Discount Priced Books for You. » history

The War in the Air

kk — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 11:15:32 +0000

Product Description
H.G. Wells classic work

The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War

kk — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 04:57:02 +0000

ISBN13: 9780684827902
Condition: New
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Thucydides called his account of two decades of war between Athens and Sparta “a possession for all time,” and indeed it is the first and still most famous work in the Western historical tradition. Considered essential reading for generals, statesmen, and liberally educated citizens for more than 2,000 years, The Peloponnesian War is a mine of military, moral, political, and philosophical wisdom.

However, this classic book has long presented obstacles to the uninitiated reader. Robert Strassler’s new edition removes these obstacles by providing a new coherence to the narrative overall, and by effectively reconstructing the lost cultural context that Thucydides shared with his original audience. Based on the venerable Richard Crawley translation, updated and revised for modern readers. The Landmark Thucydides includes a vast array of superbly designed and presented maps, brief informative appendices by outstanding classical scholars on subjects of special relevance to the text, explanatory marginal notes on each page, an index of unprecedented subtlety, and numerous other useful features.

In any list of the Great Books of Western Civilization, The Peloponnesian War stands near the top. This authoritative new edition will ensure that its greatness is appreciated by future generations.Amazon.com Review
Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War is one of the great books in the Western tradition, as well as its first true historical narrative. Editor Robert Strassler has annotated this classic text to make it more accessible to modern readers and added dozens of maps for easy reference. A helpful introduction places Thucydides in proper historical context and a series of short appendices focus on particular aspects of life and war during the period. But the bulk of the book itself, where Thucydides chronicles the long struggle between Athens and Sparta, enjoys an unexpected freshness on these pages–partly due to Strassler’s magnificent editorial labors, but mostly because it’s a great story resonant with heroes, villains, bravery, desperation, and tragedy. Every library should have a copy of Thucydides in it, especially libraries on military history, and The Landmark Thucydides is without question the best version available.

The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War

Passing Strange: A Gilded Age Tale of Love and Deception Across the Color Line

kk — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 09:57:15 +0000

Product Description
The secret double life of the man who mapped the American West, and the woman he loved

Clarence King is a hero of nineteenth century western history; a brilliant scientist and witty conversationalist, best-selling author and architect of the great surveys that mapped the West after the Civil War. Secretary of State John Hay named King “the best and brightest of his generation.” But King hid a secret from his Gilded Age cohorts and prominent family in Newport: for thirteen years he lived a double life—as the celebrated white explorer, geologist and writer Clarence King and as a black Pullman porter and steel worker named James Todd. The fair blue-eyed son of a wealthy China trader passed across the color line, revealing his secret to his black common- law wife, Ada Copeland, only on his deathbed.

King lied because he wanted to and he lied because he had to. To marry his wife in a public way – as the white man known as Clarence King – would have created a scandal and destroyed his career. At a moment when many mixed-race Americans concealed their African heritage to seize the privileges of white America, King falsely presented himself as a black man in order to marry the woman he loved.

Noted historian of the American West Martha Sandweiss is the first writer to uncover the life that King tried so hard to conceal from the public eye. She reveals the complexity of a man who while publicly espousing a personal dream of a uniquely American “race,” an amalgam of white and black, hid his love for his wife, Ada, and their five biracial children. Passing Strange tells the dramatic tale of a family built along the fault lines of celebrity, class, and race—from the “Todd’s” wedding in 1888, to the 1964 death of Ada King, one of the last surviving Americans born into slavery.

Passing Strange: A Gilded Age Tale of Love and Deception Across the Color Line

Ancient Greece: A Political, Social, and Cultural History

kk — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 11:17:34 +0000

Product Description
Written by four leading authorities on the classical world, Ancient Greece: A Political, Social, and Cultural History introduces students to the history and civilization of ancient Greece in all its complexity and variety. The most comprehensive and balanced history of ancient Greece that covers the entire period from the Bronze Age through the Hellenistic Era, it integrates the most recent research in archaeology, comparative anthropology, and social history with a traditional yet lively narrative of political, military, and diplomatic history. The authors show how the early Greeks borrowed from their neighbors but eventually developed a distinctive culture all their own, one that was marked by astonishing creativity, versatility, and resilience. The book goes on to trace the complex and surprising evolution of Greek civilization to its eventual dissolution as it merged with a variety of other cultures. Using physical evidence from archaeology, the written testimony of literary texts and inscriptions, and anthropological models based on comparative studies, the authors provide an account of the Greek world that is thoughtful and sophisticated yet accessible to students and general readers with little or no knowledge of Greece.
Featuring 19 maps, more than 80 photographs, and numerous selections that highlight a variety of primary source material, Ancient Greece is an indispensable text for courses in ancient Greek history.

