tropes that illuminate the motives of various villains. A glossary of key terms and a bibliography provide students with resources to continue their study of what makes the baddest among us so bad. |
american villains in history: A People's History of the United States Howard Zinn, 2003-02-04 Since its original landmark publication in 1980, A People's History of the United States has been chronicling American history from the bottom up, throwing out the official version of history taught in schools -- with its emphasis on great men in high places -- to focus on the street, the home, and the, workplace. Known for its lively, clear prose as well as its scholarly research, A People's History is the only volume to tell America's story from the point of view of -- and in the words of -- America's women, factory workers, African-Americans, Native Americans, the working poor, and immigrant laborers. As historian Howard Zinn shows, many of our country's greatest battles -- the fights for a fair wage, an eight-hour workday, child-labor laws, health and safety standards, universal suffrage, women's rights, racial equality -- were carried out at the grassroots level, against bloody resistance. Covering Christopher Columbus's arrival through President Clinton's first term, A People's History of the United States, which was nominated for the American Book Award in 1981, features insightful analysis of the most important events in our history. Revised, updated, and featuring a new after, word by the author, this special twentieth anniversary edition continues Zinn's important contribution to a complete and balanced understanding of American history. |
american villains in history: Hemp: American History Revisited Robert Deitch, 2003 A look at major events in U.S. and world history as they influenced, and as they may have been influenced by, the cultivation and use of hemp. |
american villains in history: The Paranoid Style in American Politics Richard Hofstadter, 2008-06-10 This timely reissue of Richard Hofstadter's classic work on the fringe groups that influence American electoral politics offers an invaluable perspective on contemporary domestic affairs.In The Paranoid Style in American Politics, acclaimed historian Richard Hofstadter examines the competing forces in American political discourse and how fringe groups can influence — and derail — the larger agendas of a political party. He investigates the politics of the irrational, shedding light on how the behavior of individuals can seem out of proportion with actual political issues, and how such behavior impacts larger groups. With such other classic essays as “Free Silver and the Mind of 'Coin' Harvey” and “What Happened to the Antitrust Movement?, ” The Paranoid Style in American Politics remains both a seminal text of political history and a vital analysis of the ways in which political groups function in the United States. |
american villains in history: My First Days in the White House Huey Pierce Long, 2013-10-01 A novel by the flamboyant Kingfish, one of Franklin Roosevelt's political rivals during the Great Depression. |
american villains in history: Who's Who in American History John M. Thompson, K. M. Kostyal, William R. Gray, 2017 This beautiful family reference from National Geographic tells the story of America through its presidents, revolutionaries, visionaries, inventors, entertainers--and even its most notorious villains. Far more than an encyclopedia, this treasury tells the rich stories of the people who made America's history--and adds context with lush photographs, illustrations, timelines, artifacts, and more. Beginning with pre-colonial America and continuing through today, this beautifully illustrated book details the fascinating lives of the men and women who helped build the story of our nation. Arranged chronologically, it features more than 400 entries illustrated with lavish four-color photography and elegant illustrations. Intriguing stories and historical maps provide additional context in this comprehensive and enlightening look at America's storied past. |
american villains in history: A Patriot's History of the United States Larry Schweikart, Michael Patrick Allen, 2004-12-29 For the past three decades, many history professors have allowed their biases to distort the way America’s past is taught. These intellectuals have searched for instances of racism, sexism, and bigotry in our history while downplaying the greatness of America’s patriots and the achievements of “dead white men.” As a result, more emphasis is placed on Harriet Tubman than on George Washington; more about the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II than about D-Day or Iwo Jima; more on the dangers we faced from Joseph McCarthy than those we faced from Josef Stalin. A Patriot’s History of the United States corrects those doctrinaire biases. In this groundbreaking book, America’s discovery, founding, and development are reexamined with an appreciation for the elements of public virtue, personal liberty, and private property that make this nation uniquely successful. This book offers a long-overdue acknowledgment of America’s true and proud history. |
american villains in history: Gangsters, Swindlers, Killers, and Thieves Lawrence Block, 2004-05-13 This collection surveys the underside of American history through fifty of its most infamous characters from colonial times up through the twentieth century. |
