History - United States - 19th Century

A "powerful" (The Wall Street Journal) biography of Thaddeus Stevens--one of the 19th century's greatest statesmen--encompassing his decades-long fight against slavery and his postwar struggle to bring racial justice to America.Thaddeus Stevens was among the first to see the Civil War as an opportunity...

Thankful Blossom It was bitterly cold. A northeasterly wind had been stiffening the mud of the morning's thaw into a rigid record of that day's wayfaring on the Baskingridge road. The hoof-prints of cavalry, the deep ruts left by baggage-wagons, and the deeper channels...

"An absolutely essential addition to the history of the Catholic Church, whose involvement in New World slavery sustained the Church and, thereby, helped to entrench enslavement in American society."--Annette Gordon-Reed, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Hemingses of Monticello and On JuneteenthNew York Times Book...

"Should stand for years as the definitive history of New Orleans's first century." --Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post This is the story of a city that shouldn't exist. In the seventeenth century, what is now America's most beguiling metropolis was nothing more than a swamp:...

The American sailing vessel Adriatic collided with the French steamship Le Lyonnais on November 2, 1856, off the coast of Nantucket in what can best be described as a maritime hit-and-run. Adriatic's captain, Jonathan Durham, rendered no aid and left the passenger steamship to...

Incredible stories from those who thrived in the Wild West. The "mountain men" were the hunters and trappers who fiercely strode the Rocky Mountains in the early to mid-1800s. They braved the elements in search of the skins of beavers and other wild animals,...

A penetrating, character-filled history "in the manner of David McCullough" (WSJ), revealing the deep roots of our tormented present-day politics. Democracy was broken. Or that was what many Americans believed in the decades after the Civil War. Shaken by economic and technological disruption, they...

Co-founder of The Carlyle Group and patriotic philanthropist David M. Rubenstein takes readers on a sweeping journey across the grand arc of the American story through revealing conversations with our greatest historians. In these lively dialogues, the biggest names in American history explore the...

"Vividly drawn . . . this stunning book honors the achievement of the captive Africans who fought for--and won--their freedom."--The Philadelphia Tribune A unique account of the most successful slave rebellion in American history, now updated with a new epilogue--from the award-winning author of...

In the tradition of Empire of the Summer Moon, a stunningly vivid historical account of the manhunt for Geronimo and the 25-year Apache struggle for their homeland. They called him Mickey Free. His kidnapping started the longest war in American history, and both sides--the...

A comprehensive analysis of eighty-eight archaeological sites in and around the City of Kingston, New York.The Archaeology of Kingston, New York covers Kingston (and New York State and the Hudson Valley to a lesser extent) from Paleo-Indian times circa twelve thousand years ago through...

The Battle of New Orleans was the climactic battle of America's "forgotten war" of 1812. Andrew Jackson led his ragtag corps of soldiers against 8,000 disciplined invading British regulars in a battle that delivered the British a humiliating military defeat. The victory solidified America's...

A stunning graphic history of how enslaved Africans on board the Amistad rebelled and captured the slave ship in 1839, challenging a whitewashed version of history and putting the Africans back at the center of their own freedom story From the trio of Rediker,...

Discover the hidden side of New York City history with the official companion to the wildly popular, award-winning podcast, The Bowery Boys, that the New York Times calls "among the best city-centric series."The Bowery Boys podcast is a phenomenon, thrilling audiences each month with...

WINNER OF THE MIDLAND AUTHORS AWARD FOR HISTORY - LONGLISTED FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE - A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR - The "illuminating" (New Yorker) story of the Great Chicago Fire: a raging inferno, a harrowing fight for...

The Great Lakes fur trade spanned two centuries and thousands of miles, but the story of one particular family, the Cadottes, illuminates the history of trade and trapping while exploring under-researched stories of French-Ojibwe political, social, and economic relations. Multiple generations of Cadottes were...

An in-depth exploration of history of the US Capitol building and the incredible personalities who built it, full of dramatic stories and surprising facts; a powerful testament to what the Capitol has meant to generations of Americans and how it has endured.The Capitol is...

The Captain: Isaac "Kip" Dustan, a well-respected mariner whose adventures were frequently recounted in the mid-1800s New York newspapers...The Missionary: Rev. Benjamin C.C. Parker of the Young Men's Church Missionary Society of the City of New York...The Bell from the Atlantic: Contains a history...

"A carefully written, well-researched contribution to Western history -- and to a promising new genre: the anthropology of the stolen." - Kirkus Reviews On New Year's Day in 1870, ten-year-old Adolph Korn was kidnapped by an Apache raiding party. Traded to Comanches, he thrived...

Meriwether Lewis commanded the most important exploration mission in the early history of the United States. Clay S. Jenkinson takes a fresh look at Lewis, not to offer a paper cutout hero but to describe and explain a hyperserious young man of great complexity...