Sifting through centuries of mythmaking, Reza Aslan sheds new light on one of history's most influential and enigmatic characters by examining Jesus through the lens of the tumultuous era in which he lived: first-century Palestine, an age awash in apocalyptic fervor. Scores of Jewish prophets, preachers, and would-be messiahs wandered through the Holy Land, bearing messages from God. This was the age of zealotry--a fervent nationalism that made resistance...

"A historical novel, based on a real-life event, follows the lives of two characters, a newly orphaned girl in 1629 who was shipwrecked on an island off Western Australia, and a lonely boy in 1989 who, over three hundred years later, arrives on the same island, discovering the story of an infamous shipwreck."--

The international bestselling author of The Professor and the Madman and Krakatoa vividly brings to life the 1906San Francisco Earthquake that leveled a city symbolic of America's relentless western expansion. Simon Winchester has also fashioned an enthralling and informative informative look at the tumultuous subterranean world that produces earthquakes, the planet's most sudden and destructive force.

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Since its formation in 1861, Italy has struggled to develop an effective political system and a secure sense of national identity. Christopher Duggan's acclaimed introduction charts the country's history from the fall of the Roman Empire in the West to the present day, and surveys the difficulties Italy has faced during the last two centuries in forging a nation state. Duggan successfully weaves together political, economic, social and cultural history,...

"Presents an overview of French history from the early middle ages to the end of World War II, discussing the link between state and society; the impact of war on French culture, politics, and economics; how political power has been used; key figures in France's development; and related topics."--

In 1637, Anne Hutchinson, a forty-six-year-old midwife who was pregnant with her sixteenth child, stood before forty male judges of the Massachusetts General Court, charged with heresy and sedition. In a time when women could not vote, hold public office, or teach outside the home, the charismatic Hutchinson wielded remarkable political power. Her unconventional ideas had attracted a following of prominent citizens eager for social reform. Hutchinson

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"As the true horrors of the Third Reich began to be exposed immediately after World War II, the Nazi war criminals who committed genocide went on the run. A few were swiftly caught; others evaded capture through a sophisticated Nazi organization designed to hide them. Among those war criminals were Josef Mengele; Martin Bormann; Klaus Barbie, and Adolf Eichmann. But a group of by self-styled "Nazi hunters" waged war on them, scouring the world, tracking...

A prominent classicist explores ancient Rome and how its citizens adapted the notion of imperial rule, invented the concepts of citizenship and nation, and made laws about those traditionally overlooked in history, including women, slaves, and criminals.

This illustrated look at nineteenth-century New England architecture was named a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year.
 
This book, from the award-winning author of The Way Things Work, takes readers of all ages on a journey through a fictional mill town called Wicksbridge. With words and pictures, David Macaulay reveals fascinating details about the planning, construction, and operation of the mills—and...