In this elegantly written work, Cannadine neatly captures the essence of and makes his own provocative contributions to a major historiographical controversy over the decline of Britain, and personalizes it through penetrating portraits of three seemingly unrelated political leaders: Joseph Chamberlain, Winston Churchill, and Margaret Thatcher. The argument that British decline was and is inevitable—but also that the decline is geopolitical and not personal in terms of individual standards of living—is a convincing one, and Cannadine's ability to juxtapose this decline against the aggressive policies of these three twentieth-century leaden adds an element of irony to his tale. Included in this work is a thoughtful discussion of how historical writing is shaped by and perhaps also shapes its environment. Cannadine offers suggestions on how we might go about rewriting the history of Britain as we enter a new century and a new millennium. These insights and comments are particularly important as they come from the General Editor of the new Penguin History of Britain series, through which Cannadine's theories about and approaches to the writing of history are being put into practice. While the work is limited to a discussion of British history, the observations Cannadine offers might equally well be applied students of American or other national histories.

Professor Brinkley looks at the time in American history when the idea of the American dream first emerged—the Great Depression. To illustrate the variety of ways in which the American people have defined the dream, Brinkley discusses four interpretations of the Great Depression, described as persistence, empathy, rebellion, and community.

Hosking presents the historical conception of Russia as two nations―imperial and ethnic―and relates this to the challenge facing present-day Russia, that of creating a democratic nation without an empire.

Carter addresses the impact of George Wallace on the national political scene, showing how he succeeded in tapping the pulse of American society in the 1960s and 1970s.

In these lectures, Peter N. Stearns combines two flourishing historical fields-the history of childhood and world history-to address the question of how much of childhood is natural and how much is historically determined. The first lecture gauges the impact of impact of the development of agriculture, civilization, and religion upon the pre-modern experience of childhood. The second lecture turns to how modern perspectives on childhood contrasted with traditional ones, and how and why a modern perspective developed and spread. These lectures clearly outline the basic changes in childhood that are surprisingly recent and surprisingly sweeping.

Wood presents important information about the founding period in our nation's history, conveying not only the content but also the spirit of the debates surrounding the Philadelphia convention and its aftermath.

In this essay Yvonne Haddad explores the history of immigration and integration of Arab Muslims in the United States and their struggle to legitimate their presence in the face of continuing exclusion based on race, nationalist identity, and religion.

Professor Knight addresses race, ethnicity, and class in Latin America and the Caribbean, and his conclusions are important for revaluing the history and place of these regions in the evolution of political systems.

Marty focuses on two religious phenomena in American history in the last hundred years, modernism and fundamentalism.

Drawing upon psychological paradigms, Professor Painter examines the history of child and sexual abuse within American slave society by employing the concept of "soul murder."