Historical

Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Ron Chernow illuminates the full, fascinating, and complex life of the writer long celebrated as the father of American literature, Mark Twain.

In a seamless meshing of exhaustive research, brilliant synthesis and narrative élan, Simon Sebag Montefiore chronicles the life and lives of Stalin’s court from the time of his acclamation as “leader” in 1929, five years after Lenin’s death, until his own death in 1953 at the age of 73....

The true survival story of an early polar expedition that went terribly awry—with the ship frozen in ice and the crew trapped inside for the entire sunless, Antarctic winter....

Mo Rocca has always loved obituaries - reading about the remarkable lives of global leaders, Hollywood heavyweights, and innovators who changed the world. But not every notable life has gotten the send-off it deserves. His quest to right that wrong inspired Mobituaries....

The 38 letters written by Rockefeller to his son imparting his perspectives, ideology, and wisdom to his son....

The Nine follows the true story of the author’s great aunt Hélène Podliasky, who led a band of nine female resistance fighters as they escaped a German forced labor camp and made a 10-day journey across the front lines of World War II from Germany back to Paris....

The Pursuit of Happiness is more than an elucidation of the Declaration’s famous phrase; it is a revelatory journey into the minds of the Founders, and a deep, rich, and fresh understanding of the foundation of our democracy.

From National Book Award winner Ron Chernow, a landmark biography of George Washington....

Historians have long told the story of America’s birth as the triumph of Jefferson’s democratic ideals over the aristocratic intentions of Hamilton....

Robert Caro's monumental book makes public what few outsiders knew: that Robert Moses was the single most powerful man of his time in the City and in the State of New York....

The Mongol army led by Genghis Khan subjugated more lands and people in 25 years than the Romans did in 400....

Charles Leerhsen brings the notorious Butch Cassidy to vivid life in this “lyrical and deeply researched” (Publishers Weekly) biography that goes beyond the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid to reveal a more fascinating and complicated man than legend provides....

Titan is the first full-length biography based on unrestricted access to Rockefeller’s exceptionally rich trove of papers. A landmark publication full of startling revelations, the book indelibly alters our image of this most enigmatic capitalist....

Rain of Gold is a true-life saga of love, family and destiny that pulses with bold vitality, sweeping from the war-ravaged Mexican mountains of Pancho Villa's revolution to the days of Prohibition in California....

Benjamin Franklin is the founding father who winks at us - an ambitious urban entrepreneur who rose up the social ladder, from leather-aproned shopkeeper to dining with kings....

Leonardo da Vinci created the two most famous paintings in history, The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa. But in his own mind, he was just as much a man of science and engineering....

Confronting Evil recounts the deeds of the worst people in history: Genghis Khan. The Roman Emperor Caligula. Henry VIII. The collective evil of the 19th century slave traders and the 20th century robber barons. Stalin. Hitler. Mao. The Ayatollah Khomeini. Putin. The Mexican drug cartels.

The River of Doubt brings alive extraordinary events in a powerful nonfiction narrative thriller that happens to feature one of the most famous Americans who ever lived....

A masterful new translation of Suetonius' renowned biography of the twelve Caesars, bringing to life a portrait of the first Roman emperors in stunning detail.

Erik Larson has been widely acclaimed as a master of narrative non-fiction, and in his new book, turns his hand to a remarkable story set during Hitler’s rise to power....

The definitive biography of the great soldier-statesman by the New York Times best-selling author of The Storm of War....

The frontiersmen were a remarkable breed of men. They were often rough and illiterate, sometimes brutal and vicious, often seeking an escape in the wilderness of mid-America....

The first Plantagenet king inherited a blood-soaked kingdom from the Normans and transformed it into an empire stretched at its peak from Scotland to Jerusalem. In this epic history, Dan Jones vividly resurrects this fierce and seductive royal dynasty and its mythic world....

The New York Times bestselling author returns with a biography examining the dramatic life and unparalleled leadership of England's greatest medieval king.

In this landmark biography of Winston Churchill based on extensive new material, the true genius of the man, statesman, and leader can finally be fully understood - by the best-selling, award-winning author of Napoleon and The Storm of War....

Based on a “that can’t actually be true” story, Dead Outlaw is the darkly hilarious and wildly inventive new musical about Elmer McCurdy, an early 20th-century outlaw who became a traveling corpse and accidental celebrity. After a botched train robbery and an untimely death, Elmer’s body embarks on a decades-long postmortem adventure—through carnivals, roadside attractions, wax museums, and even a Hollywood film set. Dead Outlaw dives into the absurdity of fame, the inevitability of failure, and the meaning—or utter meaninglessness—of legacy.

When a DNA test blows apart her father’s hidden identity many years after his death, Deb finds she has a sister, Barbara, and an entirely new family she never knew. As the sisters work to unravel more of their father’s secrets, they find his connection to a dark chapter of British-Canadian history. Will the sisters finally get to the bottom of their father’s past? Or are some secrets meant to stay buried forever?

