Includes an analysis of the physics of light and sound, and how our eyes and ears detect them. This title offers an alternative route to science literacy for those interested in the arts, music and photography.[...]

Faced with cancer and financial ruin, the Civil War's greatest general and former president, Ulysses S. Grant wrote his personal memoirs to secure his family's future. In doing so he won himself a unique place in American letters. Acclaimed by writers as diverse as Mark Twain and Gertrude Stein, Gr[...]

Long-time word-detective and bestselling author of "Port Out", "Starboard Home", Michael Quinion brings us the answers to nearly two hundred of the most intriguing questions he's been asked about language over the years. Sent to him by enquiring readers from all around the globe, Michael's answers a[...]

"The Penguin Modern Classics" edition of John Dos Passos' "U.S.A." is a groundbreaking work of experimental fiction which, with its unique melange of fact and fiction, creates a compelling, tragic vision of America at the dawn of the twentieth century. In this experimental trilogy, Dos Passos uses '[...]

Sara Crewe, an exceptionally intelligent and imaginative student at Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies, is devastated when her adored, indulgent father dies. Now penniless and banished to a room in the attic, Sara is demeaned, abused, and forced to work as a servant. How this resourcefu[...]

After September 11th, Ahmed Rashid's crucial book "Taliban" introduced American readers to that now notorious regime. In this new work, he returns to Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia to review the catastrophic aftermath of America's failed war on terror. Called "Pakistan's best and bravest re[...]

Written by locals, Fodor's travel guides have been offering expert advice for all tastes and budgets for over 80 years.[...]

Prior to the Nixon administration, environmental policy in the United States was rudimentary at best. Since then, it has evolved into one of the primary concerns of governmental policy from the federal to the local level. As scientific expertise on the environment rapidly developed, Americans beca[...]

Josef and Karel Capek were the best known literary figures of liberated Czechoslovakia after 1918. Josef won a considerable reputation as a painter of the Cubist school, later developing his own playful primitive style. He collaborated with his brother in composing sketches, stories, and plays, as[...]

There are few events as central to the American historical consciousness as the Civil War, which is a fascinating area of interest for students and general readers alike. One of the most efficient ways to study a war is with an atlas; however, most of the atlases devoted to this period focus almost [...]

Many scholars believe that the framers of the Constitution intended Congress to be the preeminent branch of government. Indeed, no other legislature in the world approaches its power. Yet most Americans have only a murky idea of how it works. In The U.S. Congress, Donald A. Ritchie, a congressional [...]