Us and Them: A History of Intolerance in America

Synopsis

Wrongful intolerance has existed in American society for more than four centuries. Us and Them illuminates the shadowy corners of our national past and traces the country's continuing efforts to measure up to its lofty ideals. Through 14 dramatic narratives, listeners witness epic struggles that shaped our collective identity. These and eight other forgotten incidents of history come to life in clear and vibrant prose. - A Quaker woman in 1660 Massachusetts risks her life for religious liberty. - Chinese mine laborers face deadly racial hatred in 1885 Wyoming. - Attempts to subdue the Great Plains Indians trigger an 1890 massacre. - Southern fears scapegoat a Northern Jew in 1913. - Floridians wipe a 1923 African-American community off the map. - A Japanese American ponders freedom in 1942-from behind barbed wire. Jim Carnes-Encyclopedia Britannica editor and Director of the Teaching Tolerance project of the Southern Poverty Law Center-"effectively presents stories of intolerance from colonial times to the present" (The Horn Book Guide). "Each chapter in this excellent history focuses in depth on one individual's experience or on a particular episode of bigotry."-Booklist "This balanced account belongs in all libraries."-Library Lane "Should be in every secondary school library."-Kliat