Normans History

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) needs no formal introduction. He is known around the world as one of history’s most brilliant geniuses, and one of its most influential scientists. History for Kids: The Illustrated Life of Albert Einstein profiles the life and legacy of the famous scientist, while examining his career and contributions to science and technology.

Thomas Edison holds a unique legacy in the United States, but there's no denying that his inventions have benefited the world as a whole. Known as "The Wizard of Menlo Park", every American knows that their nation's most prolific inventor harnessed the power of electricity to create the first light bulb. But that was just one of over 1,000 patents Edison would establish during his life, as he not only dreamed up new devices but also revolutionized the way materials were mass produced. His life's work heavily influenced everything from electric power, batteries and lighting to cement, telegraphy and mining. While Edison's inventions are important, what he represented was also critical to the nation as a whole. Edison represented the American Dream, specifically the notion that hard work can accomplish anything, and he always understood that himself, once exhorting the nation, "Be courageous! Whatever setbacks America has encountered, it has always emerged as a stronger and more prosperous nation."

Nikola Tesla was one of history's greatest scientists, and though he is best known for his pioneering work with electricity, the fact that he is mostly remembered solely for that actually does a disservice to his legacy. Born a Serb in the Austrian Empire, Tesla came to the United States and worked in a laboratory for none other than the Wizard of Menlo Park, Thomas Edison.

In Charles River Editors' History for Kids series, your children can learn about history's most important people and events in an easy, entertaining, and educational way. The concise but comprehensive book will keep your kid's attention all the way to the end.

The most famous debates in American history were held over 150 years ago, and despite their fame, no official transcripts were ever taken. Throughout the fall of 1858, US Senate candidates Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas participated in seven three-hour debates throughout Illinois. This unprecedented method of campaigning drew national attention, one that is still often idealized even today among those who feel politics is too bitterly partisan.

When famous political philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville toured the new United States of America, he was impressed by the representative government set up by the Founders. At the same time, he ominously predicted, "If there ever are great revolutions there, they will be caused by the presence of the blacks upon American soil. That is to say, it will not be the equality of social conditions but rather their inequality which may give rise thereto."

In some ways, Robert Francis Kennedy (1925-1968) is the forgotten Kennedy, eclipsed in life while working in his brother John's administration, eclipsed in death both by his older brother's assassination and his younger brother's long, influential career in the Senate as a liberal lion. And yet, the politics of the 1960s and the ultimate legacy of the Kennedys, including the "Kennedy Curse", would have been incomplete without Bobby's place in the narrative.

During the middle of the 20th century, the United States completed its transformation into one of the world's superpowers, and few were as instrumental in this development as Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969), renowned for being the nation's principal commanding general during World War II and president during the early, tumultuous Cold War years. Despite being one of America's oldest presidents, Eisenhower redefined the public relations nature of the office. His most lasting contribution as president was the construction of the interstate highway system.

Of all the politicians who have left their mark on American history, few have had a political career or list of accomplishments and accolades that can even come close to rivaling Lyndon B. Johnson. Johnson is one of only four Americans to serve as a House Rep, US Senator, Vice President, and President, and he made the most out of each experience. The hard-nosed Texas Democrat became one of the legendary strongmen in the Senate. A fateful chain of events propelled then propelled Johnson from Capitol Hill to the White House.

By depicting stereotypical Western scenes like riding the Pony Express and gunfights between cowboys and Indians, Buffalo Bill became one of the men most responsible for establishing how the public remembered the Wild West, and his Wild West Shows influenced subsequent film and literature. The show also featured several kinds of activities that are still part of rodeos today, including riding bucking broncos, roping livestock, and target shooting.

The Founding Fathers have been revered by Americans for over 200 years, celebrated for creating a new nation founded upon the loftiest ideals of democracy and meritocracy. But if the American Dream has come to represent the ability to climb the social ladder with skill and hard work, no Founding Father represented the new America more than Alexander Hamilton.

On the night of December 16, 1773, a group of 30-130 men boarded the tea ship Dartmouth and two other ships and dumped 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor over the span of three hours in protest of the Tea Act of 1773. Agreement over what exactly happened ends there, but a number of legends have since popped up and become part of the common narrative. The urban legend that the people who boarded the ship dressed as Mohawks is not entirely true.

In Charles River Editors' History for Kids series, your children can learn about history's most important people and events in an easy, entertaining, and educational way. The concise but comprehensive book will keep your kid's attention all the way to the end. Includes Helen's writings and explanations about how she overcame her disabilities.

First published in the early days of the Iraq War, Why Are We at War? is an explosive argument about the American quest for empire that still carries weight today. Scrutinizing the Bush administration's words and actions, Mailer unleashes his trademark moral rigor: "Because democracy is noble, it is always endangered.... To assume blithely that we can export democracy into any country we choose can serve paradoxically to encourage more fascism at home and abroad."

This volume contains the United States’ explanation for the war, a review of Vietnam’s history and the war’s and US armed forces in it, as well as various problems during it, including drug and racial problems, desertion, sedition, and treason.

Falling against the backdrop of Scandinavia's conversion to Christianity, book one of this triology begins on a farm in Viking-Age Norway. The tale is seen through the eyes of a young farm girl named Helga who is based on an original character in the antiquated Egil's Saga. Moving chapter by chapter the listener is propelled into the epic adventures of Helga's enchanting life as they experience with her relationships, love, loss, faith, religion, and politics. The saga continues in books two and three to a finale that no one - even Helga, could ever have imagined.

In late September 1863, the Confederates began laying siege to the Union Army of the Cumberland around Chattanooga in what would be their last gasp for supremacy in the West. Following the devastating Union defeat at the Battle of Chickamauga on September 20, the army and its shaken commander, General William S. Rosecrans, began digging in around the city and waiting for reinforcements to arrive.

The American mountain man, with his myriad of practical skills, could endure isolation in a way most could not. He lived in constant peril from the extremes of nature and from the hostilities of cultures unlike his own. Given the illiteracy rates of the day, few tangible accounts of such journeys have survived, but one glaring exception is that of James Pierson Beckwourth, the only known African American mountain man to leave behind a detailed, if somewhat sensationalistic, account of his travels.

Geo spends the few last years in Israel with Joseph and the remainder of the missionaries whose mission were to minister God's gospel to the world at any cost before Jesus' glorious appearing.

Cabeza de Vaca's mode of transportation, afoot on portions of two continents in the early decades of the 16th century, fits one dictionary definition of the word "pedestrian". By no means, however, should the ancillary meanings of "commonplace" or "prosaic" be applied to the man or his remarkable adventures. Between 1528 and 1536, he trekked an estimated 2480 to 2640 miles of North American terrain from the Texas coast near Galveston Island to San Miguel de Culiacán near the Pacific Coast of Mexico.