American Century

Ruth Cole is a complex, often self-contradictory character — a "difficult" woman. Her story is told in three parts, each focusing on a crucial time in her life. When we first meet her, Ruth is only four. The second window into Ruth's life opens when she is an unmarried woman whose personal life is not nearly as successful as her literary career. The novel closes in the autumn of 1995, when Ruth is a 41-year-old widow and mother — and about to fall in love for the first time.

Perhaps no other symbol has more resonance in African American history than that of "40 acres and a mule" - the lost promise of Black reparations for slavery after the Civil War. In I've Been Here All the While, we meet the Black people who actually received this mythic 40 acres, the American settlers who coveted this land, and the Native Americans whose holdings it originated from.

The Mississippi River, 1861. When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a new owner in New Orleans and separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decides to hide on nearby Jackson’s Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father who recently returned to town. Thus begins a dangerous and transcendent journey by raft along the Mississippi River, towards the elusive promise of the free states and beyond.

Young and beautiful, she was a soiled dove—a disreputable woman of easy virtue who ran a brothel in tumultuous 1850s California. Everyone thought she was mild-mannered…until a few unfortunates learned firsthand how handy she was with knives and guns when she was angry…but then, well-behaved women rarely make history. This is the true story of a notorious Gold Rush era harlot— a tale filled with as many wicked transgressions, memorable characters, and shocking outcomes as any novelist might invent.

In 1697, Quebec is an island of French civilization perched on a bare gray rock amid a wilderness of trackless forests. For many of its settlers, Quebec is a place of exile, so remote that an entire winter passes without a word from home. But to 12-year-old Cécile Auclair, the rock is home, where even the formidable Governor Frontenac entertains children in his palace and beavers lie beside the lambs in a Christmas créche.

A Historical Biography set in the New England Coastline during the 18th and 19th Centuries. Dive into the captivating and tumultuous life of Captain Elijah Cobb, a quintessential New England shipmaster whose memoirs and letters weave a rich tapestry of historical maritime adventures and the relentless spirit of a 19th-century sailor. Born into the seafaring culture of Cape Cod, Elijah Cobb began his journey to the high seas at a tender age, embarking on voyages that would take him to the fevered coasts of Surinam, the dangerous waters infested with Algerine threats, and the war-torn ports ...

The Great War of 1914-1918 confronted the United States with one of the most wrenching crises in the nation's history. It also left a residue of disruption and disillusion that spawned an even more ruinous conflict scarcely a generation later. Over Here is the single most comprehensive discussion of the impact of World War I on American society.

Thelonious Monk is the critically acclaimed, gripping saga of an artist's struggle to "make it" without compromising his musical vision. It is a story that, like its subject, reflects the tidal ebbs and flows of American history in the 20th century. To his fans, he was the ultimate hipster; to his detractors, he was temperamental, eccentric, taciturn, or childlike. His angular melodies and dissonant harmonies shook the jazz world to its foundations, ushering in the birth of "bebop" and establishing Monk as one of America's greatest composers.

You’ll laugh, gasp, and groan at the situations and solutions these bi-century characters encounter. **Revenge, intrigue, and passion with a light-hearted twist. **Bounce between the present day and the 18th century, survive mobs and mayhem, using nothing but grit and guts, give or take a knife of two. THE GREAT BIG FAIRY ~ a balanced mix of mystery, history, and fantasy, with a tad of romance, a dash of violence, and a pinch of humor added to enhance your reading experience. Benji, the 6'7" good-natured former wrestler, mechanic, and handyman is also an 18th century time traveler, stuck ...

Diane Arbus brings to life the full story of one of the greatest American artists of the 20th century, a visionary who revolutionized photography and altered the course of contemporary art with her striking, now iconic images. Arbus comes startlingly to life here, a strong-minded child of unnerving originality who grew into a formidable artist. Arresting, unsettling, and poignant, her photographs stick in our minds. Why did these people fascinate her? And what was it about her that captivated them?

Here is an entirely new side of Kurt Vonnegut, Vonnegut as a teacher of writing. Of course he's given us glimpses before, with aphorisms and short essays and articles and in his speeches. But never before has an entire book been devoted to Kurt Vonnegut the teacher. Here is pretty much everything Vonnegut ever said or wrote having to do with the writing art and craft, altogether a healing, a nourishing expedition.

