American Century

There is absolutely no evidence that Abner Doubleday invented the American game of baseball. Early American settlers played a game they brought with them from England, a game called rounders, a form of cricket. Eventually, the formal rules were altered to embrace a simple and faster game in America referred to as Town Ball. The game we now know as baseball evolved from this adaptation and quickly was accepted as a new sport among urban area residents.

When a lonely cowpoke goes to see a play, he has no idea how his life will change, but from the moment George lays eyes on Polly Esther, he knows he’s lost. Can taking a job with a traveling show give George the home he has always longed for? He’s already lost his heart to the beautiful young woman with the sunshine hair. Will he lose everything else as well? Polly has her doubts about her father hiring a cowboy to help the manage their traveling show, but she’s learned over the years that her parents don’t make decisions lightly. Still, the handsome George Olson is a distraction. ...

Darrin Clark is an impoverished young man, madly in love with his long-time friend Janie. He is desperate for a job and any way to win Janie’s affections. Then, a Hollywood studio promises to make him a movie star - if he will submit to a face-modifying procedure they are developing. Darrin’s love overcomes his fear, and he allows the movie studio to alter his face. Soon, his dreams come true. Yet, changing faces doesn’t seem enough, and the studio wants him to sacrifice more of his identity than just his appearance.

A spoiled English Lady rebels against the half-Native American half-English sea smuggler forced to be her husband and they discover the thrill of impetuous passion. Smuggled aboard a ship bound for the colonies, the English lady Keely Bartholomew is ill-prepared for life in America, much less the devilish half-breed captain Brock Forrester. This man, the illegitimate son of a Lenni-Lenape man and an English woman, is used to having his own way. When the tall, brawny, mixed-race man caresses her and holds her in his massive arms, looking at her with eyes as black as night, the heiress is ...

Romantic sparks fly when a fiercely independent woman who has cast-iron plans for her life and an eligible bachelor who’s rarely seen without a beautiful lady on his arm, clash in a fateful meeting in this 1950s sweet Southern romance. Joanna Gardner’s past disturbs her every waking moment. Only her painting soothes her unrest, and there, she submerges herself, shutting out all social interactions. Until Junior Neale enters her life. When the respected lawyer Junior Neale first meets Joanna, he is rendered almost speechless, and all those other women’s charms fade away. But then he ...

The history of the United States is, to a large extent, a history of armed conflict. The nation was first forged in war, a tough fight for independence against one of the world’s largest empires, and that fight would resume less than a generation later with the War of 1812. Then, there were constant low-level conflicts with Native Americans as the nation expanded westwards, and occasionally the country engaged in full-scale war against the Sioux, Comanche, and Apache.

Do Not Make Lewis Angry Powerfully built, skilled at submissions and vicious, Evan "Strangler" Lewis became the most feared professional wrestler of the 19th Century. Six Buffalo, New York police officers could not back Lewis down. This book takes a detailed look at Lewis' career inside and outside the ring including the two controversial matches with Sorakichi Matsada that forever marked him as a villain. The Catch Wrestler Other Wrestlers Avoided

She has no place to go with her sister. He’s a widower looking for help. Marla Atwell's life is turned upside down after her parents' death in an accident. With her mother's high expectations for a husband, Marla is left unprepared and unmarried. With no money or home, her only responsibility is to care for her younger sister. Desperate for survival, Marla turns to the idea of becoming a mail-order bride. Jack Green, a widower, is not looking for love again, but his café is struggling after a sickness caused by food at his establishment. His customers are no longer loyal. With the ...

In 1559 Spain finds herself in possession of an immense uncharted land they call the East Indies. Spanish conquistadors, eager to find their fortune and a place in history, explore the new wilderness, unaware they are spreading European disease among the natives they call Indios. Spain soon realizes she must colonize this new land to stave off the treats of other countries and so begins the historic journey of Don Tristan de Luna. Son of an old noble Spanish family, he is to lead the largest and most ambitious expedition Spain has ever launched and establish a settlement on Ochuse Bay, now ...

What if the American experiment is twofold, encompassing both democracy and tyranny? That is the question at the core of this book, which traces some of ways that Americans across the nineteenth century understood the perversions tyranny introduced into both their polity and society.

