Us and Them?: A History of Intolerance in America

Jim Carnes

Apr 1999 · Oxford University Press

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The history of intolerance in the United States begins in colonial times. Discrimination on the basis of religion, race, and sexual orientation have been characteristic of our society for more than three centuries. "Us and Them" illuminates these dark corners of our nation's past and traces its ongoing efforts to live up to its ideals. Through 14 case studies, using original documents, historical photos, newly commissioned paintings, and dramatic narratives, readers begin to understand the history and psychology of intolerance as they witness firsthand the struggles that have shaped our collective identity. We read about Mary Dyer, who was executed for her Quaker faith in Boston in 1660. We learn how the Mormons were expelled from Missouri in 1838. The attack on Chinese miners in Rock Spring, Wyoming in 1885, the battle of Wounded Knee in 1890, the activities of the Ku Klux Klan in Mobile, Alabama in 1981, and the Crown Heights riot in New York in 1991--all are presented in clear and powerful narrative that brings to life history that is often forgotten or slighted.

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Jim Carnes was born in Columbus, Mississippi, in 1955. After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he served as an editor with Encyclopaedia Britannica for eight years. He is currently a senior writer with the Teaching Tolerance project of the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama.