History & Society

A member of the Weathermen Underground and one of two survivors of an explosion at group's bomb factory offers an overview of 1960s radical history and the story of her transformation from a upperclass teenager to radical militant.

Offers a dramatic reconstruction of the life and times of Gudrid, a Viking woman who, according to Icelandic sagas, arrived in the New World, spent three years there, and gave birth to a baby, before sailing home some five hundred years before Columbus, drawing on the latest archaeological data, scientific research, and cutting-edge technology to trace her odyssey.

The award-winning author of A People's Tragedy furnishes an incisive portrait of everyday Russian life during the repression of the Stalin years, analyzing the regime's effect on people's personal lives as they struggled to survive in the middle of the fear, mistrust, betrayal, and compromise of the world in which they lived. 40,000 first printing.

When a proposal to pull country music from the Nashville radio station WSM sparked public outcry in 2002, Craig Havighurst scoured new and existing sources to document the station's effect on the city's character and self-image.

An illustrated tour of some of the most significant and history-making maps ever made is culled from Library of Congress archives and offers insight into the role of maps as living histories.

An account of how one man facilitated the spread of nuclear weapons technology to Pakistan, Iran, North Korea, and Libya, and how the United States government knowingly allowed him to smuggle and deal the most dangerous secrets in the world.

Addressing the problems facing many communities in America, one of the most influential performers of the last half century and a veteran of the civil rights movement encourage people who are stuck because of feelings of low self-esteem, fearfulness, and anger to move forward in their lives. 100,000 first printing.

Two slave narratives that document the experiences of runaway slaves who managed to reach the protection of Union forces are accompanied by biographies of both men that reconstruct their childhoods, escape, Civil War service, and successful later lives.

Marking the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Jack Kerouac's On the Road, the seminal masterpiece of the Beat Generation, a visual record of the era features more than two hundred rare illustrations that chronicle the evolution of the Beat Generation from its underground origins to its worldwide acclaim in the works of Kerouac, Ginsberg, Burroughs, Cassady, and others. 50,000 first printing.

November 1944: Army airmen set out in a B-24 bomber on what should have been an easy mission off the Borneo coast. Instead they found themselves facing a Japanese fleet—and were shot down. When they cut themselves loose from their parachutes, they were scattered across the island's mountainous interior. Then a group of loincloth-wearing natives silently materialized out of the jungle. Would these Dayak tribesmen turn the starving airmen over to the Japanese occupiers? Or would the Dayaks risk vicious reprisals to get the airmen safely home? The tribal leaders' unprecedented decision led to a desperate game of hide-and-seek, and, ultimately, the return of a long-renounced ritual: head-hunting. This survival story features a bamboo airstrip built on a rice paddy, a mad British major, and a blowpipe-wielding army that helped destroy one of the last Japanese strongholds.—From publisher description.Describes how the American Army crew of a B-24 bomber, shot down over Japanese-occupied Borneo in November 1944, were rescued by native Dayak tribesmen, one-time headhunters who returned to their long-renounced ritual in order to protect the airmen.

Describes how a simple act of faith and the relationship between two families—one Israeli, one Palestinian—represents a personal microcosm of decades of Israeli-Palestinian history and symbolizes the hope for peace in the Middle East.

Traces the history of the CIA from the end of World War II to Iraq, in a study that condemns the organization for its record, its inability to understand world affairs, the violence it has unleashed, and its undermining of American politics.

Discusses the human dimensions of the Arab-Israeli conflict, detailing the violence of both sides and the emotional and economic impact of armed conflict.