Charles Sumner is mainly known as the abolitionist statesman who suffered a brutal caning on the Senate floor by the proslavery congressman Preston Brooks in 1856. This violent episode has obscured Sumner's status as the most passionate champion of equal rights and multiracial democracy of his time. A friend of Alexis de Tocqueville, an ally of Frederick Douglass, and an adviser to Abraham Lincoln, Sumner helped the Union win the Civil War and ordain the Emancipation Proclamation, the Thirteenth Amendment, the Freedmen's Bureau, and the Civil Rights Act of 1875.

In The Hemlock Cup, award-winning historian Bettany Hughes brings to vivid life one of the most influential thinkers the world has ever known: Socrates of Athens. A maverick philosopher who philosophised in squares and public arenas rather than the courts of kings, Socrates left his indelible mark on the entirety of Western civilisation - yet the life of the man himself is shrouded in mystery.

From the chaos of a collapsing empire, three men emerged to forge a new world in fire and blood. Vladimir Lenin, the revolution's architect; Leon Trotsky, its brilliant commander; and Ioseb Stalin, its patient and ruthless administrator, would see their fates intertwined in a struggle that defined the twentieth century. This book meticulously traces their journey from comrades in arms to mortal enemies fighting for the soul of the state they built. Drawing on extensive historical records, the narrative first explores their rise to power amidst the storms of the October Revolution and the ...

Volume One starts with an exploration of Guru Nanak’s "House", the empowering legacy of the Sikhs with its roots in the south Asian subcontinent, and continues with stories and lessons learned from the childhood and youth of the man we have come to call “Siri Singh Sahib”. Escaping the partition of British India in 1947, young Harbhajan becomes involved in the Sikh student movement. Married and graduated with a master’s degree in economics, Harbhajan Singh still finds time to meet reclusive yogis and swamis in their caves and ashrams during a colorful career as customs agent for the...

In 1804, at the behest of President Thomas Jefferson, a small band of soldiers pushed off into the vast, unknown territory of the Louisiana Purchase. Their mission was to cross the continent to the Pacific Ocean, navigating a landscape of myth, rumor, and intense geopolitical competition. This is the definitive story of their 8,000-mile journey into the heart of a continent and the American consciousness. At the head of the Corps of Discovery were two remarkable and contrasting commanders: the brilliant, introspective Meriwether Lewis and the pragmatic, indomitable William Clark. Their ...

In a life of towering achievement and unprecedented disgrace, Richard Nixon remains one of the most compelling and confounding figures in American history. He was the visionary statesman who opened relations with China and negotiated landmark arms treaties with the Soviet Union, fundamentally reordering the landscape of the Cold War. Yet he was also the architect of his own downfall, the only president to resign from office in the face of certain impeachment and criminal prosecution. This biography traces Nixon’s journey from the citrus groves of Southern California, where a pious Quaker ...

In a dozen brilliant and bloody years, a young man from the mountainous kingdom of Macedonia shattered the old world and forged a new one in his own image. Alexander the Great led his army across deserts and mountains to topple the greatest empire ever known, becoming a legend in his own lifetime. This is the epic story of how the prince of a rugged kingdom became the undisputed master of Asia before his thirty-third birthday. This book chronicles his entire journey, from the fractious Macedonian court under his formidable father, Philip II, to his audacious crossing into Asia to challenge ...

Dr. William Sargant ran a lucrative private practice and published multiple books on psychiatry, and he was awarded the Starkey medal and prize by the Royal Society of Health for his work on psychiatric medicine. But what he was best known for was the apogee of his career: the Sleep Room in Ward Five. This was a dark gallery where patients selected by Sargant were subjected to deep narcosis, sleeping for more than twenty-one hours per day for weeks at a time, and roused only for sessions of electroconvulsive therapy.

Benjamin Franklin was the oldest of the founding fathers—he was indeed a whole generation ahead of George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson—and yet he was the most forward-looking of the group and the most modern of the founders. The Greatest American shows just how much of an impact Benjamin Franklin had on American politics and daily life.

Few figures in history have captured the imagination like Alexander the Great. A military genius, visionary ruler, and cultural bridge between East and West, his conquests reshaped the ancient world. But what was the true extent of his ambition? How did his empire-building efforts leave an enduring mark on civilizations? And what can we learn today from his triumphs—and his failures?

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave is a powerful and harrowing autobiography that chronicles the early life of Frederick Douglass, who was born into slavery and rose to become one of the most influential voices in the fight for abolition. First published in 1845, the book offers a firsthand account of the brutality and inhumanity of slavery, detailing Douglass’s experiences on plantations, his struggle to learn to read and write, and his courageous escape to freedom.

