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Marie Antoinette, Anne Boleyn, and Mary, Queen of Scots. Whatdid they have in common? For a while they were crowned in gold,cosseted in silk, and flattered by courtiers. But in the end, theyspent long nights in dark prison towers and were marched to thescaffold where they surrendered their heads to the executioner. Andthey are hardly alone in their undignified demises. Throughouthistory, royal women have had a distressing way of meeting badends--dying of starvation, being burned at the stake, or expiringin childbirth while trying desperately to produce an heir. Theyalways had to be on their toes and all too often even deviousplotting, miraculous pregnancies, and selling out their sisters wasnot enough to keep them from forcible consignment to religiousorders. From Cleopatra (suicide by asp), to Princess Caroline(suspiciously poisoned on her coronation day), there’s a gorydownside to being blue-blooded when you lack a Y chromosome. KrisWaldherr’s elegant little book is a chronicle of the trials andt

For the first time in one enthralling book, here is theincredible true story of the numerous attempts to assassinate AdolfHitler and change the course of history. Disraeli once declared that “assassination never changed anything,”and yet the idea that World War II and the horrors of the Holocaustmight have been averted with a single bullet or bomb has remained atantalizing one for half a century. What historian Roger Moorhousereveals in Killing Hitler is just how close–and how often–historycame to taking a radically different path between Adolf Hitler’srise to power and his ignominious suicide. Few leaders, in any century, can have been the target of so manyassassination attempts, with such momentous consequences in thebalance. Hitler’s almost fifty would-be assassins ranged fromsimple craftsmen to high-ranking soldiers, from the apolitical tothe ideologically obsessed, from Polish Resistance fighters topatriotic Wehrmacht officers, and from enemy agents to his closestassociates. And yet, up to

Polk's Folly is William Polk's captivating investigation ofhis impressive family tree and of the broader American tale itnarrates. Growing up in Texas in the late 1930s, listening to hisgrandmother's memories of her childhood amidst the Civil War, Polkbecame fascinated by tales of his family's engagement in monumentalmoments of our nation's history. Beginning when Robert Pollok fledIreland in the 1680s, Polk's saga includes an Indian trader, anearly drafter of the Declaration of Independence, one of ourgreatest presidents, heroes and rascals on both sides of the CivilWar, Indian fighters, a World War I diplomat, and Polk's ownbrother, a journalist who reported on the Nuremberg Trials. Full ofstunning detail and based on primary historical documents, Polk'sFolly is a grand American chronicle that allows history to includethe lives that made it happen.

Forever a Soldier captures the personal side of war in 37extraordinary narratives that bear eloquent witness to both thelife-changing experience of battle and to the unflagging spiritthat sustained countless ordinary Americans plunged into the bloodyconflicts of the deadliest, most destructive century in humanhistory. Culled from letters, diaries, private memoirs, and oralhistories collected by the Library of Congress Veterans HistoryProject, their stories paint an unforgettable group portrait of ourcountry's armed forces. Some tell of frontline action: a doughboy's 1918 baptism of fire: abattleship gunner's grim duel with Japanese planes; a femalefighter pilot's capture by Iraqis during the Gulf War. Others evokemoments of relief and reflection, or recall deeply moving episodes:two wounded soldiers—one German, one American—clasping hands in thewordless brotherhood of pain; a POW whose faith gave him thestrength to endure torture in the notorious "Hanoi Hilton;" a GI'slifelong grief for a buddy killed o

When he was a student in Paris, Truong Nhu Tang met Ho ChiMinh. Later he fought in the Vietnamese jungle and emerged as oneof the major figures in the "fight for liberation" -- and one ofthe most determined adversaries of the United States. He became theVietcong's Minister of Justice, but at the end of the war he fledthe country in disillusionment and despair. He now lives in exilein Paris, the highest level official to have defected from Vietnamto the West. This is his candid, revealing and unforgettableautobiography.

At the dawn of the 19th century, Meriwether Lewis and WilliamClark embarked on an unprecedented journey from St. Louis, Missourito the Pacific Ocean and back again. Their assignment was toexplore the newly acquired Louisiana Territory and record thegeography, flora, fauna, and people they encountered along the way.The tale of their incredible journey, meticulously recorded intheir journals, has become an American classic. This single-volume, landmark edition of the famous journals isthe first abridgement to be published in at least a decade.

