Chronicles the history of the United States from colonial origins to the beginning of the 21st century.

In the spring of 1862, many Americans still believed that the Civil War, 'would be over by Christmas.' The losses in Virginia at Bull Run the previous summer, with nearly 5,000 casualties, had been shocking enough, but suddenly came word of an appalling battle in the wildernesses of Southwest Tennessee, Shiloh, that cost 24,000 lives, most of them during a single day. This was more casualties than from all previous U.S. wars combined, including the...

One penguin finds a problem that could become a big problem for the whole colony. However, none of the other penguins want to listen.

Highlighting the serene Wyoming landscape and its rich heritage, Annie Proulx, author of "The shipping news, " chronicles living in the Cowboy State. 'Bird Cloud' is the name Proulx gave to the 640-acre land she fell in love with on her first visit. This work of nonfiction follows Proulx as she builds a house (essentially a library surrounded by bedrooms and a kitchen) from the ground up.

"[I]n New York ... Barack Obama learns that his father--a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man--has been killed in a car accident. This sudden death inspires an emotional odyssey--first to a small town in Kansas, from which he retraces the migration of his mother's family to Hawaii, and then to Kenya, where he meets the African side of his family, confronts the bitter truth of his father's life, and at last reconciles his divided inheritance"--Container....

Award-winning journalist Tracie McMillan chronicles her undercover mission to work and eat alongside America's working poor.

"In 1920, Billy Williams came to colonial Burma as a "forest man" for a British teak company. Mesmerized by the intelligence and character of the great animals who hauled logs through the jungle, he became a gifted "elephant wallah". In Elephant Company, Vicki Constantine Croke chronicles Williams's growing love for elephants as the animals provide him lessons in courage, trust, and gratitude. Elephant Company is also a tale of war and daring. When...