american villains in history: A History of the American People Paul Johnson, 2009-06-30 As majestic in its scope as the country it celebrates. [Johnson's] theme is the men and women, prominent and unknown, whose energy, vision, courage and confidence shaped a great nation. It is a compelling antidote to those who regard the future with pessimism.— Henry A. Kissinger Paul Johnson's prize-winning classic, A History of the American People, is an in-depth portrait of the American people covering every aspect of U.S. history—from politics to the arts. The creation of the United States of America is the greatest of all human adventures, begins Paul Johnson's remarkable work. No other national story holds such tremendous lessons, for the American people themselves and for the rest of mankind. In A History of the American People, historian Johnson presents an in-depth portrait of American history from the first colonial settlements to the Clinton administration. This is the story of the men and women who shaped and led the nation and the ordinary people who collectively created its unique character. Littered with letters, diaries, and recorded conversations, it details the origins of their struggles for independence and nationhood, their heroic efforts and sacrifices to deal with the 'organic sin’ of slavery and the preservation of the Union to its explosive economic growth and emergence as a world power. Johnson discusses contemporary topics such as the politics of racism, education, the power of the press, political correctness, the growth of litigation, and the influence of women throughout history. Sometimes controversial and always provocative, A History of the American People is one author’s challenging and unique interpretation of American history. Johnson’s views of individuals, events, themes, and issues are original, critical, and in the end admiring, for he is, above all, a strong believer in the history and the destiny of the American people. |
american villains in history: The American Villain Richard A. Hall, 2020-12-02 The American Villain: Encyclopedia of Bad Guys in Comics, Film, and Television seeks to provide one go-to reference for the study of the most popular and iconic villains in American popular culture. Since the 1980s, pop culture has focused on what makes a villain a villain. The Joker, Darth Vader, and Hannibal Lecter have all been placed under the microscope to get to the origins of their villainy. Additionally, such bad guys as Angelus from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Barnabas Collins from Dark Shadows have emphasized the desire for redemption—in even the darkest of villains. Various incarnations of Lucifer/Satan have even gone so far as to explore the very foundations of what we consider evil. The American Villain: Encyclopedia of Bad Guys in Comics, Film, and Television seeks to collect all of those stories into one comprehensive volume. The volume opens with essays about villains in popular culture, followed by 100 A–Z entries on the most notorious bad guys in film, comics, and more. Sidebars highlight ancillary points of interest, such as authors, creators, and tropes that illuminate the motives of various villains. A glossary of key terms and a bibliography provide students with resources to continue their study of what makes the baddest among us so bad. |
american villains in history: American Heroes D. Alan Dean, 2019 |
american villains in history: A Complete History of American Comic Books Shirrel Rhoades, 2008 This book is an updated history of the American comic book by an industry insider. You'll follow the development of comics from the first appearance of the comic book format in the Platinum Age of the 1930s to the creation of the superhero genre in the Golden Age, to the current period, where comics flourish as graphic novels and blockbuster movies. Along the way you will meet the hustlers, hucksters, hacks, and visionaries who made the American comic book what it is today. It's an exciting journey, filled with mutants, changelings, atomized scientists, gamma-ray accidents, and supernaturally empowered heroes and villains who challenge the imagination and spark the secret identities lurking within us. |
american villains in history: The Legion of Regrettable Supervillains Jon Morris, 2017-03-28 Meet more than one hundred of the oddest supervillains in comics history, complete with backstories, vintage art, and colorful commentary. This collection affectionately spotlights the most ridiculous, bizarre, and cringe-worthy criminals ever published, from fandom favorites like MODOK and Egg Fu to forgotten weirdos like Brickbat (choice of weapon: poison bricks) and Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man. Casual comics readers and diehard enthusiasts alike will relish the hilarious commentary and vintage art from obscure old comics. |
american villains in history: After the Civil War James Robertson, 2015-10-27 In the chaotic days following Abraham Lincoln's assassination, Washington and the world struggled to come to terms with the loss of the figure who symbolized America's Union. Best-selling author James Robertson brings readers back to 1865, exploring the critical years following the Civil War, and focusing on 75 key figures who would come to shape America during Reconstruction and beyond. We meet Edwin Stanton, the dour secretary of war who would attempt to seize political power amid the chaos of post-assassination Washington and avenge the Union with harsh punishments for Confederate president Jefferson Davis. We meet the Old Soldiers such as Winfield Scott, the general who was older than the city of Washington, D.C. when he took command of the Union Army in 1861, and William Tecumseh Sherman, an enigma of a man who would revolutionize modern warfare. And we meet the people whose lives marked shifts in everyday life in the United States, from Edwin Holmes, who would revolutionize the funeral industry, to Clara Barton, who would found the modern Red Cross. Together their stories tell the complex and fast-paced history of America as the country struggled to reunite and adapt to the inevitable changes wrought by war. The Greatest Generation of their day, the 75 figures in this book would forever change - and be hanged by - the Civil War. |