Ancient Greece: A Political, Social, and Cultural History

The Puritan Dilemma: The Story of John Winthrop

kk — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 14:57:05 +0000

ISBN13: 9780321478061
Condition: New
Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

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Caught between the ideals of God’s Law and the practical needs of the people, John Winthrop walked a line few could tread.

In every aspect of our society today we see the workings of the tension between individual freedom and the demands of authority. Here is the story of the people that brought this idea to our shores: the Puritans. Edmund Morgan relates the hardships and triumphs of the Puritan movement through this vivid account of its most influential leader, John Winthrop.

The titles in the Library of American Biography Series make ideal supplements for American History Survey courses or other courses in American history where figures in history are explored. Paperback, brief, and inexpensive, each interpretive biography in this series focuses on a figure whose actions and ideas significantly influenced the course of American history and national life. In addition, each biography relates the life of its subject to the broader themes and developments of the times.

The Puritan Dilemma: The Story of John Winthrop

Hard Times

kk — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 19:57:02 +0000

Product Description
Cambridge Literature is a series of literary texts edited for study by students aged 14-18 in English-speaking classrooms. It will include novels, poetry, short stories, essays, travel-writing and other non-fiction. The series will be extensive and open-ended and will provide school students with a range of edited texts taken from a wide geographical spread. It will include writing in English from various genres and differing times. Hard Times by Charles Dickens is edited by Gwen Jose of the Nottingham Girls’ High School.

Hard Times

When London Was Capital of America

kk — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 11:22:11 +0000

ISBN13: 9780300137392
Condition: New
Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

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Benjamin Franklin secretly loved London more than Philadelphia: it was simply the most exciting place to be in the British Empire. And in the decade before the outbreak of the American Revolution, thousands of his fellow colonists flocked to the Georgian city in its first big wave of American visitors. At the very point of political rupture, mother country and colonies were socially and culturally closer than ever before. In this first-ever portrait of eighteenth-century London as the capital of America, Julie M. Flavell re-creates the famous city’s heyday as the center of an empire that encompassed North America and the West Indies. The momentous years before independence saw more colonial Americans than ever in London’s streets: wealthy Southern plantation owners in quest of culture, slaves hoping for a chance of freedom, Yankee businessmen looking for opportunities in the city, even Ben Franklin seeking a second, more distinguished career. The stories of the colonials, no innocents abroad, vividly re-create a time when Americans saw London as their own and remind us of the complex, multiracial—at times even decadent—nature of America’s colonial British heritage.

When London Was Capital of America

America Firsthand, Volume One: Readings from Settlement to Reconstruction

kk — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:58:05 +0000

ISBN13: 9780312489069
Condition: New
Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

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With its distinctive focus on ordinary people, this primary documents reader offers a remarkable range of perspectives on America’s history from those who lived it from Jews in the Early Republic to strikers at an auto plant in 1940s Detroit, and from a Civil War battlefield nurse to a 1990s dot.com entrepreneur. Popular Points of View sections expose students to different perspectives on a specific event or topic, and Visual Portfolios invite analysis of the visual record. These features and the collection as a whole save instructors time finding consistently suitable source material on their own.

America Firsthand, Volume One: Readings from Settlement to Reconstruction

Globish: How the English Language Became the World’s Language

kk — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 11:16:30 +0000

ISBN13: 9780393062557
Condition: New
Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

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How English conquered the world: a Guns, Germs, and Steel argument based on the power of the word. It seems impossible: a small island in the North Atlantic, colonized by Rome, then pillaged for hundreds of years by marauding neighbors, becomes the dominant world power in the nineteenth century. Equally unlikely, a colony of that island nation, across the Atlantic, grows into the military and cultural colossus of the twentieth century. How? By the sword, of course; by trade and industrial ingenuity; but principally, and most surprisingly, by the power of their common language.

In this provocative and compelling new look at the course of empire, Robert McCrum, coauthor of the best-selling book and television series The Story of English, shows how the language of the Anglo-American imperium has become the world’s lingua franca. In fascinating detail he describes the ever-accelerating changes wrought on the language by the far-flung cultures claiming citizenship in the new hegemony. In the twenty-first century, writes the author, English + Microsoft = Globish.

Globish: How the English Language Became the World’s Language

Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority

kk — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 10:57:07 +0000

Product Description

“Black people are not dark-skinned white people,” says advertising visionary Tom Burrell. In fact, they are much more. They are survivors of the Middle Passage and centuries of humiliation and deprivation, who have excelled against the odds, constantly making a way out of “No way!” At this pivotal point in history, the idea of black inferiority should have had a “Going-Out-of-Business Sale.” After all, Barack Obama has reached America’s Promised Land.

