Lives and Times: Individuals and Issues in American History, Since 1865

Lives and Times is a biographical reader designed to acquaint students with major issues in American history through the lives of individuals, prominent and otherwise, whose activities and ideas were crucial in shaping the course of the nation's history. Employing a narrative style, the book consists of thirteen chapters in which the lives of two individuals are examined in the broader' context of major historical themes. Reader's will find not only a diversity of individuals profiled - including Ida B. Wells and Ben Tillman, Andrew Carnegie and Mother Jones, and George W. Bush and Barack Obama - but also themes spanning political, economic, social, cultural, intellectual, and military history. This combined biographical/thematic approach provides the reader with more extensive biographical information and a fuller examination of key issues than is commonly offered in core texts. Each chapter also offers study questions and a bibliography.

Robert C. Cottrell recently completed his twenty-fifth year at California State University, Chico, where he serves as professor of history and American studies.