Learning Culture

A compendium of 100 words and phrases smart people use—even if they only kinda sorta (secretly don't) know what they mean—with pithy definitions and fascinating etymologies to solidify their meanings.

For word nerds and grammar geeks, a witty guide to the most commonly mispronounced words, along with their correct pronunciations and pithy forays into their fascinating etymologies and histories of use and misuse.

This is an anecdotal approach to teaching high school students that history and economics are intertwined. The audiobook is designed to give the student a thumbnail sketch of a dozen events of merit in American history intertwined with the basic economic laws.

In this young readers' edition of Thank You for Voting, debut author and journalist Erin Geiger Smith presents a fascinating look into America’s voting history and inspires young people to get involved! Voting is a privilege and a right, but it hasn’t always been for many people. From the founding fathers to Jim Crow to women's suffrage to gerrymandering - and everything in between - listeners will get a look at the complex history of voting and become empowered to ask big questions.

Dr. Tim Groseclose, a professor of political science and economics at UCLA, has spent years constructing precise quantitative measures of the slant of media outlets. He does this by measuring the political content of news, as a way to measure the PQ, or political quotient, of voters and politicians.

Two real-life stories. One stunning twist. Meet Jake, a studious freshman weighing how far to go to find a brotherhood that will introduce him to lifelong friends and help conquer his social awkwardness; and Oliver, a hardworking chapter president trying to keep his misunderstood fraternity out of trouble despite multiple run-ins with the police. Their year-in-the-life stories help explain why students are joining fraternities in record numbers despite scandalous headlines.

Award-winning journalist Nathan Bomey argues that Trump did not usher the post-truth era into being. He was its inevitable outcome. Bomey points to recent trends that have created the perfect seedbed for spin, distortion, deception, and bald-faced lies: shifting news habits, the rise of social media, the spread of entrenched ideologies, and the failure of schools to teach basic critical-thinking skills.

It first surfaced in the gripes of GIs during World War II and was captured early on by the typewriter of a young Norman Mailer. Within a generation it had become a basic notion of our everyday moral life, replacing older reproaches like lout and heel with a single inclusive category. We have conflicting attitudes about the A-word, but considering how much the word does for us, and to us, it hasn't gotten nearly the attention it deserves - at least until now.

Just 75 years ago, the American government did something that most would consider unthinkable today: It rounded up over 100,000 of its own citizens based on nothing more than their ancestry and, suspicious of their loyalty, kept them in concentration camps for the better part of four years. How could this have happened? Uprooted takes a close look at the history of racism in America and carefully follows the treacherous path that led one of our nation's most beloved presidents to make this decision.

Every schoolchild knows the story of how Pocahontas saved the life of Captain John Smith, but that's not the whole story. The Native American princess Pocahontas was born near the end of the sixteenth century as the daughter of Powhatan, chief of the Powhatan confederacy. It was Pocahontas, known as Matoaka by her clan, who interceded on behalf of John Smith in 1608 and then persuaded her father to bring food to the starving colonists at Jamestown.

It is 1642 in the Puritan town of Boston. Hester Prynne has been found guilty of adultery and has born an illegitimate child. In lieu of being put to death, she is condemned to wear the scarlet letter "A" on her dress as a reminder of her shameful act.

1776. The early days of the Revolutionary War. It supposedly began with Thomas Hickey, a private in the Continental Army, and New York governor William Tryon. In an astonishing power grab, they plotted to kill Hickey's boss: a man by the name of George Washington. In the end, Hickey was caught, brought to trial, and found guilty. It would seem he became the first person in the new nation to be executed for treason.

Socrates: A Life Worth Living traces the life and ideas of one of Western civilization’s founding philosophers, whose influence is still felt more than two thousand years later. Socrates is famous for how he died, executed by the Athenian government for corrupting the youth of Athens, but his most important contribution was to challenge the people around him to test their ideas and beliefs in conversation with each other, in the belief that in this way we could become a society that knows the difference between truth and falsehood, and find what makes a life worthwhile.

Join Meg and her friends as they compete in a 10-day scavenger hunt across the state of Virginia. Their journey includes hiking to Devil’s Bathtub, sliding down a natural water slide in Shenandoah National Park, discovering shark teeth at Fossil Beach, and kayaking through the Great Dismal Swamp. The competition heats up when they encounter two bullies who try to throw them off their game. Along the way, Meg and her friends explore several regional treasures and visit the gravesites of all seven US presidents buried in Virginia.

Are you a student leader looking to make a lasting impact on your organization and leave a legacy of excellence? Look no further than "The Student Leadership Handbook: Building a Culture of Excellence and Empowerment," your ultimate guide to transforming your collegiate organization and developing the skills needed to become an exceptional leader.

I wrote this book so you can learn how to be psychic without hurting yourself. Take it from me, I didn't have the happy-go-lucky awakening experience other people talk about, and it got me into some serious trouble. My mad methods will take you from zero to psychic in about 18 months. It's impossible to go from normal to superhero overnight (they do in movies, but movies aren't real), and tearing down the walls between you and your potential takes time.

In the young readers’ edition of his New York Times best-selling book, Fox News anchor Bret Baier examines the historic transition and Eisenhower’s last chance to lead the country he loved through his legendary farewell address and his personal appeals to Kennedy. Baier paints a vivid picture of the contrasts between old and new at the beginning of a decisive decade in American history. Eisenhower and Kennedy were very different men.

The biblical account of Gideon. The ancient story of the Trojan horse. Deceptive techniques have been used in war through the ages. But while the principles have changed very little, the technology behind fooling the enemy has evolved dramatically. Paul B. Janeczko’s fascinating chronology focuses on the American Civil War, World Wars I and II, and the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Gulf Wars to reveal evolving attitudes toward the use and effectiveness of deceptive operations.

In his meteoric, 13-year rise to fame, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led a mass movement for civil rights - with his relentless peaceful, non-violent protests, public demonstrations, and eloquent speeches. But as violent threats cast a dark shadow over Dr. King's life, Swanson hones in on James Earl Ray, a bizarre, racist prison escapee who tragically ends King's life.

From Gold Star father and beloved Democratic National Convention speaker Khizr Khan comes a book for young people about the Constitution - what it says and why it matters for everyone. Our Founding Fathers created the US Constitution and Bill of Rights as a blueprint for American government and the rights of American citizens. This document is not merely a piece of parchment but a living, breathing promise of our deepest democratic values.