Yet, as Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority testifies, too many in black America are still wandering in the wilderness. In this powerful examination of “the greatest propaganda campaign of all time”—the masterful marketing of black inferiority, aka the BI Complex—Burrell poses ten disturbing questions that will make black people look in the mirror and ask why, nearly 150 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, so many blacks still think and act like slaves. Burrell’s acute awareness of the power of words and images to shift, shape, and change the collective consciousness has led him to connect the contemporary and historical dots that have brought us to this crossroads.

Brainwashed is not a reprimand—it is a call to action. It demands that we question our self-defeating attitudes and behaviors. Racism is not the issue; how we respond to media distortions and programmed self-hatred is the issue. It’s time to reverse the BI campaign with a globally based initiative that harnesses the power of new media and the wisdom of intergenerational coalitions. Provocative and powerful, Brainwashed dares to expose the wounds so that we, at last, can heal.

Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority

The Western Humanities Volume 1

kk — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 11:15:26 +0000

Product Description
Chronologically organized, The Western Humanities presents the cultural achievements of western civilization–art and architecture, music, history, literature, philosophy, theater, film and the other arts–within their historical context. By examining the historical and material conditions that influenced the form and content of the arts and humanities, the authors provide students with a clear framework, a deeper understanding of the meaning of cultural works, and a broader basis for analyzing and appreciating the cultural achievements of the West. Hundreds of illustrations bring the arts and humanities to life, while extensive pedagogy consistently asks students to think about, interpret, and apply the information throughout the text and at the end of each chapter.

The Western Humanities Volume 1

Tears in the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March and Its Aftermath

kk — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 15:56:56 +0000

ISBN13: 9780312429706
Condition: New
Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

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For the first four months of 1942, American, Filipino, and Japanese soldiers fought America’s first major land battle of World War II: the battle for the tiny Philippine peninsula of Bataan. It ended with the single largest defeat in American military history. This was only the beginning. Until the Japanese surrendered in August 1945, the prisoners of war suffered forty-one months of unparalleled cruelty and savagery. Michael and Elizabeth Norman bring to the story remarkable feats of reportage and literary empathy. Their protagonist, Ben Steele, is a young cowboy and aspiring sketch artist from Montana who joins the army to see the world and ends up on a death march. Juxtaposed against Steele’s story are the heretofore untold accounts of Japanese soldiers who struggled to maintain their humanity while carrying out their superiors’ inhuman commands.

Tears in the Darkness is an altogether new look at World War II that exposes the myths of war and shows the extent of suffering and loss on both sides.

Michael Norman, a former reporter for The New York Times and a Marine Corps combat veteran of Vietnam, is now a professor of journalism at New York University. He is the author of These Good Men: Friendships Forged from War, a memoir.

Elizabeth M. Norman, the author of Women at War: The Story of Fifty Military Nurses Who Served in Vietnam and We Band of Angels: The Untold Story of American Nurses Trapped on Bataan by the Japanese, is a professor of humanities at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development.

For the first four months of 1942, American, Filipino, and Japanese soldiers fought America’s first major land battle of World War II: the battle for the tiny Philippine peninsula of Bataan. It ended with the single largest defeat in American military history. From then until the Japanese surrendered in August 1945, the prisoners of war suffered forty-one months of unparalleled cruelty and savagery, far from the machinations of General Douglas MacArthur.

Michael and Elizabeth Norman bring to the story remarkable feats of reportage and literary empathy. Their protagonist, Ben Steele, is a young cowboy and aspiring sketch artist from Montana who joins the army to see the world and ends up on a death march. Juxtaposed against Steele’s story are the heretofore untold accounts of Japanese soldiers who struggled to maintain their humanity while carrying out their superiors’ inhuman commands.

Tears in the Darkness is an altogether new look at World War II that exposes the myths of war and shows the extent of suffering and loss on both sides.

Tears in the Darkness is an altogether new look at World War II that exposes the myths of war and shows the extent of suffering and loss on both sides.

