Social Studies Education

What do taxes, jury duty, and being good citizens have to do with helping our government? Using engaging, age-appropriate language, listeners understand our responsibilities as American citizens and learn how to take active roles in our government. Fully translated Spanish text.

When election season starts, the race is on! But what do campaigns, candidates, polls, and the Electoral College have to do with voting for our nation's leaders?

Zoos are busy places filled with animals and the visitors who love them. Who are the people who keep zoos running? From vets to performers to groundskeepers, many people work together to serve the needs of a zoo. Learn about their important work in this book from the Wonderful Workplaces series.

What are our civil rights, and how are they different from our legal rights? What do gender, age, discrimination, and the U.S. Constitution have to do with our civil rights? Learn to decipher our nation's civil rights laws and learn how they protect our citizens.

Hospitals are busy places filled with sick and injured people and their caregivers. Who are the people who keep hospitals running? From schedulers to doctors and nurses to IT staff, many people work together to serve the needs of a hospital. Learn about their important work in this book from the Wonderful Workplaces series.

Movies are fun to watch with your family and friends. Who are the people who create these entertaining escapes? From special effects artists to writers to animal trainers, many people work together to serve the needs of a movie set. Learn about their important work in this book from the Wonderful Workplaces series.

Airports are busy places with people and things taking off and landing from trips across states, countries, and oceans. Who are the people who keep airports running? From security officers to baggage handlers to gift shop employees, many people work together to serve the needs of an airport. Learn about their important work in this book from the Wonderful Workplaces series.

What does the U.S. Supreme Court do? Learn about who can be on the Supreme Court, how they are chosen, where they work, and more. Descriptive main text, fast facts, and callout definitions work together to support understanding.

What is the U.S. Senate? Learn about senators, how bills become laws, where senators work, and more.

In 2020, heartsick from constant assaults on Black life, Tracy K. Smith found herself soul-searching and digging into the historical archive for help navigating the “din of human division and strife.” With lyricism and urgency, Smith draws on several avenues of thinking—personal, documentary, and spiritual—to understand who we are as a nation and what we might hope to mean to one another.

Many kids say the Pledge of Allegiance every day in school. But what does it mean and where did it come from? Francis Bellamy wrote it more than 100 years ago. Join Bellamy in The Pledge of Allegiance for more of the story.

If you love your country, sing! Since 1931, "The Star-Spangled Banner" has been the national anthem of the United States. Journey back to 1814, and join Francis Scott Key, the man who wrote the words to the anthem, for a close look at this song of freedom.

Learn about tractors.

Learn about the job of a garbage collector and how a garbage truck works.

A group of children go on a field trip for a guided tour of city hall, where they learn about the roles of the city council, the mayor, and other city departments.

Learn how a bulldozer is operated.

Through his own writings and inspiration of Aristotle and countless others, Plato continues to influence every area of philosophic thought, to say nothing of his enormous influence on Christian theology. His dramatic dialogues, including Republic, the monumental treatise on the ideal state, render him one of the greatest of Greek literary geniuses. In this concise analysis, eminent Plato scholar A. E. Taylor examines the philosopher's theory of knowledge and doctrine of ideas; the ideal of the philosopher-king; the social system advocated in Republic; judgments on democracy; and belief in the immortality of the soul. Also considered: Plato's relationship with his master, Socrates; contribution to the idea of university education; attack on art; abstention from public life; anticipation of Copernicus. Taylor also mentions historical misunderstandings of the one he deems the most original and influential of all philosophers.

Over his 30-year career at Condé Nast, Nicholas Coleridge has witnessed it all. From the anxieties of the Princess of Wales to the blazing fury of Mohamed Al-Fayed, his story is also the story of the people who populate the glamorous world of glossy magazines. With relish and astonishing candour, he offers the inside scoop on Tina Brown and Anna Wintour, David Bowie and Philip Green, Kate Moss and Beyonce and a surreal weekend away with Bob Geldof and William Hague.

Bhabha investigates concepts such as "hybridity," the notion that ideas are made up of all the different cultures with which they have contact, and "mimicry," the way in which a person or group adopts an idea from another culture, to express a postcolonial world, where we are all "in between" cultures. These concepts have been important to postcolonial studies, but have also been taken up in such diverse areas as architecture and literature. Although criticized by some for insisting that the written word was as powerful as armed resistance in the struggle against colonizing forces.

A group of children go on a field trip for a guided tour of a bank, where they learn about how money is stored and distributed.