America Expedition

In the feverish, money-making age of railroad barons, political machines, and gold rushes, corruption was the rule, not the exception. Yet the Republican mogul "Big Alex" McKenzie defied even the era's standard for avarice. Charismatic and shameless, he arrived in the new Alaskan territory intent on controlling gold mines and draining them of their ore. Miners who had rushed to the frozen tundra to strike gold were appalled at his unabashed deviousness. A Most Wicked Conspiracy recounts McKenzie's plot to rob the gold fields.

With Thomas Jefferson's purchase of the vast Louisiana Territory, the U.S. President was one step closer to realizing his dream of a nation spanning the oceans. The next step was exploration of this new geographical possession. Thus began the unbelievable four-year odyssey chronicled in Lewis and Clark: The Great American Expedition.

Though it’s widely overlooked today, the U.S. has had a military presence in Asia for more than 200 years. The East Indies Squadron was formally established by President Andrew Jackson in 1835 to protect American property and trade in Asia, but U.S. warships were protecting American interests in Asia before then. In fact, American merchant vessels reached China as early as the 1780s.

Nick Neely chronicles his 650-mile trek on foot from San Diego to San Francisco, following the route of the first overland Spanish expedition into what was soon called Alta California. Led by Gaspar de Portolá in 1769, the expedition sketched a route that would become, in part, the famous El Camino Real. It laid the foundation for the Golden State we know today, a place that remains as mythical and captivating as any in the world.

The English explorer Henry Hudson devoted his life to the search for a water route through America, becoming the first European to navigate the Hudson River in the process. In Fatal Journey, acclaimed historian and biographer Peter C. Mancall narrates Hudsons final expedition.

In We Could Perceive No Sign of Them: Failed Colonies in North America, 1526-1689, historians David MacDonald and Raine Waters tell the fascinating stories of the many attempts to establish a European foothold in the New World, from the first Spanish colony in 1526 on the coast of Georgia to the final disastrous French endeavors near the arctic.

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy proposed the nation spend $20 billion to land a man on the Moon before the end of the decade. Based on eyewitness accounts and newly discovered archival material, Chasing the Moon reveals the unknown stories of the fascinating individuals whose imaginative work across decades culminated in America’s momentous achievement. More than a story of engineers and astronauts, the moon landing - now celebrating its 50th anniversary - grew out of the dreams of science fiction writers, filmmakers, military geniuses, and rule-breaking scientists.

Jeff Alt takes you along every step of his 2,160-mile Appalachian Trail adventure. This entertaining journey includes bears, bugs, blisters, captivating characters, skunk bedmates, and hilarious food cravings. Alt walked more than five million steps in tribute to his brother, who has cerebral palsy and lives in a home called Sunshine. This trail adventure has inspired an annual event that has raised more than $200,000 for Sunshine. It includes hiking tips for the whole family.

In un’opera scritta da un frate milanese del Trecento, Galvano Fiamma, si nasconde una breve menzione di una terra chiamata Marckalada, situata a ovest della Groenlandia. I marinai che viaggiano per i mari del Nord ne parlano come di una terra ricca di alberi e animali, dove si trovano grandi edifici e vivono dei giganti. È una notizia sensazionale: la prima menzione del continente americano nell’area mediterranea, un secolo e mezzo prima del viaggio di Colombo. Ma chi è Galvano Fiamma e da dove ricava queste informazioni? Cosa si sapeva davvero in Italia delle regioni al di là dell’oceano?

The new nation, the United States of America, doubled overnight in size with the purchase of a vast tract of land west of the Mississippi River. The sitting president, Thomas Jefferson, negotiated a deal for the land with French ruler Napoleon. Now that America had all this new unexplored territory, Jefferson knew it was time to explore this new land and firmly place America's claim on this expansive wilderness. In 1803, Jefferson commissioned the Corps of Discovery and named Meriwether Lewis as the leader.

When interpreter Toussaint Charbonneau, and his Shoshone Indian wife, Sacagawea, joined the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1804, they headed into country largely unknown to them, as it was to Thomas Jefferson's hand-picked explorers. There is little doubt as to the importance of Sacagawea's presence on the journey. She has become a near-legendary figure for her role as interpreter, guide, and "token of peace". Toussaint, however, has been maligned in both fiction and nonfiction alike.

There is so much about Texas that few people know. Who knows about the lawless Horrell Brothers, who feuded for years with "Pink" Higgins. What is the oldest town in Texas? Learn about the Jaybird-Woodpecker War, or about the Texas Enchanted Rock. Then there was the fence-cutting war along with the usual Texas favorites, the Alamo, Cattleman Charles Goodnight, Texas' First Navy, and the San Elizario Salt War. If that not enough, you can learn more about Pirate Jean Lafitte.

Many of us dream of finding instant wealth. Just imagine if you were able to go to a place where you could simply gather from the ground gold worth many thousands of dollars. Now imagine that at a time when the average wage for an unskilled worker was barely ten dollars per month.

These Chronicles could have been authored by Thomas Jefferson had he been so inclined to do so. He and Captain Meriwether Lewis spent long nights tracing its daily record of "Courses and Distances" onto brown paper on the floor of the East Wing of the White House. After Lewis's untimely death, Jefferson instead relegated the job to Captain William Clark. As a result, the narrative of the expedition has, until now, never been told as Captain Meriwether Lewis intended it to be.

In Nature and Culture in the Early Modern Atlantic, historian Peter C. Mancall reveals how Europeans and Native Americans thought about a natural world undergoing rapid change in the century following the historic voyages of Christopher Columbus. Through innovative use of oral history and folklore maintained for centuries by Native Americans as well as original use of manuscript atlases, paintings that depict European representations of nature, and texts that circulated across the ocean, he reveals how the encounter between the old world and the new changed the fate of millions.

Arkansas has long been a land rich in history and lore, and few of the events associated with The Natural State are more compelling and provocative than those associated with lost mines and buried treasures. Within this audiobook, award-winning author W.C. Jameson has captured and interpreted the most complete collection of these rich and varied stories of lost treasure.

Cristóbal Colón es uno de los personajes más importantes y conocidos de nuestra Historia Moderna. Sin embargo para la mayor parte del público la epopeya colombina finaliza como una empresa gloriosa en 1492 con el descubrimiento del continente americano.

Muitos leitores já passearam pelas lindas paisagens descritas nesta seleção de textos do livro "Tratado descritivo do Brasil" de Gabriel Soares de Sousa: Porto de Galinhas, Itamaracá, Cabo de Santo Agostinho... Neste descritivo, no entanto, poderão enxergar como era este cenário há quase 500 anos, quando Olinda, por exemplo, tinha apenas 700 habitantes!

Como o título bem diz, essa seleção de textos do livro "Tratado descritivo do Brasil" de Gabriel Soares de Sousa, descreve de forma pitoresca parcela da costa Norte do Brasil ao final do século XVI. Curioso demais encontrar aqui, entre outras singularidades, a referência às Amazonas que atacaram Francisco de Orellana e deram nome ao rio maior.

La palabra muisca, significa en lenguaje nativo persona o gente. Y según muy serias investigaciones los nativos muiscas parecen descendientes de los chinos que poblaron la América Central, y de ahí sin duda pasaron a Panamá, territorio que antes pertenecía a Colombia, Perú, Ecuador y otros lugares. Sí, a los “Chibchas” o “Muiscas” los hacen descendientes de los chinos, por cuanto el legisla cultural y legendaria, cuna a la vez de los primeros inventos y de una gran civilización. De la misma manera se afirma que los fenicios también se establecieron en América.