“The Bataan Death March has been written about before, and well, by a number of historians . . . But then you pick up Michael Norman and Elizabeth M. Norman’s calm, stirring and humane Tears in the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March and Its Aftermath, and you think: yes, we needed another . . . Tears in the Darkness is authoritative history. Ten years in the making, it is based on hundreds of interviews with American, Filipino and Japanese combatants. But it is also a narrative achievement. The book seamlessly blends a wide-angle view with the stories of many individual participants. And at this book’s beating emotional heart is the tale of just one American soldier, a young cowboy and aspiring artist out of Montana named Ben Steele . . . What is now known as the Bataan Death March began on April 10, 1942. Some 76,000 soldiers, many already close to death, were forced to walk 66 miles during the hottest season of the yearthere were almost no buildings along the way, no trees, no shadewith little food and almost no water. It was called a death march for a simple reason: if you stopped marching, you were killed, by bayonet or rifle. There were many other ways to die during the Bataan Death March; it was a spree of arbitrary brutality. For sport, Japanese soldiers fractured skulls with their rifle butts. Japanese tanks ran over men who fell. Good Samaritans who tried to help fallen comrades were beaten or stabbed. Men were forced to bury others alive. To be on this march, one soldier said, was what it must feel like to ‘come to the end of civilization’ . . . What’s remarkable about this story, for Ben Steele and many others, was that it was just the beginning of the horrors that awaited them as Japanese prisoners of war . . . There are many Japanese voices in Tears in the Darkness. Mr. and Ms. Norman don’t excuse Japan’s actions, but place them in careful context. Japanese soldiers, they write, were the products of ‘a closed world of violence where men were subjected to the most brutal system of army discipline in the world.’ These soldiers ‘had been savaged to produce an army of savage intent’ . . . In the end, though, Tears in the Darkness is a book about heroism and survival. All along you are glued, out of the corner of your eye, to one story, Ben Steele’s. If you aren’t weeping openly by the book’s final scenes, when he is at last able to call home and let his family know that he is still alive after more than three years ‘missing in action,’ during which time this thin young man lost 50 pounds, then you have a hard crust of salt around your soul.”Dwight Gardener, The New York Times

“Balanced, beautifully written . . . Many books have examined World War II in the Philippines, but none of them pack the punch of, or are as beautifully written as, this compelling volume . . . A superb book about the unspeakable tragedy of war and the triumph of the human spirit.”Terry Hartle, The Christian Science Monitor

“For Americans the Death March was a first encounter with the brutality that would define Japan’s military behavior, and the fact that the story has been told many times before does not dissuade Michael and Elizabeth Norman, both professors at New York University, from another effort. The result is an extremely detailed and thoroughly chilling treatment that, given the passage of time and thinning of ranks, could serve as popular history’s final say on the subject. The Normans spent a decade in research and writing, interviewing more than 100 surviving American veterans and relatives of scores of others, and traveling to Japan to track down the most elusive and difficult sources some 20 former soldiers who were involved in the march and a guard from one of the miserable camps where more captives died from sickness, torture or starvation. The authors also find an ideal protagonist in Ben Steele, a former Montana cowboy who in 1940, at 22, joined the Army Air Corps and was sent to the Philippines. Steele survived the Death March and prison camp, and his personal story is the thread by which the authors spin their harrowing narrative, also using Steele’s sketches to illustrate it . . . They have little admiration for Gen. Douglas MacArthur, the U.S. commander in the Philippines who was being glorified at home in 1942 as the greatest American military hero since Ulysses S. Grant. On Jan. 15, the authors report, MacArthur sent his beleaguered troops on Bataan a would-be morale booster, promising them that reinforcements in the form of troops and planes were on the way from the United States. ‘It was a lie, a Judas kiss,’ they write. ‘The Philippines was cut off. Washington knew it and so did MacArthur.’”Richard Pyle, Associated Press

“Deeply researched and finely documented, Tears in Darkness is written brilliantly in lucid prose . . . A model of excellence in historical bookmaking . . . I couldn’t put it down.”Philip Kopper, The Washington Times

“Tears in the Darkness should be required reading for students learning about World War II. Michael and Elizabeth Norman have written a lean, moving account about the infamous Bataan Death March. They describe what happened to the 76,000 American and Filipino soldiers who surrendered to the Japanese in 1942. Many books have described the atrocities. Prisoners were starved, beaten and killed. This is different. It’s told from the perspective of an ordinary American soldier named Ben Steele, whose drawings illustrate the book. The authors also interview Filipino and Japanese soldiers. The story they all tell has nothing to do with Hollywood heroics. It’s about what men do to survive. Powerful.”Deirdre Donahue, USA Today

“Tears in the Darkness is a valuable addition to the literature on the war. It is the best single volume on Bataan now available. Through a hard-driving narrative interspersed with numerous flashbacks, the Normans retell the painful saga of the battle to control the Philippines, which occurred in late 1941 and early 1942; the 66-mile Death March that followed the surrender; the atrocities that took place in the Japanese POW camps; and the Japanese ‘Hell Ships’ that transported thousands of POWs to the home islands for slave labor. Although the authors weave the stories of many people in and out of the narrative, they focus largely on Ben Steele, a young Montana cowboy who endured 41 months of agonizing captivity. During this ordeal Steele discovered his artistic talentshe would later become an art professorand quietly began to sketch his surroundings. Since we have minimal visual documentation of Philippine POW camp life, Steele’s many pen-and-ink drawings, recrea…

Tears in the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March and Its Aftermath

Oracle Bones: A Journey Through Time in China

kk — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 20:57:06 +0000

ISBN13: 9780060826598
Condition: New
Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

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A century ago, outsiders saw China as a place where nothing ever changes. Today the country has become one of the most dynamic regions on earth. In Oracle Bones, Peter Hessler explores the human side of China’s transformation, viewing modern-day China and its growing links to the Western world through the lives of a handful of ordinary people. In a narrative that gracefully moves between the ancient and the present, the East and the West, Hessler captures the soul of a country that is undergoing a momentous change before our eyes.

