American Century

Written in Tyrrell's trademark satirical style, How Do We Get Out of Here? is an invaluable and intimate recount of the political and cultural battles that shaped our contemporary politics.

Citizenship in the nineteenth-century United States was an ever-moving target. The Constitution did not specify its exact meaning, leaving lawmakers and other Americans to struggle over the fundamental questions of who could be a citizen, how a person attained the status, and the particular privileges citizenship afforded. Black people suffered under this ambiguity, but also seized on it in efforts to transform their nominal freedom.

Scientists have shown bilingualism to be brain-changing. It can also be life-changing. In America's Bilingual Century, author Steve Leveen takes you on a journey of reinvention - of yourself, your children, and the country - that takes place when we embrace bilingualism. Based on a decade of research and hundreds of interviews with experts and successful bilinguals, Steve found that a new America is emerging: One where more and more people are speaking English and another language.

The respectable doctor or the outlaw's son... who will Virginia choose? Seeking a fresh start outside of his outlaw father’s shadow, Charlie Montgomery finds Silver City, Idaho Territory to be the perfect boom town for his adventurous soul. But when gold is discovered at the Crown Point silver mine where he is hired on, the gunslingers of his past reappear, putting Charlie and everything he holds dear in danger. With her late father's debts to pay, nurse Virginia desperately engages in an unsavory one-time deal, realizing she can't outrun the consequences forever. She could accept Doctor ...

A historical romantic drama set in South America during the mid-19th century. Paradise of Purple invites readers into an enthralling and intricate story tracing the life of a young man caught in a whirlwind of passion, adversity, and hope. This novel takes us to the culturally rich backdrop of 19th century South America, offering a riveting blend of romance, drama, and adventure. The StoryThe narrative revolves around our protagonist, walking the tightrope between undying affection for his beloved Maria, and the harrowing disapproval of her father, which leads him to years of unjust ...

Published in 1918, A Century of Negro Migration chronicles the movement of Blacks from the South to the North and West. The introductory section discusses early migrations during the colonial era and at the close of the 18th century.

Nineteenth-century America was rife with Protestant-fueled anti-Catholicism. Elizabeth Hayes Alvarez reveals how Protestants nevertheless became surprisingly and deeply fascinated with the Virgin Mary, even as her role as a devotional figure who united Catholics grew. Documenting the vivid Marian imagery that suffused popular visual and literary culture, Alvarez argues that Mary became a potent shared exemplar of Christian womanhood around which Christians of all stripes rallied.

The 19th century saw the rise of one of the largest, most powerful empires of the modern era. The sun never set on the British Empire, whose holdings spanned the globe, in one form or another. Its naval supremacy linked the Commonwealth of Canada with the colonies in South Africa and India, and through them trade flowed east and west. An integral but underutilized part of this vast trade network included China, a reclusive Asian kingdom closed off from the Western world that desired none of its goods.

In 1690, a dramatic account of piracy was published in Mexico City. The Misfortunes of Alonso Ramírez described the incredible adventures of a poor Spanish-American carpenter who was taken captive by British pirates near the Philippines and forced to work for them for two years. After circumnavigating the world, he was freed and managed to return to Mexico, where the Spanish viceroy commissioned the well-known Mexican scholar Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora to write down Ramírez's account as part of an imperial propaganda campaign against pirates.

Their honor compels them to stand by their families. But can the ties of blood outlast the terrors of the Civil War? New Orleans, March 1860. Jeremy Bennett is determined to help his wife locate her enslaved brother who escaped. But with unrest in the East and rumors of secession on Southerners’ lips, they’re forced to return home to San Francisco and safety. And though he hires a man to continue the search in their absence, Jeremy fears the coming conflict will make finding her lost kin impossible. Washington Territory, April 1861. Jonathan Bennett can’t ignore his conscience. Firmly...

Life was hard in the wilderness of 18th century America. But there was always hope. Three strangers from diverse times and cultures overcome adversity and come together for survival, finding new versions of family and happiness in this gritty and sometimes humorous time travel story. Fed up with her domineering brother, Rachel and her infant son leave to find happiness with the Cherokee. Two more white folks unexpectedly join her new clan, causing confusion but also providing a novel solution to the one of tribe’s biggest problems: no food. 20th century-born Lord Martin Melbourne had ...

A sweeping history of one of the nation’s most important African American churches and a profound story of courage and grace amid the fight for racial justice—from Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Kevin Sack.

Back to Black seeks to show us the long, powerful and painful history of Black radical politics. Born out of resistance to slavery and colonialism, its rich past encompasses figures such as Marcus Garvey, Angela Davis, the Black Panthers and the Black Lives Matter activists of today. At its core, the book argues that racism is inexorably embedded in the fabric of society, and that it can never be overcome unless by enacting change outside of this suffocating system.

Because Plath drew so heavily on her own life in both her poetry and her fiction, the outlines of her life are familiar to listeners. Like most writers, Plath changed the facts of her life in her writing. In her determination to be both wife and mother, on the one hand, and teacher and writer on the other, Plath tried simultaneously to fulfill and to fight the conventions that bound women in the 1950s. In this biography, the first to draw on unpublished journals and letters recently made available, Wagner-Martin examines the ironies, contradictions, and achievements of Plath's life.

A tireless champion of the downtrodden, Nelson Algren, one of the most celebrated writers of the 20th century, lived an outsider's life himself. He spent a month in prison as a young man for the theft of a typewriter; his involvement in Marxist groups earned him a lengthy FBI dossier; and he spent much of his life palling around with the sorts of drug addicts, prostitutes, and poor laborers who inspired and populated his novels and short stories. Most today know Algren as the radical writer of The Man with the Golden Arm, but award-winning reporter Mary Wisniewski offers a deeper portrait.

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 ...

Horace Busby was one of LBJ's most trusted advisors; their close working and personal relationship spanned twenty years. In The Thirty-First of March he offers an indelible portrait of a president and a presidency at a time of crisis.

Americans are in the midst of a world-historic drug binge. Opiates, amphetamines, benzodiazepines, marijuana, antidepressants, antipsychotics—across the board, consumption has shot up in the twenty-first century. At the same time, the United States is home to the largest prison system in the world, justified in part by a now zombified "war" on drugs. How did we get here?

What was the bloodiest war in American history? Most people with at least a little knowledge of history would quickly say that it was the Civil War (1861-65), and they would certainly be correct overall. However, when historians go farther back in time and include colonial wars and look at casualties per capita, the correct answer would be the much-lesser known conflict known as "King Philip's War" (1675-76).

Amanda, Colin, and Ben. All they ever wanted was to be in the Colonies, to escape the tyranny of the English aristocracy, to worship freely, to build a life together. Colin Michael Browning dreams of a new life in the American colonies. He works in the family business as a blacksmith. Amanda Andrews is Colin's soul mate who embroiders in her father's tailoring shoppe. Benjamin Andrews, Amanda's twin brother and Colin's best friend, is a theology student who rejects the Anglican Church during a time of persecution of Protestants in England. Ben yearns for the religious freedom available in ...