Jocelyn Rumer Conroy's newspaper column allows her to write gossip about the population of Charleston while avoiding scrutiny of her own family secrets. She's used to having her own way, but when arrogant and cosmopolitan Piers Wilde is brought into the newspaper, she chafes under his supervision. As they become writing partners in a new agony column, their relationship becomes fraught with tension...and an inconvenient attraction that cannot be denied.A sweet historical romance set in 1910 Charleston.

An earthquake unnerves Tokyo on March 11, 2011, triggering the Fukushima nuclear disaster - and a tectonic stirring of the collective past. Mr. Yoshie Watanabe, an aging executive at an electronics company and a survivor of the atomic bomb, feels as though he is a fugitive of his own memory. As the seams of his country threaten to come undone yet again, he braces himself to make the biggest decision of his life. Meanwhile, four women narrate their own memories of Watanabe to an enigmatic Argentinian reporter investigating his life.

Murder is easy. Getting away with it is a whole different matter. Prominent Long Beach businessman Wilmer Judd is dead, gruesomely killed by his own employee, Sonny Cai. The case looks cut and dried, but Dapper Luoo isn’t convinced. From a brand new car that’s missing to the burnt-out remains of a corpse, too many things just don’t add up. Dapper thinks there’s some kind of cover-up, and heads out to find the truth. But in the gritty, complex streets of 1950s Los Angeles, one needs to look over their shoulder lest they end up dead too.

Could the drummer boy help those stranded in the worst winter storm of the 18th century? Young Scout is looking for gainful employment at the end of the American Revolution. Called Scout because of his great exploring and tracking skills, the regimental sergeant says he's too young; only good enough to be a drummer 'boy.' Will his fellows accept his help as they try to find their way to friends and family for Christmas during one of the worst winter storms in history? Or will pride be their demise? After all, why should they follow a young Cherokee half-breed? Part of THE FAIRIES SAGA ...

Whoever said the streets were paved with gold must have been dreaming. San Francisco in the gold rush era was an intoxicating mixture of the wealthy and the desperate. How would Sarah fit in? Determined to prove that she can make it on her own, Sarah poses as a married woman and boards a schooner bound for San Francisco. Restless and eager to travel, Jamie agrees to set up a branch of his family’s merchant bank in San Francisco. Each has something to prove but will their desire to succeed derail a blossoming romance?

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Japanese American Charlotte Sato is ridiculed because of her race until an African American, Charles Williams, saves her from the racial discrimination from the other Americans. They form a friendship, but their bond is strained when the American government calls for the encampment for all Japanese Americans. Now the interracial pair's relationship is tested. Will their new love survive?

The year is 1912. Nineteen-year-old Maisie Porter watches from the deck of the SS Oceanic as England fades from view. Her destination is Buccaneer Bay in Australia's far northwest. Her fate: marriage to distant cousin Maitland Sinclair, a man she has never met.

David Brainerd's diary is a poignant testament to the relentless pursuit of faith amidst the challenges of missionary life in colonial America. As a Puritan of Puritans, Brainerd's unwavering commitment to Calvinist theology shaped every facet of his existence, from his thoughts to his actions, all dedicated to the glorification of God. Sent as a missionary to the Native Americans in Pennsylvania during the 18th century, Brainerd's diary chronicles his struggles, triumphs, and deep spiritual introspection throughout his brief yet impactful life. Within the pages of Brainerd's diary, readers...

From Cover to Cover and Sea to Shining Sea: The Authors who gave America its Voice Instant American Literature delves into our rich literary heritage. Filled with quirky facts and lively illustrations, this spirited survey visits the war-torn trenches with Stephen Crane, creeps through the nightmarish realm of Edgar Allan Poe, and ponders Walden Pond with henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. If you don’t know who (or what!) Natty Bumppo is or which legendary torne made famous the words “Simplicity! Simplicity! Simplicity! Then this book is for you. In this vastly informative ...

Here, Cheryl McKissack Daniel, CEO and president of McKissack & McKissack, reveals the full fascinating story of her family. So much more than an exploration of architectural achievements, The Black Family Who Built America is also a compelling illustration of how history rhymes and reverberates, and a celebration of the human spirit’s ability to overcome adversity and drive change. F