Oracle Bones: A Journey Through Time in China

The Cold War: A New History

kk — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 11:17:09 +0000

ISBN13: 9780143038276
Condition: New
Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

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The “dean of Cold War historians” (The New York Times) now presents the definitive account of the global confrontation that dominated the last half of the twentieth century. Drawing on newly opened archives and the reminiscences of the major players, John Lewis Gaddis explains not just what happened but why—from the months in 1945 when the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. went from alliance to antagonism to the barely averted holocaust of the Cuban Missile Crisis to the maneuvers of Nixon and Mao, Reagan and Gorbachev. Brilliant, accessible, almost Shakespearean in its drama, The Cold War stands as a triumphant summation of the era that, more than any other, shaped our own.

The Cold War: A New History

Who Wrote the Bible?;: a Book for the People

kk — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 01:57:18 +0000

Product Description
The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: History / General; History / General;

Who Wrote the Bible?;: a Book for the People

Western Civilizations: Their History & Their Culture, Vol. 1: Pre-History to the Present

kk — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 11:15:30 +0000

Product Description
Used successfully by over one million students, Western Civilizations is renowned for its balanced presentation, clear prose, and exceptional treatment of the West in a global context. Building on these strengths, Coffin and Stacey have delivered a new, carefully revised edition that draws upon their own practical teaching experience while integrating new and emerging research in the field. In addition, the Sixteenth Edition includes new “Transformations” sections that ask students to reflect on major turning points in history (such as the Black Death or the emergence of the Abolition movement). Also new to this edition are document questions that help students make connections between primary and secondary materials.

Western Civilizations: Their History & Their Culture, Vol. 1: Pre-History to the Present

Art History

kk — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 06:57:15 +0000

Product Description
For two-semester courses in Art History Survey, Global Art History, and for Introductory Art courses taught from a historical perspective. Exceptional in scholarship and pedagogically in tune with the needs of today’s students-rich but never effete-Marilyn Stokstad’s Art History is the art history text of choice for a new generation of teachers and students. Presenting a broad view of art through the centuries, it introduces beginning students in a positive and sympathetic manner to the works of all artists. This includes women and artists of color, and the arts of other continents and regions in addition to those of Western Europe and the United States. Balancing both the traditions of art history and new trends of the present, Art History is the most comprehensive, accessible, and magnificently illustrated work of its kind.Amazon.com Review
This attractively packaged two-volume set attempts an almost impossible task: to present the art of the entire world, from vibrant cave paintings dating back 30,000 years to the creative trends of the late 20th century. Though the arts of Europe are the most thoroughly analyzed, respected scholars in several specialized fields cover other cultures with cogent essays. A more unusual feature is the space devoted to art created by women, such as the late-Renaissance painters Sofonisba Anguissola and Lavinia Fontana–the latter was invited in 1560 to be an official painter at the Spanish court. Relationships between the art of different cultures are emphasized and, while each section can stand alone, each is shown to fit meaningfully into the overall development of the world’s artistic heritage. Beautiful images grace the production’s 1,200 pages, not only well-known icons but a wealth of lesser-known gems are here, carefully chosen to demonstrate the points made in the text. There are many delightful surprises among the illustrations, many of which are in color, printed to high quality standards in Japan. For instance, line drawings explain technical details, from “Lost-wax Bronze-casting” to “Elements of the Skyscraper.” A vast amount of information is presented, but it is very well organized and easy to access, and an extensive glossary answers many questions. Marilyn Stokstad’s Art History is a true tour de force, and its light and humanistic approach is a refreshing change from previous encyclopedic art-historical studies. –John Stevenson

Art History

Mein Kampf

kk — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 08:24:52 +0000

Product Description
Mein Kampf covers a wide-scope that offers an interesting interpretation of politics, business, people, and foreign policy matters. To characterize it as simply a racist work is to oversimplify its message. Germany did not follow Hitler because he was a racist, they followed him because he promised a great future, and Mein Kampf is where he promised that great future. This is the original translation of Mein Kampf by James Murphy created for the Nazi government. This is the official and final edition published by the Nazi government. Murphy went on to alter the translation for publication in Britain, however his polished version was very different and included racial slurs which were not in the original text as well as some embellishments that were his own invention.Amazon.com Review
The angry ranting of an obscure, small-party politician, the first volume of Mein Kampf was virtually ignored when it was originally published in 1925. Likewise the second volume, which appeared in 1926. The book details Hitler’s childhood, the “betrayal” of Germany in World War I, the desire for revenge against France, the need for lebensraum for the German people, and the means by which the National Socialist party can gain power. It also includes Hitler’s racist agenda and his glorification of the “Aryan” race. The few outside the Nazi party who read it dismissed it as nonsense, not believing that anyone could–or would–carry out its radical, terrorist programs. As Hitler and the Nazis gained power, first party members and then the general public were pressured to buy the book. By the time Hitler became chancellor of the Third Reich in 1933, the book stood atop the German bestseller lists. Had the book been taken seriously when it was first published, perhaps the 20th century would have been very different.

