Showing titles in History & Culture

The influence of the Roman Empire has been widespread and profound, perhaps more so than that of any other empire or civilization. Rome laid the foundation for many of the institutions and ideas in the modern Western world, including the common political and legal systems. Roman ruins can still be found in distant England, and Roman aqueducts still bring fresh drinking water to modern Rome.

An informative introduction to the life of Cleopatra. For more than 2,000 years, plays, poetry, movies, and television have portrayed Cleopatra as an ambitious woman who used her beauty to seduce powerful men like Julius Caesar and Mark Antony in a ruthless attempt to increase her own power and wealth. But is this the real Cleopatra, or one invented by male historians anxious to discredit an intelligent, competent woman who was the last great pharaoh of Egypt?

Empire of Ancient Greece is an informative introduction to this cornerstone of Western civilization. The Greeks invented and developed everything from logic and democracy to rhetoric, drama, and philosophy. Empire of Ancient Greece chronicles the remarkable legacy of the Greeks, as well as the diversity of their societies - from the thriving democracy of Athens to the militarism of Sparta to the oligarchy of Thrace.

In this heroic clash of opposing conviction, Vincent Wingfield, a young spirited teenager and heir to a southern slave plantation, bravely proves his sympathy for brutally treated slaves and becomes a staunch supporter of slaves' rights. But, with the onset of the Civil War, Wingfield's fidelity to the state of Virginia leads him to serve under Robert E. Lee's cavalry and fight for the Confederacy.

Two-time Newbery Medal winner Gary Schmidt talks about the frequently comic mishaps and adventures of a 12-year-old Long Island boy in the Vietnam era. Actor Khris Lewin performs an excerpt from the book. Thalia Kids' Book Club events are lively talks between children's book authors and their fans (ages 9-12) plus one event for teens. Each event includes a creative writing project, a free-wheeling discussion with the audience, and a book signing. Sometimes an actor stops by to read from the book.

La gran novela de los torneos. La rivalidad entre sajones y normando es el telon de fondo de una de las novelas historicas mas populares de toda la literatura Ivanhoe. Ricardo, Corazon de Leon, a quien su cruel hermano Juan sin Tierra esta intentando desplazar, es la eminencia gris en esta gran novela de duelos, caballeria y torneos, en los cuales la lealtad y la caballerosidad guian una historia de amor.

Por un florero, Colombia logra su independencia. La historia nos dice que todo comenzó con un florero. Era Viernes, 20 de Julio y día de mercado, cuando un Criollo fue a pedir prestado un florero. Un acto, en apariencia efímero, desató en un enfrentamiento entre Criollos y Españoles y culminó en la independencia de Colombia. Sin embargo, hoy en día es claro que lo que sucedió este día no fue un hecho espontáneo como aquellos que habían caracterizado la vida política colonial.

The Environmental Movement is an informative introduction to this significant social movement, which arose in the United States in the late 1800s in response to the nation's dwindling forests and the pollution caused by an increasing number of factories. The vibrant text chronicles the accomplishments of conservationists such as Gifford Pinchot and John Muir, who helped the movement gain a foothold in the United States.

Civil War Battles is an informative introduction to the subject. For four straight years, the people of the United States fought against one another in a brutal civil war that resulted in the deaths of approximately 620,000 men in uniform. Between 1861 and 1865, more Americans died during this bloody conflict than in all other American wars combined. With fighting across the South and in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Missouri, and Kentucky, some battles proved to be key in the overall outcome of the war.

During a long, hot July in 1863, the worst race riots the United States has ever seen erupt in New York City. Earlier that year, desperate for more Union soldiers, President Abraham Lincoln instituted a draft - a draft that would allow the wealthy to escape serving in the army by paying a $300 waiver, more than a year's income for the recent immigrant Irish. And on July 11, as the first drawing takes place in Lower Manhattan, the city of New York explodes in rage and fire.

"Local color" author Frances Gilchrist Wood wrote this powerful tale of a young wife who proves better able to succeed on the homestead frontier than does her husband.

"The Adventure of the Norwood Builder" is one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It was the second tale published in The Return of Sherlock Holmes in 1903.

The setting is the civil war, and the hero (or anti-hero as it seems at first) is Henry Flemming, a young Northern boy who, swept up in the patriotic tide, joins the Union Army. He is plunged into the conflict, and his courage fails him - he runs from his first battle. He finds out later that his side was victorious, and he feels that he will never be able to face himself or his comrades again. He slowly recovers his courage in time for a crucial confrontation.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is known for being one of the greatest orators of the 20th Century, and perhaps in all of American history. In the 1950s and 1960s, his words led the Civil Rights movement and helped change society. Though his speeches refer to the conditions of the 1960s, his assertions that nonviolent protest is the key to democracy and that all humans are equal, are as timeless and powerful today as they were nearly forty years ago.

The Life & Times of George Washington (Part 2) - After being defeated at Germantown and Brandywine, Pa., George Washington and his army of 11,000 men spent the winter of 1777-78 at Valley Forge. More then 3,000 men died there of extreme cold, hunger and sickness. What kept them going? George Washington's leadership, Baron Von Steubin's training, and the news that general Burgoyne's Red Coats had been licked at Saratoga.

You are there, in 1787 at America's constitutional convention, with the inside story as veteran print and broadcast journalist Jeffrey St. John "reports" each day's proceedings, flavoring his dispatches with quotes from private correspondence and notes of the delegates.

Life on the streets of turn-of-the-century London hurls the orphan Oliver Twist into a danger-filled adventure! With him we meet the Artful Dodger and Fagin, and learn the ways of the hard world...

From the perspective of the young adult he was then, Francisco Jiménez describes the challenges he faced in his efforts to continue his education. During his college years, the very family solidarity that allowed Francisco to survive as a child is tested. Not only must he leave his family behind when he goes to Santa Clara University, but while Francisco is there, his father abandons the family and returns to Mexico.

Just in time for the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, Virginia comes an updated edition of Olga Hall-Quest's classic. Hall-Quest provides an absorbing account of life in this first permanent colony of what is now the United States, and the struggles of those who settled there. Experts from the Jamestown National Historical Site have fact-checked every detail, and the curator has written a brand-new foreword - complete with recently discovered information about the colony.

June 6, 1944: The greatest amphibious invasion the world had ever seen was launched, involving thousands of ships, incredible planning and preparation, and a million courageous soldiers, sailors, and airmen willing to sacrifice their lives for victory. Author and journalist Bruce Bliven was there that day, on the beaches of France, and he recounts it all, from the risky plans developed by the American and British military leaders through the daring landing itself.