Best War Ever America And World War Ii History Essay

scoop warfargon Ever America And land state of war Ii rude(a)s report EssayThe objective of this withstand is to subject the chief bears of the Good struggle myth to b duty compend in the hope of bribe an special realistic picture, one(a) that does not demean the achievement of the coupled States and of munificent democracy notwithstanding that at the akin time does not go d witness the stress, suffering, problems, and failures inevitably faced by a society at war. The war was goodish for the economy. It was liberating for women. It was a war of tanks and airplanes a cleaner war than knowledge domain state of war I. Americans were united. S antiquatediers were proud. It was a time of prosperity, sound morality, and agency. hardly according to historian Michael Adams, our memory is distorted, and it has left us with a misleading take dash off vivification-threatening legacy. Ch aloneenging umteen of our public assumptions astir(predicate) the accomplis hment, Adams argues that our experience of piece War II was positive only if if as well as disturbing, creating problems that continue to plague us to solar day.Michael C Adams has contri barelyed to The Best War Ever America and World War II as an author. Michael C. C. Adams, a professor of biography at Yankee Kentucky University, is the author of The not bad(p) Adventure Male Desire and the Coming of World War I (1990).Much of the events of WWII has been mythologized not only by Hollywood and government propaganda, and over the years this mythology has been perpetuated by those who lived through the war themselves. Michael C. C. Adams has desire to expose these stories for what they be, fabrication and oversimplifications, and provide the basic facts that facilitate a truer pinch of WWII and the military personnel wide cultural changes surrounding it, both before and aft(prenominal) the war itself.In chapter one, Mythmaking and the War, Adams sets out the myth itself, as defined by Hollywood dramatization, government propaganda, advertisement attract onncies, and the revised memories of those who stayed home, as well as those who fought in the war itself. The war became Americas golden age, a peak in the emotional state of society when everything operationed out and the good guys definitely got a laughing(prenominal) result. (Adams, 2) The WWII era came to serve a direct to be the bygone age which America once was, and if giveed hard enough for, could be again. It was, in a sense, Americas Garden of Eden, the time and place where entirely things were sound. Of course, this was a manufactured ideal, what Adams c whollys a us equal to(p) past. In creating a usable past, we seek formulas to apply in solving todays problems. Americans believe that WWII proved one rule above either former(a)wisesit is usually better to fight than to talk. (Adams, 4) To make WWII into the best war ever, we essential leave out the area bombings and other(a ) questionable aspects epoch exaggerating the good things. The war myth is distorted not so such(prenominal)(prenominal) in what it says as in what it doesnt say. (Adams, 7) This applies not only to the war itself, but overly to the home front.Chapter two, No Easy Answers, begins the process of deconstructing the myth, and demonstrating that the events leading up to WWII began big before the Treaty of Versailles, and the ramifications of WWII lead last ofttimes longer than the propagation that fought it. Adams lays out the frame of the complex political, cultural and economic histories of each of nations which would set about involved in WWII, and shows that at that place was no obvious lodge at which one decision would get to prevented the war from happening. Taken in context, the actions each nation took leading up to WWII make sense. Adams asks, what could founder been done other than? Apparently, not much app ministrationment didnt lap in Europe, and determent did nt work in Asia. There really were no easy answers.Chapter three, The Patterns of War, 1939-1945 lays out the representation in which each nation fought the war, with a new speed and savageness made possible by technology and the remoteness of the enemy. Chapter four, The American War Machine, demonst judge how the tools were created and sent into battle, and how the soldiers and organization of each army differed, for better or worse. Chapter five, Overseas, outlines the realities of life for the American soldier both in the European and Pacific theatres, spell chapter six, Home front Changes, does the same for those who stayed home. These chapters harbour one unifying purpose to define the reality of the WWII era, expose the complex history and actors, and above all, disabuse us of the reigning WWII mythos. Chapter seven, A in the altogether World, takes us one quality further and debunks the myth that travel bying GIs readjusted quickly without lasting physical ailments and stirred up traumas and into a society awaiting them with open arms, friendly smiles and loving families.Above all else, Adams has provided an interesting and easily accessible framework with which one can prove WWII and appreciate the complexities and realities of the era. While his history is intentionally apprise and uncomplicated by example and detail, it does achieve its purpose. By identifying the mythos and realities of WWII, the Good War can be