In one corner, a godless young warrior, Voltaire’s heralded ‘philosopher-king’, the It Boy of the Enlightenment. In the other, a devout if bad-tempered old composer of ‘outdated’ music, a scorned genius in his last years. The sparks from their brief conflict illuminate a turbulent age.Behind the pomp and flash, Prussia's Frederick the Great was a tormented man, son of an abusive king who forced him to watch as his best friend (probably his lover) was beheaded. In what may have been...

"A potent tool and practical resource for everyone who practices in the talent development and organizational improvement field." —Chip R. Bell, author of Inside Your Customer's ImaginationNEW EDITION, REVISED AND UPDATEDIn America, organizations spend $175 billion in training initiatives and more than $500 billion in human resource solutions every year yet often have little to show for it. One reason is that people "jump to solutions" before they i...

An “exciting and enlightening revisionist history” (Walter Isaacson, #1 New York Times bestselling author) of 1950s America that upends the myth that the decade was one of conformity and celebrates a few solitary, brave, and stubborn individuals who pioneered the radical gay rights, feminist, civil rights, and environmental movements, from historian James R. Gaines.An “enchanting, beautifully written book about heroes and the dark times to which they refus...

"Gaines has a deft understanding of the Washington-Lafayette relationship ... [and] a knack for wielding substantial research with aplomb."—San Francisco ChronicleThis book tells the story of the French and American Revolutions in a single, thrilling narrative that shows just how deeply intertwined they actually were. Their leaders were often seen as father and son, but the relationship of George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette, while close, was ev...

There are many myths about animals that have been repeated so many times that most folks believe they are true. These myths are often called Old Wives Tales but I firmly believe that many of the beliefs were created by males so I prefer to be politically correct and call them OLD SPOUSES TALES. The essays in this book are meant to dispel the Old Spouses Tales about animals and animal related myths that have been propagated for so long that they are accepted as true. Some of the truths brou...

One man’s remarkable account of nation‑building, Native diplomacy, and the making of the early American South.The Reminiscences of George Strother Gaines: Pioneer and Statesman of Early Alabama and Mississippi, 1805–1843 offers one of the most vivid, irreplaceable firsthand accounts of the American Southeast during its most transformative decades. Edited and expertly contextualized by historian James P. Pate, this volume gathers Gaines’s dictated ...

Stirring, heroic, and wonderfully laced with the musical languages of the Bayou, A Gathering of Old Men is a breathtaking saga from Ernest J. Gaines—the foremost voice in contemporary African-American literature.When Sheriff Mapes is summoned to a sugarcane plantation, he finds a dead Cajun farmer. He knows who committed the crime, but Mapes finds himself powerless when nearly 20 elderly black men confess to the murder. Can justice be served, or will the dead man’s brutish...

The Enigmatic South brings together leading scholars of the Civil War period to challenge existing perceptions of the advance to secession, the Civil War, and its aftermath. The pioneering research and innovative arguments of these historians bring crucial insights to the study of this era in American history.Christopher Childers, Sarah L. Hyde, and Julia Huston Nguyen consider the ways politics, religion, and education contributed to southern attitudes toward secession in the anteb...

They began as courtiers in a hierarchy of privilege, but history remembers them as patriot-citizens in a commonwealth of equals.On April 18, 1775, a riot over the price of flour broke out in the French city of Dijon. That night, across the Atlantic, Paul Revere mounted the fastest horse he could find and kicked it into a gallop.So began what have been called the "sister revolutions" of France and America. In a single, thrilling narrative, this book tells the story of those ...

This collection includes over 100 slave narratives and more than a thousands transcripts of recorded interviews made with former salves in the first half of 20th century: Life of William Grimes, the Runaway Slave Narrative of Sojourner Truth: A Northern Slave The History of Mary Prince The Blind African Slave (Boyrereau Brinch) The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano The Life and Adventures of Zamba, an African King (Zamba Zembola) A Narrative of Some Remarkable Incidents ...

Now a major motion picture, this is the first—and only—definitive authorized account of Neil Armstrong, the man whose “one small step” changed history.When Apollo 11 touched down on the Moon’s surface in 1969, the first man on the Moon became a legend. In First Man, author James R. Hansen explores the life of Neil Armstrong. Based on over fifty hours of interviews with the intensely private Armstrong, who also gave Hansen exclusive access to private docume...

A medical thriller from Pulitzer Prize–winning author James B. Stewart about serial killer doctor Michael Swango and the medical community that chose to turn a blind eye on his criminal activities.No one could believe that the handsome young doctor might be a serial killer. Wherever he was hired—in Ohio, Illinois, New York, South Dakota—Michael Swango at first seemed the model physician. Then his patients began dying under suspicious circumstances.At once a...