My American Journey

Written by Colin L. Powell and Joseph E. Persico

Format: Trade Paperback, 656 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books
On Sale: March 4, 2003
Price: $20.00
ISBN: 978-0-345-46641-9 (0-345-46641-1)

My American Journey is the powerful story of a life well lived and well told. It is also a view from the mountaintop of the political landscape of America. At a time when Americans feel disenchanted with their leaders, General Powell's passionate views on family, personal responsibility, and, in his own... Read more >

FDR's Folly
How Roosevelt and His New Deal Prolonged the Great Depression
Written by Jim Powell

Format: Trade Paperback, 352 pages
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
On Sale: September 28, 2004
Price: $14.95
ISBN: 978-1-4000-5477-0 (1-4000-5477-X)

For generations, conventional wisdom has maintained that the Great Depression ruined America and the New Deal saved it. Praise has been heaped upon President Franklin Delano Roosevelt for masterfully reining in the Depression’s destructive effects and propping up the country on his New Deal platform. In fact, FDR has achieved mythical... Read more >

The Military Error
Baghdad and Beyond in America's War of Choice
Written by Thomas Powers

Format: Trade Paperback, 140 pages
Publisher: New York Review Books
On Sale: August 12, 2008
Price: $14.95
ISBN: 978-1-59017-299-5 (1-59017-299-X)

Why did George W. Bush invade Iraq? What were the real motives, the overarching policy decisions that drove events from September 11 until the war began?

To a large extent, we still don’t know. But by now we do know in some detail, as Thomas Powers carefully explains in the essays collected... Read more >

The Conviction of Richard Nixon
The Untold Story of the Frost/Nixon Interviews
Written by James Reston, Jr.

Format: Trade Paperback, 208 pages
Publisher: Broadway
On Sale: May 27, 2008
Price: $13.95
ISBN: 978-0-307-39490-3 (0-307-39490-5)

The Watergate scandal began with a break-in at the office of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate Hotel on June 17, 1971, and ended when President Gerald Ford granted Richard M. Nixon a pardon on September 8, 1974, one month after Nixon resigned from office in disgrace. Effectively removed from... Read more >

Wicked River
The Mississippi When It Last Ran Wild
Written by Lee Sandlin

Format: Hardcover, 304 pages
Publisher: Pantheon
On Sale: October 19, 2010
Price: $26.95
ISBN: 978-0-307-37851-4 (0-307-37851-9)

From award-winning journalist Lee Sandlin comes a riveting look at one of the most colorful, dangerous, and peculiar places in America’s historical landscape: the strange, wonderful, and mysterious Mississippi River of the nineteenth century.

Beginning in the early 1800s and climaxing with the siege of Vicksburg in 1863, Wicked River takes us... Read more >

Struggle for a Vast Future
The American Civil War
Written by Aaron Sheehan-Dean

Format: Trade Paperback, 272 pages
Publisher: Osprey Publishing
On Sale: September 11, 2007
Price: $21.95
ISBN: 978-1-84603-213-4 (1-84603-213-X)

The American Civil War saw the country that was founded on the ideals of "liberty and union" torn apart and embroiled in some of the most bitter and bloodiest fighting mankind has witnessed. The war changed the face and character of America forever and the shockwaves of it resounded around the... Read more >

Back to Our Future
How the 1980s Explain the World We Live in Now--Our Culture, Our Politics, Our Everything
Written by David Sirota

Format: Hardcover, 304 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books
On Sale: March 15, 2011
Price: $25.00
ISBN: 978-0-345-51878-1 (0-345-51878-0)

Wall Street scandals. Fights over taxes. Racial resentments. A Lakers-Celtics championship. The Karate Kid topping the box-office charts. Bon Jovi touring the country. These words could describe our current moment—or the vaunted iconography of three decades past.

In this wide-ranging and wickedly entertaining book, New York Times bestselling journalist David Sirota takes... Read more >

With the Old Breed
At Peleliu and Okinawa
Written by E.B. Sledge

Format: Paperback, 384 pages
Publisher: Presidio Press
On Sale: September 25, 2007
Price: $7.99
ISBN: 978-0-89141-919-8 (0-89141-919-5)

In The Wall Street Journal, Victor Davis Hanson named With the Old Breed one of the top five books on epic twentieth-century battles. Studs Terkel interviewed the author for his definitive oral history, The Good War. Now E. B. Sledge’s acclaimed first-person account of fighting at Peleliu and Okinawa returns to... Read more >

Who Stole the American Dream?

