An expanded edition of the successful Modern Americana, this new book will bring a new audience to some of the most American-designed and produced furniture in design history. In the current world of twentieth-century design collecting, the trend has shifted away from accessible, mass-manufactured modernist furniture Like Charles Eames and George Nelson and toward designs that were custom-made or produced in very limited editions, with emphasis on American studio design of the 1940s to the 1990s. In contrast to the mass-produced mid-century furniture by Knoll and Herman Miller, American studio designs of the same period focused on novel forms and exquisite craftsmanship. Ranging from the organic shapes of George Nakashima and Vladimir Kagan to metalworks by Paul Evans, these limited production designs were highly sought after in their days by original tastemakers and movie stars. In the last decade, a revival for these rare designs began with connoisseurs such as Tom Ford and Marc Jacobs. This is an expanded edition of Modern Americana, the first full survey of the designs of this prolific but forgotten period, bringing to life again the works of Samuel Marx, Billy Haines, Wendell Castle, T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings, Karl Springer, James Mont, J.B. Blunk, Michael Coffey, Wharton Esherick, Arthur Espenet Carpenter, Sam Maloof, Jack Rogers Hopkins, Paul Evans & Philip Lloyd Powell, Vladimir Kagan, George Nakashima, Silas Seandel, Charles Hollis Jones, Philip & Kevin LaVerne, Tommi Parzinger, Harvey Probber, Edward Wormley, John Dickinson, Arthur Elrod, and Paul Laszlo. New chapters to this edition include the work of forgotten women designers of the era; high-end furniture produced for iconic retailers such as Bonwit Teller and Bloomingdales; and new materials explored by West Coast designers.

In the current world of twentieth-century design collecting, the trend has shifted away from accessible, mass-manufactured modernist furniture and toward designs that were custom-made or produced in very limited editions, with emphasis on American studio design of the 1940s to the 1990s. In contrast to the mass-produced mid-century furniture by Knoll and Herman Miller, American studio designs of the same period focused on novel forms and exquisite craftsmanship. Ranging from the organic shapes of George Nakashima and Vladimir Kagan to metalworks by Paul Evans, these limited production designs were highly sought after in their days by original tastemakers and movie stars. In the last decade, a revival for these rare designs began with connoisseurs such as Tom Ford.Modern Americanais the first full survey of the designs of this prolific but forgotten period, bringing to life again the works of Samuel Marx, Billy Haines, Wendell Castle, T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings, Karl Springer, James Mont, and many others -- including J.B. Blunk, Michael Coffey, Wharton Esherick, Arthur Espenet Carpenter, Sam Maloof, Jack Rogers Hopkins, Paul Evans & Philip Lloyd Powell, Vladimir Kagan, George Nakashima, Silas Seandel, Charles Hollis Jones, Philip & Kevin LaVerne, Tommi Parzinger, Harvey Probber, Edward Wormley, John Dickinson, Arthur Elrod, and Paul Laszlo.

Millions of Americans take the Bible at its word and turn to like-minded local ministers and TV preachers, periodicals and paperbacks for help in finding their place in God’s prophetic plan for mankind. And yet, influential as this phenomenon is in the worldview of so many, the belief in biblical prophecy remains a popular mystery, largely unstudied and little understood. When Time Shall Be No More offers for the first time an in-depth look at the subtle, pervasive ways in which prophecy belief shapes contemporary American thought and culture. Belief in prophecy dates back to antiquity, and there Paul Boyer begins, seeking out the origins of this particular brand of faith in early Jewish and Christian apocalyptic writings, then tracing its development over time. Against this broad historical overview, the effect of prophecy belief on the events and themes of recent decades emerges in clear and striking detail. Nuclear war, the Soviet Union, Israel and the Middle East, the destiny of the United States, the rise of a computerized global economic order—Boyer shows how impressive feats of exegesis have incorporated all of these in the popular imagination in terms of the Bible’s apocalyptic works. Reflecting finally on the tenacity of prophecy belief in our supposedly secular age, Boyer considers the direction such popular conviction might take—and the forms it might assume—in the post–Cold War era. The product of a four-year immersion in the literature and culture of prophecy belief, When Time Shall Be No More serves as a pathbreaking guide to this vast terra incognita of contemporary American popular thought—a thorough and thoroughly fascinating index to its sources, its implications, and its enduring appeal.