Beyond the anger, hatred, bigotry, and self-aggrandizing, Mein Kampf is saddled with tortured prose, meandering narrative, and tangled metaphors (one person was described as “a thorn in the eyes of venal officials”). That said, it is an incredibly important book. It is foolish to think that the Holocaust could not happen again, especially if World War II and its horrors are forgotten. As an Amazon.com reader has pointed out, “If you want to learn about why the Holocaust happened, you can’t avoid reading the words of the man who was most responsible for it happening.” Mein Kampf, therefore, must be read as a reminder that evil can all too easily grow. –Sunny Delaney

Mein Kampf

Celia, a Slave

kk — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 11:57:35 +0000

Product Description

Illuminating the moral dilemmas that lie at the heart of a slaveholding society, this book tells the story of a young slave who was sexually exploited by her master and ultimately executed for his murder.

Celia was only fourteen years old when she was acquired by John Newsom, an aging widower and one of the most prosperous and respected citizens of Callaway County, Missouri. The pattern of sexual abuse that would mark their entire relationship began almost immediately. After purchasing Celia in a neighboring county, Newsom raped her on the journey back to his farm. He then established her in a small cabin near his house and visited her regularly (most likely with the knowledge of the son and two daughters who lived with him). Over the next five years, Celia bore Newsom two children; meanwhile, she became involved with a slave named George and resolved at his insistence to end the relationship with her master. When Newsom refused, Celia one night struck him fatally with a club and disposed of his body in her fireplace.

Her act quickly discovered, Celia was brought to trial. She received a surprisingly vigorous defense from her court-appointed attorneys, who built their case on a state law allowing women the use of deadly force to defend their honor. Nevertheless, the court upheld the tenets of a white social order that wielded almost total control over the lives of slaves. Celia was found guilty and hanged.

Melton A. McLaurin uses Celia’s story to reveal the tensions that strained the fabric of antebellum southern society. Celia’s case demonstrates how one master’s abuse of power over a single slave forced whites to make moral decisions about the nature of slavery. McLaurin focuses sharply on the role of gender, exploring the degree to which female slaves were sexually exploited, the conditions that often prevented white women from stopping such abuse, and the inability of male slaves to defend slave women. Setting the case in the context of the 1850s slavery debates, he also probes the manner in which the legal system was used to justify slavery. By granting slaves certain statutory rights (which were usually rendered meaningless by the customary prerogatives of masters), southerners could argue that they observed moral restraint in the operations of their peculiar institution.

An important addition to our understanding of the pre-Civil War era, Celia, A Slave is also an intensely compelling narrative of one woman pushed beyond the limits of her endurance by a system that denied her humanity at the most basic level.

Celia, a Slave

Discovering the American Past: A Look at the Evidence, Vol. 1: To 1877

kk — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 00:24:33 +0000

Product Details: Paperback: 303 pages
Publisher:Houghton Mifflin Company Copyright 2007
Language: English
ISBN-10: 068746191X, ISBN-13: 978-0618522590
ASIN: 061852259X, Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.5 x 0.5 inches, Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds

Product Description
This primary source reader in the popular Discovering series contains a multi-part pedagogical framework that guides students through the process of historical inquiry and explanation. The text emphasizes historical study as interpretation rather than memorization of data.The Sixth Edition integrates new documents and revised coverage throughout. Appearing in Volumes I and II, the Reconstruction chapter uncovers the work ethic of farmers and workers in the West and North following the Civil War. Each chapter is organized within the same pedagogical framework: The Problem, Background, The Method, The Evidence, Questions to Consider, and Epilogue.

Discovering the American Past: A Look at the Evidence, Vol. 1: To 1877

Technology of the Gods: The Incredible Sciences of the Ancients

kk — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 16:56:58 +0000

ISBN13: 9780932813732
Condition: New
Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

Product Description
Popular Lost Cities author David Childress opens the door to the amazing world of ancient technology, from the computers of the ancient world to the “flying machines of the gods.” Technology of the Gods explores the technology that was allegedly used in Atlantis and the theory that the Great Pyramid of Egypt was originally a gigantic power station. Childress also uncovers many other mysteries, including: *

the technology of ancient flight *

how the ancients used electricity *

megalithic building techniques *

the use of crystal lenses and the fire from the gods *

ancient evidence of high-tech weapons, including atomic weapons *

the role of modern inventors, such as Nikola Tesla, in bringing ancient technology into modern use *

impossible artifacts, and more, much more. Childress has done it again! From beginning to end, Technology of the Gods is filled with facts, keen observations and tales that challenge modern assumptions in a humorous, intelligent and compelling way that is quintessential Childress.