appreciated for what it actually was an ugly, brutal and ultimately necessary war.Adams says that the existence of the WWII distortions is not entirely the fault of the American semipublic. It is also the fault of the Federal political relation and the media. The government censored controversial hooey during the war and only delivered to the public details that were uplifting and beneficial to the cause. The media also used the war to its advantage, promoting products employ credits to the war.Adams also goes into detail th e Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome the soldiers endured during the war.The news does go into some historical accounts of WWII. Most of Adams references though were collateral seeds. I would have deald to see him use to a greater extent than primary sources which would have provided more authenticity and credibility to the news. I do recommend the moderate if you are looking for a quick read about WWII, but if you are looking for a military history about WWII, this is not the al-Quran for you.3- tin can F. Kasson, AMUSING THE MILLION CONEY ISLAND AT THE bring OF THE CENTURY peculiar the Million examines the historical context in which cony Island made its study as an delight park and shows how Americas changing neighborly and economic conditions organize the basis of a new mass culture.Exploring it afresh in this way, stern Kasson shows lapin Island no longer as the object of nostalgia but as a harbinger of modernityand the many photographs, lithographs, engravings, a nd other reproductions with which he amplifies his text reinforcing stimulus this lively thesis.After canvass the whole phonograph recording my point of analysis on this record book is that In these times, when entertainers bare body parts ordinarily kept strictly covered, it is hard to believe the cover photo of this book was considered rather racy a century ago. It shows a line of girls on the beach at rock rabbit Island where the skirts on their swimsuits have been raised to wear the shorts underneath. Considering that they also appear to have full-length tights on underneath the shorts, to modern eyes, they look overdressed. There were many mixer commentators at the end of the nineteenth century that argued that the egalitarian affable structure of Coney Island was debasing the social fabric of the nation.As Coney Island was the most striking example of the dramatic social changes taking place in the United States. By the turn of the century, the wad were generally no longer verdant tillers of the soil, having been transformed into urban tillers of the machines. Furthermore, by this time, the social distinctions between the upper and other classes were macrocosm blurred. As the author points out, at Coney Island, many of the skew-whiff social restrictions came down. race who otherwise would not speak to each other became friendly and shared rides, beach water and other pastimes.The members of the compressed urban society craved simple and inexpensive recreation and Coney Island provided it. Therefore, as Kasson points out so well, it was a phenomenon that grew out of a social hold and in many ways served as a social release. People could, for a very small fee, leave their crowded dwellings and engage in a day of escape. Everyone was equal on the rides and the beaches, so at least at that location, social distinctions disappeared.Until I read this book, I had never considered the amusement park as a barometer for social change. However, it is now clear that Coney Island was a metaphor for a dramatic change in the social fabric of the nation and from this book, you can learn many of the details.These were all much the same in nature, differing mainly in size and duration. Their reason for being and the reason or them becoming a thing of the past is all the same.The book suggests that they started in the mid-1800s is stretching the point somewhat as Fairs of all types were around for many centuries and only differed in how big they were, how far commonwealth travelled to them ,how much new inventions became incorporated and how long they lasted.It seems that throughout history people loved to gather for just about any reason, but generally some sort of amusement on with the hope of perceive something new. Thus there were Races, Exhibitions of animals, crafts, products for prizes or sale, Auctions, Magic shows, Plays, profligate events and on and on ad infantilism.This happened at Stonehenge and before, at the Roman Collisium, and Religious Celebrations. It didnt take much to create an event heck, even a Hanging was enough to get a huge crowd out.The same sort of thing continues today. So instead of taking the Subway to Coney Island or some other Amusement park we go to the prominent Theme Parks, National Parks, Sporting Events, Concerts, Casinos, Vegas, Nashville, Ski Hills, Cruises, or even events and locations around the realness, such as World Fairs or the Olympics.The old adage The more things change, the more they induce the same applies to Amusement Parks, just as it does to everything else.The greatest change is in the ease of travel, the amount of disposable income available, and the introduction of TV where everything can be brought right into the living room. That doesnt leave much but the Thrill Rides, the Smells and Sounds, the Crowds and the Outdoors but thats coming too.The Canadian National Exhibition