General History

The first notes of jazz hit Cape Cod in the very early days of the genre. Bournehurst-on-the-Canal hosted top bands, and emerging swing era dancers packed the hall. Cape Cod's "First Lady of Jazz," Marie Marcus, was a child prodigy in Boston and found...

A firsthand exploration of the cost of boarding the bus of change to move America forward--written by one of the Civil Rights Movement's pioneers. At 18, Charles Person was the youngest of the original Freedom Riders, key figures in the U.S. Civil...

In 1911, the Charleston Colored Industrial School opened its doors to 375 African American boys and girls, making it the first public high school for African Americans in the city of Charleston. Throughout the years, there have been several public high...

In the aftermath of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, riots broke out in 110 cities across the country. For five days, Atlanta braced for chaos while preparing to host King's funeral. An unlikely alliance of former student radicals, the middle-aged...

Longlisted for the National Book Award for Nonfiction"There Kevin Young goes again, giving us books we greatly need, cleverly disguised as books we merely want. Unexpectedly essential."--Marlon JamesAward-winning poet and critic Kevin Young tours us...

The legendary Buffalo Soldiers, four army regiments of former slaves, were vital in taming the American frontier. The Tenth Cavalry of African American troopers rode across the Colorado plains to battle the Cheyennes and rescue wounded, starving soldiers...

The legendary Buffalo Soldiers, four army regiments of former slaves, were vital in taming the American frontier. The Tenth Cavalry of African American troopers rode across the Colorado plains to battle the Cheyennes and rescue wounded, starving soldiers...

During the Battle of Fort Wagner in 1863, Sgt. William Harvey Carney picked up the fallen flag from his lifeless comrade. He waved the flag for all of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry to see and led the way to the parapet to plant the colors...

Expert ananlyis and first-hand accounts of combat during the Anglo-Zulu war in 1879: Nyezane, iSandlwana, and Khambula. As seen in the movie Zulu, starring Michael Caine, Zulu discipline and courage overcame British firepower at iSandlwana, and almost at...

The iconic restaurant famous for "Breakfast at Brennan's" was a Creole favorite and New Orleans staple for decades before its closure in 2013. Now available in paperback, these classic recipes are sprinkled with both family and restaurant history and...

An important book of epic scope on America's first racially integrated, religiously inspired movement for change.The Civil War brought to a climax the country's bitter division. But the beginnings of slavery's denouement can be traced to a courageous...

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK - The national bestseller that tells the truth about the Vietnam War from the black soldiers' perspective. An oral history unlike any other, Bloods features twenty black men who tell the story of how members of their race...

The "riveting"* true story of the fiery summer of 1970, which would forever transform the town of Oxford, North Carolina--a classic portrait of the fight for civil rights in the tradition of To Kill a Mockingbird *Chicago Tribune On May 11, 1970, Henry...

Cherokee Bill, one of the meanest of the mean, was hanged for the murder of thirteen men by the time he was twenty. Author Art Burton recounts the exploits of Cherokee Bill and other black and Indian outlaws and lawmen in Black, Red, and Deadly, the...

Shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize 2018 A Book of the Year for the Evening Standard and the Observer A black porter publicly whips a white Englishman in the hall of a Gloucestershire manor house. A Moroccan woman is baptised in a London church...