american villains in history: What Hath God Wrought Daniel Walker Howe, 2007-10-29 The Oxford History of the United States is by far the most respected multi-volume history of our nation. In this Pulitzer prize-winning, critically acclaimed addition to the series, historian Daniel Walker Howe illuminates the period from the battle of New Orleans to the end of the Mexican-American War, an era when the United States expanded to the Pacific and won control over the richest part of the North American continent. A panoramic narrative, What Hath God Wrought portrays revolutionary improvements in transportation and communications that accelerated the extension of the American empire. Railroads, canals, newspapers, and the telegraph dramatically lowered travel times and spurred the spread of information. These innovations prompted the emergence of mass political parties and stimulated America's economic development from an overwhelmingly rural country to a diversified economy in which commerce and industry took their place alongside agriculture. In his story, the author weaves together political and military events with social, economic, and cultural history. Howe examines the rise of Andrew Jackson and his Democratic party, but contends that John Quincy Adams and other Whigs--advocates of public education and economic integration, defenders of the rights of Indians, women, and African-Americans--were the true prophets of America's future. In addition, Howe reveals the power of religion to shape many aspects of American life during this period, including slavery and antislavery, women's rights and other reform movements, politics, education, and literature. Howe's story of American expansion culminates in the bitterly controversial but brilliantly executed war waged against Mexico to gain California and Texas for the United States. Winner of the New-York Historical Society American History Book Prize Finalist, 2007 National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction The Oxford History of the United States The Oxford History of the United States is the most respected multi-volume history of our nation. The series includes three Pulitzer Prize winners, a New York Times bestseller, and winners of the Bancroft and Parkman Prizes. The Atlantic Monthly has praised it as the most distinguished series in American historical scholarship, a series that synthesizes a generation's worth of historical inquiry and knowledge into one literally state-of-the-art book. Conceived under the general editorship of C. Vann Woodward and Richard Hofstadter, and now under the editorship of David M. Kennedy, this renowned series blends social, political, economic, cultural, diplomatic, and military history into coherent and vividly written narrative. |
american villains in history: American Villains Salem Press, 2008 American Villains explores the lives, deeds and punishments of 177 of the most infamous villains of our time. What makes this set unique is that it focuses on U.S. criminals who are not generally covered in American biographical surveys. While there are many books that cover fictional villains in videogames, comic-books, and movies, few cover real villains of history in one convenient set. |
american villains in history: Heroes and Villains of History - You Be the Judge Sarah Brown, Anna Brown, 2019-08-09 Introductory Sale! Regular Price $27.50 Make History Exciting! Throughout history the world has seen plenty of heroes and villains. Students love to learn about the good guy and the bad guy. In this journal, kids get to be the judge and decide who is the hero and who is the villain. Students will research over 30 different historical figures from throughout the world and the ages. For each person the student will learn about their accomplishments, family, life, beliefs, and more. After their research is over they'll decide if that person is a hero or a villain. Dive into thinking about these influencers in a way no other material out there does. It is a wonderful way to study history that is fun and engaging. Use daily for a unit lasting about 6 weeks, or weekly to last all year. You can even use this over a period of several years as you study different historical periods. Thinking Tree Learning Levels: C1 & C2, ideal for ages 10+. This journal is an excellent companion to our Make Your Own Timeline of World History. Warning History is often violent, so be aware that the study of some of these characters can be quite disturbing. Parental Discretion advised. Thinking Tree Learning Levels Ideal for Ages 8 to 18 (3rd - 12th grade), even adults! This book uses the Dyslexie font for easier reading for Dyslexic students. We use the International Phonetic Alphabet for pronunciation. This book uses the Dyslexie font for easier reading for Dyslexic students. Historical Figures Covered George Washington Adolf Hitler Albert Einstein Walt Disney Nikola Jurisic Josef Mengele Alexander the Great Elizabeth Schuyler Osama Bin Laden Charles Martel Saddam Hussein Augustus Amy Carmichael Leif Erikson Michael Jackson Mother Teresa Julius Caesar Jesus Christ George Muller Martin Luther King Jr. Kim Il-Sung Thomas Jefferson Benjamin Franklin Isaac Newton Hudson Taylor Caesar Nero William Shakespeare Abraham Lincoln The Apostle Paul Rosa Parks Vincent van Gogh Joseph Stalin Napoleon Bonaparte Queen Victoria Christopher Columbus Lottie Moon Charles Darwin Nicholas Winton Leonardo da Vinci Ruby Bridges Genghis Khan Dietrich Bonhoeffer Mozart Henry Ford John Adams Saint Nicholas Pol Pot David Livingstone Neil Armstrong John Jay To learn more about Fun-Schooling with Thinking Tree Books and Learning Levels, visit funschooling.com |
american villains in history: When America Stopped Being Great Nick Bryant, 2021-03-04 'Nick Bryant is brilliant. He has a way of showing you what you've been missing from the whole story whilst never leaving you feeling stupid.' – Emily Maitlis 'Bryant is a genuine rarity, a Brit who understands America' – Washington Post In When America Stopped Being Great, veteran reporter and BBC New York correspondent Nick Bryant reveals how America's decline paved the way for Donald Trump's rise, sowing division and leaving the country vulnerable to its greatest challenge of the modern era. Deftly sifting through almost four decades of American history, from post-Cold War optimism, through the scandal-wracked nineties and into the new millennium, Bryant unpacks the mistakes of past administrations, from Ronald Reagan's 'celebrity presidency' to Barack Obama's failure to adequately address income and racial inequality. He explains how the historical clues, unseen by many (including the media) paved the way for an outsider to take power and a country to slide towards disaster. As Bryant writes, 'rather than being an aberration, Trump's presidency marked the culmination of so much of what had been going wrong in the United States for decades – economically, racially, politically, culturally, technologically and constitutionally.' A personal elegy for an America lost, unafraid to criticise actors on both sides of the political divide, When America Stopped Being Great takes the long view, combining engaging storytelling with recent history to show how the country moved from the optimism of Reagan's 'Morning in America' to the darkness of Trump's 'American Carnage'. It concludes with some of the most dramatic events in recent memory, in an America torn apart by a bitterly polarised election, racial division, the national catastrophe of the coronavirus and the threat to US democracy evidenced by the storming of Capitol Hill. |