continues to run for 3 weeks in August however it gets poorer and tackier e very year and who knows how much longer it will continue.Amusement parks that began to exist during the turn of the century served as venues for looseness and excitement as well as helped to release the repressed from the reproduction of the Victorian Age of the nineteenth century. John Kasson examines the social and cultural ramifications that occurred in American society in his book, AMUSING THE MILLIONS CONEY ISLAND AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY. In his study, Kasson shows how the American landscape became playgrounds, especially in New York, which encompassing the use of recreational space, New Yorks Central Park, and expositions that commemorated and celebrated the American historical past, Chicagos Columbian Exposition of 1893. They magnified the cornerstones and building blocks of the city, and the behavior that was exhibited with the rising heart class, which attracted a mass audience. The city became cosmopolitan and modern where many in use(p) and frolicked, and helped t o unlatch social, racial, and economic boundaries that were bestowed upon many psyches they also helped to rejuvenate cities through urban planning.Indeed, Kasson explores the being of imagination. The amusements ran the gamut from a Barnum and Bailey atmosphere to reveling along the boardwalk amongst exotic and unusual exhibits that coveted Coney Islands Luna Park and Dreamland Park. And within the text Kasson highlights those who helped architect this unrestrained environment of excess, such as Frederick Law Olmstead, Daniel H. Burnham, George C. Tilyou, Frederic Thompson, James Gibbons Huneker, and Maxim Gorky. Undoubtedly these were flourish and spacious constructed palatial playgrounds of pleasure full of materialism and consumption where many gathered for pure utopian enjoyment. According to Kasson, these amusements also served as an topic for artists and painters whose works did not limitedly belong in museums. However, they reflected the modernist and realist genres of the art world before they came into vogue, and they depicted technological, urban, populous, egalitarian, erotic, hedonist, dynamic, and culturally diverse images that the public were not given to (88).Overall, this is an interesting trip down nostalgic memory lane. Through the unveil pictures and detailed narrative, Kasson shows readers how Coney Island at the turn became a form of chemise for an array of classes. In essence, this is a good source to refer to when studying or reading about the American Dream as it relates to amusement parks that transcended social and cultural change in American society.4-John Kenneth Galbraith, THE neat CRASH, 1929The Great Crash, 1929is a book written byJohn Kenneth Galbraithand publish in 1954 it is an economic history of the lead-up to the besiege highroad Crash of 1929. The book argues that the 1929 stock market scare away was precipitated by rampant speculation in the stock market, that the common denominator of all subvertt episode s is the belief of participants that they can accommodate rich without work and that the tendency towards recurrent speculative orgy serves no multipurpose purpose, but rather is deeply damaging to an economy.It was Galbraiths belief that a good knowledge of what happened in 1929 was the best safeguard against its recurrence.Galbraith wrote the book during a break from working on the manuscript of what would becomeThe Affluent Society. Galbraith was asked byArthur M. Schlesinger Jr.if he would write the definitive work on theGreat embossmentthat he would then use as a reference source for his own intended work on Roosevelt. Galbraith chose to concentrate on the days that ushered in the depression. I never enjoyed writing a book more indeed, it is the only one I remember in no sense as a labor but as a joy.Galbraith received much praise for his work, including his humorous observations of homo behavior during the speculative stock market spew and subsequent crash. The publicatio n of the book, which was one of Galbraiths prime(prenominal) bestsellers, coincided with the 25th anniversary of the crash, at a time when it and theGreat Depressionthat fol meeked were still raw memories and stock price levels were only then regain to pre-crash levels. Galbraith considered it the useful task of the historian to keep fresh the memory of such crashes, the fading of which he correlates with their re-occurrence.For the purpose of the thickset and analysis phase of this book I thought that the Republican Great Depression of 1929-1939 has been an unending source of mystery, fascination, and disinformation for the past four generations. As youre reading these words, theres a huge knife thrust on by conservative think-tanks and wealthy political activists to reinvent the history, suggesting that Roosevelt prolonged the Depression or that New Deal programs were ineffective. At the same time, family line want David Sirota are valiantly pushing back with actual facts and statistics, presentation that Roosevelts New Deal was startlingly effective, particularly when compared with the Republican policies of 1920-1929 that formed the bubble that crashed in 1929, and the Republican failures to deal with its consequences during the last three years of the Herbert vacuum validation (1929-1933).To really understand what brought about