History

Tranquility Grove: The Great Abolitionist Picnic of 1844 tells the story of an important event that took place in Hingham, Massachusetts. Attended by as many as 10,000 people, the largest abolitionist picnic in history marked the tenth anniversary of the...

On October 8, 1930, Charles "Cap" Sauers, general superintendent of the Cook County Forest Preserve District, wrote a letter to Alfred M. Bailey, director of the Chicago Academy of Sciences, about an idea he had. He proposed developing several nature...

In 1859, at age fourteen, Florence Szász stood before a room full of men and waited to be auctioned to the highest bidder. But slavery and submission were not to be her destiny: Sam Baker, a wealthy English gentleman and eminent adventurer, was moved by...

This powerful and widely acclaimed autobiography of Sindiwe Magona's early years in South Africa, announced the arrival of a major new black writer. Here she gives an account of her eventful first 23 years and tells a candid, unself-pitying story of...

Taking its title from the moving lyrics of the official song of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Lift Every Voice and Sing, Till Victory Is Won chronicles significant moments in African-American history through more than...

A secular regime is toppled by Western intervention, but an Islamic backlash turns the liberators into occupiers. Caught between interventionists at home and fundamentalists abroad, a prime minister flounders as his ministers betray him, alliances fall...

The case of James Somerset, an escaped slave, in June of 1772 in London's Westminster Hall was a decisive turning point in human history. Steven Wise has uncovered fascinating new revelations in this case, which statesmen of the time threatened would...

In this original and illuminating book, Denise A. Spellberg reveals a little-known but crucial dimension of the story of American religious freedom--a drama in which Islam played a surprising role. In 1765, eleven years before composing the Declaration...

A deeply reported book that brings alive the quest for justice in the deaths of Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and Freddie Gray, offering both unparalleled insight into the reality of police violence in America and an intimate, moving portrait of those...

THE STORY BEHIND NEW BBC RADIO SERIES AND PODCAST BLOOD LANDSUtterly gripping, timely and shocking PHILIPPE SANDSCompelling and disturbing . . . quietly devastating DAMON GALGUT This is a book of profound importance . . . A masterpiece ALEXANDER McCALL...

This kaleidoscopic portrait of an unprecedented time brings together some of our most treasured writers today--Edwidge Danticat, Layli Long Soldier, Monica Youn, Julia Alvarez, Reginald Dwayne Betts, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor--to give voice to the...

From an unflinchingly black perspective, Harding writes of the struggle of heroic African americans to achieve freedom from slavery. Index; photographs.