"By bringing us the inspiring and sometimes unsettling tales of Ellis Island, Vincent Cannato's American Passage helps us understand who we are as a nation." — Walter Isaacson "Never before has Ellis Island been writt...

Texas and Texans have been known to boast of having the best or the worst, the most or the least, the largest or the tiniest of just about everything. Texas Trivia: Everything Y'all Need to Know about the Lone Star State reveals the f...

The story of "western expansion" is a familiar one: U.S. government agents, through duplicity and force, persuaded Native Americans to sign treaties that gave away their rights to the land. But this framing, argues Martin Ca...

When the people of Flint, Michigan, turned on their faucets in April 2014, the water pouring out was poisoned with lead and other toxins.Through a series of disastrous decisions, the state government had switched the city’s water su...

In 1513, Spanish explorer Ponce de León first set foot on Florida's east coast. The land he discovered was a geographic anomaly so distinctive that astronaut Neil Armstrong said Florida was the first shape on earth he recognized on h...

Now in paperback, the New York Times bestselling story of the taming of the Wild West, set in Dodge City, the most depraved and criminal town in the nation.The instant New York Times bestseller!Dodge City, Kansas, is a place of legend...

From Hopkinton to Boylston Street, the beloved 26.2 miles of the Boston Marathon mark historic moments and memories dating back to 1897. Town by town and step by step, follow author, journalist, and runner Paul C. Clerici as he goes d...

This is the story of San Francisco, a unique and rowdy tale with a legendary cast of characters. It tells of the Indians and the Spanish missions, the arrival of thousands of gold seekers and gamblers, crackbrains and dreamers, the bu...

The 1876 accident at Ashtabula had all the elements of a classic tragedy: cold, snowy weather that lent eeriness to the dark of night; height, as in the 70 feet from bridge to river; modern technology in an experimental iron bridge; m...

"Valhalla" is the Rice University Graduate Student Association's Lounge. This is a book on its history.

The Founding Fathers who drafted the United States Constitution in 1787 distrusted political parties, popular democracy, centralized government, and a strong executive office. Yet the country's national politics have historically incl...

"An achievement of reportorial diligence, this book tells a story that the most imaginative crime novelist would have been hard put to invent. It is a tale of death, intrigue, obstruction of justice, corruption and politics. It is als...

Welcome to the wild and heartwarming world of the Kempton RanchIn its day, the famed Kempton Ranch of eastern Montana was one of the largest horse and cattle operations in Montana, selling mounts to armies and polo-playing royalty ali...

C. P. Ellis grew up in the poor white section of Durham, North Carolina, and as a young man joined the Ku Klux Klan. Ann Atwater, a single mother from the poor black part of town, quit her job as a household domestic to join the civil...

Louisiana is a state highly unique and diverse in its history and traditions. While mainly known as a French territory, the early German settlers greatly contributed to the rich culture. J. Hanno Deiler's "The Settlement of the G...

The astonishing story of a unique missionary project—and the America it embodied—from award-winning historian John Demos.Near the start of the nineteenth century, as the newly established United States looked outward toward the w...

What's so great about Delaware? Find out the top ten sites to see or things to do in the First State! We'll explore Delaware's popular beaches, exciting parks, bustling bike trails, and rich history. The Delaware by Map feature shows ...

On October 12, 2005, a massive fire broke out in the Wines Central wine warehouse in Vallejo, California. Within hours, the flames had destroyed 4.5 million bottles of California's finest wine worth more than $250 million, making it t...

One day, Jesse Donaldson wakes up in Portland, Oregon, and asks his wife to uproot their life together and move to his native Kentucky. As he searches for the reason behind this sudden urge, Donaldson examines both the place where he ...

This book offers an inside look at over 30 interesting and unusual episodes that shaped the history of the Sooner State. Read all about the Trail of Tears in Tahlequah. Find out why George W. McLaurin was denied admission to the Unive...

The Outer Banks is much more than an idyllic vacation destination. A day at a time through history, it has claimed its place as a colorful region of the Old North State. Author Sarah Downing offers a daily look at the quirky and fasci...

In mid-November 1900, a herd of sheep crossed a plowed furrow "deadline" which had separated the public ranges for cattle and sheep herds for many years. On the early morning of December 28, 1900, a determined group of cattlemen, led ...

The story of Sherrod Bryant begins in a small village on the border of North Carolina. It's a story about a young man who had very humble beginnings. Sherrod wanted to become a gentleman farmer but would go on to become one of the mos...

1849--Gold Rush madness threatened to destroy California. Congress could not decide if the western territory should be admitted as a slave state or a free state. Something had to be done, and newly-appointed Military Governor Bennet C...

Colorado Territory in 1864 wasn't merely the wild west, it was a land in limbo while the Civil War raged in the east and politics swirled around its potential admission to the union. The territorial governor, John Evans, had ambitions...

. . . Meanwhile, Jim with the help of his sister, made his way into Timothy's house. There, on the kitchen floor, Beatrice and Tim cleaned Jim's wound, applied a "blue stone solution as a disinfectant and some salve" and wra...

An essential work of American civil rights history, Tinderbox mesmerizingly reconstructs the 1973 fire that devastated New Orleans' subterranean gay community. Buried for decades, the Up Stairs Lounge tragedy has only recently emerged...

 After leaving home at a young age and defying her parents to marry the dashing Garrett Maupin, Martha Maupin's future became bound up with some of the most extraordinary events in antebellum American history, eventually leading to h...

The rivalry of Jane Jacobs and Robert Moses, a struggle for the soul of a city, is one of the most dramatic and consequential in modern American history. To a young Jane Jacobs, Greenwich Village, with its winding cobblestone streets ...

This tour of the nation's capital goes beyond the traditional guidebook to offer a historical journey through the federal district. Visit the White House, the only executive home in the world regularly open to the public. Travel to Pr...