Enrichment: A History of the Public Library in the United States in the Twentieth Century

The explosion in the number of Free-Nets and their organizing committees over the past two years attests to the popularity of community-based computing. But, the goal of these organizations is farther reaching than merely strength of numbers; they want to change their communities for the better. In order to assure an important and relevant place in the community, Free-Nets must face the history of the other community-based information service provider: the public library. Once this is done, Free-Nets must focus on achieving results, not merely on achieving continued existence.

Download Full-text

A Century of America on Chinese Screens

Journal of American-East Asian Relations ◽

10.1163/187656111x566007 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 17 (4) ◽

pp. 305-323 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Zhiwei Xiao

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Twentieth Century ◽

Print Media ◽

The United States ◽

Sharp Contrast ◽

American People ◽

Early Twentieth Century ◽

History Of ◽

Chinese Films ◽

New Millennium

AbstractNo serious study has been published on how Chinese filmmakers have portrayed the United States and the American people over the last century. The number of such films is not large. That fact stands in sharp contrast not only to the number of "China pictures" produced in the United States, which is not surprising, but also in contrast to the major role played by Chinese print media. This essay surveys the history of Chinese cinematic images of America from the early twentieth century to the new millennium and notes the shifts from mostly positive portrayal in the pre-1949 Chinese films, to universal condemnation during the Mao years and to a more nuanced, complex, and multi-colored presentation of the last few decades.

Download Full-text

Versatile and cheap: a global history of soy in the first half of the twentieth century

Journal of Global History ◽

10.1017/s1740022813000375 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 8 (3) ◽

pp. 461-482 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Ines Prodöhl

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Twentieth Century ◽

The United States ◽

Second World War ◽

Cash Crop ◽

The Great Depression ◽

Production And Consumption ◽

Transnational Actors ◽

History Of ◽

Second World

AbstractThis article traces the complex and shifting organization of soy's production and consumption from Northeast China to Europe and the United States. It focuses on a set of national and transnational actors with differing interests in the global and national spread of soybeans. The combination of these actors in certain spatiotemporal contexts enabled a fundamental change in soy from an Asian to an American cash crop. At the beginning of the twentieth century, soy rapidly became Northeast China's cash crop, owing to steadily increasing Western demand. However, the versatility of soy – and soy oil in particular – offered a highly successful response to the agricultural and industrial challenges that the United States faced during the Great Depression and the Second World War. By the end of the war, American farmers in the Midwest cultivated more soybeans than their Chinese counterparts.

Download Full-text

The Cambridge History of America and the World

10.1017/9781108297479 ◽

2021 ◽

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Twentieth Century ◽

The United States ◽

Military Power ◽

American Empire ◽

Global Power ◽

Cultural Terms ◽

The World ◽

Fourth Volume ◽

History Of

The fourth volume of The Cambridge History of America and the World examines the heights of American global power in the mid-twentieth century and how challenges from at home and abroad altered the United States and its role in the world. The second half of the twentieth century marked the pinnacle of American global power in economic, political, and cultural terms, but even as it reached such heights, the United States quickly faced new challenges to its power, originating both domestically and internationally. Highlighting cutting-edge ideas from scholars from all over the world, this volume anatomizes American power as well as the counters and alternatives to 'the American empire.' Topics include US economic and military power, American culture overseas, human rights and humanitarianism, third-world internationalism, immigration, communications technology, and the Anthropocene.

Download Full-text

Redefining Censorship

European Judaism ◽

10.3167/ej.2018.510219 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 51 (2) ◽

pp. 134-142

Author(s):

Esther B. Schupak

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Twentieth Century ◽

Emotional Valence ◽

The United States ◽

Educational Choice ◽

Merchant Of Venice ◽

The Past ◽

The Merchant Of Venice ◽

Film Images ◽

History Of

Abstract Because of its potential for fostering antisemitic stereotypes, in the twentieth century The Merchant of Venice has a history of being subject to censorship in secondary schools in the United States. While in the past it has often been argued that the play can be used to teach tolerance and to fight societal evils such as xenophobia, racism and antisemitism, I argue that this is no longer the case due to the proliferation of performance methods in the classroom, and the resultant emphasis on watching film and stage productions. Because images – particularly film images – carry such strong emotional valence, they have the capacity to subsume other pedagogical aspects of this drama in their emotional power and memorability. I therefore question whether the debate over teaching this play is truly a question of ‘censorship’, or simply educational choice.

Download Full-text

Introduction

Experiments in Exile ◽

10.5422/fordham/9780823279784.003.0001 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 1-16

Author(s):

Laura Harris

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Twentieth Century ◽

Middle Class ◽

Social Theory ◽

The United States ◽

Theory And Practice ◽

Aesthetic Theory ◽

Avant Garde ◽

History Of ◽

Visual Artist

In Experiments in Exile, I explore and compare projects undertaken by two twentieth-century American intellectuals while they lived in voluntary exiles in the United States: the Trinidadian writer and revolutionary C. L. R. James and the Brazilian visual artist and counterculturalist Hélio Oiticica. James and Oiticica never met. They lived and worked in the United States at different moments. My focus is on James’s stay during the 1940s and on Oiticica’s stay during the 1970s. Given the significant differences between them—not just at the level of nationality but at the level of race (James was black, Oiticica was white), class (James was situated within a precarious middle class, Oiticica was firmly established within an upper middle class), sexuality (James was straight, Oiticica was gay), and disciplinary locations (James is generally situated in the history of radical social theory and practice, and Oiticica is generally situated in the history of avant-garde aesthetic theory and practice)—this is surely an unlikely combination. This study is itself an experiment, one that goes beyond the usual parameters of comparativist or transnational research, to identify, in the surprising resonances between the projects pursued by these two very disparate figures, a common project I believe they, together, bring into relief....

Download Full-text

Butter Sculpture: The History of an Unconventional Medium

Sculpture Review ◽

10.1177/0747528420901917 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 68 (4) ◽

pp. 40-59

Author(s):

Pamela H. Simpson

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Twentieth Century ◽

Dairy Industry ◽

The United States ◽

National Brands ◽

History Of ◽

Ancient Food

With its roots in ancient food molds and table art for Renaissance banquets, butter sculpture in the United States debuted during the centennial and flourished in the first quarter of the twentieth century. As the dairy industry moved from farm to regional cooperative creameries and eventually to national brands, butter sculpture appeared at fairs and expositions. Both amateur and professional sculptors used this unusual medium for busts and portraits, dairy-related subjects, and models of buildings. The ephemeral nature of the medium and the novelty of food as art drew crowds to exhibits advertising butter as the natural, healthy alternative to oleomargarine.

Download Full-text