Written by Hedrick Smith

Format: Hardcover, 592 pages
Publisher: Random House
On Sale: September 11, 2012
Price: $30.00
ISBN: 978-1-4000-6966-8 (1-4000-6966-1)

To read the author's essay about Who Stole the American Dream? go to http://tinyurl.com/b78df7e.

Pulitzer Prize winner Hedrick Smith’s new book is an extraordinary achievement, an eye-opening account of how, over the past four decades, the American Dream has been dismantled and we became two Americas.

In his bestselling The Russians,... Read more >

Eisenhower in War and Peace

Written by Jean Edward Smith

Format: Trade Paperback, 976 pages
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
On Sale: May 7, 2013
Price: $20.00
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8288-6 (0-8129-8288-6)

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY
The Christian Science Monitor • St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“Magisterial.”—The New York Times

In this extraordinary volume, Jean Edward Smith presents a portrait of Dwight D. Eisenhower that is as full, rich, and revealing as anything ever written about America’s thirty-fourth president. Here is Eisenhower... Read more >

The Philosophical Breakfast Club
Four Remarkable Friends Who Transformed Science and Changed the World
Written by Laura J. Snyder

Format: Trade Paperback, 448 pages
Publisher: Broadway
On Sale: January 17, 2012
Price: $16.00
ISBN: 978-0-7679-3049-9 (0-7679-3049-5)

The Philosophical Breakfast Club recounts the life and work of four men who met as students at Cambridge University: Charles Babbage, John Herschel, William Whewell, and Richard Jones. Recognizing that they shared a love of science (as well as good food and drink) they began to meet on Sunday mornings to... Read more >

In the Ruins of Empire
The Japanese Surrender and the Battle for Postwar Asia
Written by Ronald Spector

Format: Trade Paperback, 400 pages
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
On Sale: July 8, 2008
Price: $16.00
ISBN: 978-0-8129-6732-6 (0-8129-6732-1)

Now in Paperback

With access to recently available firsthand accounts by Chinese, Japanese, British, and American witnesses and previously top secret U.S. intelligence records, acclaimed historian Ronald Spector tells for the first time the fascinating story of the deadly confrontations that broke out–or merely continued–in Asia after peace was proclaimed at the... Read more >

Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley

Written by Ephraim Squier

Format: Trade Paperback, 528 pages
Publisher: Smithsonian Books
On Sale: October 17, 1998
Price: $39.95
ISBN: 978-1-56098-898-4 (1-56098-898-3)

Originally published in 1848 as the first major work in the nascent discipline as well as the first publication of the newly established Smithsonian Institution, Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley remains today not only a key document in the history of American archaeology but also the primary source of information... Read more >

The Feminist Promise
1792 to the Present
Written by Christine Stansell

Format: Trade Paperback, 528 pages
Publisher: Modern Library
On Sale: May 10, 2011
Price: $18.00
ISBN: 978-0-8129-7202-3 (0-8129-7202-3)

In this definitive volume, respected historian Christine Stansell tells the story of one of the great democratic movements of our times. She paints richly detailed portraits of well-known leaders—Mary Wollstonecraft, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Betty Friedan—but others, too, appear in a new light, including Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Toni Morrison. Accounting for... Read more >

The Souvenir
A Daughter Discovers Her Father's War
Written by Louise Steinman

Format: Trade Paperback, 240 pages
Publisher: North Atlantic Books
On Sale: March 18, 2008
Price: $15.95
ISBN: 978-1-55643-701-4 (1-55643-701-3)

Selected by Penn State for its Freshman Year Reading Program

Louise Steinman’s American childhood in the fifties was bound by one unequivocal condition: “Never mention the war to your father.” That silence sustained itself until the fateful day Steinman opened an old ammunition box left behind after her parents’ death. In it... Read more >

Born on a Mountaintop
On the Road with Davy Crockett and the Ghosts of the Wild Frontier
Written by Bob Thompson

Format: Hardcover, 384 pages
Publisher: Crown
On Sale: March 5, 2013
Price: $27.00
ISBN: 978-0-307-72089-4 (0-307-72089-6)

Pioneer. Congressman. Martyr of the Alamo. King of the Wild Frontier. As with all great legends, Davy Crockett's has been retold many times. Over the years, he has been repeatedly reinvented by historians and popular storytellers. In fact, one could argue that there are three distinct Crocketts: the real David as... Read more >

The Journals of Captain John Smith
A Jamestown Biography
Written by John Thompson and Smith

Format: Trade Paperback, 256 pages
Publisher: National Geographic
On Sale: March 20, 2007
Price: $16.00
ISBN: 978-1-4262-0055-7 (1-4262-0055-2)