american villains in history: White Cargo Don Jordan, Michael Walsh, 2008-03-08 White Cargo is the forgotten story of the thousands of Britons who lived and died in bondage in Britain's American colonies. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, more than 300,000 white people were shipped to America as slaves. Urchins were swept up from London's streets to labor in the tobacco fields, where life expectancy was no more than two years. Brothels were raided to provide breeders for Virginia. Hopeful migrants were duped into signing as indentured servants, unaware they would become personal property who could be bought, sold, and even gambled away. Transported convicts were paraded for sale like livestock. Drawing on letters crying for help, diaries, and court and government archives, Don Jordan and Michael Walsh demonstrate that the brutalities usually associated with black slavery alone were perpetrated on whites throughout British rule. The trade ended with American independence, but the British still tried to sell convicts in their former colonies, which prompted one of the most audacious plots in Anglo-American history. This is a saga of exploration and cruelty spanning 170 years that has been submerged under the overwhelming memory of black slavery. White Cargo brings the brutal, uncomfortable story to the surface. |
american villains in history: The Best War Ever Michael C. C. Adams, 2015-05-15 Adams challenges various stereotypes to present a view of World War II that avoids the simplistic extremes of both glorification and vilification. The Best War Ever charts the complex diplomatic problems of the 1930s and reveals the realities of ground combat. Adams exposes the myth that the home front was fully united behind the war effort, demonstrating how class, race, gender, and age divisions split Americans.--Page [4] of cover. |
american villains in history: Cuba (Winner of the Pulitzer Prize) Ada Ferrer, 2021-09-07 WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE IN HISTORY WINNER OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE IN HISTORY “Full of…lively insights and lucid prose” (The Wall Street Journal) an epic, sweeping history of Cuba and its complex ties to the United States—from before the arrival of Columbus to the present day—written by one of the world’s leading historians of Cuba. In 1961, at the height of the Cold War, the United States severed diplomatic relations with Cuba, where a momentous revolution had taken power three years earlier. For more than half a century, the stand-off continued—through the tenure of ten American presidents and the fifty-year rule of Fidel Castro. His death in 2016, and the retirement of his brother and successor Raúl Castro in 2021, have spurred questions about the country’s future. Meanwhile, politics in Washington—Barack Obama’s opening to the island, Donald Trump’s reversal of that policy, and the election of Joe Biden—have made the relationship between the two nations a subject of debate once more. Now, award-winning historian Ada Ferrer delivers an “important” (The Guardian) and moving chronicle that demands a new reckoning with both the island’s past and its relationship with the United States. Spanning more than five centuries, Cuba: An American History provides us with a front-row seat as we witness the evolution of the modern nation, with its dramatic record of conquest and colonization, of slavery and freedom, of independence and revolutions made and unmade. Along the way, Ferrer explores the sometimes surprising, often troubled intimacy between the two countries, documenting not only the influence of the United States on Cuba but also the many ways the island has been a recurring presence in US affairs. This is a story that will give Americans unexpected insights into the history of their own nation and, in so doing, help them imagine a new relationship with Cuba; “readers will close [this] fascinating book with a sense of hope” (The Economist). Filled with rousing stories and characters, and drawing on more than thirty years of research in Cuba, Spain, and the United States—as well as the author’s own extensive travel to the island over the same period—this is a stunning and monumental account like no other. |
american villains in history: Setting the Record Straight David Barton, 2004-01-01 A unique view of the religious and moral heritage of African Americans that has been expertly intertwined with untold, yet significant stories from our rich African American political history. The material presented is ground-breaking and revolutionary; leaving viewers inspired and educated. |
american villains in history: League of American Traitors Matthew Landis, 2017-08-08 Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it . . . When seventeen year-old Jasper is approached at the funeral of his deadbeat father by a man claiming to be an associate of his deceased parents, he’s thrust into a world of secrets tied to America’s history—and he’s right at the heart of it. First, Jasper finds out he is the sole surviving descendant of Benedict Arnold, the most notorious traitor in American history. Then he learns that his father’s death was no accident. Jasper is at the center of a war that has been going on for centuries, in which the descendants of the heroes and traitors of the American Revolution still duel to the death for the sake of their honor. His only hope to escape his dangerous fate on his eighteenth birthday? Take up the research his father was pursuing at the time of his death, to clear Arnold’s name. Whisked off to a boarding school populated by other descendants of notorious American traitors, it’s a race to discover the truth. But if Jasper doesn’t find a way to uncover the evidence his father was hunting for, he may end up paying for the sins of his forefathers with his own life. Like a mash-up of National Treasure and Hamilton, Matthew Landis’s debut spins the what-ifs of American history into a heart-pounding thriller steeped in conspiracy, clue hunting, and danger. |
