The notorious Central Pacific Railroad riveted the attention of two great American writers: Ambrose Bierce and Frank Norris. Drabelle tells a classic story of corporate greed vs. the power of the pen. The Central Pacific Railroad accepted US Government loans; but, when the loans fell due, the last surviving founder of the railroad avoided repayment. Bierce, at the behest of his boss William Randolph Hearst, swung into action writing over sixty stinging...

An illustrated exploration of the life of Harriet Tubman that covers her childhood, experiences as a slave, escape to freedom, work on the Underground Railroad, antislavery activism, and other topics.

American Greats offers compelling evidence of the courage and character, invention and resilience, that helps define this nation. It's about action and, therefore, character. It celebrates what the late Commissioner of Baseball, Bart Giamatti described as "that compound whose mix forms the American character-of moral energy and pragmatic efficiency, optimism and guile, respect for law, admiration for the maverick, and love of the underdog." This book,...

"Before Rachel Carson, there was George Bird Grinnell -- the man whose prophetic vision did nothing less than launch American conservation. George Bird Grinnell, the son of a New York merchant, saw a different future for a nation in the thrall of the Industrial Age. With railroads scarring virgin lands and the formerly vast buffalo herds decimated, the country faced a crossroads: Could it pursue Manifest Destiny without destroying its natural bounty...