
6. Constitutional revolutions: America, France, Europe (1830 and 1848), and Meiji Japan
Jack A. Goldstone
in Revolutions: A Very Short Introduction
‘Constitutional revolutions: America, France, Europe (1830 and 1848), and Meiji Japan’ describes the growing skepticism and secularism of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that led ...
More

The History of Childhood: A Very Short Introduction
James Marten
The History of Childhood: A Very Short Introduction describes the differing experiences of childhood across time and place, focusing on conflict, change, war, reform, and the issues and ...
More

5. Revolutions of the Renaissance and Reformation
Jack A. Goldstone
in Revolutions: A Very Short Introduction
‘Revolutions of the Renaissance and Reformation’ begins with The Republic of Florence created in 1115, which endured frequent and extreme revolutions during the power struggle between the ...
More

Epilogue
Heather Andrea Williams
in American Slavery: A Very Short Introduction
Despite the abolition of slavery with the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, notions of black inferiority and white supremacy still persisted in both the North and the South. The ...
More

1. What constitution?
Martin Loughlin
in The British Constitution: A Very Short Introduction
What constitution?’ asks why Britain never adopted a ‘modern’ constitution. The traditional view of constitution saw it as an inheritance, developed over time from the national spirit. The ...
More

1. The politics of the Constitution, 1787–89
Donald T. Critchlow
in American Political History: A Very Short Introduction
‘The politics of the Constitution, 1787–89’ describes the drafting of the U.S. Constitution in 1787 and its ratification. The central actors were George Washington, James Madison, Benjamin ...
More

5. Politics in war and Reconstruction, 1861–76
Donald T. Critchlow
in American Political History: A Very Short Introduction
The Civil War and its aftermath intensified politics in the North, sharpening the divide between Republicans and Democrats and factionalizing the Republican Party. The war did not ...
More

8. Early Cold War politics, 1945–74
Donald T. Critchlow
in American Political History: A Very Short Introduction
Cold War rivalry between nuclear powers—the United States and the Soviet Union—set the tone and substance of American politics from the end of the Second World War to the collapse of the ...
More

7. Affluence, depression, and world war, 1920–45
Donald T. Critchlow
in American Political History: A Very Short Introduction
The quarter-century from 1920 to 1945 proved to be both critical and transformative for American government. Americans witnessed in these twenty-five years an economic boom in the 1920s, a ...
More

Introduction: Abolitionist agitation in a world of slavery and pain
Richard S. Newman
in Abolitionism: A Very Short Introduction
This brief survey of abolitionism focuses mostly on Anglo-American reformers in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but it also surveys Atlantic-wide movements that began with slave ...
More

4. Satyāgraha
Bhikhu Parekh
in Gandhi: A Very Short Introduction
‘Satyāgraha’ explains how, for Gandhi, satyāgraha, meaning civil insistence on or tenacity in the pursuit of truth, aimed to penetrate the barriers of prejudice, ill-will, dogmatism, ...
More

Introduction
Vanessa Schwartz
in Modern France: A Very Short Introduction
The ‘Introduction’ emphasizes the importance of the French Revolution. Even 200 years on, the French Revolution's significance on both the national and international stage is understood. ...
More

5. The whitening of the West
Stephen Aron
in The American West: A Very Short Introduction
“What is the true significance of the word ‘white’?” asked Pablo de la Guerra, a delegate to the convention charged with writing a constitution for a new state of California, in 1849. The ...
More

8. The view from Hollywood
Stephen Aron
in The American West: A Very Short Introduction
‘The view from Hollywood’ begins with the “Westerns” that dominated American cinema for much of the twentieth century and that influenced popular understandings of the western past. It goes ...
More

3. Living in the margins
Madeline Y. Hsu
in Asian American History: A Very Short Introduction
“Living in the margins” considers the lived realities of immigrants’ efforts to foster community, livelihood, and family under exclusion. Birthright citizenship was a key steppingstone to ...
More

5. Imperialism, immigration, and capitalism
Madeline Y. Hsu
in Asian American History: A Very Short Introduction
“Imperialism, immigration, and capitalism” considers the Southeast Asians who entered the United States between 1975 and 1994, mostly as refugees resulting from theVietnam War. It goes on ...
More

Introduction: mass immigration, past and present
David A. Gerber
in American Immigration: A Very Short Introduction
The United States is a nation of diverse peoples bound together through an allegiance to the constitution. The Introduction looks at where the people of the United States have come from and ...
More

9. To the present
Paul S. Boyer
in American History: A Very Short Introduction
History doesn't end, it just continues. Each era seems to be the one of the most significant change. The end of the 1960s led to an era of disorientation in the United States. ‘To the ...
More

7. The rise and fall of superpower detente, 1968–79
Robert McMahon
in The Cold War: A Very Short Introduction
During the 1970s the Cold War experienced a change in pace, as world leaders sought to stabilize international affairs. ‘The rise and fall of superpower detente, 1968–79’ covers detente ...
More

6. ‘An Auschwitz every three months’: Society as camp?
Dan Stone
in Concentration Camps: A Very Short Introduction
‘ “An Auschwitz every three months”: to society as camp?’ examines the meaning and significance of the concentration camp. There is no single type of concentration camp and no clear ...
More