american villains in history: Dreams of El Dorado H. W. Brands, 2019-10-22 Epic in its scale, fearless in its scope (Hampton Sides), this masterfully told account of the American West from a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist sets a new standard as it sweeps from the California Gold Rush and beyond. In Dreams of El Dorado, H. W. Brands tells the thrilling, panoramic story of the settling of the American West. He takes us from John Jacob Astor's fur trading outpost in Oregon to the Texas Revolution, from the California gold rush to the Oklahoma land rush. He shows how the migrants' dreams drove them to feats of courage and perseverance that put their stay-at-home cousins to shame-and how those same dreams also drove them to outrageous acts of violence against indigenous peoples and one another. The West was where riches would reward the miner's persistence, the cattleman's courage, the railroad man's enterprise; but El Dorado was at least as elusive in the West as it ever was in the East. Balanced, authoritative, and masterfully told, Dreams of El Dorado sets a new standard for histories of the American West. |
american villains in history: Life Upon These Shores Henry Louis Gates, 2011 A director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard presents a sumptuously illustrated chronicle of more than 500 years of African-American history that focuses on defining events, debates and controversies as well as important achievements of famous and lesser-known figures, in a volume complemented by reproductions of ancient maps and historical paraphernalia. (This title was previously list in Forecast.) |
american villains in history: An Empire of Wealth John Steele Gordon, 2009-10-13 “Superb . . . the best one-volume economic history of the United States in a long time and, perhaps, ever.” —Newsweek In this illuminating history, John Steele Gordon tells the extraordinary story of the world’s first economic superpower. He shows how the American economy became not only the world’s largest, but also its most dynamic and innovative. Combining its English political inheritance with its diverse, ambitious population, the nation was able to develop more wealth for more and more people as it grew. Far from a guaranteed success, America’s economy suffered near constant adversity. It survived a profound recession after the Revolution, an unwise decision by Andrew Jackson that left the country without a central bank for nearly eighty years, and the disastrous Great Depression of the 1930s. Yet, having weathered those trials, the economy became vital enough to Americanize the world in recent decades. Virtually every major development in technology in the twentieth century originated in the United States, and as the products of those technologies traveled around the globe, the result was a subtle, peaceful, and pervasive spread of American culture and perspective. |
american villains in history: Founding Myths Ray Raphael, 2014-07-04 First published ten years ago, award-winning historian Ray Raphael’s Founding Myths has since established itself as a landmark of historical myth-busting. With the author’s trademark wit and flair, Founding Myths exposes the errors and inventions in America’s most cherished tales, from Paul Revere’s famous ride to Patrick Henry’s “Liberty or Death” speech. For the seventy thousand readers who have been captivated by Raphael’s eye-opening accounts, history has never been the same. In this revised tenth-anniversary edition, Raphael revisits the original myths and explores their further evolution over the past decade, uncovering new stories and peeling back additional layers of misinformation. This new edition also examines the highly politicized debates over America’s past, as well as how school textbooks and popular histories often reinforce rather than correct historical mistakes. A book that “explores the truth behind the stories of the making of our nation” (National Public Radio), this revised edition of Founding Myths will be a welcome resource for anyone seeking to separate historical fact from fiction. |
american villains in history: Guantánamo Jonathan M. Hansen, 2011-10-11 An on-the-ground history of American empire Say the word Guantánamo and orange jumpsuits, chain-link fences, torture, and indefinite detention come to mind. To critics the world over, Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, is a striking symbol of American hypocrisy. But the prison isn't the whole story. For more than two centuries, Guantánamo has been at the center of American imperial ambition, first as an object of desire then as a convenient staging ground. In Guantánamo: An American History, Jonathan M. Hansen presents the first complete account of this fascinating place. The U.S. presence at Guantánamo predates even the nation itself, as the bay figured centrally in the imperial expansion plans of colonist and British sailor Lawrence Washington—half brother of the future president George. As the young United States rose in power, Thomas Jefferson and his followers envisioned a vast empire of liberty, which hinged on U.S. control of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. Politically and geographically, Guantánamo Bay was the key to this strategy. So when Cubans took up arms against their Spanish rulers in 1898, America swooped in to ensure that Guantánamo would end up firmly in its control. Over the next century, the American navy turned the bay into an idyllic modern Mayberry—complete with bungalows, cul-de-sacs, and country clubs—which base residents still enjoy. In many ways, Guantánamo remains more quintessentially American than America itself: a distillation of the idealism and arrogance that has characterized U.S. national identity and foreign policy from the very beginning. Despite the Obama administration's repeated efforts to shutter the notorious prison, the naval base is in no danger of closing anytime soon. Places like Guantánamo, which fall between the clear borders of law and sovereignty, continue to serve a purpose regardless of which leaders—left, right, or center—hold the reins of power. |
