Nonfiction Colonial

On December 20, 1860, South Carolina voted to leave the Union. The delegates gathered in Charleston's Institute Hall, surrounded by many of the names that had dominated the city for generations. Middleton. Drayton. Pinckney. Rutledge. Manigault. Rhett. They were not simply politicians. They were families whose influence had shaped Charleston for nearly two centuries. Charleston: Blood and Power is the story of those families and the city they built. From the founding of Charles Town in 1670 through the colonial rice empire, the American Revolution, the age of slavery, secession, Civil War, ...

This original and deeply provocative book was the first to make Palestine the subject of a serious debate--one that remains as critical as ever. "A compelling call for identity and justice." —Anthony Lewis "Books such as Mr. Said's need to be written and read in the hope that understanding...

A minister's household. A frightened community. A legal system that convinced itself the impossible was happening — and then couldn't stop. This is the story of the Salem witch trials told through the people who lived it: Tituba, the enslaved woman whose confession set the machinery in motion; Bridget Bishop, the first to hang; Rebecca Nurse, the pious elder whose jury acquitted her — until they didn't; George Burroughs, the minister recalled from exile to be named a satanic ringleader; Giles Corey, pressed to death under stones rather than enter a plea that would cost his family ...

The definitive history of the Jamestown colony, the crucible of American history "An absolutely terrific book." —New York Times In this beautiful, vividly told story, James Horn describes the beginnings of England's first successful colony in America, persuasively demonstrating that Jamestown...

How did the colonists of Jamestown and Maryland live and die? Forensic anthropology provides an incredible array of answers. Scientists can look into a grave and determine the skeleton's gender, age at time of death, nationality, and sometimes even economic standing within minutes. Laboratory studies can provide cause of death information.

This program features an introduction read by Bill O'Reilly. The Revolutionary War as never told before. The breathtaking latest installment in Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard’s mega-bestselling Killing series transports listeners to the most important era in our nation’s history, the...

Murder, manslaughter, suicide, mishap - the very public business of determining death in colonial Sydney. Murder in colonial Sydney was a surprisingly rare occurrence, so when it did happen it caused a great sensation. People flocked to the scene of the crime, to the coroner's court and to the...

On the eve of a major treaty conference between Iroquois leaders and European colonists in the distant summer of 1722, two White fur traders attacked an Indigenous hunter and left him for dead near Conestoga, Pennsylvania. This act of brutality set into motion a remarkable series of criminal investigations and cross-cultural negotiations that challenged the definition of justice in early America. Leading historian Nicole Eustace reconstructs the crime and its aftermath, bringing us into the overlapping worlds of white colonists and Indigenous peoples in this formative period.

Bloomsbury presents Declaration: The Story of American Independence by Robert P. Watson, read by Jason Keller Declaration uncovers the lesser-known stories, surprising twists, and forgotten voices behind the most iconic document in U.S. history. Robert P. Watson delves into the complex and often...

Manifest Destiny: Unearthing the $500 Million Secret of the Spanish Main is a gripping, meticulously detailed account of the greatest treasure hunt in modern history. The narrative begins in 1622 with the tragic sinking of the Nuestra Señora de Atocha, a Spanish galleon acting as a floating vault for the dreams of an empire. Laden with 150 gold bars, over 1,000 silver ingots, and a legendary cache of Colombian emeralds, the ship was swallowed by a monstrous hurricane, leaving its half-billion-dollar cargo buried beneath shifting sands for over three centuries. This shipwreck archaeology ...

The American Revolution had reached its darkest winter. George Washington had ten days to keep it alive. By December 1776, the Continental Army appeared to be disintegrating. New York had been lost. New Jersey had been overrun. Congress had left Philadelphia, soldiers were preparing to go home, and British commanders expected organized resistance to collapse. Waiting for better conditions was no longer an option. On Christmas night, Washington launched one of the most dangerous operations of the Revolutionary War. His army crossed the ice-choked Delaware in darkness, marched through sleet ...

Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1692. When the first girl fell down screaming, the people of Salem Village thought it might just be silliness. Then a second girl started barking. A third and fourth began to shake uncontrollably. A doctor said “an evil hand” had come upon the girls, and everyone...

A fascinating history of the daily lives of Americans in the first fifty years of the new republic, told often in their own words. The years between the patrician leadership of George Washington and the campaign that elected William Henry Harrison marked a period of startling changes in American...

Could a single seed build an empire? From the tea fields of China to the sugar plantations of the Caribbean, Seeds of Empire reveals how the plants we cultivate have sown wealth, war, and wonder across the world. Across centuries and continents, humanity’s pursuit of flavor, fiber, and fuel has shaped the rise and fall of civilizations. Sugar fed slavery and rebellion; tea sparked revolution; cotton clothed nations and chained workers; coffee brewed enlightenment and empire. In vivid, cinematic prose, historian Theo Ashbridge traces the tangled roots of power, greed, and discovery through...

A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK From one of the world’s most distinguished anthropologists, an important and timely work of cultural history that looks at the origins and much debated future of anthropology museums “A provocative look at questions of ethnography, ownership and restitution...

The Histories of New South Wales, Queensland & South Australia In One Collected Volume Three states. Sixty thousand years of First Nations custodianship. Two centuries of convicts, gold rushes, rum politics, world wars, premiers who built empires of patronage, and cities that remade themselves again and again. The States of Australia brings together Daniel Hardy's complete histories of New South Wales, Queensland, and South Australia in a single volume — three vivid, sweeping narratives that together tell the story of a continent. In The Premier State, Hardy traces New South Wales from ...

A historical non-fiction book set in North America and beyond during the late 15th to early 16th century. Step back into a pivotal time in history that reshaped the Americas forever. "Missions Gold and Misery" offers an eye-opening exploration of the Spanish conquistadors whose ambitions and actions laid the groundwork for colonization. Through the lens of renowned figures such as Columbus, Cortés, and Pizarro, author [Author Name] uncovers the complexities and contradictions of the New World explorations, revealing the dramatic narratives that have been overlooked in mainstream historical...

In the shimmering heat of the African savannah and the drum-throbbing heartlands of ancient kingdoms, women rose with swords, spears and unshakeable resolve to fight for land, dignity and freedom. Blood-Reset in the Red Savannah brings together the hidden stories of these extraordinary women — from the elite female warriors of the Dahomey Amazons who guarded their kingdom with fierce discipline, to Queens and rebel chiefs who stood against colonial powers, slave-raiders and tribal empires alike. Rooted in meticulous historical research, each chapter immerses you in the rich cultural ...

Myths! Lies! Neighbors casting spells? Grab your brookstick, beloved educator and author Kate Messner is cleaning up the biggest myths and misconceptions about the Salem Witch Trials. A SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR In 1692, a few paranoid Puritans accused their neighbors of being...

A Sweeping History of Western Australia Before the gold rush made it famous, before the boom towns rose from red dust and ambition, Western Australia was the world's longest-running experiment in isolation. Covering an area larger than Western Europe, this vast and ancient land was home for tens of thousands of years to Aboriginal nations of extraordinary sophistication — the Noongar, the Martu, the Wongi — whose knowledge of country, law and ceremony gave shape to a continent long before any European eye glimpsed its shores. In The Golden State, Daniel Hardy tells the full story of how...