Laura A. Belmonte – författare

In 1955, the United States Information Agency published a lavishly illustrated booklet called My America. Assembled ostensibly to document "the basic elements of a free dynamic society," the booklet emphasized cultural diversity, political freedom, and social mobility and made no mention of McCarthyism or the Cold War. Though hyperbolic, My America was, as Laura A. Belmonte shows, merely one of hundreds of pamphlets from this era written and distributed in an organized attempt to forge a collective defense of the "American way of life."Selling the American Way examines the context, content, and reception of U.S. propaganda during the early Cold War. Determined to protect democratic capitalism and undercut communism, U.S. information experts defined the national interest not only in geopolitical, economic, and military terms. Through radio shows, films, and publications, they also propagated a carefully constructed cultural narrative of freedom, progress, and abundance as a means of protecting national security. Not simply a one-way look at propaganda as it is produced, the book is a subtle investigation of how U.S. propaganda was received abroad and at home and how criticism of it by Congress and successive presidential administrations contributed to its modification.

From whiskey in the American Revolution to Spam in WWII, food reveals a great deal about the society in which it exists. Selecting 15 foods that represent key moments in the history of the United States, this book takes readers from before European colonization to the present, narrating major turning points along the way, with food as a guide. US History in 15 Foods takes everyday items like wheat bread, peanuts, and chicken nuggets, and shows the part they played in the making of America. What did the British colonists think about the corn they observed Indigenous people growing? How are oranges connected to Roosevelt's New Deal? And what can green bean casserole tell us about gender roles in the mid-20th century? Weaving food into colonialism, globalization, racism, economic depression, environmental change and more, Anna Zeide shows how America has evolved through the food it eats.

From whiskey in the American Revolution to Spam in WWII, food reveals a great deal about the society in which it exists. Selecting 15 foods that represent key moments in the history of the United States, this book takes readers from before European colonization to the present, narrating major turning points along the way, with food as a guide. US History in 15 Foods takes everyday items like wheat bread, peanuts, and chicken nuggets, and shows the part they played in the making of America. What did the British colonists think about the corn they observed Indigenous people growing? How are oranges connected to Roosevelt's New Deal? And what can green bean casserole tell us about gender roles in the mid-20th century? Weaving food into colonialism, globalization, racism, economic depression, environmental change and more, Anna Zeide shows how America has evolved through the food it eats.

Infectious disease has been the biggest threat to human life throughout history, and specific outbreaks have imprinted themselves upon our collective memory for centuries. Drawing lessons from the past to help us grapple with current and future pandemics, Global History in 15 Epidemics focuses on the social, cultural and political dimensions of humanity’s response to the rise and spread of epidemic diseases. Taking a global perspective, this text explores the transnational, environmental and technological factors that promote and sustain outbreaks of epidemic disease.From smallpox in colonial America to influenza in WWI, tuberculosis in the 19th century and covid-19 in the present day, this book seeks to understand the role played by factors such as climate, migration, imperialism, the environment and human-animal interactions. It also explores the development and evolution of quarantine, public health systems and vaccination to understand state-society responses and the political and legal dimensions of outbreaks. Asking how outbreaks interact with war, racism, cultural memory and social stigma, it takes a comparative approach, exploring how the same diseases were experienced differently depending on their geographical, political and cultural settings. Finally, it asks how these experiences have fed into cultural memory and explores how epidemics and pandemics have been, and continue to be, memorialized throughout time.

Infectious disease has been the biggest threat to human life throughout history, and specific outbreaks have imprinted themselves upon our collective memory for centuries. Drawing lessons from the past to help us grapple with current and future pandemics, Global History in 15 Epidemics focuses on the social, cultural and political dimensions of humanity’s response to the rise and spread of epidemic diseases. Taking a global perspective, this text explores the transnational, environmental and technological factors that promote and sustain outbreaks of epidemic disease.From smallpox in colonial America to influenza in WWI, tuberculosis in the 19th century and covid-19 in the present day, this book seeks to understand the role played by factors such as climate, migration, imperialism, the environment and human-animal interactions. It also explores the development and evolution of quarantine, public health systems and vaccination to understand state-society responses and the political and legal dimensions of outbreaks. Asking how outbreaks interact with war, racism, cultural memory and social stigma, it takes a comparative approach, exploring how the same diseases were experienced differently depending on their geographical, political and cultural settings. Finally, it asks how these experiences have fed into cultural memory and explores how epidemics and pandemics have been, and continue to be, memorialized throughout time.