american villains in history: Debunking Howard Zinn Mary Grabar, 2019-08-20 Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States has sold more than 2.5 million copies. It is pushed by Hollywood celebrities, defended by university professors who know better, and assigned in high school and college classrooms to teach students that American history is nothing more than a litany of oppression, slavery, and exploitation. Zinn’s history is popular, but it is also massively wrong. Scholar Mary Grabar exposes just how wrong in her stunning new book Debunking Howard Zinn, which demolishes Zinn’s Marxist talking points that now dominate American education. In Debunking Howard Zinn, you’ll learn, contra Zinn: How Columbus was not a genocidal maniac, and was, in fact, a defender of Indians Why the American Indians were not feminist-communist sexual revolutionaries ahead of their time How the United States was founded to protect liberty, not white males’ ill-gotten wealth Why Americans of the “Greatest Generation” were not the equivalent of Nazi war criminals How the Viet Cong were not well-meaning community leaders advocating for local self-rule Why the Black Panthers were not civil rights leaders Grabar also reveals Zinn’s bag of dishonest rhetorical tricks: his slavish reliance on partisan history, explicit rejection of historical balance, and selective quotation of sources to make them say the exact opposite of what their authors intended. If you care about America’s past—and our future—you need this book. |
american villains in history: The American People, Volume 1 Larry Kramer, 2015-04-07 The long-awaited new novel by America's master playwright and activist—a radical reimagining of our history and our hopes and fears Forty years in the making, The American People embodies Larry Kramer's vision of his beloved and accursed homeland. As the founder of ACT UP and the author of Faggots and The Normal Heart, Kramer has decisively affected American lives and letters. Here, as only he can, he tells the heartbreaking and heroic story of one nation under a plague, contaminated by greed, hate, and disease yet host to transcendent acts of courage and kindness. In this magisterial novel's sweeping first volume, which runs up to the 1950s, we meet prehistoric monkeys who spread a peculiar virus, a Native American shaman whose sexual explorations mutate into occult visions, and early English settlers who live as loving same-sex couples only to fall victim to the forces of bigotry. George Washington and Alexander Hamilton revel in unexpected intimacies, and John Wilkes Booth's motives for assassinating Abraham Lincoln are thoroughly revised. In the twentieth century, the nightmare of history deepens as a religious sect conspires with eugenicists, McCarthyites, and Ivy Leaguers to exterminate homosexuals, and the AIDS virus begins to spread. Against all this, Kramer sets the tender story of a middle-class family outside Washington, D.C., trying to get along in the darkest of times. The American People is a work of ribald satire, prophetic anger, and dazzling imagination. It is an encyclopedic indictment written with outrageous love. |
american villains in history: Richard Nixon John A. Farrell, 2017-03-28 From a prize-winning biographer comes the defining portrait of a man who led America in a time of turmoil and left us a darker age. We live today, John A. Farrell shows, in a world Richard Nixon made. At the end of WWII, navy lieutenant “Nick” Nixon returned from the Pacific and set his cap at Congress, an idealistic dreamer seeking to build a better world. Yet amid the turns of that now-legendary 1946 campaign, Nixon’s finer attributes gave way to unapologetic ruthlessness. The story of that transformation is the stunning overture to John A. Farrell’s magisterial biography of the president who came to embody postwar American resentment and division. Within four years of his first victory, Nixon was a U.S. senator; in six, the vice president of the United States of America. “Few came so far, so fast, and so alone,” Farrell writes. Nixon’s sins as a candidate were legion; and in one unlawful secret plot, as Farrell reveals here, Nixon acted to prolong the Vietnam War for his own political purposes. Finally elected president in 1969, Nixon packed his staff with bright young men who devised forward-thinking reforms addressing health care, welfare, civil rights, and protection of the environment. It was a fine legacy, but Nixon cared little for it. He aspired to make his mark on the world stage instead, and his 1972 opening to China was the first great crack in the Cold War. Nixon had another legacy, too: an America divided and polarized. He was elected to end the war in Vietnam, but his bombing of Cambodia and Laos enraged the antiwar movement. It was Nixon who launched the McCarthy era, who played white against black with a “southern strategy,” and spurred the Silent Majority to despise and distrust the country’s elites. Ever insecure and increasingly paranoid, he persuaded Americans to gnaw, as he did, on grievances—and to look at one another as enemies. Finally, in August 1974, after two years of the mesmerizing intrigue and scandal of Watergate, Nixon became the only president to resign in disgrace. Richard Nixon is a gripping and unsparing portrayal of our darkest president. Meticulously researched, brilliantly crafted, and offering fresh revelations, it will be hailed as a master work. |