The hero of John Updike's Rabbit, Run (1960), ten years after the hectic events described in Rabbit Redux (1971), has come to enjoy considerable prosperity as Chief Sales Representative of Springer Motors, a Toyota agency in Brewer, Pennsylvania. The time is 1979: Skylab is falling, gas lines are lengthening, the President collapses while running in a marathon, and double-digit inflation coincides with a deflation of national confidence.

In the ashes of postwar Japan lay a gold mine for certain opportunistic, expatriate Americans. Addicted to the volatile energy of Tokyo's freewheeling underworld, they formed ever-shifting but ever-profitable alliances with warring Japanese and Korean gangsters. At the center of this world was Nick Zappetti, an ex-marine from New York City who arrived in Tokyo in 1945 and whose restaurant soon became the rage throughout the city and the chief watering hole for celebrities, diplomats, sports figures, and mobsters.

La historia de amor entre la joven Alma Velasco y el jardinero japonés Ichimei conduce al lector por un recorrido a través de diversos escenarios que van desde la Polonia de la Segunda Guerra Mundial hasta el San Francisco de nuestros días.

The Great Migration and the Democratic Party frames the Great Migration as an important economic and social event that also had serious political consequences. Keneshia Grant created one of the first listings of Black elected officials that classifies them based on their status as participants in the Great Migration. She also describes some of the policy/political concerns of the migrants. The Great Migration and the Democratic Party lays the groundwork for ways of thinking about the contemporary impact of Black migration on American politics.

"Escaping the Incas" delivers an unforgettable historical adventure set in the contrasting locales of Peru and New York during the tumultuous period of the early 20th century. The tale begins in the vibrant city of New York, following our protagonist, John, as he navigates the struggles of city life only to set off on an exciting, perilous journey to the distant lands of South America. The Setting This deeply immersive narrative effortlessly transports you from the dazzling streets of 1900s New York, marked by rapid growth and cultural dynamism, to the majestic, treacherous landscapes of ...

"Little Italy Murder" is a gritty crime novel set in the heart of New York City during the dark days of the early 20th century. Witness the birth of organized crime and the infamous "Black-Hand" society as they sew terror into NYC's Italian-American community.The plot unravels amidst urban grime, when on April 14, 1903, a mutilated body tucked into a barrel is discovered on East Eleventh Street, sparking the beginning of citywide panic. What follows is an in-depth exploration into the depths of the Black-Hand gang's heinous activities, led by brutal mafia leaders, Giuseppe Severin and ...

Out of Tragedy Blossoms a Journey of Discovery Jackie grew up in the warm glow of her family's legacy. From her grandmother to her great-great grandmother, she embraced everything in her McIntyre and Donegal roots. But when a world disaster turns into a family tragedy, Jackie turns to her family and the land of her ancestors for healing and growth and finds a wonderful new world that captures her heart and takes her on a journey of enlightenment and discovery with a chance at first love, all in the magical landscape of the Emerald Isle. An Emerald Homecoming is the final chapter in A ...

We all grow up and have coming-of-age moments. It doesn’t matter when you were born or what age you are now. You have in common with other people of any age the event of change that is associated with a growth in understanding, maturity, and becoming who you are. Sometimes these moments of change are referred to as epiphanic turning points. That means: we used to be like this, and now we are like this. It is not the particulars of the experience that make this kind of moment a universal experience; it is the event itself. Different fields of study approach this event of change and assign ...

Frank A. Mason's Journeyman: Heart of Tempered Steel won the coveted 2023 Gold Royal Palm Literary Award from the Florida Writers Association. The year is 1778, and the American Revolution has been raging for nearly three years. Will Yelverton, a 19-year-old master gunsmith with dreams of a life on the frontier, has been reluctantly pulled into the fight. All Will ever wanted was to marry his sweetheart, open a small gunshop serving the needs of fellow pioneers, raise a family, and live in peace. Now, the Revolutionary War has interceded to put Will’s dream out of reach, at least for now....