When NPR contributor Scott Huler made one more attempt to get through James Joyce’s Ulysses, he had no idea it would launch an obsession with the book’s inspiration: the ancient Greek epic The Odyssey and the lonely homebound journey of its Everyman hero, Odysseus.No-Man’s Lands is Huler’s funny and touching exploration of the life lessons embedded within The Odyssey, a legendary tale of wandering and longing that could be read as a veritable gui...

“Nature, rightly questioned, never lies.” —A Manual of Scientific Enquiry, Third Edition, 1859Scott Huler was working as a copy editor for a small publisher when he stumbled across the Beaufort Wind Scale in his Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary. It was one of those moments of discovery that writers live for. Written centuries ago, its 110 words launched Huler on a remarkable journey over land and sea into a fascinating world of explorers, mariners, scientists, and writers. Aft...

In 1700, a young man named John Lawson left London and landed in Charleston, South Carolina, hoping to make a name for himself. For reasons unknown, he soon undertook a two-month journey through the still-mysterious Carolina backcountry. His travels yielded A New Voyage to Carolina in 1709, one of the most significant early American travel narratives, rich with observations about the region’s environment and Indigenous people. Lawson later helped found North Carolina’s first two c...

Best Creative Nonfiction of the South serves as a valuable resource for scholars, students, writers, and general readers interested in creative nonfiction both from specific areas of the South and across the region as a whole. This North Carolina volume, second in the series, contains essays that celebrate and document the Tar Heel state’s diverse cultures and geography, from the mountains to the sea. The writers included here come from diverse backgrounds, generations, and artist...

Best Creative Nonfiction of the South, of which this Virginia collection is the first volume, serves as a valuable resource for scholars, students, writers, and general readers interested in creative nonfiction both from specific areas of the South and across the region as a whole. The writers included in each volume come from diverse backgrounds, generations, and artistic traditions. Most, if not all, volumes in the series indirectly reflect literary changes over time and/or how ...

Winner • Pulitzer Prize for HistoryWinner • Kirkus Prize for NonfictionFinalist • National Book Critics Circle Award (Nonfiction)A New York Times Notable Book of the YearNamed one of the Best Books of the Year by the Washington Post, NPR, Library Journal, and gCaptainBooklist Editors’ Choice (History)Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for ExcellenceIn this “cri de coeur abou...

New archeological discoveries may finally solve the greatest mystery of Colonial America in this history of Roanoke and Hatteras Islands.Established on what is now North Carolina's Roanoke Island, the Roanoke Colony was intended to be England's first permanent settlement in North America. But in 1590, the entire population disappeared without a trace. The only clue to their fate was the word "Croatoan" carved into a tree. For centuries, the legend of the Lost Colon...

**Instant BestsellerWinner of the 2024 Willie Morris Award for Southern Nonfiction • A Chicago Public Library Must-Read Book of 2024 • A Booklist Editors' ChoiceA sweeping history of the Mississippi River—and the centuries of human meddling that have transformed both it and America.**The Mississippi River lies at the heart of America, an undeniable life force that is intertwined with the nation’s culture and history. Its watershed spans almost half the coun...

**Best Books of the Month: Wall Street Journal, Kirkus ReviewsFrom the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Gulf, a sweeping cultural and natural history of the bald eagle in America.**The bald eagle is regal but fearless, a bird you’re not inclined to argue with. For centuries, Americans have celebrated it as “majestic” and “noble,” yet savaged the living bird behind their national symbol as a malicious predator of livestock and, falsely, a snatc...

A fascinating account of how the Mississippi River shaped AmericaIn Old Man River, Paul Schneider tells the story of the river at the center of America's rich history—the Mississippi. Some fifteen thousand years ago, the majestic river provided Paleolithic humans with the routes by which early man began to explore the continent's interior. Since then, the river has been the site of historical significance, from the arrival of Spanish and French explorers in...

The real story of the First Thanksgiving from the New York Times bestselling author Nathaniel PhilbrickOne of America’s most acclaimed historians takes on the nation’s First Thanksgiving, telling us the true story behind the tale we think we know so well. In this selection from the New York Times bestseller Mayflower Nathaniel Philbrick recounts in riveting detail the truth about relations between Plymouth Colony and the British crown and...

Discover the history and culture of one of the most famous waterways in the world: the mighty Mississippi!The most famous river in America runs like a spine between the eastern and western parts of the country, flowing through ten states before it empties into the Gulf of Mexico. The mighty Miss also flows through the history of America, giving rise to great stories about the people who lived on it and used it as a watery highway, from Native Americans and European...