american villains in history: Band of Giants Jack Kelly, 2014-09-09 Band of Giants brings to life the founders who fought for our independence in the Revolutionary War. Jefferson, Adams, and Franklin are known to all; men like Morgan, Greene, and Wayne are less familiar. Yet the dreams of the politicians and theorists only became real because fighting men were willing to take on the grim, risky, brutal work of war. We know Fort Knox, but what about Henry Knox, the burly Boston bookseller who took over the American artillery at the age of 25? Eighteen counties in the United States commemorate Richard Montgomery, but do we know that this revered martyr launched a full-scale invasion of Canada? The soldiers of the American Revolution were a diverse lot: merchants and mechanics, farmers and fishermen, paragons and drunkards. Most were ardent amateurs. Even George Washington, assigned to take over the army around Boston in 1775, consulted books on military tactics. Here, Jack Kelly vividly captures the fraught condition of the war—the bitterly divided populace, the lack of supplies, the repeated setbacks on the battlefield, and the appalling physical hardships. That these inexperienced warriors could take on and defeat the superpower of the day was one of the remarkable feats in world history. |
american villains in history: The History of Evil in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries Douglas Hedley, 2018-06-14 The fourth volume of The History of Evil explores the key thinkers and themes relating to the question of evil in eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The very idea of evil is highly contentious in modern thought and this period was one in which the concept was intensely debated and criticized. The persistence of the idea of evil is a testament to the abiding significance of theology in the period, not least in Germany. Comprising twenty-two chapters by international scholars, some of the topics explored include: Berkeley on evil, Voltaire and the Philosophes, John Wesley on the origins of evil, Immanuel Kant on evil, autonomy and grace, the deliverance of evil: utopia and evil, utilitarianism and evil, evil in Schelling and Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche and the genealogy of evil, and evil and the nineteenth-century idealists. This volume also explores a number of other key thinkers and topics within the period. This outstanding treatment of the history of evil at the crucial and determinative inception of its key concepts will appeal to those with particular interests in the ideas of evil and good. |
american villains in history: One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel García Márquez, 2022-10-11 Netflix’s series adaptation of One Hundred Years of Solitude premieres December 11, 2024! One of the twentieth century’s enduring works, One Hundred Years of Solitude is a widely beloved and acclaimed novel known throughout the world and the ultimate achievement in a Nobel Prize–winning career. The novel tells the story of the rise and fall of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendía family. Rich and brilliant, it is a chronicle of life, death, and the tragicomedy of humankind. In the beautiful, ridiculous, and tawdry story of the Buendía family, one sees all of humanity, just as in the history, myths, growth, and decay of Macondo, one sees all of Latin America. Love and lust, war and revolution, riches and poverty, youth and senility, the variety of life, the endlessness of death, the search for peace and truth—these universal themes dominate the novel. Alternately reverential and comical, One Hundred Years of Solitude weaves the political, personal, and spiritual to bring a new consciousness to storytelling. Translated into dozens of languages, this stunning work is no less than an account of the history of the human race. |
american villains in history: Night Probe! Clive Cussler, 2014-11-11 In the midst of an international crisis, Heidi Milligan, a beautiful, brilliant American naval commander, accidentally discovers an obscure reference to the long-buried North American Treaty, a precedent-shattering secret pact between the United States and Great Britain. The President believes that the treaty offers the single shot at salvation for an energy-starved, economically devastated nation, but the only two copies plummeted into the watery depths of the Atlantic in twin disasters long ago. The original document must be found—and the one American who can do the job is Dirk Pitt. But in London, a daring counterplot is being orchestrated to see that the treaty is never implemented. Brian Shaw, a master spy who has often worked hand in hand with American agents, now confronts his most challenging command. Pitt’s mission: Raise the North American Treaty. Shaw’s mission: Stop Pitt. Praise for Night Probe! and the Dirk Pitt® novels “A rich tale . . . an absorbing, carefully told mystery with plenty of surprises.”—Los Angeles Times “Dirk Pitt is a combination James Bond and Jacques Cousteau.”—New York Daily News |
american villains in history: The Age of Entitlement Christopher Caldwell, 2021-01-05 A major American intellectual and “one of the right’s most gifted and astute journalists” (The New York Times Book Review) makes the historical case that the reforms of the 1960s, reforms intended to make the nation more just and humane, left many Americans feeling alienated, despised, misled—and ready to put an adventurer in the White House. Christopher Caldwell has spent years studying the liberal uprising of the 1960s and its unforeseen consequences and his conclusion is this: even the reforms that Americans love best have come with costs that are staggeringly high—in wealth, freedom, and social stability—and that have been spread unevenly among classes and generations. Caldwell reveals the real political turning points of the past half-century, taking you on a roller-coaster ride through Playboy magazine, affirmative action, CB radio, leveraged buyouts, iPhones, Oxycotin, Black Lives Matter, and internet cookies. In doing so, he shows that attempts to redress the injustices of the past have left Americans living under two different ideas of what it means to play by the rules. Essential, timely, hard to put down, The Age of Entitlement “is an eloquent and bracing book, full of insight” (New York magazine) about how the reforms of the past fifty years gave the country two incompatible political systems—and drove it toward conflict. |
Two American Families - Swamp Gas Forums
Aug 12, 2024 · This PBS documentary might be in the top 3 best I have ever watched. Bill Moyers followed 2 working class families from 1991 to 2024, it tells the...