Technology of the Gods: The Incredible Sciences of the Ancients

The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power

kk — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 20:25:02 +0000

ISBN13: 9781439110126
Condition: USED – Very Good
Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

Product Description
Now with a new epilogue that speaks directly to the current energy crisis, The Prize recounts the panoramic history of the world’s most important resource: oil. Daniel Yergin’s timeless book chronicles the struggle for wealth and power that has surrounded oil for decades and that continues to fuel global rivalries, shake the world economy, and transform the destiny of men and nations. This updated edition categorically proves the unwavering significance of oil throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first by tracing economic and political clashes over precious “black gold.”

With his far-reaching insight and in-depth research, Yergin is uniquely positioned to address the present battle over energy, which undoubtedly ranks as one of the most vital issues of our time. The canvas of his narrative history is enormous — from the drilling of the first well in Pennsylvania through two great world wars to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, Operation Desert Storm, and now both the Iraq War and climate change. The definitive work on the subject of oil, The Prize is a book of extraordinary breadth, riveting excitement, and great value — crucial to our understanding of world politics and the economy today — and tomorrow.

The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power

Armageddon: The Battle for Germany, 1944-1945

kk — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 21:57:15 +0000

ISBN13: 9780375714221
Condition: New
Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

Product Description
In September 1944, the Allies believed that Hitler’s army was beaten and expected the bloodshed to end by Christmas. Yet a series of mistakes and setbacks, including the Battle of the Bulge, drastically altered this timetable and led to eight more months of brutal fighting.

With Armageddon, the eminent military historian Max Hastings gives us memorable accounts of the great battles and captures their human impact on soldiers and civilians. He tells the story of both the Eastern and Western Fronts, raising provocative questions and offering vivid portraits of the great leaders. This rousing and revelatory chronicle brings to life the crucial final months of the twentieth century’s greatest global conflict.

Armageddon: The Battle for Germany, 1944-1945

The Man who Laughs

kk — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 16:24:40 +0000

Product Description
This book an EXACT reproduction of the original book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR’d book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

The Man who Laughs

The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother

kk — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 11:15:44 +0000

Product Description
Around the narrative of Ruth McBride Jordan, a.k.a. Rachel Deborah Shilsky, the daughter of an angry, failed Orthodox Jewish rabbi in the South, her son James writes of the inner confusions he felt as a black child of a white mother and of the love and faith with which his mother surrounded their large family. The result is a powerful portrait of growing up, a meditation on race and identity, and a poignant, beautifully crafted hymn from a son to his mother.Amazon.com Review
Order this book … and please don’t be put off by its pallid subtitle, A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother, which doesn’t begin to do justice to the utterly unique and moving story contained within. The Color of Water tells the remarkable story of Ruth McBride Jordan, the two good men she married, and the 12 good children she raised. Jordan, born Rachel Shilsky, a Polish Jew, immigrated to America soon after birth; as an adult she moved to New York City, leaving her family and faith behind in Virginia. Jordan met and married a black man, making her isolation even more profound. The book is a success story, a testament to one woman’s true heart, solid values, and indomitable will. Ruth Jordan battled not only racism but also poverty to raise her children and, despite being sorely tested, never wavered. In telling her story–along with her son’s–The Color of Water addresses racial identity with compassion, insight, and realism. It is, in a word, inspiring, and you will finish it with unalloyed admiration for a flawed but remarkable individual. And, perhaps, a little more faith in us all.

The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother

Declaration: The Nine Tumultuous Weeks When America Became Independent, May 1-July 4, 1776

kk — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 12:25:26 +0000

Product Description
This is the rambunctious story of how America came to declare independence in Philadelphia in 1776. As late as that May, the Continental Congress had no plans to break away from England. Troops under General George Washington had been fighting the British for nearly a year—yet in Philadelphia a mighty bloc known as “reconciliationists,” led by the influential Pennsylvanian John Dickinson, strove to keep America part of the British Empire. But a cadre of activists—led by the mysterious Samuel Adams of Massachusetts and assisted by his nervous cousin John—plotted to bring about American independence. Their audacious secret plan proposed overturning the reconciliationist government of Pennsylvania and replacing it with pro-independence leaders. Remarkably, the adventure succeeded. The Adams coalition set in motion a startling chain of events in the Philadelphia streets, in the Continental Congress, and throughout the country that culminated in the Declaration of Independence on July 4. In Declaration William Hogeland brings to vibrant life both the day-to-day excitement and the profound importance of those nine fast-paced weeks essential to the American founding yet little known today. He depicts the strange-bedfellow alliance the Adamses formed with scruffy Philadelphia outsiders and elegant Virginia planters to demand liberty. He paints intimate portraits of key figures: John Dickinson, a patriot who found himself outmaneuvered on the losing side of history; Benjamin Franklin, the most famous man in America, engaged in and perplexed by his city’s upheavals; Samuel Adams, implacable in changing the direction of Congress; his cousin John, anxious about the democratic aspirations of their rabble-rousing Philadelphia allies; and those democratic radical organizers themselves, essential to bringing about independence, all but forgotten until now. As the patriots’ adventure gathers toward the world-changing climax of the Declaration, conflicts and ironies arise, with trenchant relevance for the most important issues confronting Americans today. Declaration offers a fresh, gripping, and vivid portrait of the passionate men and thrilling events that gave our country birth.

