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QUESTION: Early 20th Century US History

Submitted by bwinston35 on Mon, 04/28/2008 - 1:13pm
question / pregunta: 

I'm researching the first half of 20th century US History and I'm looking for some decent academic works (prefably books)that address this time period. General overviews (yet not the typical discourse) of the 20's and 30's are areas that I need the most help in, but anything regarding 1900-1950 would be great.

Answers

Answer posted by: jbeek

You should take a look at the Radical Reference Reference Shelf page on History, Resistance for some good alternative sources/collections.

For books, one place to start would be Philip S. Foner's masterful History of the Labor Movement in the United States, especially volumes 3-10, and other works by this labor historian. His nephew, Eric Foner, is also an historian worth reading - though his area is mostly 19th century, a list of his books reveals some good titles for the 20th which you can find in your local library. While we're at it, Nancy Foner (I'm not sure of the relation, if there is one) is a sociologist who has written extensively on immigration.

I would certainly recommend a look through some works by Howard Zinn, especially (for an overview) A People's History of the United States, which though written for a popular audience would provide you with further citations to follow up on.

For the South, check out Defying Dixie : the radical roots of civil rights, 1919-1950.

This is just a starting point; I hope we will continue to add to the list. Also, once you have any of these books, especially more recent ones, check out the bibliography/reference list for further reading.

Answer posted by: jbeek

In addition to the above, you might want to take a look at Eric Hobsbawm's book on the 20th century, The Age of Extremes, which is not primarily about the US but will help place US history in a broader context. This will also be a great source of further references.

Some additional bibliographies (book and other resource lists) for US history can be found at these links:
The Internet Public Library has a page of 20th Century History Resources in their general US History Resources section.

The DMOZ Open Directory Project has a page for US Society and Culture, which has sublinks for history and politics, among other topics.

The World Wide Web Virtual Library History Central Catalog (description), now hosted by the European University Institute, has resources on US History by decade for the 20th century.

The Kingwood College Library has a site devoted to American Cultural History - the Twentieth Century that has both overviews by decade and recommended readings ("prepared by the Reference Librarians"!).