History

Scott of the Antarctic: A Biography

by David Crane

Historian David Crane, with full access to the explorer’s papers, diaries, and expedition records, gives us an illuminating portrait of Robert Falcon Scott that is more nuanced and balanced than any we have...

Class-29: The Making of U.S. Navy SEALs

by John Carl Roat

"Throughout training I kept having the thought,

WELL, ALL THEY CAN DO IS KILL ME.

It seemed to help."        

SEALs are the world's toughest soldiers. Working in squads and platoons that make up SEAL teams,...

The American Idea: The Best of the Atlantic Monthly

by Robert Vare

“What is ‘the American idea’? It is the fractious, maddening approach to the conduct of human affairs that values equality despite its elusiveness, that values democracy despite its debasement, that values...

John Tyler

by Gary May, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. & Sean Wilentz

The first “accidental president,” whose secret maneuverings brought Texas into the Union and set secession in motion

When William Henry Harrison died in April 1841, just one month after his inauguration,...

Generation

by Matthew Cobb

Generation is the story of the exciting, largely forgotten decade during the seventeenth century when a group of young scientists-Jan Swammerdam, the son of a Protestant apothecary, Nils Stensen (also known...

Three Minutes or Less

by PEN/Faulkner Foundation

An anthology of never-before-published short essays by America's literary greats. Each October at the PEN Gala, well-known authors take the stage of the Folger Shakespeare Library's Theatre to ponder the meaning...

A Dawn Like Thunder: The True Story of Torpedo Squadron Eight

by Robert J. Mrazek

One of the great untold stories of World War II finally comes to light in this thrilling account of Torpedo Squadron Eight and their heroic efforts in helping an outmatched U.S. fleet win critical victories...

Voltaire Almighty

by Roger Pearson

Voltaire Almighty provides a lively look at the life and thought of one of the major forces behind European Enlightenment. A rebel from start to finish (1694-1778), Voltaire was an ailing and unwanted bastard...

The Naming of Names

by Anna Pavord

The Naming of Names traces the search for order in the natural world, a search that for hundreds of years occupied some of the most brilliant minds in Europe, reaching its apex during the renaissance.

Anna Pavord...

Acquainted with the Night

by Christopher Dewdney

Weaving together science and storytelling, art and anthropology, Dewdney takes readers on a fascinating journey through the nocturnal realm. In twelve chapters corresponding to the twelve hours of night, he...

Mohawks on the Nile

by Carl Benn

Mohawks on the Nile explores the absorbing history of 60 Aboriginal men who participated in a military expedition on the Nile River.

Wolfe Island

by Barbara Wall La Rocque

Wolfe Island begins with the emergence of islands at the end of the last ice age, continuing on through the many centuries of First Nations habitation and finally the era of French exploration and fur trading....

Historical Dictionary of the Eisenhower Era

by Burton I. Kaufman & Diane Kaufman

The Historical Dictionary of the Eisenhower Era examines significant individuals, organizations, and events in American political, economic, social, and cultural history during this era in American history....

Valkyrie: An Insider's Account of the Plot to Kill Hitler

by Hans Gisevius

When on July 20, 1944, a bomb—boldly placed inside Hitler’s headquarters by Colonel Count Claus von Stauffenberg— exploded without killing the Führer, the subsequent coup d’état against the Third Reich...

The Outfit

by Gus Russo

This is the never-before-told story of the great Chicago crime family called The Outfit, the secretive organized crime cartel that began its reign in prohibition-era Chicago before becoming the real puppet master...

Rough Amusements

by Ben Neihart

When A'Lelia Walker died in 1931 after a midnight snack of lobster and chocolate cake washed down with champagne, it marked the end of one of the most striking social careers in New York's history. The daughter...

Mighty Fitz

by Michael Schumacher

The disappearance of the Edmund Fitzgerald remains one of the great unsolved mysteries in maritime history. Michael Schumacher relays in vivid detail the story of the Edmund Fitzgerald, its many productive years...

The Devil's Picnic

by Taras Grescoe

An investigation into what thrills us, what terrifies us, and what would make us travel ten thousand miles and evade the local authorities, The Devil's Picnic is a delicious and compelling expedition into the...

The Great Negro Plot

by Mat Johnson

In 1741, New York City was thrown into an uproar when a sixteen-year-old white woman, an indentured servant named Mary Burton, testified that she was privy to a monstrous conspiracy against the white people...

The Lemon Tree

by Sandy Tolan

In 1967, Bashir Al-Khayri, a Palestinian twenty-five-year-old, journeyed to Israel, with the goal of seeing the beloved old stone house, with the lemon tree behind it, that he and his family had fled nineteen...