A collection of studies presenting a view of American expansion and the significance of the frontier in shaping American character, ideals, and democracy.

"A current, constructive, and actionable exploration of today's racial landscape, offering straightforward clarity that readers of all races need to contribute to the dismantling of the racial divide. ...Ijeoma Oluo offers a contemporary, accessible take on the racial landscape in America, addressing head-on such issues as privilege, police brutality, intersectionality, micro-aggressions, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the "N" word. Perfectly...

""As we go about our daily lives, caste is the wordless usher in a darkened theater, flashlight cast down in the aisles, guiding us to our assigned seats for a performance. The hierarchy of caste is not about feelings or morality. It is about power--which groups have it and which do not." In this brilliant book, Isabel Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched...

"Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power" gives readers Jefferson the politician and president, a great and complex human being forever engaged in the wars of his era. Philosophers think; politicians maneuver. Jefferson's genius was that he was both and could do both, often simultaneously, catapulting him into becoming the most successful political leader of the early republic, and perhaps in all of American history.

First published in 1922, "Public Opinion" is the fascinating study of the role of citizens in a democracy by Walter Lippmann, an American writer, reporter and political commentator. Lippmann's notable career spanned decades and produced some of the most important journalism in American history. He was the first to introduce the concept of the Cold War, received many awards, including two Pulitzer Prizes, and wrote thousands of articles and columns,...

"The University of Washington's 1936 eight-oar crew transformed the sport and grabbed the attention of millions of Americans. The sons of loggers, shipyard workers, and farmers, the nine boys, in the depths of the Great Depression, showed the world what beating the odds really meant. They defeated elite rivals from California and eastern schools to earn the right to compete against the German crew rowing for Adolf Hitler in the Olympic Games in Berlin....

Could you identify a sausage gun if you had to? How about a plate warmer or a well-sweep? Any idea how the term log-rolling really originated? Alice Morse Earle (1851-1911), a prolific popular historian and the first American to chronicle everyday life and customs of the colonial era, describes what these and many other obscure utensils were and how they were used. She also conveys a vivid picture of home production of textiles, colonial dress, transportation,...

A biography of a self-taught scientist who photographed thousands of individual snowflakes in order to study their unique formations.

"Death is reporter Jack McEvoy's beat : his calling, his obsession. But this time, death brings McEvoy the story he never wanted to write -- and the mystery he desperately needs to solve. A serial killer of unprecendented savagery and cunning is at large. His targets : homicide cops, each haunted by a murder case he couldn't crack. The killer's calling card : a quotation from the works of Edgar Allan Poe. His latest victim is McEvoy's own brother....

A travelogue of Dickens's five-month trip to America in 1842, in which he shares his impressions of Boston, Broadway, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and other places.