Twelve great clashes that shaped modern America : from Geronimo to George W. Bush / Anthony Arthur, John Broesamle.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 337-350) and index.

Updated version of "Clashes of will, great confrontations that have shaped modern America."

I never do wrong without a cause : Geronimo, George Crook, Nelson A. Miles, and the ownership of America -- A dance of skeletons bathed in human tears : George Pullman, Eugene Debs, and the railway strike of 1894 -- Cast down your bucket where you are : Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois, and equal rights for blacks -- Damn-dam-damnation : John Muir, Theodore Roosevelt, and the environment -- The world must be made safe for democracy : Woodrow Wilson, Henry Cabot Lodge, and America's place among nations -- Ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished : Herbert Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the welfare state -- All the evil of the times : J. Robert Oppenheimer, Edward Teller, and the bombs -- No substitute for victory : Harry S. Truman, Douglas MacArthur, and the Korean War -- What in the name of God have we come to? : Richard M. Nixon, Daniel Ellsberg, and the Pentagon papers -- Men are not the enemy : Betty Friedan, Phyllis Schlafly, and the Equal Rights Amendment -- Race unfortunately still matters : Sandra Day O'Connor, Clarence Thomas, and affirmative action -- Reporting for duty! : John Kerry, George W. Bush, Iraq, and the War on Terror.

This book looks at twelve of America's most vivid and influential ideological confrontations, creating a compelling portrait of the issues that have come to define this country's identity. Arthur and Broesamle tell the story of these battles of ideas through the lens of personality. The complex character of our nation is revealed through the ideas and emotions that motivated some of America's most compelling national figures, including Booker T. Washington, John Muir, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Herbert Hoover, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Betty Friedan and Sandra Day O'Connor. Clashes include: Ownership of America, Railway strike of 1894, Equal rights for blacks, The environment, America's global responsibility, The welfare state, The atomic bomb, The Pentagon papers and impeachment of Nixon, The Korean War, Affirmative action, Women's rights. - Publisher.