For the first time, one book gives voice to the haunting,painful, tender, and healing tales of those who lost so much inAmerica's least popular war.

“Dray captures the genius and ingenuity of Franklin’s scientificthinking and then does something even more fascinating: He showshow science shaped his diplomacy, politics, and Enlightenmentphilosophy.” –Walter Isaacson, author of Benjamin Franklin: An AmericanLife Today we think of Benjamin Franklin as a founder of Americanindependence who also dabbled in science. But in Franklin’s day,the era of Enlightenment, long before he was an eminent statesman,he was famous for his revolutionary scientific work. Pulitzer Prizefinalist Philip Dray uses the evolution of Franklin’s scientificcuriosity and empirical thinking as a metaphor for America’sstruggle to establish its fundamental values. He recounts howFranklin unlocked one of the greatest natural mysteries of his day,the seemingly unknowable powers of lightning and electricity. Richin historical detail and based on numerous primary sources,Stealing God’s Thunder is a fascinating original look at one of ourmost beloved and complex founding fathers

Robert Carter III, thegrandson of Tidewater legend Robert “King” Carter, was born intothe highest circles of Virginia’s Colonial aristocracy. He wasneighbor and kin to the Washingtons and Lees and a friend and peerto Thomas Jefferson and George Mason. But on September 5, 1791,Carter severed his ties with this glamorous elite at the stroke ofa pen. In a document he called his Deed of Gift, Carter declaredhis intent to set free nearly five hundred slaves in the largestsingle act of liberation in the history of American slavery beforethe Emancipation Proclamation. How did Carter succeed in the very action that George Washingtonand Thomas Jefferson claimed they fervently desired but werepowerless to effect? And why has his name all but vanished from theannals of American history? In this haunting, brilliantly originalwork, Andrew Levy traces the confluence of circumstance,conviction, war, and passion that led to Carter’s extraordinaryact. At the dawn of the Revolutionary War, Carter was one of thewealt

Before writing his award-winning Going After Cacciato ,Tim O'Brien gave us this intensely personal account of his year asa foot soldier in Vietnam. The author takes us with him toexperience combat from behind an infantryman's rifle, to walk theminefields of My Lai, to crawl into the ghostly tunnels, and toexplore the ambiguities of manhood and morality in a war goneterribly wrong. Beautifully written and searingly heartfelt, IfI Die in a Combat Zone is a masterwork of its genre.

At the age of thirty-three, Ekow Eshun—born in London toAfrican-born parents—travels to Ghana in search of his roots. Hegoes from Accra, Ghana’s cosmopolitan capital city, to the storiedslave forts of Elmina, and on to the historic warrior kingdom ofAsante. During his journey, Eshun uncovers a long-held secret abouthis lineage that will compel him to question everything he knowsabout himself and where he comes from. From the London suburbs ofhis childhood to the twenty-first century African metropolis,Eshun’s is a moving chronicle of one man’s search for home, and ofthe pleasures and pitfalls of fashioning an identity in thesevibrant contemporary worlds.

They were four exceptional soldiers, a new generation asked tosave an army that had been hollowed out after Vietnam. Theysurvived the military's brutal winnowing to reach its top echelon.They became the Army's most influential generals in the crucible ofIraq. Collectively, their lives tell the story of the Army over thelast four decades and illuminate the path it must travel to protectthe nation over the next century. Theirs is a story of successesand failures, of ambitions achieved and thwarted, of theresponsibilities and perils of command. The careers of this elitequartet show how the most powerful military force in the worldentered a major war unprepared, and how the Army, drawing on areservoir of talent that few thought it possessed, saved itselffrom crushing defeat against a ruthless, low-tech foe. In TheFourth Star, you'll follow: ?Gen. John Abizaid, one of the Army's most brilliant minds.Fluent in Arabic, he forged an unconventional path in the militaryto make himself a

Washington Burning transports us in time to the veryfounding of our nation and its capital. We learn that theWashington we know might never have come to be had it not been forthe destruction of the young city by British troops in 1814, or forPierre Charles L'Enfant, the eccentric, passionate, difficultarchitect who fell in love with his adopted country. L’Enfant’ssweeping vision of a grand Federal City inspired President GeorgeWashington but earned the enmity of Secretary of State ThomasJefferson, who hated the idea of an imperial city. So was thecapital born of feuding personalities, and located on the banks ofthe Potomac only after great political struggle. Master storyteller Les Standiford has once again written acompelling, quintessentially American story of hubris andachievement. “Masterful…For the lover of U.S. history or Washingtonianarchitecture or even basic political intrigue, this marvelous newhistory, probably the best to date on L'Enfant and his troubledlife, is essential.” — Mi

