Akron Public Library

A biography of the famous medieval Venetian traveler, Marco Polo.

"For a long time, most people believed that Christopher Columbus was the first explorer to 'discover' America--the first to make a successful round-trip voyage across the Atlantic. But in recent years, as new evidence has come to light, our understanding of history has changed. We know now that Columbus was among the last explorers to reach the Americas, not the first"--Book jacket.

ABC News chief meteorologist Ginger Zee pulls back the curtain on her life in Natural Disaster. Ginger grew up in small-town Michigan where she developed an obsession with weather as a young girl. Ginger opens up about her lifelong battle with crippling depression, her romances that range from misguided to dangerous, and her tumultuous professional path. This cyclone of stories may sound familiar to some-it's just that Ginger's personal tempests happened...

"You might know that Columbus discovered America, Lewis and Clark headed west with Sacajawea, and Sally Ride blasted into space. But what do you really know about these bold explorers? What were they like as kids? What pets or bad habits did they have? And what drove their passion to explore unknown parts of the world? With juicy tidbits about everything from favorite foods to first loves, Lives of the Explorers reveals these fascinating adventurers...

Discusses the voyages of Christopher Columbus who determined to beat everyone in the race to the Indies.

It is the late 10th century, and you are one of a hardy band of young adventurers who plan to sail all the way from Scandinavia to Vinland in North America. Will you survive this arduous voyage in a fragile open boat?

"From the National Book Award-winning and best-selling author Timothy Egan comes the epic story of one of the most fascinating and colorful Irishman in nineteenth-century America. The Irish-American story, with all its twists and triumphs, is told through the improbable life of one man. A dashing young orator during the Great Famine of the 1840s, in which a million of his Irish countrymen died, Thomas Francis Meagher led a failed uprising against...

"In 1986, twenty-year-old Christopher Knight left his home in Massachusetts, drove to Maine, and disappeared into the woods. He would not have a conversation with another human being until nearly three decades later when he was arrested for stealing food. Living in a tent even in winter, he had survived by his wits and courage, developing ingenious ways to store food and water to avoid freezing to death ... Based on extensive interviews with Knight...

Restless explorer Jubal Sackett journeys westward into the vast, unmapped wilderness of seventeenth-century America and discovers the perils of the rugged frontier, a new way of life among the Indians, and the love of a beautiful Natchez Indian princess.

An easy-to-read biography of the sailor who never fully recognized the importance of his discovery which changed history.