Americans pursue life and liberty through their religious freedom, economic well-being, and self-governance that includes a basic understanding of the constitutional principles provided by our founding fathers. Hopefully, our pursuit of life and liberty also includes a curiosity to explore our rich and diverse history. Americans Knocking at Freedoms Door is a uniquely American heritage of religious freedoms and government of and by the people. The author, Bernie Lee Yoder Smith-DeBoe, presents a conversational discussion and a historical exploration of our Christian roots. This book begins with Noahs ark and continues with the ancient tribes, the Middle Ages, religious wars, American DNA, and why the early settlers came to America. Our knowledge of American history generally includes our founding fathers, the Civil War, and more contemporary wars; however, this tells us very little about our early settlers, their challenges, and their background as people of religious faith. This book offers some historical background and stories about those who established and helped the United States to grow and flourish. It reminds us that we are Americans. We stand together as Americans, and we need to come together as Americans.

Since unification German society and institutions have been challenged by various transformations and the need to adjust to changing conditions. While much has been accomplished, many political, legal, and institutional problems remain. This volume deals with selected aspects of domestic and European policy, political parties, the challenge of direct democracy, and federalism in unified Germany – all issues that have been the subject of much discussion, political posturing, legislation, and, to some extent, constitutional amendments and court decision for many years, if not decades. In conclusion, a British scholar looks at German federalism and a number of public policy issues from a comparative perspective and arrives at some surprising and encouraging results.

There is a striking chronological parallel between Germany’s transition from a post-Malthusian regime to modern economic growth and the formation of a modern nation-state between the late 1860s and the early 1880s, which culminated in the events of 1871.The central question of this book is whether and how such state formation did in fact contribute to economic development. Twenty chapters written by leading experts in their respective fields deal with various aspects of the book’s main question. Together, they identify three channels by which national unification contributed to Germany’s economic development: (1) Creation of a nation-state completed a process of institutional Unification of a large inland area and thereby increased the integration of domestic markets. (2) Unification raised the capacity of the political system with respect to regulating complex domains, such as stock companies, patenting, and social insurance. (3) The emerging political regime of market-preserving federalism promoted the quality of economic institutions. Moreover, a set of chapters dealing with the experience of other European economies apart from Germany during the second half of the nineteenth century highlight additional factors in nineteenth-century economic development, most notably the first wave of modern globalization and economic geography. Readers interested in the history of state building and the economic history of Germany and of Europe in general during the age of industrialization and globalization and students of the economic effects of political integration and decentralized state growth will all gain much from this book.

First Published in 1981. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The book is a response of the suggestions and opinions provided to me by the students on writing a text that could be beneficial for them and other readers. The book covers the period from the fifteenth century to the present (2014). It includes the development of Europe from mercantilism to a new imperialism, globalization and a neocolonial situation, and underdevelopment to the less developed countries in the southern hemisphere. It also justifies and revises important areas in the current (2009) syllabus, which had been left by other authors in writing history texts for the advanced level. Therefore, the book justifies some areas that are beyond the syllabus, but the questions do appear in examinations. The book is directed to be useful for A-level and college students, the teachers, and other readers who have an interest with history.

What is German history? Where did it take place? And what role did Germans living outside of Central Europe play in it? This polycentric history offers a new vision: It uses communities of Germans, from Austria to Chile to Russia, to rethink our narratives of modern German history. Focusing on the great plurality of Germans, and their interconnections around the world, it pointedly de-centers the nation-state while arguing that resisting its dominance in our historical narratives has high intellectual and political stakes. For within an unbound German history there are characteristics, clues, models, and precedents that can do much to undermine the return of violent, exclusionary nationalism. To that end, this book calls for a greater integration of mobilities, migration flows, different ways of belonging, and transcultural places into our narratives of Germans' histories. Ultimately, it reveals how embracing a range of narratives can help us to better understand people's actions, intentions, and motivations in particular historical moments.