American Mountain

Historian Wiley Sword offers a richly detailed account that captures the vivid personalities behind the battle for Chattanooga. Grant, Thomas, Bragg, William Tecumseh Sherman, Phil Sheridan, William Rosecrans, Pat Cleburne, Jefferson Davis, Abraham Lincoln—all come alive in a narrative that combines furious battle action with behind-the-scenes political maneuvering and astute analysis.

Out of the stories heard in her childhood in Los Angeles's Chinatown and years of research, See has constructed this sweeping chronicle of her Chinese-American family, a work that takes in stories of racism and romance, entrepreneurial genius and domestic heartache, secret marriages and sibling rivalries, in a powerful history of two cultures meeting in a new world.

The grizzly is one of North America's few remaining large predators. Their range is diminished, but they're spreading across the West again. Descending into valleys where once they were king, bears find the landscape they'd known for eons utterly changed by the new most dominant animal: humans. In searing detail, award-winning writer, Montana rancher, and conservationist Bryce Andrews tells us about one such grizzly. Millie is a typical mother: strong, cunning, fiercely protective of her cubs. But raising those cubs becomes ever harder as the climate warms and people crowd the valleys.

While fighting his way toward Atlanta, William T. Sherman encountered his biggest roadblock at Kennesaw Mountain, where Joseph E. Johnston’s Army of Tennessee held a heavily fortified position. The opposing armies confronted each other from June 19 to July 3, 1864, and Sherman initially tried to outflank the Confederates. His men endured heavy rains, artillery duels, sniping, and a fierce battle at Kolb’s Farm before Sherman decided to attack Johnston’s position directly on June 27.

In 1889, while upholding Chinese exclusion, Supreme Court Justice Stephen J. Field characterized them as “strangers in the land.” Only in 1965 did America’s gates swing open to people like Luo’s parents, immigrants from Taiwan. Today there are more than twenty-two million people of Asian descent in the United States and yet the “stranger” label, Luo writes, remains. Drawing on archives from across the country and written with a New Yorker writer’s style and sweep, Strangers in the Land is revelatory and unforgettable, an essential American story.

Everyone, at some point, has experienced something they can't explain. Perhaps they've felt a presence or heard voices when alone, or maybe they've seen something in the woods that, in their mind, shouldn't exist. Imagine hiking along a favorite trail with your labrador when suddenly, an eight-foot-tall creature covered in dark hair steps onto the path before you. Your dog, usually fearless, cowers behind you, trembling. The creature notices you, turns, glowers, and charges. You have no way to defend yourself. You close your eyes and pray, fully aware that you'll be torn to shreds in an ...

On October 7, 1780, American Patriot and Loyalist soldiers battled each other at Kings Mountain, near the border of North and South Carolina. With over one hundred eyewitness accounts, this collection of participant statements from men of both sides includes letters and statements in their original form—the soldiers' own words—unedited and unabridged.

It is the early 19th century, and the land recently purchased by President Thomas Jefferson stretches west for thousands of miles. Who inhabits this vast new garden of Eden? What strange beasts and natural formations can be found? Thus was the birth of Manifest Destiny and the resulting bloody battles with Indigenous tribes encountered by white explorers. Also in this volatile mix are the grizzled fur trappers and mountain men, waging war against the Native American tribes whose lands they traverse.

The rugged pioneer life in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains is now largely a memory, preserved primarily through the oral histories passed down within families. Many influential figures from this not-so-distant chapter of American history have faded into obscurity. 'Silent Matriarchs' shines a light on the lives of women like Hannah, Mahala, Adeline, Mary Elizabeth, Stella, and Effie, who navigated the joys and hardships of rural life in Eastern Kentucky and Tennessee. Their stories of love, life, and enduring personal challenges showcase their remarkable determination and ...

With the return of Louis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery, news of the vast Rocky Mountains and their abundant wildlife enticed American traders and trappers. Their goal, to obtain the riches offered there in beaver fur. These men, seasoned by years of hunting in the eastern forests of the young United States, ventured out braving not only the hazards of nature, but the enmity of the Blackfeet Nation and the hostility of competitors such as Canada’s North West Company. Men like Obadiah Cash went west to trap and harvest the “Furry Bank Notes”, as beaver hides were called. Within a few...

