Fire in the Streets

Embracing an argument-based model for teaching history, the Debating American History series encourages students to participate in a contested, evidence-based discourse about the human past. Each book poses a question that historians debate--How democratic is the U.S. Constitution? or Why did
civil war erupt in the United States in 1861?--and provides abundant primary sources so that students can make their own efforts at interpreting the evidence. They can then use that analysis to construct answers to the big question that frames the debate and argue in support of their position.

Fire in the Streets poses this big question: Why did the United States enter a period of social and political turmoil in a time of unprecedented economic prosperity?

"A higher education History primary source textbook that embraces an argument based model for teaching history. It is part of the Debating American History series, and covers the social crisis of the 1960s"--

"This is a very interesting book that captures the overall mood and feeling of the era. I really like the Big Question. It is interesting, provocative, and timely."-- Michael Holm, Boston University

"All of us who teach the 1960s know that it can be difficult to explain to our students why so many privileged young white people radically rejected the status quo of the era. Basing the analysis of the different movements of the period around this question--and tying it back to the consensus
liberalism of the decade--is an effective organizing strategy."--Matthew Tribbe, Fullerton College