In this lively and engaging history, Stephen Puleo tells thestory of the Boston Italians from their earliest years, when alargely illiterate and impoverished people in a strange landrecreated the bonds of village and region in the cramped quartersof the North End. Focusing on this first and crucial Italianenclave in Boston, Puleo describes the experience of Italianimmigrants as they battled poverty, illiteracy, and prejudice;explains their transformation into Italian Americans during theDepression and World War II; and chronicles their rich history inBoston up to the present day.

November 11, 1918. The final hours pulsate with tension asevery man in the trenches hopes to escape the melancholydistinction of being the last to die in World War I. The Alliedgenerals knew the fighting would end precisely at 11:00 A.M, yet inthe final hours they flung men against an already beaten Germany.The result? Eleven thousand casualties suffered–more than duringthe D-Day invasion of Normandy. Why? Allied commanders wanted topunish the enemy to the very last moment and career officers saw afast-fading chance for glory and promotion. Joseph E. Persico puts the reader in the trenches with theforgotten and the famous–among the latter, Corporal Adolf Hitler,Captain Harry Truman, and Colonels Douglas MacArthur and GeorgePatton. Mainly, he follows ordinary soldiers’ lives, illuminatingtheir fate as the end approaches. Persico sets the last day of thewar in historic context with a gripping reprise of all that led upto it, from the 1914 assassination of the Austrian archduke, FranzFerdinand

Paris - Underground BY ETTA SHIBER. Contents include: I Escapefrom Europe i II Flight from Paris 13 III The English Pilot 22 IVRunning the Gauntlet 31 V They Are Here 37 VI Plans for Escape 51VII William Escapes 57 VIII A Trip to Doullens 67 IX Ten T

In a remarkable feat of historical detective work, DavidRobertson illuminates the shadowy figure who planned a slaverebellion so daring that, if successful, it might have changed theface of the antebellum South. This is the story of a man who, likeNat Turner, Marcus Garvey, and Malcolm X, is a complex yet seminalhero in the history of African American emancipation. Denmark Vesey was a charasmatic ex-slave--literate, professional,and relatively well-off--who had purchased his own freedom with thewinnings from a lottery. Inspired by the success of therevolutionary black republic in Haiti, he persuaded some ninethousand slaves to join him in a revolt. On a June evening in 1822,having gathered guns, and daggers, they were to converge onCharleston, South Carolina, take the city's arsenal, murder thepopulace, burn the city, and escape by ship to Haiti or Africa.When the uprising was betrayed, Vesey and seventy-seven of hisfollowers were executed, the matter hushed by Charleston's elitefor fear of furth

In the waning days of Venice’s glory in the mid-1700s, AndreaMemmo was scion to one the city’s oldest patrician families. At theage of twenty-four he fell passionately in love withsixteen-year-old Giustiniana Wynne, the beautiful, illegitimatedaughter of a Venetian mother and British father. Because of theirdramatically different positions in society, they could not marry.And Giustiniana’s mother, afraid that an affair would ruin herdaughter’s chances to form a more suitable union, forbade them tosee each other. Her prohibition only fueled their desire and sobegan their torrid, secret seven-year-affair, enlisting the aid ofa few intimates and servants (willing to risk their own positions)to shuttle love letters back and forth and to help facilitate theirclandestine meetings. Eventually, Giustiniana found herselfpregnant and she turned for help to the infamous Casanova–himselfinfatuated with her. Two and half centuries later, the unbelievable story of thisstar-crossed couple is told in a

David Herbert Donald, Lincoln biographer and winner of thePulitzer Prize, has revised and updated his classic and influentialbook on Lincoln and the era he dominated. When Lincoln Reconsidered was first published it ushered in theprocess of rethinking the Civil War that continues to this day. Inthe third edition, David provides two important new essays, onLincoln's patchy education—which we find was more extensive thaneven the great man realized—and on Lincoln's complex and conflictedrelationship to the rule of law. Together with a new preface and athoroughly updated bibliographical essay, Lincoln Reconsidered willcontinue to be a touchstone of Lincoln scholarship for decades tocome.