English Heritage

When she hears that the small town of Heritage, Michigan, is looking for a new librarian, Libby Kingsley jumps at the opportunity. Little did she know the library is barely more than a storage closet stuffed with dusty, outdated books. What the community really needs is a new building. But the only funds available are those being channeled into the new town square, and the landscape architect in charge of the project wants nothing to do with her plans.

Drawing on a lifetime of military experience, Brigadier General S. L. A. Marshall, "one of our most distinguished military writers" ( New York Times), delivers this unflinching history of the war that was supposed to end all wars. From the perspective of more than half a century, Marshall examines the blunders and complacency that turned what everyone thought would be a brief campaign and an easy victory into a relentless four-year slaughter that left 10 million dead and 20 million wounded.

Through the telling of events from his own life, Wes Moore (author of the best-selling adult title The Other Wes Moore) explores the issues that separate success and failure. He also counterpoints his story with another man, someone who shared the same name, was almost the same age, grew up fatherless in a similar Baltimore neighborhood, but is serving a life sentence for murder. Compelled to write to the other Wes, the author was surprised to receive a reply. And so began a friendship, as letters turned into visits and the two men got to know one another.

Double Luck is filled with examples of how the human spirit can triumph over adversity. In the Chinese language, the word crisis is written with two symbols: one meaning "danger" and the other meaning "opportunity". Although Chi Fa's childhood was filled with crisis, he always looked for opportunity. His successful triumph over crisis after crisis is an inspiration for all who seek hope in the face of great challenges.

Dovey Johnson Roundtree was most famous for her successful defense of an indigent Black man accused of the murder of Mary Pinchot Meyer, a prominent White Washington, DC, socialite, in 1965. Despite her triumph in this high-profile case, Roundtree continued to represent the poor and the underserved. She was the first lawyer to bring a bus-desegregation case before the Interstate Commerce Commission, clinching the ruling that enabled Robert F. Kennedy to enforce bus integration. She was also among the first Black women to enter the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps.

Muhammad Ali's considerable skills as a boxer earned him the world heavyweight championship, a title that he lost and regained twice. But it was the force of his personality and his unwavering personal convictions that made him a lightning rod of the turbulent 1960s and elevated him to the status of the most recognized, controversial, and admired athlete in the world.

In a series of fascinating interviews, today's best and brightest historians weigh in on the crucial moments in American history. American Heritage's Great Minds of American History takes you there, imbuing the past with an immediacy that goes well beyond the scope of formal histories.

Georgia Rae Winston’s life in the farming community of Wildcat Springs, Indiana, has found a nice, quiet rhythm. She’s dating Detective Cal Perkins, and everyone predicts wedding bells - if only Cal weren’t so consumed with work. But then Clara Alspaugh, the town prodigal, comes home after 38 years. She just so happens to be the woman who broke Georgia’s dad’s heart back in high school.

Rural America is struggling. The average farmer is now 57 years old. Family agriculture is gradually fading, and prime farmland is often converted into environmentally harmful applications. But food cultivation has ecological consequences, too. Farms consume 80 percent of the nation’s water. Although they often prevent sprawling development, improve water quality, or provide wildlife habitat, they also pollute rivers, drain wetlands, or emit destructive greenhouse gasses.

Kainos is not the planet Exodus Ark colonists thought it would be. It is inhabited by the Volcuri, a once-thriving race that fell victim to the First and now fights for its very survival. With the Ark unable to travel, its people have no choice but to stay and ally themselves with the Volcuri...or risk certain death. Kent and his team must return to the surface and embark on a new mission: Find a way to defeat the Turned, and stop the First from taking them all prisoner as mind-controlled slaves.

Drummond Lathan has never wished for any form of the strange talents that curse his mother's bloodline. Serving as his father's advisor, negotiator, and second in command, his position as Lathan heir and his highly honed skill as a warrior garner him more than enough attention without the added burden of the hushed whispers his talented siblings have to bear.

Jaime Richards has spent most of her life in Pakistan, and returning to Australia seems like another planet compared to the country she has left behind. Here in Australia, boys try to kiss her, men wear shorts, and everyone says 'cool' all the time. How will she ever know the right things to say or do or wear? After all, this is meant to be her own culture. This is a story of living beyond borders and discovering the gift of adapting to new cultures, especially one’s own.

Stian’s first meeting with the Elves in their valley didn't quite go as he had hoped. While healing from his wounds, he’s tasked with trying to earn their trust, which, because of past occurrences, won’t be easy. In order to win them over, he’ll need to learn a whole lot more about them - and about magic. However, Stian is facing a much more serious threat...and he’ll need a lot more than magic to be able to respond to this newfound danger. He’ll need the support of allies.

Both Stian and his fiancée, the prettiest and nicest girl in the village, understand that by helping the Guardians they could get the much-coveted support for their relationship that they’ve been after. But a simple tracking and hunting trip turns out to be much longer, and much more complicated than Stian anticipated. In order to be successful, he embarks on a journey of self-discovery in the wilderness that turns into the adventure of a lifetime.

Rowan Kelly knows she’s lucky. After all, if she hadn’t been adopted, she could have spent her days in a rice paddy, or a windowless warehouse assembling iPhones - they make iPhones in Korea, right? Either way, slowly dying of boredom on Long Island is surely better than the alternative. But as she matures, she realizes that she’ll never know if she has her mother’s eyes, or if she’d be in America at all had her adoptive parents been able to conceive. Rowan sets out to prove that she can be someone’s first choice.

San Cristóbal was an unremarkable city—small, newly prosperous, contained by rain forest and river. But then the children arrived. No one knew where they came from: 32 kids, seemingly born of the jungle, speaking an unknown language. At first they scavenged, stealing food and money and absconding to the trees. But their transgressions escalated to violence, and then the city’s own children began defecting to join them. Facing complete collapse, municipal forces embark on a hunt to find the kids before the city falls into irreparable chaos.

In 1968, Michiko Nishiura Weglyn heard the U.S. attorney general declare on national television that there had never been concentration camps in the United States. Michi was the daughter of Japanese immigrants. In 1942, when she was fifteen, she had been sent to such a camp and imprisoned during World War II along with other Americans of Japanese ancestry. Her family lost everything—but Michi asserted herself as a student leader in high school and, against the wishes of her family, went on to college; then to New York, where she forged a career as a costume designer.

Countless Latin American women have made a deep impact on culture, art, science, and politics, and are still doing it. In this book, you’ll learn about 10 of those amazing people. Some of their names may sound familiar already, and some may be new to you, but each of their stories will provide a deep insight into their lives and the struggles they had to overcome.

Long before she was one of the Little Rock Nine, Melba Pattillo Beals was a warrior. Frustrated by the laws that kept African Americans separate but very much unequal to whites, she had questions: Why couldn't she drink from a whites-only fountain? Why couldn't she feel safe beyond home - or even within the walls of church? Adults all told her: Hold your tongue. Be patient. Know your place. But Beals had the heart of a fighter - and the knowledge that her true place was a free one.

At the age of 14, Francisco Jiménez, together with his older brother Roberto and his mother, are caught by la migra. Forced to leave their home, the entire family travels all night for 20 hours by bus, arriving at the U.S. and Mexican border in Nogales, Arizona. In the months and years that follow, Francisco, his mother and father, and his seven brothers and sister not only struggle to keep their family together, but also face crushing poverty, long hours of labor, and blatant prejudice.