At the dawn of the twentieth century, a great confidencesuffused America. Isaac Cline was one of the era's new men, ascientist who believed he knew all there was to know about themotion of clouds and the behavior of storms. The idea that ahurricane could damage the city of Galveston, Texas, where he wasbased, was to him preposterous, "an absurd delusion." It was 1900,a year when America felt bigger and stronger than ever before.Nothing in nature could hobble the gleaming city of Galveston, thena magical place that seemed destined to become the New York of theGulf. That August, a strange, prolonged heat wave gripped the nationand killed scores of people in New York and Chicago. Odd thingsseemed to happen everywhere: A plague of crickets engulfed Waco.The Bering Glacier began to shrink. Rain fell on Galveston withgreater intensity than anyone could remember. Far away, in Africa,immense thunderstorms blossomed over the city of Dakar, and greatcurrents of wind converged. A wave of atmospheric turbule
An elegantly designed, beautifully composed volume of personalletters from famous American men and women that celebrates theAmerican Experience and illuminates the rich history of some ofAmerica’s most storied families. Posterity is at once an epistolary chronicle of America and afascinating glimpse into the hearts and minds of some of history’smost admired figures. Spanning more than three centuries, theseletters contain enduring lessons in life and love, character andcompassion that will surprise and enlighten. Included here are letters from Thomas Jefferson to his daughter,warning her of the evils of debt; General Patton on D-Day to hisson, a cadet at West Point, about what it means to be a goodsoldier; W.E.B. DuBois to his daughter about character beneath thecolor of skin; Oscar Hammerstein about why, after all his success,he doesn’t stop working; Woody Guthrie from a New Jersey asylum tonine-year-old Arlo about universal human frailty;sixty-five-year-old Laura Ingalls Wilder’s
Taking place over twenty-three days in July and across more than 2,100 miles of smooth blacktop, rough cobblestones, and punishing mountain terrain, the Tour de France is the most grueling sports event in the world. And in 2004, five-time champion Lance Armstrong set out to achieve what no other cyclist in the 100-year history of the race had ever done: win a sixth Tour de France. Armstrong had four serious challengers who wanted nothing more than to deny the man the French call Le Boss from achieving his goal. The major threat among them was the only other former Tour de France champion in last year's race, Germany's Jan Ullrich- The Kaiser. But when the race was over, Lance Armstrong once again wore the yellow jersey of victory. 作者简介： John Wilcockson reported on his first Tour de France in 1968. He has written for Outside and Men's Journal and reported on major cycling events for NPR, the BBC World Service, and the New York Times. His many books include John Wilcockson's World of Cyclin
Designed to help parents avoid the miseducation of youngchildren. Dr. Elkind shows us the very real difference between themind of a pre-school child and that of a school age child.
From an award-winning New York Times investigative reportercomes an outrageous story of greed, corruption, andconspiracy—which left the FBI and Justice Department counting onthe cooperation of one man . . . It was one of the FBI's biggest secrets: a senior executive withAmerica's most politically powerful corporation, Archer DanielsMidland, had become a confidential government witness, secretlyrecording a vast criminal conspiracy spanning five continents. MarkWhitacre, the promising golden boy of ADM, had put his career andfamily at risk to wear a wire and deceive his friends andcolleagues. Using Whitacre and a small team of agents to tap intothe secrets at ADM, the FBI discovered the company's scheme tosteal millions of dollars from its own customers. But as the FBI and federal prosecutors closed in on ADM, usingstakeouts, wiretaps, and secret recordings of illegal meetingsaround the world, they suddenly found that everything was not allthat it appeared. At the same time Whitacre was coo
A riveting, in-depth account of one of New York City’s mostnotorious crimes. On April 20, 1989, the body of a woman is discovered in CentralPark, her skull so badly smashed that nearly 80 percent of herblood has spilled onto the ground. Within days, five black andLatino teenagers confess to her rape and beating. In a city whereurban crime is at a high and violence is frequent, the ensuingmedia frenzy and hysterical public reaction is extraordinary. Theyoung men are tried as adults and convicted of rape, despite thefact that the teens quickly recant their inconsistent andinaccurate confessions and that no DNA tests or eyewitness accountstie any of them to the victim. They serve their complete sentencesbefore another man, serial rapist Matias Reyes, confesses to thecrime and is connected to it by DNA testing. Intertwining the stories of these five young men, the policeofficers, the district attorneys, the victim, and Matias Reyes,Sarah Burns unravels the forces that made both the crime and itsprosecution p
Now in paperback, this compelling saga reveals - throughletters, diaries, news articles, prose, and poetry - how women madeenormous contributions to every era in American history, from thefirst Native American women in the 1600s to the women suffragistswho won the vote in 1920. Donna Lucey takes readers on a tourthrough American history through the eyes of its women. Gorgeousphotographs and paintings accompany the stories, diary excerpts,letters, newspaper articles, and first person accounts that tellAmerican history in this unique way. The book covers the years1600, when only Native American women populated America, to 1920,when women won the vote. Seven thematic chapters comprise acomprehensive timeline of American history: Native American Women,Colonial Women, Women Enslaved, Plantation Mistresses, WesteringWomen, Women of the Gilded Age, and Women of the 20th Century. Eachchapter addresses women in war, the arts, politics, social reform,philanthropy, and suffrage - telling simultaneously the story ofthat
Up-to-date answers to all your homeschooling questions! More and more families today are turning to homeschooling toteach their children. But where do they go to find honest,practical answers to questions such as: Can I afford it? Or, howwill my child make friends without going to school? Look nofurther. This invaluable guidebook—completely updated to includethe 101 most important homeschooling concerns—answers all thosequestions and more. Inside, you'll learn: ?Methods of motivating, teaching, and testing homeschooledchildren ?The latest on the growing use of distance-learning tools ?Ways to homeschool your special-needs child ?The differences between homeschooling younger children andteenagers Drawing from the collective wisdom and experience ofhomeschooling's most respected voices, The Homeschooling Book ofAnswers is your essential guide to this widely popular—andflexible—educational approach. "I can't imagine a more helpful book on homeschooling—a
What were pirates really like? How much, if any, of thepiratical stereotype - of a dashingly handsome man with aneye-patch, peg-leg and a parrot on his shoulder - is based on thedocumented fact. In this revealing and highly original study DavidCordingly sets out to discover the truth behind the piracy myth,exploring its enduring and extraordinary appeal, and answering suchquestions as: why did men become pirates? Were there any womenpirates? How much money did they make from plundering and looting?And were pirates really dashing highwaymen of the Seven Seas orjust vicious cut-throats and robbers? From Long John Silver toHenry Morgan, Robert Louis Stevenson to J.M. Barrie, LIFE AMONG THEPIRATES examines all the heavyweights of history and literature andpresents the essential survey of this fascinating phenomenon.
In May 1787, in an atmosphere of crisis, delegates met inPhiladelphia to design a radically new form of government.Distinguished historian Richard Beeman captures as never before thedynamic of the debate and the characters of the men who laboredthat historic summer. Virtually all of the issues in dispute—theextent of presidential power, the nature of federalism, and, mostexplosive of all, the role of slavery—have continued to provokeconflict throughout our nation's history. This unprecedented booktakes readers behind the scenes to show how the world's mostenduring constitution was forged through conflict, compromise, andfragile consensus. As Gouverneur Morris, delegate of Pennsylvania,noted: "While some have boasted it as a work from Heaven, othershave given it a less righteous origin. I have many reasons tobelieve that it is the work of plain, honest men."