the great crash, however, its most useful to read an historical narrative written by one of the worlds superior economists when that world-changing event was still fresh in his and his readers minds.The Great Crashis that book, premier(prenominal) written by Galbraith in 1953-54 (and published in 1955) and updated for modern readers in 1997.From this book I like to discuss some points in its summary phase. From the IntroductionThe people who remained sane and quiet Extracts fromThe Great Crash 1929, John Kenneth Galbraith, First Published 1955, summon 27 Even in such a time of madness as the late twenties, a great man y man in Wall Street remained quite sane. But they also remained very quiet. The sense of debt instrument in the financial familiarity for the community as a whole is not small. It is n archean nil. perchance this is inherent. In a community where the primary concern is making money, one of the necessary rules is to live and let live. To speak out against madness may be to ruin those who have succumbed to it. So the wise in Wall Street are nearly always silent. The foolish thus have the field to themselves. None rebukes them.From Chapter 1 A Year to Remember Opportunities for the social historianExtracts fromThe Great Crash 1929, John Kenneth Galbraith, First Published 1955, Page 26In the autumn of 1929 the mightiest of Americans were, for a brief time, revealed as human beings. Like most humans, most of the time, they did some very foolish things. On the while, the greater the earlier reputation for omniscience, the more serene the previous idiocy, the greater the foolishness n ow exposed. Things that in other times were concealed in a heavy facade of dignity now stood exposed, for the panic suddenly, approximately obscenely, snatched this facade away. We are seldom vouchsafed a glance behind this restriction in our society the counterpart of the Kremlin walls is the thickly stuffed shirt. The social historian moldiness always be alert to his opportunities, and there have been few like 1929.From Chapter 7 Things Become More Serious Things keep getting worse Extracts fromThe Great Crash 1929, John Kenneth Galbraith, First Published 1955, Page one hundred thirty In the autumn of 1929 the New York Stock Exchange, under roughly its present constitution, was 112 years old. During this lifetime it had seen some difficult days. On 18 family 1873, the firm of Jay Cooke and Company failed, and, as a more or less(prenominal) direct result, so did fifty-seven other Stock Exchange firms in the next few weeks. On 23 October 1907, call money rates relegateed one hun dred and twenty-five per cent in the panic of that year. On 16 September 1922 the autumn months are the off-season in Wall Street a bomb exploded in front of Morgans next door, cleanup thirty people and injuring a hundred more.A common feature of all these earlier troubles was that, having happened, they were over. The worst was reasonably recognizable as such. The risible feature of the great crash of 1929 was that the worst continued to worsen. What looked one day like the end proved on the next day to have been only the rise. Nothing could have been more ingeniously designed to maximize the suffering, and also to ensure that as few as possible take flight the common misfortune. The fortunate speculator who had funds to answer the first marge call presently got another and equally urgent one, and if he met that there would still be another. In the end all the money he had was extracted from him and lost. The man with the smart money, who was safely out of the market when th e first crash came, naturally went back in to pick up bargains. The bargains then suffered a ruins fall. Even the man who waited out all of October and all of November, who saw the book of account of trading return to normal and saw Wall Street become as placid as a produce market, and who then bought common stocks would see their value drop to a third or a fourth of the purchase price in the next twenty-four months. The Coolidge talk through ones hat market was a remarkable phenomenon. The ruthlessness of its liquidation was, in its own way, equally remarkable.5-Ronald G. Walters, AMERICAN REFORMERS, 1815-1860With American Reformers, Walters has composed a fine deductive reasoning of secondary literature on the varied nonmodern illuminate movements. In doing so, he argues that the reform impulse emerges out of evangelical Protestantism but by the complaisant War takes a more secular turn more involved in legislating social controls than converting the hearts of individuals. A s he develops this argument he addresses the different forms that this reform impulse took and organizes the book thematically. He discusses in successive chapters utopian movements and secular communitarians, abolition, the womens movement and the peace movement, temperance, wellness reform and spiritualism, working mans reform, and institutional reform, into which he groups mental hospitals, prisons and schools.Walters demonstrates the secularization of reform in the realm of communitarian societies. Thus, the early nineteenth century utopian settlements that oft emerged out of pietistic impulses gave way to more secular experiments in social engineering such as Owenism, or as in the grammatical case of Oneida, how a once religious community endured only as a commercial venture. Similarly he shows institutions such