**WINNER OF THE BANCROFT PRIZEA New York Times Book Review and Atlantic Monthly Editors' Choice**Thomas Jefferson denied that whites and freed blacks could live together in harmony. His cousin, Richard Randolph, not only disagreed, but made it possible for ninety African Americans to prove Jefferson wrong.Israel on the Appomattox tells the story of these liberated blacks and the community they formed, called Israel Hill, in Prince Edward C...

Ever since Darwin, animal behavior has intrigued and perplexed human observers. The elaborate mating rituals, lavish decorative displays, complex songs, calls, dances and many other forms of animal signaling raise fascinating questions. To what degree can animals communicate within their own species and even between species? What evolutionary purpose do such communications serve? Perhaps most importantly, what can animal signaling tell us about our own non-verbal forms of communication? In...