Akron Public Library

The author traces the Big Bang through the rise of civilization, documenting his work with a host of the world's most advanced scientists and mathematicians to explain why things are the way they are.

In contemporary culture, the near obsessive pursuit of love and monogamous bliss is considered "normal," as evidenced by a wide range of online dating sites, television shows such as Sex in the City draws on little-known conduct books, letter-writing manuals, domestic guidebooks, periodical articles, letters, and novels to reveal what the period equivalents of "dating" and "tying the knot" were like in the Victorian era. By addressing topics such...

Describes the birth of the Indian nation and of its spiritual leader, Mahatma Gandhi as the British Empire diminished in power and gave India its freedom.

A sweeping historical epic and a radical new interpretation of Vasco da Gama's groundbreaking voyages, seen as a turning point in the struggle between Christianity and Islam In 1498 a young captain sailed from Portugal, circumnavigated Africa, crossed the Indian Ocean, and discovered the sea route to the Indies and, with it, access to the fabled wealth of the East. It was the longest voyage known to history. The little ships were pushed beyond their...

Ideal for classroom use, this anthology also provides a valuable tool for preparing or performing public speeches. Twenty of the world's most influential and stirring public lectures include Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, and Patrick Henry's "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death!" oration. Additional speeches include Pericles' fifth-century BC funeral oration, George Washington's 1784 resignation speech, Martin...

From a New York Times best-selling historian and Pulitzer Prize finalist, a sweeping epic of how the Vikings and their descendants have shaped history and America. Scandinavia has always been a world apart. For millennia Norwegians, Danes, Finns, and Swedes lived a remote and rugged existence among the fjords and peaks of the land of the midnight sun. But when they finally left their homeland in search of opportunity, these wanderers-including the...

"Colin Thubron is the intrepid, resourceful and immensely talented writer who has made a career out of going to out of the way places and then writing brilliantly about them. "-Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post Book World "Thanks to Thubron, we encounter a world which, in its beauty and awe, exceeds our imagination." -Ryszard Kapuscinski, author of Shah of Shahs and Imperium New York Times bestselling author Colin Thubron returns with a moving, intimate,...

This is the tale of the first sea voyage to circumnavigate the entire globe. Ferdinand Magellan's dramatic maritime expedition in 1519 discovered the straits that enabled Europe to trade with the Eastern spice islands and changed the course of history.

On the morning of March 27, 1995, four quick shots cracked through Milan's elegant streets. Maurizio Gucci, heir to the fabulous fashion dynasty, had been ambushed, slain on the steps to his office by an unknown gunman. Two years later, Milan's chief of police entered the sumptuous palazzo of Maurizio's ex-wife, Patrizia Reggiani--nicknamed "the Black Widow" by the press--and arrested her for murder. Did Patrizia kill her ex-husband because his spending...

In this follow-up to his late father's Band of Brothers, which tracked a single army unit from Georgia to the battlefields of Europe, historian Ambrose turns his attention to the Pacific theater, following four individual marines and one Naval Aviator through their time in combat.