Nonfiction World

July 1943: The largest invasion fleet ever assembled sailed for fortress Europe, aiming to bulldoze its way onto Nazi shores. At its vanguard went a few hundred elite forces soldiers. The Royal Navy warship carrying them-a former passenger ferry transformed for battle-bore the iconic winged dagger emblem carved on its prow, plus the motto 'Who Dares Wins,' painstakingly fashioned with the most rudimentary tools by Sergeant William 'Bill' Deakins, the foremost explosives expert on board and a Royal Engineer by trade.

Yank! The giant panda strips bamboo leaves with its sharp claws. Weighing more than 300 pounds, this is one huge bear! Listeners are introduced to physical features, behavior, habitat, and life cycle to find out why giant pandas are awesome!

World War II was the most destructive war in history. Millions upon millions of people died, including innocent civilians. Both sides—the Allies and Axis Powers—pursued secret plans, tactics, and weapons to destroy each other resulting in horrors on a scale never before seen. Secrets of World War II reveals little-known stories of the people, weapons, and battles that have affected the maps on our walls and the allegiances in our hearts.

Travel to Canada. Find out the facts about this country in North America.

In February 1959, a group of nine experienced hikers in the Russian Ural Mountains died mysteriously on an elevation known as Dead Mountain. Eerie aspects of the incident—unexplained violent injuries, signs that they cut open and fled the tent without proper clothing or shoes, a strange final photograph taken by one of the hikers, and elevated levels of radiation found on some of their clothes—have led to decades of speculation over what really happened.

Stories of magic, superstition, and witchcraft were strictly forbidden in the little town of Salem Village. But a group of young girls ignored those rules, spellbound by the tales told by a woman named Tituba. When questioned about their activities, the terrified girls set off a whirlwind of controversy as they accused townsperson after townsperson of being witches.

Was the outcome of the First World War on a knife edge? In this major new account of German wartime politics and strategy Holger Afflerbach argues that the outcome of the war was actually in the balance until relatively late in the war. Using new evidence from diaries, letters, and memoirs, he fundamentally revises our understanding of German strategy from the decision to go to war and the failure of the western offensive to the radicalization of Germany's war effort under Hindenburg and Ludendorff and the ultimate collapse of the Central Powers.

One of the finest history books for children, this well-loved Hillyer classic features stories of world history from prehistoric man through the 20th century, inspiring an appreciation of how events relate to one another.

How do animals survive in planet Earth's most extreme regions? Snow, ice, and subzero temps make the North and South Poles nearly impossible places to live. But several animals from musk oxen to penguins call these regions home. Find out how their amazing behaviors and body parts have adapted to these harsh conditions.

On August 6, 1945, Hiroshima was destroyed by the first atom bomb ever dropped on a city. This book, John Hersey's journalistic masterpiece, tells what happened on that day. Told through the memories of survivors, this timeless, powerful and compassionate document has become a classic "that stirs the conscience of humanity" (The New York Times).

Travel to Egypt. Find out the facts about this country in Africa.

Departing from a simple linear history, The Soviet Century traces all the continuities and ruptures that led from the founding revolution of October 1917, to the final collapse of the late 1980s and early 1990s, passing through the Stalinist dictatorship, the impossible reforms of the Khrushchev years, and the glasnost and perestroika policies of Gorbachev.

Pirates have long lived in the realm of romance and fantasy, symbolizing risk, lawlessness, and radical visions of freedom. But at the root of this mythology is a rich history of pirate societies—vibrant, imaginative experiments in self-governance and alternative social formations at the edges of European empire. David Graeber explores how the proto-democratic, even libertarian practices of the Zana-Malata—an ethnic group made up of mixed descendants of pirates who settled on Madagascar at the beginning of the eighteenth century—came to shape the Enlightenment project.

From world-renowned historian and philosopher Yuval Noah Harari, the New York Times bestselling author of Sapiens, comes an exciting, brand-new audiobook for middle-grade listeners that looks at the early history of humankind.

Decorations made of straw cover your Christmas tree. A girl dressed in a crown of candles sings songs as she visits people’s homes. People gather together to exchange gifts called julklappar. These are the sights and sounds of Christmas in Sweden. Come explore the many Swedish traditions that bring people of this country together at Christmas.

The ghost of a weeping woman dressed in white, La Llorona, is often spotted beside bodies of water. People in Mexico and in the southwestern United States have claimed to hear her wailing in the night, crying out for her drowned children. This centuries-old legend says that if the wailing woman gets too close, she will drag you to a watery grave.

What is it like to live in or visit Mexico? What makes Mexico's culture unique? Explore the geography, traditions, and daily lives of Mexican people.

She grew up in a world where women were supposed to be quiet. But Malala Yousafzai refused to be silent. Discover Malala's story through this powerful narrative telling, and come to see how one brave girl named Malala changed the world.

Examines the instruments that make up an orchestra, their arrangement on the stage, the role of the conductor, and the need of the musicians to practice.

Bringing together today's leading scholars, both established seniors and younger, cutting-edge academics, Stefan Brink and Neil Price have constructed the first single work to gather innovative research from a spectrum of disciplines (including archaeology, history, philology, comparative religion, numismatics, and cultural geography) to create the most comprehensive Viking Age book of its kind ever attempted.