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The third installment of Gates’s documentary trilogy on the Black Experience, following America Behind the Color Line and Wonders of the African World.  Selected as a 2012 Outstanding Title by AAUP University Press Books for Public and Secondary School Libraries  ...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER“Funny, sharp explications of what these sometimes not-very-nice women were up to, and how they sometimes made idiots of . . . but read on!”—Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid's TaleThe national bestselling author of A Thousand Ships...

This sweeping history of thirteenth century England examines how the successive reigns of two very different kings established the English way of life.In 1204, the great Angevin Empire was fragmenting under King John’s rule. Unable to withstand France’s invasion of...

The nail-biting account of the Wright brothers' secret flights at Kitty Hawk and their unexpected rise to fameDespite their great achievements following their first powered flights in 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright still enjoyed virtual anonymity until 1908. In seven...

A tragic and riveting true crime story of teenage obsession, torture, the 1992 murder of a twelve-year-old Indiana girl, and its aftermath.Twelve-year-old Shanda Sharer carefully selected what she would wear on her first day at Hazelwood Junior High in New Albany,...

An explorer recounts historic events surrounding the sinking of a seventeenth-century, eighteen-ship French fleet, along with modern-day efforts to find it. On January 2, 1678, a fleet of French ships sank off the Venezuelan coast. This proved disastrous for French...

This account of the machinations following Justice Antonin Scalia’s death, and their damaging effects, is “a gripping tale of insider Washington” (The Boston Globe). In this book, the Chief Washington Correspondent for the New York Times provides a richly detailed,...

WINNER OF THE 2023 WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZENew Yorker • Best Books of 2022“This is the most comprehensive and best account of resistance I have read. It addresses the story with scholarly objectivity and an absolute lack of sentimentality. So much romantic twaddle is...

This vivid New York Times bestseller about 1950s America from a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist is “an engrossing sail across a pivotal decade” (Time). Joe McCarthy. Marilyn Monroe. The H-bomb. Ozzie and Harriet. Elvis. Civil rights. It’s undeniable: The fifties...

A bold reassessment of what caused the Late Bronze Age collapseIn 1177 B.C., marauding groups known only as the "Sea Peoples" invaded Egypt. The pharaoh's army and navy managed to defeat them, but the victory so weakened Egypt that it soon slid into decline, as did...

American Passage explores the remarkable saga of America’s landmark port of entry, from immigration post to deportation center to mythical icon.“A finely honed account that encompasses both the human story of the immigrant experience, often a sad one, and the...

A German woman recounts her youth during World War II under Hitler’s regime in this “richly texture memoir” (Publishers Weekly).Growing up in the beautiful mountains of Berchtesgaden—just steps from Adolf Hitler’s alpine retreat—Irmgard Hunt had a seemingly happy,...

After a search of over twenty years, one of America's most elusive serial killers was finally apprehended. Now, read the true story of one man's attempt to get inside se mind of the Green River KillerJuly 15, 1982: 3 woman's strangled body was filed, caught on the...

An NPR Best Book of the Year: “A pointedly passionate look at what’s been lost in the digital era.” —Los Angeles Times   A longtime musician and former member of the indie band Galaxie 500 who has also taught at Harvard, Damon Krukowski has watched cultural life lurch...

“Did you think you knew the facts about women and work? Think again . . . a terrific book . . . utterly gripping.” —Peter Edelman, author of So Rich, So Poor   For women in professional and corporate jobs, much of the discrimination and inequity faced in the past has...

A gripping account of one man'squest to find the oldest Bible in the world and solve the riddle of thebrilliant, doomed antiquities dealer accused of forging it.  Inthe summer of 1883, Moses Wilhelm Shapira--archaeological treasure hunter,inveterate social climber,...

“Exciting . . . a comprehensive account of an overlooked campaign in which an outnumbered imperial army destroyed Mussolini’s dream of a new Roman Empire.” —Ashley Jackson, author of Churchill   Surprisingly neglected in accounts of Allied wartime triumphs, this is...

PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • “A brilliant piece of military history which proves up to the hilt the force of Winston Churchill’s statement that the first month of World War I was ‘a drama never surpassed.’”—Newsweek   Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best...

A study of events of 1492 and how they affect the global community of the world of today.The world would end in 1492—so the prophets, soothsayers and stargazers said. They were right. Their world did end. But ours began.In search of the origins of the modern world,...

An in-depth look at the history of Scotland’s attempt to colonize in Central America in the late 1600s. The Company of Scotland and its attempts to establish the colony of Caledonia on the inhospitable isthmus of Panama in the late seventeenth century is one of the...

A true crime essay examining the bizarre case of a nineteenth-century German teen, his unusual origins, and his unsolved murder.Kept in a dungeon for his entire childhood, Kaspar Hauser appeared in Nuremberg, Germany, in 1828 at age sixteen, barely able to walk or...

The first official White House videographer chronicles his time capturing behind-the-scenes moments of the president and his administrationFrom the early months of the 2008 campaign and through the first two and a half years of the Obama administration, Arun Chaudhary...

A comprehensive study of the manes, their worship, and their place in Roman conceptions of their society.In ancient Rome, it was believed some humans were transformed into special, empowered beings after death. These deified dead, known as the manes, watched over and...

This “rich and poignant” history traces Jewish radicals from their Eastern European roots through years of hope, Nazi resistance, and beyond—“with fascinating asides on Spain and Palestine” (Noam Chomsky). Jewish radicals manned the barricades on the avenues of...

The sixth edition of the classic and concise account of the US Supreme Court, its history, and its place in American politics.For more than fifty years, Robert G. McCloskey’s classic work on the Supreme Court’s role in constructing the US Constitution has introduced...

The true story of James Howard Snook, Theora Hix, and one of the most shocking crimes of the 1920s.   In the sweltering summer of 1929, the people of Columbus, Ohio, were enthralled by the story of Dr. James Howard Snook—an Ohio State University veterinary professor...

A riveting history of the city that led the West out of the ruins of the Roman EmpireAt the end of the fourth century, as the power of Rome faded and Constantinople became the seat of empire, a new capital city was rising in the West. Here, in Ravenna on the coast of...

Consuming less is our best strategy for saving the planet—but can we do it? In this thoughtful and surprisingly optimistic book, journalist J. B. MacKinnon investigates how we may achieve a world without shopping.We can’t stop shopping. And yet we must. This is the...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham reveals how the Founding Fathers viewed faith—and how they ultimately created a nation in which belief in God is a matter of choice. At a time when our country seems divided by extremism, American...

A fascinating behind-the-scenes look at a year in American history that still resonates today, 1932: FDR, Hoover, and the Dawn of a New America tells the story of a battered nation fighting for its own future amid the depths of the Great Depression. At the start of...

“A funny and fact-filled look at our astoundingly inconsistent written language, from Shakespeare to spell-check.”—St. Petersburg TimesDavid Wolman explores seven hundred years of trial, error, and reform that have made the history of English spelling a jumbled and...