"In this posthumous collection of thought-provoking essays—many never published before—Pulitzer Prize–winning historian and bestselling author David McCullough affirms the value of history, how we can be guided by its lessons, and the enduring legacy of American ideals.
History Matters brings together selected essays by beloved historian David McCullough, some published here for the first time, written at different points over the course of his long career but all focused on the subject of his lifelong passion: the importance of history in understanding our present and future. Edited by McCullough's daughter, Dorie McCullough Lawson, and his longtime researcher, Michael Hill, History Matters is a tribute to a master historian and offers fresh insights into McCullough's enduring interests and writing life. The book also features a foreword by Jon Meacham.
McCullough highlights the importance of character in political leaders, with Harry Truman and George Washington serving as exemplars of American values like optimism and determination. He shares his early influences, from the books he cherished in his youth to the people who mentored him. He also pays homage to those who inspired him, such as writer Paul Horgan and painter Thomas Eakins, illustrating the diverse influences on his writing as well as the influence of art.
Rich with McCullough's signature grace, curiosity, and narrative gifts, these essays offer vital lessons in viewing history through the eyes of its participants, a perspective that McCullough believed was crucial to understanding the present as well as the past. History Matters is testament to McCullough's legacy as one of the great storytellers of this nation's history and of the lasting promise of American ideals."
"One of the twentieth century's most influential books, this classic work of anthropology offers a groundbreaking exploration of what culture is
With The Interpretation of Cultures, the distinguished anthropologist Clifford Geertz developed the concept of thick description, and in so doing, he virtually rewrote the rules of his field. Culture, Geertz argues, does not drive human behavior. Rather, it is a web of symbols that can help us better understand what that behavior means. A thick description explains not only the behavior, but the context in which it occurs, and to describe something thickly, Geertz argues, is the fundamental role of the anthropologist.
Named one of the 100 most important books published since World War II by the Times Literary Supplement, The Interpretation of Cultures transformed how we think about others' cultures and our own. This definitive edition, with a foreword by Robert Darnton, remains an essential book for anthropologists, historians, and anyone else seeking to better understand human cultures."
"Black history is under attack from powerful right-wing forces that seek to excise it from classrooms and libraries. Its opponents fail to understand a simple truth: the best education challenges our assumptions and demands we keep at it. It makes us uncomfortable, helps us see larger forces at work, and gives us glimpses of alternate futures.
In Black History Is for Everyone, award-winning educator and scholar Brian Jones offers a meditation on the power of Black history, using his own experiences as a life-long learner and classroom teacher to question everything from the meaning of race and nation to the radicalism of the American Revolution. We see that 'race' took centuries to get defined; we follow Frederick Douglass as he grapples with how to relate to the United States and, later, to Haiti; we compare the American, French, and Haitian revolutions; and we learn why the study of Black history has always been threatened.
In these pages, Jones offers a persuasive case for Black history and a celebration of the rewards of education. With warmth, immersive storytelling, and good cheer, Jones encourages us to delve deeper into our collective history, explores how curiosity about our world is essential—and reminds us that with stakes so high, the effort is worth it."
"The true story of a woman hanged in colonial Portsmouth for burying her stillborn out-of-wedlock baby.
On a cold December morning in 1768, thirty-one-year-old Ruth Blay approached the gallows for her execution. Standing on the high ground in the northwest corner of what is now Portsmouth's old South Cemetery, she would have had a clear view across the pasture to the harbor and open sea.
The eighteenth-century hanging of a schoolteacher for concealing the birth of a child out of wedlock has appeared in local legend over the last few centuries, but the full account of Ruth's story has never been told. Drawing on over two years of investigative research, author Carolyn Marvin brings to light the dramatic details of Ruth's life and the cruel injustice of colonial Portsmouth's moral code. As Marvin uncovers the real flesh-and-blood woman who suffered the ultimate punishment, her listeners come to understand Ruth as an individual and a woman of her time."