In this, his premiere work, Cornel West challenges African Americans to consider the incorporation of Marxism into their theological perspectives, thereby adopting the mindset that it is class more so than race that renders one powerless in America. His work reflects political and cultural perspectives borne out of his own formative life experiences. Decades later, his arguments continue to capture the theological imagination of many and influence the critical engagement of generations of scholars. In this fortieth anniversary edition, West invites six prominent scholars—whose respective work are grounded in various aspects of black political, cultural, and theological thought—into dialogue with this work, each writing one chapter plus a foreword by Jonathan Lee Walton. Continuing and expanding on the revolutionary discourses that West introduced in the first published work, each new essay provides nuanced lens for thinking about movements of liberation in today's African American communities

In a fresh and timely reinterpretation, Nelson Lichtenstein examines how trade unionism has waxed and waned in the nation's political and moral imagination, among both devoted partisans and intransigent foes. From the steel foundry to the burger-grill, from Woodrow Wilson to John Sweeney, from Homestead to Pittston, Lichtenstein weaves together a compelling matrix of ideas, stories, strikes, laws, and people in a streamlined narrative of work and labor in the twentieth century. The "labor question" became a burning issue during the Progressive Era because its solution seemed essential to the survival of American democracy itself. Beginning there, Lichtenstein takes us all the way to the organizing fever of contemporary Los Angeles, where the labor movement stands at the center of the effort to transform millions of new immigrants into alert citizen unionists. He offers an expansive survey of labor's upsurge during the 1930s, when the New Deal put a white, male version of industrial democracy at the heart of U.S. political culture. He debunks the myth of a postwar "management-labor accord" by showing that there was (at most) a limited, unstable truce. Lichtenstein argues that the ideas that had once sustained solidarity and citizenship in the world of work underwent a radical transformation when the rights-centered social movements of the 1960s and 1970s captured the nation's moral imagination. The labor movement was therefore tragically unprepared for the years of Reagan and Clinton: although technological change and a new era of global economics battered the unions, their real failure was one of ideas and political will. Throughout, Lichtenstein argues that labor's most important function, in theory if not always in practice, has been the vitalization of a democratic ethos, at work and in the larger society. To the extent that the unions fuse their purpose with that impulse, they can once again become central to the fate of the republic. State of the Union is an incisive history that tells the story of one of America's defining aspirations.

Raised as a Quaker in Eastern Pennsylvania, designer and sculptor Paul Evans is known for his highly unusual and yet completely functional furniture designs. Evans produced more than a dozen lines of furniture and countless design variations during his thirty-year career as a mid- to late 20th century artist and designer. Regardless of his materials, whether metal, wood, or even cardboard, his work continues to defy easy categorization. It is modern and yet independent of recognizable influences. Other designers and manufacturers openly copied his work, though these copies lacked the presence Evans easily achieved. At the height of his popularity in the mid-1970s, Evans employed nearly ninety people. Several museums and galleries exhibited his work, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Today, his work is sought by collectors, who value its style and quality. His unusual furniture and sculpture stand the test of time and are displayed here in over 220 vivid photos. It appears classic and contemporary at the same time. This book will be treasured by all who have a passion for design.

The Dictionary of Modern American Philosophers includes both academic and non-academic philosophers, and a large number of female and minority thinkers whose work has been neglected. It includes those intellectuals involved in the development of psychology, pedagogy, sociology, anthropology, education, theology, political science, and several other fields, before these disciplines came to be considered distinct from philosophy in the late nineteenth century. Each entry contains a short biography of the writer, an exposition and analysis of his or her doctrines and ideas, a bibliography of writings, and suggestions for further reading. While all the major post-Civil War philosophers are present, the most valuable feature of this dictionary is its coverage of a huge range of less well-known writers, including hundreds of presently obscure thinkers. In many cases, the Dictionary of Modern American Philosophers offers the first scholarly treatment of the life and work of certain writers. This book will be an indispensable reference work for scholars working on almost any aspect of modern American thought.