The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Social History

The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Social History is the first reference work to eschew a narrow focus on past presidents, intellectuals, military heroes, and other exhaustively studied and well-remembered persons, and instead examine the history of ordinary Americans. The more than 450 entries in the Encyclopedia examine our shared history "from the bottom up," with entries on the way automobiles shaped American lives, the westward movement of settlers and farmers in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the transformation of work over time, the women's suffrage movement, counterculture, leisure activities, consumption patterns, voting habits, population movements, racial divides, and many more fascinating topics intended to help readers develop a richer framework for understanding the social experience of Americans throughout history.