From Confederation in 1867 up to the present day, A History of Canada in 15 Moments investigates 15 key moments in the making of modern Canada. Starting with the treatment of First Peoples and the establishment of the federal union, it takes the reader through the decades to explore the changing place of women, the advent of same-sex marriage and the evolution of a multicultural, diverse society. Taken together, these moments provide a comprehensive understanding of the history of Canada and its wider social, economic, political and cultural influences.Structured chronologically, each chapter describes and contextualises a specific ‘moment’ to understand how it contributed to the making of modern Canada. What did the hanging of Louis Riel in 1885 mean for Canadian colonialism and its treatment of indigenous peoples? How did the arrival of the Komagata Maru ship in 1914 affect attitudes to immigration and race? Why did the 1945 Windsor strike lead to major changes in industrial relations, and what role did nationalism play in the 1995 Quebec Referendum? Though these seemingly small moments that open a window into the past, A History of Canada in 15 Moments cuts through the complexity to provide a comprehensive understanding of how Canada came to be.

From Confederation in 1867 up to the present day, A History of Canada in 15 Moments investigates 15 key moments in the making of modern Canada. Starting with the treatment of First Peoples and the establishment of the federal union, it takes the reader through the decades to explore the changing place of women, the advent of same-sex marriage and the evolution of a multicultural, diverse society. Taken together, these moments provide a comprehensive understanding of the history of Canada and its wider social, economic, political and cultural influences.Structured chronologically, each chapter describes and contextualises a specific ‘moment’ to understand how it contributed to the making of modern Canada. What did the hanging of Louis Riel in 1885 mean for Canadian colonialism and its treatment of indigenous peoples? How did the arrival of the Komagata Maru ship in 1914 affect attitudes to immigration and race? Why did the 1945 Windsor strike lead to major changes in industrial relations, and what role did nationalism play in the 1995 Quebec Referendum? Though these seemingly small moments that open a window into the past, A History of Canada in 15 Moments cuts through the complexity to provide a comprehensive understanding of how Canada came to be.

Taking fifteen real-life criminal cases prosecuted at the High Court of Justiciary in Scotland between 1700 and 2000, this book explores developments in social attitudes and legal responses to violence. From the last execution for witchcraft to the first prosecution for marital rape, as well as cases of murder, poisoning and infanticide, Scottish History in 15 Violent Crimes examines aspects of masculinity, female agency, emancipation and tolerance.Using these cases to explore how society has and does perceive different violent crimes, the role of gender, attitudes towards homosexuality, fear of 'the other' and attitudes to capital punishment, Heren compares Scottish examples to others in England and Europe to identify similarities and differences, and to contribute to ongoing debates about gender, crime and the law.Charting the social and legal developments that emerged in response to violent crime, this book asks why people commit such crimes, who they and their victims were, and how far we have really progressed in our attitudes towards and treatment of violence.

Taking fifteen real-life criminal cases prosecuted at the High Court of Justiciary in Scotland between 1700 and 2000, this book explores developments in social attitudes and legal responses to violence. From the last execution for witchcraft to the first prosecution for marital rape, as well as cases of murder, poisoning and infanticide, Scottish History in 15 Violent Crimes examines aspects of masculinity, female agency, emancipation and tolerance.Using these cases to explore how society has and does perceive different violent crimes, the role of gender, attitudes towards homosexuality, fear of 'the other' and attitudes to capital punishment, Heren compares Scottish examples to others in England and Europe to identify similarities and differences, and to contribute to ongoing debates about gender, crime and the law.Charting the social and legal developments that emerged in response to violent crime, this book asks why people commit such crimes, who they and their victims were, and how far we have really progressed in our attitudes towards and treatment of violence.

Enriching our understanding of transnational networks and advocacy forged and sustained by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people, this open access collection offers keen insights into sites and expressions of LGBTQ+ identity and community, highlights transnational efforts to challenge homophobia and assesses why such efforts have succeeded in some places and failed in others.Exploring the complexity of transnational processes, contributors question and contextualize how groups outside the North Atlantic, English-speaking, and Germanic cultural spheres accessed, mediated, and appropriated Anglo-American, Canadian, Swiss, and Scandinavian queer liberationist ideologies and practices. Tracing the ways in which queer ideas, activists and publications followed traditional flows of knowledge and trade through established regional and colonial circuits it shows how ideas, people, forms of resistance and activism flowed back and forth between countries and places at different times. Taking relations between countries, places and groups as its point of departure, this book challenges the methodological nationalism that is so common in this field, showing how LGBTQ+ movements developed in transnational virtual and practical networks, complicating progress narratives and illustrating how and why moves toward LGBT+ equality are incremental and sometimes reversed.The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by Virginia Tech, USA.

During the past four decades, the international lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights movement has made significant advances, but millions of LGBT people continue to live in fear in nations where homosexuality remains illegal. The International LGBT Rights Movement offers a comprehensive account of this global force, from its origins in the mid-nineteenth century to its crucial place in world affairs today. Belmonte examines the movement's goals, the disputes about its mission, and its rise to international importance. The International LGBT Rights Movement provides a thorough introduction to the movement's history, highlighting key figures, controversies, and organizations. With a global scope that considers both state and non-state actors, the book explores transnational movements to challenge homophobia, while also assessing the successes and failures of these efforts along the way.