Declaration: The Nine Tumultuous Weeks When America Became Independent, May 1-July 4, 1776

How to Mellify A Corpse: And Other Human Stories of Ancient Science & Superstition

kk — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 02:56:57 +0000

ISBN13: 9780802717023
Condition: New
Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

Product Description

In How to Mellify a Corpse, Vicki León brings her particular hybrid of history and humor to the entwined subjects of science and superstition in the ancient world, from Athens and Rome to Mesopotamia, the Holy Land, Egypt, and Carthage. León covers subjects as diverse as astronomy and astrology, philosophy and practicalities of life and death (including the titular ancient method of embalming), and ancient mechanical engineering. How to Mellify a Corpse of course invokes legendary thinkers (Pythagoras and his discoveries in math and music, Aristotle’s books on politics and philosophy, and Archimedes’ “Eureka” moment), but it also delves deeply into the lives of everyday people, their understanding and beliefs.

A feast for the curious mind, How to Mellify a Corpse is not only for those with an interest in the experimental: it’s for anyone who’s inspired by the imagination and ingenuity humanity uses to understand our world.

How to Mellify A Corpse: And Other Human Stories of Ancient Science & Superstition

They Must Be Stopped: Why We Must Defeat Radical Islam and How We Can Do It

kk — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 08:24:45 +0000

Product Description

They Must Be Stopped is New York Times bestselling author Brigitte Gabriel’s warning to the world: We can no longer ignore the growth of radical Islam–we must act soon, and powerfully. Gabriel challenges our western and politically-correct notions about Islam, demonstrating why radical Islam is so deadly and how we can halt its progress.

Brigitte Gabriel speaks her mind:

*Fundamentalist Islam is a religion rooted in 7th century teachings that are fundamentally opposed to democracy and equality.

*Radical Islamists are utterly contemptuous of all “infidels” (non-Muslims) and regard them as enemies worthy of death.

*Madrassas in America are increasing in number, and they are just one part of a growing radical Islamic army on US soil.

*Radical Islam exploits the US legal system and America’s protection of religion to spread its hatred for western values.

*America must organize a unified voice that says “enough” to political correctness, and demands that government officials and elected representatives do whatever is necessary to protect us.

Brigitte Gabriel has fearlessly faced down critics, death threats, and political correctness, and is one of the most sought after terrorism experts in the world. They Must Be Stopped is her clarion call to action. Gabriel thoroughly addresses the historical and religious basis of radical Islam, its frightening encroachment into societies around the world, and its abuses of democracy in the name of religion.

They Must Be Stopped: Why We Must Defeat Radical Islam and How We Can Do It

Night; with Connections

kk — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 11:15:25 +0000

Product Description
An autobiographical narrative, in which the author describes his experiences in Nazi concentration camps.Amazon.com Review
In Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night, a scholarly, pious teenager is wracked with guilt at having survived the horror of the Holocaust and the genocidal campaign that consumed his family. His memories of the nightmare world of the death camps present him with an intolerable question: how can the God he once so fervently believed in have allowed these monstrous events to occur? There are no easy answers in this harrowing book, which probes life’s essential riddles with the lucid anguish only great literature achieves. It marks the crucial first step in Wiesel’s lifelong project to bear witness for those who died.

Night; with Connections

Democracy in America: Abridged Edition

kk — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 07:57:13 +0000

Product Description

The abridged edition of the enduring masterwork—a classic portrait of America’s culture and people

Originally penned in the mid-nineteenth century by Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America remains the most comprehensive, penetrating, and astute picture of American life, politics, and morals ever written, as relevant today as when it first appeared in print nearly two hundred years ago.

This abridged edition by scholar and historian Scott A. Sandage includes a new introduction and editorial notes, and offers students and the general reader alike easy access to the preeminent translation by George Lawrence, widely recognized as the best translation based on the second revised and corrected text of the 1961 French edition, edited by J. P. Mayer.

Democracy in America: Abridged Edition