Title search results
Showing 1 - 20 of 6413 items
A historical narrative of the events surrounding the death of the 35th president of the United States against the backdrop…
of an escalating Cold War. Describes the many political challenges John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) was facing before his assassination. For grades 5-8 and older readers. 2013
The true story of the extraordinary life and brutal death of Mildred Harnack, the American leader of one of the…
largest underground resistance groups in Germany, who was executed on Hitler's direct order—uncovered by her great-great-niece in this riveting, deeply researched account. Born and raised in Milwaukee, Mildred Harnack was twenty-six when she enrolled in a PhD program in Germany and witnessed the meteoric rise of the Nazi party. In 1932, she began holding secret meetings in her apartment—a small band of political activists that by 1940 had grown into the largest underground resistance group in Berlin. She recruited working-class Germans into the resistance, helped Jews escape, plotted acts of sabotage, and collaborated in writing leaflets that denounced Hitler's regime and called for revolution. Her coconspirators circulated through Berlin under the cover of night, slipping the leaflets into mailboxes, public restrooms, phone booths. When the first shots of the Second World War were fired she became a spy, couriering top-secret intelligence to the Allies. On the eve of her escape to Sweden, she was ambushed by the Gestapo. At a Nazi military court, a panel of five judges sentenced her to six years at a prison camp, but Hitler overruled the decision and ordered her execution. On February 16, 1943, she was strapped to a guillotine and beheaded.Historians identify Mildred Harnack as the only American in the leadership of the German resistance, yet her remarkable story has remained almost unknown until now.Fusing elements of biography, political thriller, and scholarly detective story, Harnack's great-great-niece Rebecca Donner brilliantly interweaves letters, diary entries, notes smuggled out of a Berlin prison, testimony of survivors, and a trove of declassified intelligence documents into a powerful, enthralling story, reconstructing the moral courage of an enigmatic woman nearly erased by history
Author selects former slaves' interviews taken during the 1920s and 1930s, as well as letters, memoirs, and diaries, to illustrate…
the thoughts and experiences of freed blacks about the Civil War. Includes reactions to the Union army's invasion of the South. Some violence and some strong language. 2008
Authorized biography of Kennan (1904-2005) chronicles his diplomatic career from the late 1920s into the 1960s. Emphasizes his role in…
creating America's strategy of containing Soviet expansion during the Cold War. Discusses the development of the atomic bomb and the ways it changed the course of history. National Book Critics Circle Award and Pulitzer Prize. 2011
Eisenhower's grandson David describes his grandfather's retirement on the cattle farm "Ike" owned in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Discusses the thirty-fourth president's…
opinions on the Vietnam War and his relationships with John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard Nixon. Sequel to Eisenhower at War (DB 24966). 2010
Follows the development of women's bicycles in the 1880s and 1890s and explores the impact of the two-wheeler on everyday…
life during the beginning of women's liberation. Discusses celebrity cyclists, reaction to the new transportation mode, and fashion changes to accommodate riding. For grades 5-8 and older readers. 2011
Biography of African American general Benjamin O. Davis Jr. (1912-2002), who challenged racial discrimination in the military as a West…
Point cadet and a World War II hero. Discusses Davis's personal encounters with segregation, determination to be a pilot, and successful career. For grades 5-8. 2010
Biography of Alexander Hamilton (1757-1804), who was born in the West Indies and immigrated to New York in 1773. Discusses…
Hamilton's loyalty as aide-de-camp to General Washington, role at the Constitutional convention, authorship of the Federalist Papers, work at the treasury, and duel with Aaron Burr. For grades 5-8. 2011
Follows the lives of U.S. ambassador William E. Dodd and his family, who moved to Berlin, Germany, in 1933. Discusses…
their attitudes toward the Nazi Party, obliviousness to Hitler's true character, and naive reactions to the persecution of Jews and Americans and the enforcement of stringent laws. Bestseller. 2011
Chronicles the personal and professional life of Darrow (1857-1938), the Chicago railroad lawyer who at age thirty-six became a defender…
of progressive causes. Highlights Darrow's role as defense attorney in the 1910 Los Angeles Times bombing, the 1924 Leopold and Loeb child-murder case, and the 1925 Scopes "monkey" trial. Some strong language. 2011
Historians compile interviews of former slaves conducted by the Federal Writers Project during the 1930s. Includes accounts of Civil War…
battles, participation in the Union and Confederate armies, freedom, and Reconstruction. Also documents rural poverty among African Americans during the Great Depression. Strong language. 2014
Pulitzer Prize-winning contemporary historian Wills reexamines the work and legacy of historian Henry Adams (1838-1918), a descendant of two American…
presidents. Depicts Adams's extensive research of U.S. and European archives to produce a nine-volume portrait of the United States during the administrations of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. 2005
Biography of Noah Webster (1758-1843), who first published The American Dictionary in 1828. Chronicles Webster's life as the son of…
a poor Connecticut farmer who became a confidant of leaders of the American Revolution and discusses the circumstances that led him to become a lexicographer. 2010
A history of Bonapartists who, after Napoleon's 1815 defeat at Waterloo, fled to the Western Hemisphere. Describes plots, led by…
Napoleon's brother Joseph, to rescue Napoleon from exile and create a Bonapartist empire in America. Presents accounts of former French generals and disgruntled Englishmen who joined South American revolutionaries. 2009
Lady Fiona, the Countess of Carnarvon, chronicles the era that inspired the British television series Downton Abbey. She details the…
life of Almina--illegitimate daughter of Sir Alfred de Rothschild--who married the fifth earl of Carnarvon in 1895 and enjoyed upper-class privileges until World War I. Some violence. Bestseller. 2011
Chronicles the Compromise of 1850, which defused regional conflicts over slavery and delayed the Civil War for a decade. Discusses…
the effects that the Mexican-American War and the discovery of gold in California had on the debate over whether new states and territories should be slave or free. 2012
Biography of Robert T. Lincoln (1843-1926), the only son of Abraham Lincoln to reach adulthood. Discusses the political career of…
the Harvard-educated Chicago lawyer and businessman as a diplomat and U.S. secretary of war. Analyzes his relationship with his mother and covers the management of his father's legacy. 2012
In this companion to Abe Lincoln at Last! (DB 76124), Annie and Jack present biographical information on President Lincoln. They…
discuss what it was like to live in a log cabin and describe Abe's growing up poor, first in Kentucky and later in Indiana. For grades 2-4. 2011
British professor Fulbrook examines the ways ethnic Germans facilitated the Nazi war machine. Focuses on Udo Klausa, a civilian administrator…
of a Polish county near the Auschwitz concentration camp--whose wife later became Fulbrook's own godmother--as an example of civilian complacency in serving the Third Reich. Violence. 2012
Historian chronicles the life of Union general Philip Sheridan (1831-1888). Details Sheridan's antebellum army service after attending West Point. Highlights…
his role in the development of the concept of total war, including the destruction of Virginia's Shenandoah Valley and the postwar massacre of the Plains Indians. 2012