Showing titles in North America

The American colonies had just declared independence from the British. But General George Washington knew things were not going the Americans' way. When Gen. Washington needed someone to spy on the British, only one young man volunteered. That man was Nathan Hale, an early American hero.

Some historians refer to the United States' 2000s as the "Disasters and Digital Decade”. It was a year that began with people worrying their computers would stop working. Very few computer failures were reported when the clocks rolled over into 2000. Still, the decade was to have advances, worries, and disasters.

In this addition to the What Was? series, kids will experience what it was like to be in San Francisco in 1906 when the ground buckled in a major, catastrophic earthquake. One early April morning in 1906, the people of San Francisco were jolted awake by a mammoth earthquake—one that registered...

Some historians refer to the 1970s or '70s as "a United States in flux". It was a time of great changes. For some Americans, it was a time of self-realization and self-fulfillment, and for others, it was concern and care for the environment.

In this Bank Street College of Education Best Children's Book of the Year, Paula Young Shelton, daughter of Civil Rights activist Andrew Young, brings a child’s unique perspective to an important chapter in America’s history. Paula grew up in the deep south, in a world where Whites had and Blacks did not. With an activist father and a community of leaders surrounding her, including Uncle Martin (Martin Luther King), Paula watched and listened to the struggles, eventually joining in the historic march from Selma to Montgomery.

In the Civil War, the government hired women and girls - some as young as nine - to make millions of rounds of ammunition. They worked 72-hour weeks with little training. Poor immigrant girls and widows paid the price for carelessness at three major arsenals. Many of these workers were killed, blown up, and burned beyond recognition. Gunpowder Girls is a story of child labor and immigrant hopes and the cruel, endless demands of an all-consuming war. A Junior Library Guild selection.

A terrifying attack! On December 7, 1941, Japanese war planes appeared out of nowhere to bomb the American base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. It was a highly secretive and devastating attack: four battleships sunk, more than two thousand servicemen died, and the United States was propelled into...

Did the Great Chicago Fire really start after a cow kicked over a lantern in a barn? Find out the truth in this addition to the What Was? series. On Sunday, October 8, 1871, a fire started on the south side of Chicago. A long drought made the neighborhood go up in flames. And practically...

At 800-feet long, the Hindenburg was the largest airship ever built--just slightly smaller than the Titanic! Also of a disastrous end, the zeppelin burst into flame as spectators watched it attempt to land in Lakehurst, New Jersey on May 6, 1937. In under a minute, the Hindenburg was gone...

On August 25th, 2005, one of the deadliest and most destructive hurricanes in history hit the Gulf of Mexico. High winds and rain pummeled coastal communities, including the City of New Orleans, which was left under 15 feet of water in some areas after the levees burst. Track this powerful storm...

Discover more about Juneteenth, the important holiday that celebrates the end of chattel slavery in the United States. On June 19, 1865, a group of enslaved men, women, and children in Texas gathered around a Union solder and listened as he read the most remarkable words they would ever hear...

This brilliant memoir-in-verse tells the moving story of how a nation learned to celebrate a hero. Through years of protests and petition, Kathlyn's story highlights the foot soldiers who fought to make Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a national holiday. Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me...

Myths! Lies! Secrets! Smash the stories behind famous moments in history and expose the hidden truth. Perfect for fans of I Survived and Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales. In 1620, the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock and made friends with Wampanoag people who gave them corn. RIGHT? WRONG! It was...

Myths! Lies! Secrets! Smash the stories behind famous moments in history and expose the hidden truth. Perfect for fans of I Survived and Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales. In 1920, Susan B. Anthony passed a law that gave voting rights to women in the United States. RIGHT? WRONG! Susan B. Anthony...

From NYT bestselling author Tracey Baptiste comes a singular picture book, adapted for audio, that is both a biography about Claudette Colvin, the teen whose activism launched the Montgomery bus boycott, and a celebration of collective action. When fifteen-year-old Claudette Colvin boarded a...

Abraham and his sister Sarah jostled along in the back of the horse-drawn wagon. They were going to a new home. But when they got there, they stood staring at nothing but trees and dirt. And then, things only got worse! But Abraham overcame it all and finally became a leader who helped to change the world.

Anne was determined. She would find a way to keep her brother safe! She would find a way to have a better life! She would find a way to help Helen understand sign language! Anne found a way to make her dreams come true, and she changed the world while she was doing it.

Inspired by the #1 New York Times bestseller She Persisted by Chelsea Clinton and Alexandra Boiger comes a chapter book series about women who stood up, spoke up and rose up against the odds--including Oprah Winfrey! In this chapter book biography by Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King...

You might say that I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth. You should be so lucky. My name is William Randolph Hearst. Do I have any regrets about my life and my choices? I died with no friends, hated by many. What do you think?

Die Reihe "Abenteurer unserer Zeit" stellt euch bekannte historische Personen vor: Diese Folge erzählt euch von Billy The Kid, dem berühmt-berüchtigten Revolverhelden aus dem Wilden Westen.