Discover the remarkable life of Daniel Boone... Daniel Boone is one of those figures in American history whose life often intertwines with myths and legends. While numerous tall tales surround this American adventurer, many of his greatest feats are actually true. They are not merely artifacts of folklore—they genuinely happened. Daniel Boone really did blaze a trail through the Cumberland Gap into the western frontier. He really did become initiated as a member of the Shawnee (who gave him the name “Big Turtle”), and he really did serve under Revolutionary War General George Rogers Clark.

The Chabad-Lubavitch movement, one of the world's best-known Hasidic groups, is driven by the belief that we are on the verge of the messianic age. The man most recognized for the movement's success is the seventh and last Lubavitcher rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902–1994), believed by many of his followers to be the Messiah.

In an age of spectacle, we often forget the quiet work that sustains a nation. Quiet Valor is a masterfully told, deeply human tribute to the Americans who shaped the country not with fanfare but with resolve. In this moving and impeccably researched collection, Larry Nouvel lifts the veil on 15 extraordinary individuals whose integrity, courage, and service reshaped the moral architecture of the United States.

La «scalata» di Anna Bolena inizia con un periodo trascorso in Francia, come damigella della regina. Al suo rientro in Inghilterra Anna si era trasformata in una splendida dama di corte, prezioso oggetto di scambio per le ambizioni del padre. Ma neppure lui poteva immaginare quale sarebbe stato il futuro della ragazza che, dopo aver infiammato il cuore del re Enrico VIII, lo sposò nel 1533 e gli diede una figlia, Elisabetta, destinata a diventare la più grande regina della storia inglese.

This dramatic narrative illustrates the lifestyle and philosophy of Diogenes of Sinope, the prominent Greek Cynic philosopher, who lived roughly from 404 to 323 BCE. Diogenes was known for his humor, ascetic lifestyle, radical critiques of social conventions, and the famous anecdote of searching with staff and lantern for an honest man. Statues of Diogenes reveal a robust man, usually in the company of dogs. His philosophy reveals itself in his meeting with Alexander, the Great, and his arguments with Plato. Fleeing Athens, captured by pirates, sold as a slave, Diogenes lived his later ...

Kleopatra, Pharaonin und Inbegriff von Schönheit: Leben und Werk in einer Kurzbiografie! Alles, was man wissen muss, kurz und knapp. Infotainment, Bildung und Unterhaltung vom Feinsten!

Kein Ostjude geht freiwillig nach Berlin. Berlin ist eine Durchgangsstation, in der man aus zwingenden Gründen länger verweilt. Die Ostjuden haben nicht leicht den Weg nach Paris gefunden. Sie kamen viel leichter nach Brüssel und Amsterdam.

In 1781, the new United States was nearly bankrupt. As the American and French armies under Generals Washington and Rochambeau surrounded General Cornwallis and the British at Yorktown, James Lovell, Congressman, examined a captured, soiled letter. The numbers in General Cornwallis’s ciphered message might hold the key to the defeat of the British. Expert in encryption, James Lovell knew the answer to British loss could lie in his hands.

En la historia no hay héroes o villanos: hay hombres y mujeres que enfrentaron una coyuntura y, muchas veces, un sino trágico. En Muertes históricas, Martín Luis Guzmán da cuenta de los últimos días de dos figuras fundamentales en la historia de México: Porfirio Díaz y Venustiano Carranza, ofreciendo una visión íntima de cómo estos líderes enfrentaron su ocaso político y personal, así como las circunstancias que los llevaron a su caída y muerte.

Do you think you know the real Mrs. Mary Todd Lincoln? This book was written in 1928, and Honore Willsie Morrow tells the story of Mrs. Mary Todd Lincoln based on research and personal interviews with Mrs. Lincoln herself, as well as her family, friends, associates, and colleagues in and outside of the White House. It was a tumultuous time in U.S. history, and Mrs. Mary Todd Lincoln was often the object of gossip and accusations in Washington, D.C. This book delves into that time period with the Lincolns in the White House and offers reasons to appreciate the former first lady.

Grace Brewster Hopper (December 9, 1906 to January 1, 1992) was an American computer scientist, mathematician, and United States Navy rear admiral. A pioneer of computer programming, Hopper was the first to devise the theory of machine-independent programming languages and used this theory to develop the FLOW-MATIC programming language and COBOL, an early high-level programming language still in use today. She was also one of the first programmers on the Harvard Mark I computer.

Benjamin Franklin was more than just a Founding Father of the United States—he was a visionary, a scientist, a diplomat, and an intellectual giant whose legacy continues to shape the world today. In The Architect of a Nation: Unveiling the Legacy of Benjamin Franklin, Arley Ballenger provides a comprehensive and captivating biography of this extraordinary figure, exploring how Franklin's ideas, inventions, and diplomacy helped forge the United States into the nation it is today.