History

For at least thirty years, high school and college students have been taught to be embarrassed by American history. Required readings have become skewed toward a relentless focus on our country's darkest moments, from slavery to McCarthyism. As a result, many history books devote more space to Harriet Tubman than to Abraham Lincoln; more to My Lai than to the American Revolution; more to the internment of Japanese Americans than to the liberation of Europe in World War II. Now, finally, there is... more info>>

Global warming is a reality, not for the first time in the past 130,000 years. The only question is how much of it is caused by nature, and how much by mankind. We examine the counterintuitive possibility that global warming may lead to an ice age, starting as early as our lifetimes. Our current epoch, the Holocene, began about 12,000 years ago. The Holocene has witnessed at least two warming episodes and several coolings. The European Medieval Warming Period was an anomaly lasting from 850 to 1... more info>>

Since its original landmark publication in 1980, A People's History of the United States has been chronicling American history from the bottom up, throwing out the official version of history taught in schools -- with its emphasis on great men in high places -- to focus on the street, the home, and the, workplace.Known for its lively, clear prose as well as its scholarly research, A People's History is the only volume to tell America's story from the point of view of -- and in the words of -- Am... more info>>

The entire northeastern portion of Rome lies in two storied districts with catchy names, High Lane and Broadway. On this portion of our Walk in Ancient Rome, we visit the Sixth and Seventh Augustan districts. The wealth of historical detail is mind-boggling, since the Quirinal and Viminal Hills are critical in Roman history from the Iron Age, when the Sabine city of Cures send colonists to squat on the Quirinal, which did not sit well with the Palatine Latins. In response, a strong leader took t... more info>>

Katherine of Valois was born a princess, the daughter of King Charles VI of France. But by the time Katherine was old enough to know him, her father had come to be called "Charles the Mad," given to unpredictable fits of insanity. The young princess lived a secluded life, awaiting her father's sane moments and suffering through the mad ones, as her mother took up with her uncle and their futures became more and more uncertain. Katherine's fortunes appeared to be changing when, at nineteen, she w... more info>>

When two of his American employees were held hostage in Iran, H. Ross Perot and a select group of his employees took matters into their own hands.

Niall Ferguson follows the money to tell the human story behind the evolution of finance, from its origins in ancient Mesopotamia to the latest upheavals on what he calls Planet Finance. Bread, cash, dosh, dough, loot, lucre, moolah, readies, the wherewithal: Call it what you like, it matters. To Christians, love of it is the root of all evil. To generals, it's the sinews of war. To revolutionaries, it's the chains of labor. But in The Ascent of Money, Niall Ferguson shows that finance is in fac... more info>>

The inscription is found in ruins around the former Roman Empire: Sator Arepo Tenet Opera Rotas. From a military headquarters at Dura Europos (in modern Syria) to a sports complex in ancient Pompeii to the towns of Manchester and Cirencester in Great Britain, the mysterious saying appears to have been an aphorism or a spell of extraordinary importance in Classical Roman society. Since at least 1880, generations of scholars have been working to solve it, in various disciplines, and until now nobo... more info>>

One of the most fascinating works of history ever written, Winston's Churchill's monumental The Second World War is a six-volume account of the struggle of the Allied powers in Europe against Germany and the Axis. Told through the eyes of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, The Second World War is also the story of one nation's singular, heroic role in the fight against tyranny. Pride and patriotism are evident everywhere in Churchill's dramatic account and for good reason. Having learned ... more info>>

When Adolf Hitler promised the German nation he would make them in to a thousand year Reich, a Third Reich, he was not just chattering. He was a shrewd manipulator of public opinion, who recognized the suffering of his adopted people (he was Austrian, not German) after their massive losses and defeat in World War I. He made many promises, including a return to the original First Reich--the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. This article traces the history of the First Reich, and its surpris... more info>>

From the bestselling author of Oracle Bones and River Town comes the final book in his award-winning trilogy, on the human side of the economic revolution in China. In the summer of 2001, Peter Hessler, the longtime Beijing correspondent for The New Yorker, acquired his Chinese driver's license. For the next seven years, he traveled the country, tracking how the automobile and improved roads were transforming China. Hessler writes movingly of the average people-farmers, migrant workers, entrep... more info>>

What really happened during that early twilight zone of human existence--after the last Ice Age, but before people started writing things down? We live in an epoch called the Holocene, which began about 12,000 years ago, and of which we know relatively little except for the past 6,000 years since writing was invented. But there are mysterious megaliths around the world, and strange cities built by skull cultists who kept their dead around--and other evidence that all is not what we may think. Wi... more info>>

A grand mystery reaching back centuries. A sensational disappearance that made headlines around the world. A quest for truth that leads to death, madness or disappearance for those who seek to solve it. The Lost City of Z is a blockbuster adventure narrative about what lies beneath the impenetrable jungle canopy of the Amazon. After stumbling upon a hidden trove of diaries, acclaimed New Yorker writer David Grann set out to solve "the greatest exploration mystery of the twentieth century": What... more info>>