Drawing from Smith's own personal journals, this concise biography paints a rich and detailed portrait of one of America's most intriguing founding fathers. Historian John Thompson guides us through annotated selections of Smith's most important and compelling writings, adding authoritative perspective and commentary to round out the picture. The volume includes... Read more >

The Devil's Playground
A Century of Pleasure and Profit in Times Square
Written by James Traub

Format: Trade Paperback, 336 pages
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
On Sale: December 21, 2004
Price: $19.00
ISBN: 978-0-375-75978-9 (0-375-75978-6)

As Times Square turns 100, New York Times Magazine contributing writer James Traub tells the story of how this mercurial district became one of the most famous and exciting places in the world. The Devil’s Playground is classic and colorful American history, from the first years of the twentieth century through... Read more >

First Salute
A View of the American Revolution
Written by Barbara W. Tuchman

Format: Trade Paperback, 368 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books
On Sale: September 6, 1989
Price: $18.00
ISBN: 978-0-345-33667-5 (0-345-33667-4)

Tuchman analyzes the American Revolution in a brilliantly original way, placing the war in the historical context of the centuries-long conflicts between England and both France and Holland, demonstrating how the aid of both of these nations made the triumph of American independence possible. She sheds light on the key role... Read more >

The Guns of August
The Pulitzer Prize-Winning Classic About the Outbreak of World War I
Written by Barbara W. Tuchman

Format: Trade Paperback, 544 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books
On Sale: March 8, 1994
Price: $17.00
ISBN: 978-0-345-38623-6 (0-345-38623-X)

With the book that won the Pulitzer Prize, historian Barbara Tuchman lucidly examines the critical moves of August, 1914 and the events that led up to World War I. With keen attention to detail, and an intense knowledge of her subject and its characters, Tuchman reveals how the war started, the... Read more >

Practicing History
Selected Essays
Written by Barbara W. Tuchman

Format: Trade Paperback, 320 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books
On Sale: August 12, 1982
Price: $14.95
ISBN: 978-0-345-30363-9 (0-345-30363-6)

From thoughtful pieces on a historian’s role to striking insights into America’s past and present, including trenchant observations on the international scene, Tuchman looks at history in a unique way and draws lessons from what she sees.

"Persuades and enthralls...I can think of no better primer for the [student] who wishes... Read more >

Satchel
The Life and Times of an American Legend
Written by Larry Tye

Format: Trade Paperback, 432 pages
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
On Sale: May 4, 2010
Price: $16.00
ISBN: 978-0-8129-7797-4 (0-8129-7797-1)

A 2009 New York Times Notable Book
A 2009 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title

He is that rare American icon who has never been captured in a biography worthy of him. Now, at last, here is the superbly researched, spellbindingly told story of athlete, showman, philosopher, and boundary breaker Leroy “Satchel” Paige.

Few reliable records... Read more >

A History of Knowledge
Past, Present, and Future
Written by Charles Van Doren

Format: Trade Paperback, 448 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books
On Sale: March 17, 1992
Price: $16.95
ISBN: 978-0-345-37316-8 (0-345-37316-2)

Here is a compendium of everything that humankind has thought, invented, created, considered, and perfected from the beginnings of civilization into the 21st century. Massive in its scope and yet totally accessible, A History of Knowledge covers not only all the great theories and discoveries of the human race, but also... Read more >

Founding Faith
How Our Founding Fathers Forged a Radical New Approach to Religious Liberty
Written by Steven Waldman

Format: Trade Paperback, 304 pages
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
On Sale: March 10, 2009
Price: $16.00
ISBN: 978-0-8129-7474-4 (0-8129-7474-3)

The culture wars have distorted the dramatic story of how Americans came to worship freely. Many activists on the right maintain that the United States was founded as a “Christian nation.” Many on the left contend that the First Amendment was designed to boldly separate church and state. Neither of these... Read more >

America Reborn
A Twentieth-Century Narrative in Twenty-six Lives
Written by Martin Walker

Format: Trade Paperback, 416 pages
Publisher: Vintage
On Sale: July 10, 2001
Price: $15.00
ISBN: 978-0-375-70364-5 (0-375-70364-0)

The people Martin Walker has chosen to portray are presidents, industrialists, artists, thinkers, entertainers, soldiers, spies, criminals, and evangelists, among others. These are individuals who provide the framework for a discussion of the nation as a whole in a century when it was reinventing itself.

Walker explores America's ambition, idealism, triumph and... Read more >