Primary Sources: Books & e-Books

Although millions of African American women were held in bondage over the 250 years that slavery was legal in the United States, Harriet Jacobs (1813-97) is the only one known to have left papers testifying to her life. Her autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, holds a central place in the canon of American literature as the most important slave narrative by an African American woman.

This new, greatly expanded version, while omitting nothing found in the earlier edition, shifts the emphasis of earlier editions on Dietrich Bonhoeffer's theological reflections to the private sphere of his life. His letters now appear in far greater detail, and show his daily concerns and the enormous warmth and humanity of the young German pastor who was executed by the Nazis in 1945 for his part in the "officers' plot".

In 1762, John Adams penned a flirtatious note to 17 year-old Abigail Smith. In 1801 Abigail wrote to wish her husband a safe journey home after serving as president of the nation he helped create. This book contains these letters that span nearly 40 years.

Volume 1 of the Presidential Series covers the months immediately before Washinton's election. Opening in September 1788, at the point when it was certain that the Constitution would be ratified, the documents trace the mounting public pressure upon Washington to agree to accept the presidency. His letters reveal poignantly his own misgivings about leaving Mount Vernon to return to public life.

More than two decades since his death, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s ideas--his call for racial equality, his faith in the ultimate triumph of justice, and his insistence on the power of nonviolent struggle to bring about a major transformation of American society--are as vital and timely as ever.

This fascinating collection of letters, notes, and miscellanea from the archives of the Tchaikovsky State House-Museum sheds new light on the world of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Most of these documents have never before been available in English, and they reveal the composer's daily concerns, private thoughts, and playful sense of humor.

Our Documents is a collection of 100 documents that the staff of the National Archives has judged most important to the development of the United States. The entry for each document includes a short introduction, a facsimile, and a transcript of the document. Backmatter includes furtherreading, credits, and index. The book is part of the much larger Our Documents initiative sponsored by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), National History Day, the Corporation for National and Community Service, and the USA Freedom Corps.

Though many studies of contemporary campaigns focus on brief political advertisements and the growing impact of technology on contemporary campaigns, the definitive statements of most candidates are still made in public addresses. Friedenberg examines the first public address made by an American presidential candidate on his own behalf. The circumstances giving rise to William Henry Harrison's 1840 address, and the themes that he developed in that address are strikingly contemporary, serving as an appropriate prelude to the examinations of contemporary political speaking that follow. Those examinations focus on notable campaign speeches by John F. Kennedy, Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and George W. Bush. Each study examines a key event that foreshadowed the speech studied. Each study presents a rhetorical biography of the speaker including a discussion of the speechwriting team and preparation techniques utilized by the speaker. Each study presents a thorough study of the campaign context in which the speeches were presented. Each also presents a close reading and rhetorical analysis of the speech itself and observations on the impact of the speech. Cumulatively, Friedenberg's studies help to illustrate how, even in today's high-tech political environment of 30-second ads and candidate Web sites, public speeches continue to play a crucial role in political campaigning. Of particular interest to scholars and students involved with political communication and political American campaigning.

Encompassing a broad range of African American voices, from Frederick Douglass to anonymous fugitive slaves, this collection collects eighty-nine exceptional documents that represent the best of the five-volume Black Abolitionist Papers.

Translated, with Notes and an Introduction, and including Paolo Toscanelli's sailing directions in letters to Columbus, and documents relating to Sebastian Cabot. This is a new print-on-demand hardback edition of the volume first published in 1893.

Defining Documents in World History: Renaissance & Early Modern Era explores vital documents from important world figures from the 15th and 16th centuries, including Thomas Aquinas, Giovanni Boccaccio, Marco Polo, and many more. This new addition to the Defining Documents series offers in-depth analysis of a broad range of historical documents and historic events that shaped these documents and the authors behind them.

What did the Romans say in their letters? How are their letters useful in understanding the ancient world? Addressing these and other questions, Finley Hooper and Matthew Schwartz have compiled a selection of letters from Cicero in the first century B.C. to Cassidorus in the sixth century A.D. The letters, sometimes surprising, occasionally amusing, but always impressive, provide new insights to Roman life. With sixteen chapters, notable Romans write about themselves and their times, and about personal and public matters. Seneca provides indignant remarks about the behavior of women in Nero's Rome. From his monastic cell in Bethlehem, St. Jerome berates St. Augustine for unkind gossip he may have spread. Some letters give a different perspective to history, while others talk of harvests, marriages, and day-to-day events. The authors have included running commentary for historical continuity as well as brief sketches on the men behind the letters.

The almost simultaneous European discovery of the New World and the rise of the art of printing has made maps among the most faithful records of the exploration and settlement of the Americas. Printed maps proved indispensible to the empire-building of the great European powers, and today these same maps offer an incomparable panorama of what was known about Texas and the Southwest between 1513 and 1900. The publication of this long out-of-print classic, with a new introduction by the authors, makes this significant study with its colorful and striking maps available once again. The fifty maps collected for this volume represent many of the most historically significant maps of Texas and the Southwest from 1513 to 1900. The introductory text and the detailed descriptions of each map provide the reader with a keen appreciation of the progress of exploration, the science of cartography, and the art of printing.

From Neo-Assyrian winged lions of the 9th century BC to the stunning silver head of a 4th-century AD Sasanian king, this beautifully photographed book from the Metropolitan Museum of Art explores the art of Egypt and the Near East through close examinations of 118 outstanding pieces, illustrated with large color plates.