First United

Frontier: the word carries the inevitable scent of the West. But before Custer or Lewis and Clark, before the first Conestoga wagons rumbled across the Plains, it was the East that marked the frontier - the boundary between complex Native cultures and the first colonizing Europeans.Here is the older, wilder, darker history of a time when the land between the Atlantic and the Appalachians was contested ground - when radically different societies adopted and adapted the ways of the other, while struggling for control of what all considered to be their land.

When diplomatic efforts to introduce opium to the Chinese market failed, the British Parliament approved an alternative: war. There were two wars: one from 1839 to 1842, and another from 1856 to 1860. They are collectively known as the Opium Wars. The British, who were joined by French and supported by the Americans and Russians, clashed with Imperial China, which was ruled by the Qing dynasty.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The intimate, inspiring, and authoritative biography of Sandra Day O’Connor, America’s first female Supreme Court justice, drawing on exclusive interviews and first-time access to Justice O’Connor’s archives—as seen on PBS’s American Experience...

Did you know that a woman fought in the Revolutionary War? Learn about Deborah Sampson, the first woman soldier to officially serve and fight in battles for the United States' military. To gain entry she disguised herself as a man which was discovered later during the war. She overcame many obstacles in order to fight in the Continental Army for America's freedom.

Writing was the central passion of Emerson's life. While his thoughts on the craft are well developed in "The Poet", "The American Scholar", Nature, "Goethe", and "Persian Poetry", less well known are the many pages in his private journals devoted to the relationship between writing and reading. Here, for the first time, is the Concord Sage's energetic, exuberant, and unconventional advice on the idea of writing, focused and distilled by the preeminent Emerson biographer at work today.

The sixth book in the Gallagher Girls series leads Cammie and her spy school friends to another wildly entertaining mission. With new assignments to tail and capture, the final book in the globally bestselling series results in an explosive finale!...

On the 12th of April 1865, the Army of Northern Virginia marched to the field in front of Appomattox Court-House, stacked their arms, folded their colors, and walked off empty handed to find their distant, blighted homes. These are detailed and moving first-hand accounts from a number of prominent witnesses to Robert E. Lee's surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox.

Offering a profound and comprehensive exploration of the life and legacy of this legendary military strategist, this eye-opening biography seeks to dispel the mystery around the first president of the United States, championing the daring achievements and the triumphs against the odds that helped him lead the American Revolutionaries to victory against the British Empire.

More than 12,000 years ago, in one of the greatest triumphs of prehistory, humans colonized North America, a continent that was then truly a new world. Just when and how they did so has been one of the most perplexing and controversial questions in archaeology.

Politically controversial and pragmatic, witness an unlikely duo in their quest for the White House. A former president is assassinated. Rocky is disowned by members of his family. Uncommon heroism is sullied by the most powerful man in the world. Rocky is the man most men would like to be. He is the epitome of what many women would want in a man. But things are not what they appear to be. He is harboring a deep dark secret that could destroy his military career and that of the one he loves most.

Women didn’t always have the rights and the possibilities that they do today. In the past, the basic human rights such as the right to vote, the right to reproduce, the right to work, to hold public office, to enter into legal contracts, to have equal rights in family law, the right to education, the right to be free from sexual violence, the right to own property, and so on were not available to women.

Abigail Adams was just as much a founding mother as her husband John Adams was a founding father. Like him, she was there from the very beginning when the first foundations of the United States were laid. While John debated independence in Philadelphia, Abigail penned letters that would become some of the American Revolution's most important historical documents.

Betty Ford was the First Lady of President Gerald Ford. Many biographies seem to focus on just that one aspect of her life, but as consequential as her time in the White House was, she was more than that. Since her earliest days as a little girl in Michigan, Betty Ford lived a life that was full of learning, full of adventure, and full of service. She was a dancer who graced stages in New York City. She was a woman who rebuilt her life after a difficult first marriage.

Eleanor Roosevelt was no ordinary First Lady. Her life reads like an epic novel: childhood tragedy, political intrigue, personal betrayal, and ultimate triumph. Born into New York's elite Roosevelt family, Eleanor lost both parents by age ten and was raised by a stern grandmother who criticized her appearance and demeanor. The shy, awkward girl nicknamed "Granny" seemed destined for a quiet life in the shadows.

In the 250-year history of the United States, there have been many first ladies, but Nancy Reagan remains one of the most memorable. She and her husband ushered in the 1980s, and during this time, Nancy herself became the public face of many important issues. Most famously, she tackled the growing problem of illegal drug use with the iconic “Just Say No” campaign, an effort that became so widespread and recognizable that it entered American culture permanently.

It is no secret that Mary Todd Lincoln is one of the least popular first ladies in American history. She was considered a shrew, a spendthrift, and her own son had her declared insane. The truth behind Mary Todd Lincoln lies in the fact that she was unable to conform to the feminine expectations of her times. Well-educated and filled with opinions, she defied conventions and incurred the wrath of the public who hated her for it.

James Thompson is a "forensic historian" who explains what once (really) happened in carefully documented causal sequences. In his American Revolutions Series, Thompson reconstructs how the amazing prophecy Alexis de Tocqueville made in 1840 came true. "The First Revolutions in the Minds of the People" is the first book in this four-book series.

The First 60 Years: The History of Afro-American Musical Theater and Entertainment chronicles the contributions made by Black Americans to the entertainment industry in America from 1871 through 1930. This book describes, among other subjects, the types of traveling circuses performers worked on and the types of material performed there. This book also chronicles the history and the beginnings of Black Vaudeville in America, the creation of the blues, and the beginnings of Black theatrical entrepreneurship that took place in America during its most racist times.

She’s forbidden. Too young, too pure, and not mine. I’ll break all the rules to be with her. She belongs to me, even if she doesn't know it yet. He’s taboo. Too old, too experienced, and my stepfather. I’ll cross every line to be with him. He's not mine and never will be. It’s not about the danger of what's forbidden, it’s about the pleasure we get from it. All consequences be damned.

This volume spans 1914-1939 to provide a concise interpretation of the role the United States played in the origins of the Second World War. It synthesizes recent scholarship about interwar international politics while also presenting an original interpretation of the sources of American policy.