Florida Gators gymnastics adds 10-time All American
May 28, 2025 · GAINESVILLE, Fla. – One of the nation’s top rising seniors joins the Gators gymnastics roster next season. eMjae Frazier (pronounced M.J.), a 10-time All-American from …
Walter Clayton Jr. earns AP First Team All-American honors
Mar 18, 2025 · Florida men’s basketball senior guard Walter Clayton Jr. earned First Team All-American honors for his 2024/25 season, as announced on Tuesday by the Associated Press. …
Now that tariff’s have hit China- American manufacturers swamped
May 7, 2025 · It is also unlikely, if not impossible that American manufacturers will be able to keep up with demand. And supply shortages also lead to higher prices. It's basic supply and demand.
Myles Graham and Aaron Chiles make a statement at Under …
Jan 3, 2024 · Florida Gators football signees Myles Graham and Aaron Chiles Jr. during the second day of practice for the 2024 Under Armour Next All-America game at the ESPN Wide …
“I’m a Gator”: 2026 QB Will Griffin remains locked in with Florida
Dec 30, 2024 · With the 2025 Under Armour All-American game underway this week, Gator Country spoke with 2026 QB commit Will Griffin to discuss his commitment status before he …
Last American hostage released | Swamp Gas Forums
May 12, 2025 · Last American hostage released Discussion in 'Too Hot for Swamp Gas' started by OklahomaGator, May 12, 2025. May 12, 2025 #1. OklahomaGator Jedi Administrator …
Under Armour All-American Media Day Photo Gallery
Dec 29, 2023 · The Florida Gators signed a solid 2024 class earlier this month and four prospects will now compete in the Under Armour All-American game in Orlando this week. Quarterback …
Countdown to Kickoff 2025 | Page 3 | Swamp Gas Forums
May 3, 2025 · He was an All-American as a senior in 1970, and though he played only one season in the decade, he was named to the SEC’s All-Decade Team for the 1970s. He was a …
Countdown to Kickoff 2025 | Swamp Gas Forums
May 3, 2025 · He was an All-American in 1984 and ’85 and a Butkus Award finalist in ’85. Other notables: All-American defensive end Trace Armstrong, DE Tim Beauchamp, DT Steven …
Two American Families - Swamp Gas Forums
Aug 12, 2024 · This PBS documentary might be in the top 3 best I have ever watched. Bill Moyers followed 2 working class families from 1991 to 2024, it tells the...
Florida Gators gymnastics adds 10-time All American
May 28, 2025 · GAINESVILLE, Fla. – One of the nation’s top rising seniors joins the Gators gymnastics roster next season. eMjae Frazier (pronounced M.J.), a 10-time All-American from …
Walter Clayton Jr. earns AP First Team All-American honors
Mar 18, 2025 · Florida men’s basketball senior guard Walter Clayton Jr. earned First Team All-American honors for his 2024/25 season, as announced on Tuesday by the Associated Press. …
Now that tariff’s have hit China- American manufacturers swamped
May 7, 2025 · It is also unlikely, if not impossible that American manufacturers will be able to keep up with demand. And supply shortages also lead to higher prices. It's basic supply and demand.
Myles Graham and Aaron Chiles make a statement at Under …
Jan 3, 2024 · Florida Gators football signees Myles Graham and Aaron Chiles Jr. during the second day of practice for the 2024 Under Armour Next All-America game at the ESPN Wide …
“I’m a Gator”: 2026 QB Will Griffin remains locked in with Florida
Dec 30, 2024 · With the 2025 Under Armour All-American game underway this week, Gator Country spoke with 2026 QB commit Will Griffin to discuss his commitment status before he …
Last American hostage released | Swamp Gas Forums
May 12, 2025 · Last American hostage released Discussion in 'Too Hot for Swamp Gas' started by OklahomaGator, May 12, 2025. May 12, 2025 #1. OklahomaGator Jedi Administrator …
Under Armour All-American Media Day Photo Gallery
Dec 29, 2023 · The Florida Gators signed a solid 2024 class earlier this month and four prospects will now compete in the Under Armour All-American game in Orlando this week. Quarterback …
Countdown to Kickoff 2025 | Page 3 | Swamp Gas Forums
May 3, 2025 · He was an All-American as a senior in 1970, and though he played only one season in the decade, he was named to the SEC’s All-Decade Team for the 1970s. He was a …
Countdown to Kickoff 2025 | Swamp Gas Forums
May 3, 2025 · He was an All-American in 1984 and ’85 and a Butkus Award finalist in ’85. Other notables: All-American defensive end Trace Armstrong, DE Tim Beauchamp, DT Steven …