"In the fall of 1916, New York housemaid Augusta Steinbach fell in love with a man she met through a matrimonial advertisement in her local newspaper. She traveled to Detroit to marry her correspondent, but in March 1917, she mysteriously disappeared. What began as a routine search for a missing person turned into a baffling case of deception, bigamy and murder. Follow detectives as they unravel the tangled web spun by Michigan's original lonely hearts killer—a criminal mastermind the Detroit News dubbed 'one of America's master outlaws.'"
"The Silk Road may be one origin of globalization, but the Indian Ocean is another. Barry Cunliffe examines the beginning of maritime trade using the evidence of archaeology and the tales of great travelers such as Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta, and the Chinese Admiral, Zheng He. This story complements that of the land routes, showing how humans have been driven across thousands of years to create and maintain networks whatever the difficulties.
Driven by the Monsoons illuminates maritime connections between the Indian Ocean and its surrounding water routes: the Arabian Gulf and the Red and China Seas. It begins with the movement of humans into South-East Asia and ends about 1600 CE when European companies emerge to takeover. It is tale of exotic goods, material needs, adventure, and desire.
While conditions at sea and the abilities of the maritime communities provided a degree of stability, the direction and intensity of trade and the types of commodities on the move was determined by the fortunes and aspirations of distant empires, those of China in the east and South-West Asia and the Mediterranean in the west. This ever-changing pressure provided the dynamic situation in which society and economies in East Africa, India, and South-East Asia flourished. Driven by the Monsoons explores the birth of the modern, connected, world."
"Triumph and tragedy, love and loss, murder and malice in the lives of five fifteenth-century queens
The fifteenth century was a turbulent age: the Hundred Years War between England and France, and the Wars of the Roses dominated the lives of people both inside and out of the royal courts.
Joan of Navarre, Katherine of Valois, Margaret of Anjou, Elizabeth Wydeville and Anne Neville were the queens who stood by England's sovereigns, caught up in wars that changed the course of their lives, and the course of history.
They were also formidable women who defied the limitations of their times, often living out the brutal consequences of their determination.
Alison Weir uncovers their stories in this final volume of her ground-breaking series on the queens of medieval England. Queens at War is a stunning culmination of research by a historian at the full extent of her powers and gripping account of five women on the throne."
"Legendary treasures. Mythical robberies. Lost riches. Buried plunder and fabulous wealth. Hidden dangers. Ancient curses and deathbed jinxes. Captivating tales of lost fortunes, hidden caches, the eternal allure of wealth, and the heartbreak of mysterious curses!
Hear about the pursuit of riches turning to grief in this mesmerizing story collection! A thrilling exploration of the world's most intriguing and dangerous treasure hunts, Lost Loot: Cursed Treasures and Blood Money collects dozens of fascinating stories of reward, riches, greed, and ruin, including curses, deaths, and centuries-old treasure on Oak Island; searchers hunted down and killed before finding a gangster's stolen riches; the eternal quest for D. B. Cooper and his hijack ransom; elaborate booby traps protecting ill-gotten gains; cursed Aztec wealth lost as it journeyed to Spain; mysterious caves holding secrets in the Grand Canyon; Montezuma's revenge; the train-robbing Robin Hood myth of the Sam Bass Gang; the missing Fabergé eggs; John Dillinger's suitcase; King Kamehameha's burial chamber; Captain Kidd's buried treasure; and more stories of doomed pursuits of plundered riches.
Tales of bewitching riches and hunts gone wrong, yet hope springs eternal. Lost Loot unfolds like a treasure map—but beware of the hidden, deadly obstacles!"
"Learn the stories behind this luxurious—and haunted—ocean liner . . .
For thirty-one years, the RMS Queen Mary sailed the North Atlantic. It helped defeat Hitler and was the ship of choice for the world's rich and famous. Now in retirement in the Port of Long Beach, the 'Stateliest Ship Afloat' plays host to tourists, travelers—and more than six hundred spirits that roam her halls and passageways.
These choice decks remain the floating home of a few regulars, including the oft-glimpsed White Lady, as well as Little Jackie, John Henry, and, of course, Grumpy. Join paranormal investigators Brian Clune and Bob Davis as they take you to the hot spots of activity from port to starboard and relate tales from the dockside about the spirits that haunt the grandest liner ever built."