as asylums wove their religious vehemence with the science of the times but like prisons and almshouses became holding pens for outcasts rather than places for amel iorate and reform.Walters also situates the emergence of reform in the particular circumstances of antebellum America. He argues that the emergence of the middle class created made it possible for people to devote time to reform, and those technological advances in printing made it possible for people to actually make a living as an agitator. He also argues that reform helped shape the identity of the emerging middle class. This point comes through particularly clearly in his chapter on working mans reform.Walters deduction suffers from its grand scope and short length. In it he sacrifices a true amount of detail and analysis for space and clarity. The section on utopian movements, for example, traces the ainities of the major reformers and a brief outline of the community that followed without in-depth analysis. Throughout the book quotations from primary sources would have been helpful in giving a whole step for the particular movement under discussion. The lack of primary sou rce material allows Walters to sacrifice authentication, and the reader sometimes wishes for some assistance in sharp the origin or fuller development of a particular point. To his credit, Walters provides a good bibliographicalal essay at the end, but the lack of documentation sometimes proves frustrating and thus interrupts the otherwise smooth flow in the text. Nonetheless, American Reformers is a very light and useful synthesis of the secondary sources on antebellum reform. As such, it is a helpful and welcome accompaniment to the field.In my mind, this is an introductory text, albeit a fine one. Walters is very accessable, he tries to include necessary historical perspective and whatever cultural information he deems to be valuable to the story hes telling in each chapter. And while each chapter is a story of a different movement or people, he also demonstrates those things these groups have in common. I wont spoil it for you, but at the least of it, they were all idealist s who thought to affect the world around them.Material and political changes transformed America at a dizzying pace in the 1820s and 1830s. The expansion of industrialization, the creation of roads and canals to connect manufacturers to new markets, westward migration, a prolonged period of economic depression spare-time activity the panic of 1837, and the broadening of voting rights triggered vast social upheavals. Reform movements were much attempts to cope with the consequences of these changes. Some movements wanted reform of institutions like prisons, schools, and asylums. Others looked to individual conversion to transform the whole society. Some reformers drew attention to a particular groups suffering Richard Henry DanasTwo Years before the Mast(1840), for example, pressed for bedspread out legal rights for sailors. Others, like the founders of Brook Farm, sought radical and universal reform.A powerful source of reform emerged from the Second Great Awakening, the religi ous revivals sweep the nation from the 1790s through the 1820s. Like the Great Awakening of the 1730s and 1740s, this series of revivals exclamatory individual, often emotional religious experiences. Yet unlike the first period of revival, the Second Great Awakening had an even broader impact. The disestablishment of religion in the early national period and the deism associated with Americas founding fathers (that is, their belief in the power of reason and the existence of a Supreme Creator and their skepticism about supernatural religious explanations) seemed to threaten the nations Protestant moral foundation. Moreover, many Christians attributed certain(prenominal) social ills (drinking, dueling, disregard for the Sabbath, and the like) to Chris-tianitys decline. Ministers such as Lyman Beecher (1775-1863) and Charles Grandison Finney (1792-1875) responded with messages about wickedness, conversion, and the imminent return of Christ. Moving away from the Calvinist doctrines (such as predestination) associated with the initial Great Awakening, they preached individual moral agency and personal salvation, moral improvement and perfection, and a responsibility to hasten the coming of Gods Kingdom.These religious ideas contributed to the desire for reform and creation of freewill benevolent societies such as the American Education Society (1815), American Bible Society (1816), and American Tract Society (1825). These organizations distributed religious literatures, but their members also led efforts to stem Sabbath-breaking, drinking, and other forms of vice. Various female moral reform societies focused on ending prostitution, sexual exploitation, and the sexual two-baser standard. The ostensibly moral concern with sexual vice also helped rationalise the not-so-pious demand for reform literature featuring fallen and wronged women in texts like female horse MonksAwful Disclosures(1836) and George FostersNew York by Gas-Light(1850).Evangelical reformers also played essential roles in other reform movements. Theodore Dwight Weld (1803-1895), a disciple of Finney, began his life distributing tracts and preaching against strong drink. In 1829 Weld shifted his efforts to the campaign against slavery and authored two antislavery classics,The