Cultural History Commons^™

The Seven Spices: Pumpkins, Puritans, And Pathogens In Colonial New England, Michael Sharbaugh

Michael D Sharbaugh

Water sources in the United States' New England region are laden with arsenic. Particularly during North America's colonial period--prior to modern filtration processes--arsenic would make it into the colonists' drinking water. In this article, which evokes the biocultural evolution paradigm, it is argued that colonists offset health risks from the contaminant (arsenic poisoning) by ingesting copious amounts of seven spices--cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, cardamom, allspice, vanilla, and ginger. The inclusion of these spices in fall and winter recipes that hail from New England would therefore explain why many Americans associate them not only with the region, but with Thanksgiving and Christmas, …

Digitizing Immigrant And Homeland Letters: Problems And Opportunities, Dominic Pacyga

Dominic Pacyga

No abstract provided.

Book Session: The American Urban Reader: History And Theory, Steven Corey

Steven H. Corey

No abstract provided.

Review Of Michael Rawson, Eden On The Charles: The Making Of Boston, Steven Corey

Steven H. Corey

No abstract provided.

Confounding Identity: Exploring The Life And Discourse Of Lucy E. Parsons, Michelle Diane Wright

Michelle Diane Wright

Despite the vast research conducted on radical activist history of late nineteenth century Chicago, there is very little that examines political and social ideologies that diverged from the westernized male archetype of the era. Furthermore, the contrived disciplinary divide that separates scholarly study into artificial and static compartments such as labor history, anarchist history, women’s studies or others, oversimplifies the contributions of individuals that straddle all categories of endeavor. Lucy Parsons, a woman of color, was born in Waco, Texas in 1853 but moved to Chicago in 1873 and became a pivotal figure in the labor and anarchist movements well …

Chicago: A Biography, Dominic Pacyga

Dominic Pacyga

Chicago has been called by many names. Nelson Algren declared it a “City on the Make.” Carl Sandburg dubbed it the “City of Big Shoulders.” Upton Sinclair christened it “The Jungle,” while New Yorkers, naturally, pronounced it “the Second City.”

At last there is a book for all of us, whatever we choose to call Chicago. In this magisterial biography, historian Dominic Pacyga traces the storied past of his hometown, from the explorations of Joliet and Marquette in 1673 to the new wave of urban pioneers today. The city’s great industrialists, reformers, and politicians—and, indeed, the many not-so-great and downright …

Responding To The Second Ghetto: Chicago's Joe Smith And Sin Corner, Dominic Pacyga

Dominic Pacyga

World War Two and its aftermath transformed Chicago's African American community. The Great Migration entered a second and more intense phase as black migrants flooded into Northern cities. This massive relocation of Southern blacks resulted in the expansion and reformulation of Chicago's ghettoes on both the West and South Sides of the city. The question of a response to this Second Ghetto from African Americans themselves presents itself. White politicians, cultural elites and businessmen still controlled the city and could impose their will on its neighborhoods simply redrawing ghetto boundaries to reflect the new realities of the postwar era. The …

Examining America’S Urban Landscape: From Social Reform To Social History, Steven Corey, Lisa Boehm

Steven H. Corey

The American Urban Reader brings together the most exciting work on the evolution of the American city, from colonial settlement and western expansion to post-industrial cities and the growth of the suburbs. Each of the chronologically and thematically organized chapters includes thoughtfully selected scholarly essays from historians, social scientists and journalists, which are supplemented by relevant primary documents that offer more nuanced perspectives and convey the diversity and interdisciplinary nature of the study of the urban condition. A comprehensive companion website offers valuable further reading, compelling supplementary links, slideshows of additional images, and a dialogue opening blog written by one …

The Irish American Family, Patricia Fanning

Patricia J. Fanning

No abstract provided.

Visions Of A Better World: Howard Thurman's Pilgrimage To India And The Origins Of African American Nonviolence, Quinton Dixie, Peter Eisenstadt

Quinton H Dixie

No abstract provided.

More Than Just A Prize: The Civil War And The West, Adam Arenson

Adam Arenson

How to unify the insights of the history of the Civil War Era and the study of the American West.

How Research Blogging Improves Urban History, Adam Arenson

Adam Arenson

This article explains why researchers should maintain a research blog for a project in development, especially if it is an urban-history or preservation issue.