Witnessing America1996
The Library of Congress Book of First-Hand Accounts of Public Life
by Noel Rae
Collected from diaries, letters, memoirs, court records, articles, tracts, pamphlets, and advertisements in the incomparable collections of the Library of Congress, Witnessing America provides the authentic and fascinating story of our country's past by using the words of those who actually lived it. Most of the firsthand accounts are those of ordinary men and women: foot soldiers and laborers, pioneer wives and schoolteachers, farmers and slaves.
Interspersed with these are a few extraordinary selections from such notable figures as W. E. B. Du Bois, Emma Goldman, Carry Nation, Benjamin Franklin, Buffalo Bill, and others, recording what they personally saw, heard, and experienced in a growing America.
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Covering the period from the very earliest arrivals in the New World to the start...