The only mushrooming book that will introduce you safely and with confidence to the not-so "underground" hobby of mushroom hunting and gathering.Gathering edible wild food is a wonderful way to forge a connection to the earth. Mushrooms are the ultimate local food source; they grow literally everywhere, from mountains and woodlands to urban and suburban parks to your own backyard. The Complete Mushroom Hunter will enrich your understanding of the natural wo...

At the beginning of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln sought to bind important political leaders to the Union by appointing them as generals. The task was formidable: he had to find enough qualified officers to command a military that would fight along a front that stretched halfway across the continent. West Point hadn't graduated enough officers, and many of its best chose to fight for the Confederacy. Lincoln needed loyal men accustomed to organization, administration, and comman...

Filled with fresh interpretations and information, puncturing old myths and challenging new ones, Battle Cry of Freedom will unquestionably become the standard one-volume history of the Civil War. James McPherson's fast-paced narrative fully integrates the political, social, and military events that crowded the two decades from the outbreak of one war in Mexico to the ending of another at Appomattox. Packed with drama and analytical insight, the book vividly recounts the momentous...

Ulysses S. Grant was the first four-star general in the history of the United States Army and the only president between Andrew Jackson and Woodrow Wilson to serve eight consecutive years in the White House. As general in chief, Grant revolutionized modern warfare. Rather than capture enemy territory or march on Southern cities, he concentrated on engaging and defeating the Confederate armies in the field, and he pursued that strategy relentlessly. As president, he brought...

From the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of Empire of the Summer Moon and Rebel Yell comes “a masterwork of history” (Lawrence Wright, author of God Save Texas), the spellbinding, epic account of the last year of the Civil War.The fourth and final year of the Civil War offers one of the most compelling narratives and one of history’s great turning points. Now, Pulitzer Prize finalist S.C. Gwynne breathes new l...

Winner, American Battlefield Trust Prize for HistoryWinner, Library of Virginia Literary Award for NonfictionFinalist, Los Angeles Times Book Prize for BiographyA “compelling portrait” (Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize–winning author) of the controversial Confederate general who later embraced Reconstruction and became an outcast in the South.It was the most remarkable political about-face...

An epic, revelatory account of the Battle of Gettysburg, where George Meade, Lincoln's unexpected choice to lead the Union army, defeated Robert E. Lee and changed the course of the Civil War, from the award-winning author of James Monroe: A LifeBy mid-1863, the Civil War, with Northern victories in the West and Southern triumphs in the East, seemed unwinnable for Abraham Lincoln. Robert E. Lee’s bold thrust into Pennsylvania, if successful, could mean Sou...

This New York Times–bestselling biography follows President Lincoln through one fateful year as he rose to the moment of America's greatest crisis.As 1862 dawned, the American republic was at death's door. The federal government appeared overwhelmed, the US Treasury was broke, and the Union's top general was gravely ill. The Confederacy—with its booming economy, expert military leadership, and commanding position on the battlefield—had a clear view to victo...

**"James M. McPherson’s Tried by War is a perfect primer . . . for anyone who wishes to understand the evolution of the president’s role as commander in chief. Few historians write as well as McPherson, and none evoke the sound of battle with greater clarity." —The New York Times Book ReviewThe Pulitzer Prize–winning author reveals how Lincoln won the Civil War and invented the role of commander in chief as we know it**As we celebrate the bicentennial of L...

The Battle of Antietam fought on September 17 1862 was the bloodiest single day in American history with more than 6000 soldiers killed--four times the number lost on D-Day and twice the number killed in the September 11th terrorist attacks. In Crossroads of Freedom America's most eminent Civil War historian James M. McPherson paints a masterful account of this pivotal battle the events that led up to it and its aftermath. As McPherson shows by September 1862 the survival of the United Sta...

A battle ready guide to the deadliest war in American historyCompletely revised for the Sesquicentennial, The Complete Idiot's Guide® to the Civil War, Third Edition is a comprehensive overview of America's bloodiest war. From the first shots fired at Fort Sumter to Lee's surrender at Appomattox, this book embodies the latest scholarship, offering fascinating stories of the men and women who fought bravely and often died for a cause they believed ...

The second episode in this award-winning trilogy impressively shows how the Union and Confederacy, slowly and inexorably, reconciled themselves to an all-out war—an epic struggle for freedom.In Terrible Swift Sword, Bruce Catton tells the story of the Civil War as never before—of two turning points which changed the scope and meaning of the war. First, he describes how the war slowly but steadily got out of control. This would not be the neat, short, “limi...