America First History

In 1924, three years before Lindbergh flew to Paris, four young army airmen answered the call of General Billy Mitchell to save US aviation from destruction by the politicians by winning the race with a dozen other nations to make the first flight around the world. In primitive open-cockpit biplanes powered by unreliable engines and few airfields, they were given little chance of success or even survival.

The Soviet-built MiG-15 swept-wing fighter startled the world when it was introduced into combat during the Korean War in the early 1950s. The West had no idea that Russia could produce such a capable fighter. Some 35 years later, former Marine aviator Paul Entrekin burst onto the North American Air Show circuit with the first civilian-owned MiG-15. His story tells of the myriad of challenges in obtaining, test-flying, licensing this first-of-its-kind air show aircraft. It's a walk down memory lane that includes some of the most well-known names in aviation.

Though they had different backgrounds, skills, and ideas, the Founding Fathers came together to forge a new nation and persevered against the odds to achieve America's independence. In this edition, the editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica examine the lives of the new republic's first four presidents: George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison.

Today the Space Race is widely viewed poignantly and fondly as a race to the Moon that culminated with Apollo 11 “winning” the Race for the United States. In fact, it encompassed a much broader range of competition between the Soviet Union and the United States that affected everything from military technology to successfully launching satellites that could land on Mars or orbit other planets in the Solar System.

First Nations peoples and Native Americans in North America have long believed in the power of spirit animals or totems. They believed that these animals had lessons to teach and healing or inspirational powers. Wayne Arthurson delves into the world of spirit animals and shows the meanings of these animals to Native peoples and how nature has made its mark on their world.

Bertha Wilson and Claire L’Heureux-Dubé were the first women judges on the Supreme Court of Canada. Their 1980s judicial appointments delighted feminists and shocked the legal establishment. Polar opposites in background and temperament, the two faced many identical challenges. Constance Backhouse’s compelling narrative explores the sexist roadblocks both women faced in education, law practice, and in the courts. She profiles their different ways of coping, their landmark decisions for women’s rights, and their less stellar records on race.

In "Squanto: The Untold Story of Thanksgiving," readers will discover the fascinating and often overlooked tale of Squanto, an English-speaking Indian who played a crucial role in the survival of the pilgrims. This book delves into the journey of the pilgrims as they landed in the new world and faced numerous challenges as settlers in an unfamiliar land. Through Squanto's assistance and guidance, the pilgrims were able to navigate the difficulties they encountered and ultimately establish a lasting relationship with the Native Americans. This captivating narrative sheds light on the untold ...

Historians still agree about the date of Columbus' voyage. But did this European adventurer discover America? We now know that certain explorers from other parts of the globe set foot on American shores long before 1492: and that others may have done so. And "discovery" takes on a different meaning when the new land already has people living in it.

While Nantucket has long enjoyed an illustrious position in America's whaling history, Cape Cod's contribution to the industry is relatively unknown, yet it was a Cape Codder who taught the Nantucketers how to hunt whales. In Cape Cod Shore Whaling, authors Duncan Oliver and John Braginton-Smith uncover Cape Cod's integral role in shaping whalefishery, which began along the Cape's sandy shores and evolved into the far-flung whaling expeditions that drove Nantucket's economy into the nineteenth century.

This work by James Williams is one of very few autobiographical texts by Caribbean slaves or former slaves. It became one of the most powerful abolitionist tools for ending the system of apprenticeship which had replaced slavery. Williams argues that apprenticeship worsened the conditions of Jamaican ex-slaves as former owners used the legal system against them.

At the same time as the women's rights convention was taking place at Seneca Falls in 1848, First Lady Sarah Childress Polk was wielding influence unprecedented for a woman. Yet, while history remembers the women of the convention, it has all but forgotten Sarah Polk. Now, Amy Greenberg brings her story into vivid focus in this riveting biography and reveals Sarah Polk's complicated but essential part in American feminism.

One of the most admired newsmen in America, Bob Shieffer has won six Emmy Awards and been recognized by the National Press Foundation as the Broadcaster of the Year. The chief Washington correspondent for CBS News, Schieffer is also The New York Times best-selling author of This Just In. Now in this fascinating audiobook, Schieffer shares his favorite memories from the award-winning news broadcast Face the Nation, in celebration of the program's 50-year anniversary.

Despite her distinction and other more notable accomplishments, many people today are not familiar with the groundbreaking actress Dorothy Dandridge, even though she was among the most charismatic and beautiful actresses of the era. Her alluring nightclub acts set pulses pounding across the globe, and she was Hollywood’s first black leading actress. Sadly, all of it came at a high price.

During the presidential campaign in 1864, the outcome of the Civil War was still very much in doubt, and while the Republicans renominated Lincoln for the presidency, they made an unprecedented move by nominating a Democrat, Andrew Johnson, for vice president. Senator Johnson was notable for being the only senator to remain loyal to the Union even when his state, Tennessee, had seceded. At the time, nominating Johnson seemed to be a mere token of goodwill - little did Republicans know what would happen the following April.

Dig in on the deadly struggle for a Boston hilltop, Breed’s Hill, known as Bunker Hill. For the British Army, it was the deadliest battle of the American Revolutionary War. This battle, more than any other event, created the moment Massachusetts and the other colonies realized the American Revolution had begun. Meet a young Boston bookseller who believed he could bomb the mighty British army out of Boston. He became Washington’s Yankee, standing with him from Boston to victory at Yorktown.

The American Revolution is replete with seminal moments that every American learns in school, from the "shot heard 'round the world" to the Declaration of Independence, but the events that led up to the fighting at Lexington and Concord were borne out of 10 years of division between the British and their American colonies over everything from colonial representation in governments to taxation, the nature of searches, and the quartering of British regulars in private houses.

Feared by settlers and natives alike, the Shawnee tribe have been misunderstood by people throughout history. Who were these conservative people? What was their daily life like? How were their villages organized? This informative book will answer these questions and more in the first volume of the We are Shawnee series.

Every president has had some experience as a parent. Of the 43 men who have served in the nation's highest office, 38 have fathered biological children, and the other five adopted children. Each president's parenting style reveals much about his beliefs as well as his psychological makeup. James Garfield enjoyed jumping on the bed with his kids. FDR's children, on the other hand, had to make appointments to talk to him.

Those who had decoded and seen the Japanese communications in early December 1941 would not be surprised when they heard about an attack on December 7, 1941. They would, however, be astonished when they heard where that attack took place. Posted on the other side of the world, it was early on the morning of December 8 in the Philippines when American general Douglas MacArthur received news of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor hours earlier.

In 1954, the US Air Force launched an ambitious program known as WS-117L to develop the world's first reconnaissance satellite. The goal was to take photographic images from space and relay them back to Earth via radio. Because of technical issues and bureaucratic resistance, however, WS-117L was seriously behind schedule by the time Sputnik orbited Earth in 1957 and was eventually cancelled. Eyeing the Red Storm examines the birth of space-based reconnaissance from the perspective of WS-117L.