Whether Christian churches, Jewish synagogues, Islamic mosques, Buddhist temples, or the gathering places for other faiths, buildings designed for worship are significant to both their own community of believers and their larger communities. Coming to understand the history of places of worship, therefore, is an essential element in understanding the historical fabric of these communities. “Places of Worship” offers the abundant insights of an...

In this enlightening book, scholars and activists Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz and Dina Gilio-Whitaker tackle a wide range of myths about Native American culture and history that have misinformed generations. Tracing how these ideas evolved, and drawing from history, the authors disrupt long-held and enduring myths such as: 'Columbus Discovered America'; 'Thanksgiving Proves the Indians Welcomed Pilgrims'; 'Indians Were Savage and Warlike'; 'Europeans Brought...

"The book starts with an account of the arrival of the Pilgrims in Massachusetts in November 1620, which is to say that it endorses a very old idea of the best place to catch the first glimmer of the American republic: 1620, not 1619. I'm well aware that the claims of 1620 have their own weaknesses. The country's "very origin," as the Times puts it, isn't something that can be settled once and for all. Many threads from many origins all eventually...

“A bracing corrective to national mythology” about the American civil rights movement—from the author of The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks (New York Times)
The civil rights movement has become national legend, lauded by presidents from Reagan to Obama to Trump, as proof of the power of American democracy. This fable, featuring dreamy heroes and accidental heroines like Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks,...

"The United States is in the grip of a crisis of bad history. Inaccurate interpretations and outright misrepresentations of the past--cultivated within and promoted by the conservative movement and right-wing media over the last several decades--hold sway among large numbers of Americans, damaging our public discourse. In Myth America, historians Kevin Kruse and Julian Zelizer have assembled an all-star team of historians to provide textured analysis...