Alone in the annals of history stands a super-weapon that terrorized Paris during Germany's last desperate campaign to win World War I. The Paris Gun was a marvel of technology. It required the work of astronomers, geographers, physicists, chemists, and other scientific experts to create a weapon that could fire on Paris from behind German lines--a range of 81 miles (130 kilometers). The shell traveled through the edge of space, and calculations had to be made to account for the earth's rotation... more info>>

One of the most fascinating works of history ever written, Winston's Churchill's monumental The Second World War is a six-volume account of the struggle of the Allied powers in Europe against Germany and the Axis. Told through the eyes of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, The Second World War is also the story of one nation's singular, heroic role in the fight against tyranny. Pride and patriotism are evident everywhere in Churchill's dramatic account and for good reason. Having learned ... more info>>

One of the most fascinating works of history ever written, Winston's Churchill's monumental The Second World War is a six-volume account of the struggle of the Allied powers in Europe against Germany and the Axis. Told through the eyes of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, The Second World War is also the story of one nation's singular, heroic role in the fight against tyranny. Pride and patriotism are evident everywhere in Churchill's dramatic account and for good reason. Having learned ... more info>>

May 29, 1453: one of the world's great empires breathed its last breath and died under a pounding by the world's first super siege gun. That empire was the ancient Roman Empire--its surviving Eastern half, which outlived the Rome of the West by a thousand years. The people of Constantinople wouldn't know what 'Byzantine' meant--they considered themselves to be Romans. Orban's great bombard, named Basilica, pounded the impregnable walls for weeks. It was capable of tossing stone balls weighing ne... more info>>

In the first of twelve articles, we walk from the ancient port of Ostia to the imperial city of Rome, now (150 A.D.) under the enlightened rulership of Antoninus Pius. ### For the first time ever: here is a complete walk through ancient Rome, for the lay reader, through all fourteen Augustan districts. It's a virtual tour, told as if we are really a group of tourists walking through the thronged markets and alleys of the imperial capital in 150 A.D. Learn about Roman history, religion, and custo... more info>>

In this stirring book, David McCullough tells the intensely human story of those who marched with General George Washington in the year of the Declaration of Independence--when the whole American cause was riding on their success, without which all hope for independence would have been dashed and the noble ideals of the Declaration would have amounted to little more than words on paper. Written as a companion work to his celebrated biography of John Adams, David McCullough's 1776 is another land... more info>>

From Abigail "Nabby" Adams to Chelsea Clinton, George Washington Adams to John F. Kennedy, Jr., the children of America's presidents have both suffered and triumphed under the watchful eyes of their powerful fathers and the glare of the ever-changing public. Whether they perished under the pressure like Andrew Johnson, upheld controversial views like Amy Carter, or carried their father's torch right back to the White House like George W. Bush, all presidential children grew up having to share th... more info>>

The Isis and Serapis district contains two famous temples by that name. It also contains the Thermae of Trajan and Titus, as well as the Colosseum, and at least one great gladiator school. As we 'walk' through this district with its many sights, we'll stop to watch some games in the Colosseum. We'll meet five of the most famous gladiators of the day, the best of a breed of gory killers, whose wild gazes and icy, cruel grins will chill us to the bone (not kidding! For real!). ### The Temple of Pe... more info>>

One of the most fascinating works of history ever written, Winston's Churchill's monumental The Second World War is a six-volume account of the struggle of the Allied powers in Europe against Germany and the Axis. Told through the eyes of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, The Second World War is also the story of one nation's singular, heroic role in the fight against tyranny. Pride and patriotism are evident everywhere in Churchill's dramatic account and for good reason. Having learned ... more info>>

One of the most fascinating works of history ever written, Winston's Churchill's monumental The Second World War is a six-volume account of the struggle of the Allied powers in Europe against Germany and the Axis. Told through the eyes of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, The Second World War is also the story of one nation's singular, heroic role in the fight against tyranny. Pride and patriotism are evident everywhere in Churchill's dramatic account and for good reason. Having learned ... more info>>

Why does Marie von Reibnitz Kent go by the monicker of Princess Michael? If you've ever wondered what the difference is between a duke, a grand duke, or an arch duke--and how and why such things came to be, here are some answers. It turns out that the ranks and titles of nobility follow a strict hierarchy that cuts across national boundaries and dates back to medieval and ancient times. As to military ranks, what is a field marshal? What's a five star general? Who is the second highest military ... more info>>

On the ground, in the air, and behind the lines, grunts made life-and-death decisions every day-and endured the worst stress of their young lives. It was the tumultuous year 1968, and Robert Tonsetic was Rifle Company commander of the 4th Battalion, 12th Infantry in Vietnam. He took over a group of grunts demoralized by defeat but determined to get even. Through the legendary Tet and May Offensives, he led, trained, and risked his life with these brave men, and this is the thrilling, brutal, an... more info>>