Early on August 12, 2000, four of America's best young rock climbers were sleeping in their portaledges high on the Yellow Wall, in the central Asian mountain range of Kyrgyzstan,. By daybreak, they would be taken at gunpoint by militants of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which is linked to Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network. In a life-and-death journey over six terrifying days, they would be forced to choose between saving their own lives and committing an act none of them thought they ever could.

“Historical fiction at its very best . . . lots of laughs to go along with it.” Amazon Reviewer Unexpected attractions develop when Sally and her brother Will, from sophisticated Boston, encounter adventurous Caroline and her brother Teddie, from the rugged Colorado frontier. But their courtships are soon ended when they find themselves pulled apart by vastly different ambitions. Yet as the thwarted lovers attempt to make their own way in a rapidly changing nation, they find themselves unable to forget the person they once adored. Based on true events, Catching Currents captures not ...

Jane Teaberry hopes her life will settle down after all the trouble she found last summer. She moves into her college dorm with her friend, Peaches Parker, and just as they are settling into college life, one of the students is attacked during a break-in at the Archaeology lab where Peaches’ dad works. Two sand paintings from a recent dig in New Mexico are missing and Jane is determined to find out why. On the way to the library to learn more about them, someone pushes Jane out in front of a car. Trouble follows the girls when Jane, Peaches, and her cousin Ashley go on a road trip out ...

One of the bestselling novelists of the American West brings us a gripping tale of gold, greed, and vengeance.

At the age of twelve, under the Wind moon, Will is given a horse, a key, and a map, and sent alone into the Indian Nation to run a trading post as a bound boy. It is during this time that he grows into a man, learning, as he does, of the raw power it takes to create a life, to find a home. In a card game with a white Indian named Featherstone, Will wins–for a brief moment–a mysterious girl named Claire, and his passion and desire for her spans this novel.

Twists. Turns. Disappointments. Unexpected Christmas joy. For beautiful, blonde-haired Hazel Ellis, the trip west as a mail-order bride is fraught with uncertainty. She and her sisters have decided that they must leave Boston, where their father’s financial downfall has left them with no marriage prospects in elite Beacon Hill society. Their husbands await them in Colorado so they must go there. Wealthy rancher Harley Wyatt is a man whose cattle and acres mark him as someone of importance in the growing town of Newton. Aloof and used to getting his own way, Harley has secrets he’s ...

When gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill on the American River, it completely transformed the territory of California. Hundreds of thousands of people sped to California by any means possible, and small cities sprung up to service their needs as they sought the precious metal. By 1850, California had become a state; it had also become a symbol of where the nation was going.

"Captivating, suspenseful & raw. An accurate depiction of life during that time. Incredible!" When Danny Jackson says "the N-word" on his fifth birthday his grandmother tells him their family doesn't use that word, though he's learned it from his father. There's a mysterious grave in their woods, and all he's ever heard it called was "the N-word Grave." Thus begins a family saga and coming of age story as an Appalachian grandmother tries to change her family's trajectory regarding race relations. Danny and Martin Noble Peoples, a descendent of the murdered black man, team up to uncover the ...

When Donaldina Cameron arrives at the Occidental Mission Home for Girls in 1895, she intends to teach sewing skills to young Chinese women immigrants, but, within days, she discovers that the job is much more complicated than perfect stitches and even hems. San Francisco has a dark side, one where a powerful underground organization - the criminal tong - brings Chinese young women to America to sell them as slaves. With the help of Chinese interpreters and the Chinatown police squad, Donaldina becomes a tireless social reformer to stop the abominable slave and prostitution trade.

This magnificent novel by one of America's finest writers is the epic of one man's remarkable journey, set in 19th-century America against the background of a vanishing people and a rich way of life. At the age of 12, under the Wind moon, Will is given a horse, a key, and a map, and sent alone into the Indian Nation to run a trading post as a bound boy. It is during this time that he grows into a man, learning, as he does, of the raw power it takes to create a life, to find a home.