Bible against Slavery(1837), which dismantled biblical pro-slavery arguments, andAmerican Slavery As It Is(1839), the text that inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) to writeUncle Toms Cabin(1851-1852).Evangelical reform spread normal literature as tracts, sermons, Sunday school books, and temperance testimonies. The revivals also had an eventful influence on developments in literary style. Religious writings became more emotional and imaginative, formally less rigid, and theologically less rigorous. antebellum religious texts began to rely on vivid narratives to illustrate, edify, and entertain. This new religious style, as David S. Reynolds calls it in his studyBeneath the American Rena issance(p. 15), reshaped not only evangelical writing but also the style of liberal reformers, popular writers, and transcendentalists.6-James M McPherson, ABRAHAM LINCOLNIn honor of the bicentennial of capital of Nebraskas birth, renowned elegant War scholarly person James M. McPherson has written a grand brief biography of our 16th President. This book will be a wonderful source for beginners to study capital of Nebraska and will serve as a good framework for larger works, like David Herbert DonaldsLincoln.This book covered the important aspects of Lincolns life from his birth and childhood in Kentucky and Indiana to his coming to Illinois, to his administration and death. McPherson discussed Lincolns tarnished relationship with his father and his wonderful relationship with his step-mother, which presented a more personal side of the man.Though short, this book does a great job of discussing Lincolns life in the larger context of American history. McPherson summarized the impo rtant moments and events during his life and provided a wonderful look at the war and its effect on him. original to his scholarly reputation, McPherson used great sources for this little biography, including theCollected Works of LincolnandLincoln at Cooper Unionto name a couple. In addition to using great primary and secondary sources, McPherson provided a bibliographic essay that provided a great synthesis of the historiography of Lincoln and where it may be heading in the coming year.There are many things to like about this book. It is a well-researched, but brief biography that will reach a wide audience. The reputation of James McPherson as a scholar lends great weight to the legitimacy of this biography.Abraham Lincolnis a wonderful beginning to the scholarly celebration of the Lincoln bicentennial.- James McPherson has emerged as one of Americas finest historians. strife Cry of Freedom, his Pulitzer Prize-winning account of the Civil War, was a national bestseller that Hugh Brogan, inThe New York Times Book Review, called history writing of the highest order. In that volume, McPherson gathered in the broad sweep of events, the political, social, and cultural forces at work during the Civil War era. Now, inAbraham Lincoln and the Second American novelty, he liberty chits a series of thoughtful and engaging essays on aspects of Lincoln and the war that have rarely been discussed in depth.McPherson again displays his keen sagacity and sterling prose as he examines several critical themes in American history. He looks closely at the Presidents role as Commander-in-Chief of the Union forces, covering how Lincoln forged a national military strategy for victory. He explores the importance of Lincolns great rhetorical skills, uncovering howthrough parables and figurative languagehe was uniquely able to communicate both the purpose of the war and a new sum of liberty to the people of the North. In another section, McPherson examines the Civil War as a Seco nd American Revolution, describing how the Republican Congress elected in 1860 passed an astonishing blitz of new laws (rivaling the first hundred days of the New Deal), and how the war not only destroyed the social structure of the old South, but radically altered the balance of power in America, ending 70 years of Southern power in the national government.The Civil War was the single most transforming and defining experience in American history, and Abraham Lincoln remains the most important figure in the pantheon of our mythology. These smooth essays, written by one of America are leading historians, offer fresh and unusual perspectives on both.From my analysis point of view the book itself in hardcover is a joy to hold with its compact size, readable typeface and bound-in ribbon bookmark. Whoever worked on this project obviously did it as a labor of love. They worked the details on this one.You cant honestly compare this work to others like Carl Sandbergs Lincoln or With Malice towards None or even my nice coffee table book of photographs taken of Lincoln. This work COMPLEMENTS those more comprehensive volumes. That said, it is not incomplete. It does an excellent job of hitting the hundreds of high and low points in Lincolns too brief life. The pace moves quickly and precisely along so that you never have the feeling that youre being written down to if thats the phrase Im looking for. This one has NOT been dumbed down for the reader.Personally I see this smaller volume as an annual read to prompt me of just how special Lincoln was as a man and as our nations leader. He was willing, even at great personal cost, to do the right thing on the toughest, most entrenched issues in our nations hist