Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in American History (Volume II: Reconstruction to the Present)

The two volumes of Taking Sides: Clashing on Controversial Issues in American History continue the tradition of providing students with well developed, carefully considered, and sharply opposed viewpoints on a number of enduring issues in history. The editors provide a concise introduction and a postscript summary to each issue and then stand back to allow the essays to speak for themselves. These essays have been selected for liveliness and substance and represent the arguments of leading historians. The student who has thoroughly examined opposing viewpoints on a number of important issues should soon perceive what other positions can be occupied on those issues and what other issues demand a careful consideration of antithetical viewpoints. It is the development of this critical approach to information which is the ultimate purpose of this and other Taking Sides volumes.