{"quotes":[{"text":"The attacks of 9/11 were the biggest surprise in American history, and for the past ten years we haven't stopped being surprised. The war on terror has had no discernible trajectory, and, unlike other military conflicts, it's almost impossible to define victory. You can't document the war's progress on a world map or chart it on a historical timetable in a way that makes any sense. A country used to a feeling of being in command and control has been whipsawed into a state of perpetual reaction, swinging wildly between passive fear and fevered, often thoughtless, activity, at a high cost to its self-confidence.","author":"George Packer","tags":["9-11","9-11-10th-anniversary","american-history","command","control","progress","reaction","self-confidence","surprise","terror","victory","war"],"id":15481,"author_id":"George+Packer"},{"text":"We must love our slaves, Papa. We must love them as hard as we are able.","author":"P.J. Parker","tags":["adult","adventure","american-history","historical-novel","inspirational","romance","young-adult"],"id":20664,"author_id":"P.J.+Parker"},{"text":"For whom do you cry, my son?” the Great Spirit asked.“I do not know.”“Yes, you do.","author":"P.J. Parker","tags":["adult","adventure","american-history","historical-novel","inspirational","romance","young-adult"],"id":23233,"author_id":"P.J.+Parker"},{"text":"If slavery persists as an issue in the political life of black America, it is not because of an antiquarian obsession with bygone days or the burden of a too-long memory, but because black lives are still imperiled and devalued by a racial calculus and a political arithmetic that were entrenched centuries ago. This is the afterlife of slavery--skewed life chances, limited access to health and education, premature death, incarceration, and impoverishment.","author":"Saidiya V. Hartman","tags":["american-history","black-lives-matter","slavery"],"id":26919,"author_id":"Saidiya+V.+Hartman"},{"text":"Susan Margaret Collins was born on December 7, 1952 in Caribou, Maine and is presently the senior United States Senator from Maine. Senator Collins has served in the Senate since 1997 and chaired the Senate Committee on Homeland Security from 2003 to 2007. She now is the Chairwoman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging. Collins is a graduate of St. Lawrence University, a liberal arts college, in Canton, New York. Considered a moderate Republican, she became the only Republican in the U.S. Senate currently representing a state in New England. Her vote was one of three republican votes in the Senate that helped to defeat a bill designed to destroy the Affordable Health Care Program presently in effect. John McCain's heroic stand only mattered because Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski bravely stood by him! It was their courage that saved health care for approximately 22 million people.","author":"Captain Hank Bracker","tags":["american-history","government","maine","us-senate","womens-strength"],"id":27736,"author_id":"Captain+Hank+Bracker"},{"text":"A city obsessed by its ghosts seems to be weighted down by a conflicted view of the past. Something close to melancholy: a weight it can't quite let go of, a lingering sadness. And though we don't often think of the United States in these terms, this melancholy is as much a part of our history as our triumphs.","author":"Colin Dickey","tags":["america","american-history","ghosts"],"id":30616,"author_id":"Colin+Dickey"},{"text":"How a member of the church—one who had read the Good Lord’s bible—could sit so calmly and watch a man be led to his destruction frightened me.","author":"Jay Grewal","tags":["american-history","black-history","civil-war","equality","justice","slavery"],"id":41314,"author_id":"Jay+Grewal"},{"text":"The races are like America's children. White people are the firstborn, so they were Dad's favorite. Black people are the second kids, the abused ones, so they still hate Dad. Latinos are the third, caught in the middle and always trying to make peace between the other siblings. Asians are the youngest, and get good marks in school, but basically are just trying to keep their heads down and not get involved. And Native Americans are the old uncle who owns a house and everyone else in the family was like, 'He's not using that! Let's move in!","author":"Colin Quinn","tags":["america","american-culture","american-history","americans","ethnic-stereotypes","ethnicity","race","racial-prejudice","racism","racism-and-culture","racism-in-america","stereotypes","stereotyping","u-s-culture"],"id":52776,"author_id":"Colin+Quinn"},{"text":"I couldn’t figure out if it was fate or faith that had brought me there. How funny those two words sounded when paired together. One was the inevitable, something I could not change in my life, while the other was the hope and belief that I could. These two words were enemies of each other, and one of them was down right dangerous for a slave to have anywhere near his mind.","author":"Jay Grewal","tags":["american-history","black-history","civil-war","equality","slavery"],"id":56994,"author_id":"Jay+Grewal"},{"text":"In the 1940s dams were synonymous with progress, and the rivers were to be conquered with the fervour of a pioneer wielding an axe.","author":"Tim Palmer","tags":["american-history","dams","environmental-history","frontier","progress","water-management"],"id":59142,"author_id":"Tim+Palmer"}],"pagination":{"page":1,"page_size":10,"total":97,"pages":10,"next":"?page=2\u0026page_size=10"}}