Land America

In the later part of the 19th century, American bicyclists were explorers, cycling through both charted and uncharted territory. These wheelmen and wheelwomen became keen observers of suburban and rural landscapes, and left copious records of their journeys - in travel narratives, journalism, maps, photographs, illustrations. They were also instrumental in the construction of roads and paths ("wheelways") - building them, funding them, and lobbying legislators for them.

To understand the contemporary racial wealth gap, we must first unpack the historic attacks on Indigenous and Black land ownership. From the moment that colonizers set foot on Virginian soil, a centuries-long war was waged, resulting in an existential dilemma: Who owns what on stolen land? Who owns what with stolen labor? To answer these questions, we must confront one of this nation’s first sins: stealing, hoarding, and commodifying the land.

Welcome to the magical realm of Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, where dreams come alive and imaginations soar. As you step foot into this wondrous world, a sense of excitement and anticipation fills the air. The moment you pass through the gates, you leave behind the ordinary and embark on an extraordinary journey of enchantment and wonder.

New Mexico is a state with a rich and diverse history, dating back thousands of years. The land was originally inhabited by Native American tribes, including the Pueblo, Apache, and Navajo, which developed unique cultures, traditions, and ways of life.

The Conquest of Texas is the story of the struggle between Anglos and Indians for land. Anderson tells how Scotch-Irish settlers clashed with farming tribes and then challenged the Comanches and Kiowas for their hunting grounds. Next, the decade-long conflict with Mexico merged with war against Indians. For fifty years Texas remained in a virtual state of war. Piercing the very heart of Lone Star mythology, Anderson tells how the Texas government encouraged the Texas Rangers to annihilate Indian villages, including women and children. This policy of terror succeeded.

Hightower frames his story within the larger history of Old Oklahoma, beginning in Indian Territory, where displaced tribes and freedmen, wealthy cattlemen, and prospective homesteaders became embroiled in disputes over public land and federal government policies. Hightower captures the drama of the Boomer incursions and the Run of ’89, as well as the nascent urbanization of the townsite that would become Oklahoma City. All of these events played out in a political vacuum until Congress officially created Oklahoma Territory in the Organic Act of May 1890.

In 1620, a group of English families, known now as the Pilgrims, were carried from England to the New World on the Mayflower. When the Mayflower finally showed up in America on November 21, 1620, it had 102 guests and a team of around 30 on board, and was anchored off Cape Cod. The Pilgrims, as opposed to their Puritan coworkers, chose to break away from the Church of England because of its Roman Catholic heritage and the church's hesitation to reform, requiring them to pray in private instead of in the church.

From the 1930s to the 1960s, the United States knowingly used and discarded an entire tribe of people. The Navajo worked unprotected in the uranium mines that fueled the Manhattan Project and the Cold War. Long after these mines were abandoned, Navajos in all four corners of the Reservation (which borders Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona) continued grazing their animals on sagebrush flats riddled with uranium that had been blasted from the ground.

Charles D. Thompson, Jr., was born in Southwestern Virginia into an extended family of small farmers. Yet, as he came of age, he witnessed the demise of every farm in his family. Over the course of his own life of farming, rural education, organizing, and activism, the stories of his home place have been his constant inspiration, helping him identify with the losses of others and to fight against injustices. In Going Over Home, Thompson shares revelations and reflections, from cattle auctions with his grandfather to community gardens in the coal camps of Eastern Kentucky.

In thinking about her native land, Julia Reed quotes another Southern writer, Willie Morris, who said, “It’s the juxtapositions that get you down here.” These juxtapositions are, for Julia Reed, the soul of the South and in her warmhearted and funny new audiobook, South Toward Home, she chronicles her adventures through the highs and the lows of Southern life - the Delta hot tamale festival, a masked ball, a rollicking party in a boat on a sand bar, scary Christian billboards, and the southern affection for the lowly possum.

Oak Flat is a serene high-elevation mesa that sits above the Southeastern Arizona desert, 15 miles to the west of the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation. For the San Carlos tribe, Oak Flat is a holy place, an ancient burial ground and religious site where Apache girls celebrate the coming-of-age ritual known as the Sunrise Ceremony. In 1995, a massive untapped copper reserve was discovered nearby.

The history of California is one that witnessed the rise and fall of several nations and peoples. From the first natives to settle the fertile lands to the encroaching foreigners from the South, East, West, and North, the land that eventually became the Golden State received them all. Though it might have done things its own way, the fact that California has always handled problems as only California could be what has set it apart from other states.

The best-selling collection of patriotic poems, song lyrics, historical documents, and speeches, edited by and with an introduction by Caroline Kennedy. The America you will meet in A Patriot's Handbook is one that derives its strength from its diversity, and from the way our variety allows us constantly to reinvent ourselves. We are a country of poets, from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow to Langston Hughes; we are a country of songwriters, from Irving Berlin to Woody Guthrie. We are a country of "The Pledge of Allegiance", but also of "The Times They Are A-Changin.'"

What kind of impact does a battle and siege from more than 200 years ago have on the world today? Yorktown held the key to the end of the American Revolution and allowed America to become not only a sovereign nation, but also set the stage for it to become a world power, worth keeping an eye on.

Jacksonland is the thrilling narrative history of two men - President Andrew Jackson and Cherokee chief John Ross - who led their respective nations at a crossroads of American history. Five decades after the Revolutionary War, the United States approached a constitutional crisis. At its center stood two former military comrades locked in a struggle that tested the boundaries of our fledgling democracy. Jacksonland is their story.

Kushtaka or Kooshdakhaa is a Tlingit word meaning “land otter man.” The Kushtaka is on one hand the nemeses of the Tlingit people, yet necessary to their Shamans who play a critical role in the survival of the Tlingits. The Tlingit people are as mysterious in their beliefs as the Kushtaka, making for strange bedfellows.

Coriolano Amador, uno de los hombres más ricos y excéntricos de Colombia en el siglo XIX, adquirió un objeto de oro que todos los colombianos han visto alguna vez, pero del que pocos conocen su historia y su significado. Esa pieza incomprendida esconde un relato que comienza incluso antes del Descubrimiento de América, cuando la coca no era cocaína, sino una planta sagrada, y cuando el oro no era una moneda de cambio ni una forma de acumular riqueza.

With lyrical text, Their Great Gift explores the experiences of immigrants in the twenty-first century, focusing on the lives of children. Stories of families who came to the United States from many different parts of the world celebrate the diversity of our country and contain a vision of hope for the future.