Historic Documents of 2011

Book excerpt: The Historic Documents series makes primary source research easy by presenting in one volume key excerpts from documents about the important events of each year for the United States and the world. Each volume includes approximately 70 events with over 100 documents from the previous year, from official or other influential reports and surveys, to speeches from leaders and opinion makers, to court cases, legislation, testimony, and much more. Historic Documents is renowned for the well written and informative background, history, and context it provides for each document. Each volume begins with an insightful essay that sets the year's events in context, and each document is preceded by a comprehensive introduction that provides background information on the event. Full-source citations are provided, and links to Web addresses containing complete documents are given, if available. Readers have easy access to material through a detailed, thematic table of contents and a cumulative five-year index that directs them to related material in earlier volumes. Featured documents in Historic Documents of 2011 cover topics including: - Osama Bin Laden's death - Arab Spring - European financial crisis - American financial deficit - Japanese earthquake and tsunami - independence for South Sudan - royal wedding - Wall Street protests - final space shuttle mission - end of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" - protests at the Wisconsin legislature over collective bargaining