Profiles in Amercian History
The Life and Times of Abigail AdamsISBN 9781584155270List Price $29.95School/Library Price $20.95In StockAbigail Adams was the equal of her husband, President John Adams, in many ways. She had strong views about women’s rights and slavery, and she let him know exactly how she felt. Her strength and wisdom left a lasting mark on the fledgling U.S. |
The Life and Times of Alexander HamiltonISBN 1-58415-436-5 • 9781584154365List Price $29.95School/Library Price $20.95In StockAlexander Hamilton is one of the most important of America's Founding Fathers, yet he and his contributions are often overlooked. Hard-driving, cocky, and irritating at times, he was also brilliant, prophetic, and generous. He lived a remarkable life, from his stint as Washington's key aide during the American Revolution to his role as the first Treasury Secretary of the United States. It was also a life cut tragically short in a duel with Aaron Burr that has created more questions than answers. Amazing, frustrating, fascinating, and controversial, all at the same time; that was Alexander Hamilton. |
The Life and Times of Benjamin FranklinISBN 1-58415-435-7 • 9781584154358List Price $29.95School/Library Price $20.95In StockFew people have accomplished as much in as many different areas as Benjamin Franklin. He became the first internationally famous American scientist. In 1752, he proved that lightning was electricity. His dozens of inventions ranged from swim fins to bifocals. He proposed daylight savings time. In the colonies, he set up police and fire departments, public libraries, and post offices. As a famous printer, he was also one of the country's most popular writers. Franklin also excelled in politics. He helped establish the United States of America: He was on the committee that drew up the Declaration of Independence, he convinced France to provide crucial assistance to the colonial army, he signed the Treaty of Paris, and he contributed ideas for the U.S. Constitution. In this new book for young readers, author Jim Whiting overviews the life of one of the most famous Americans, Benjamin Franklin. |
The Life and Times of Betsy RossISBN 1-58415-446-2 • 9781584154464List Price $29.95School/Library Price $20.95In StockBetsy Ross is one of America’s most endearing and beloved characters. Widowed and alone, early in the Revolutionary War, Betsy was approached by three great men. They knew she was a Patriot and a good seamstress. Would she sew America’s first flag for them? Fighting heartbreak, loneliness, and poverty, she accepted the challenge willingly. She couldn’t fight for independence, but she could certainly sew for it! Tradition tells us that Betsy agreed to make the flag. First she pieced together the red and white stripes. Then she appliquéd thirteen five-point stars—one for each colony—onto a field of dark blue. But did Betsy Ross really sew America’s first Stars and Stripes flag? It wasn’t until 1870 that her grandson William Canby told Betsy’s story to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania—and the rest is history, so to speak. Americans don’t seem to mind that the story can’t be proven. They love Betsy Ross and they love her flag—whether she really sewed it or not! |
The Brothers Custer: Galloping to GloryISBN 9781584156659List Price $29.95School/Library Price $20.95In StockThe story of the brothers Custer, George, Tom, and Boston, reads like a Hollywood thriller—almost too incredible to be true. George Armstrong Custer, known to family and friends as “Autie,” graduated last in his class from West Point. What Autie lacked in the classroom he made up for on the battlefields of the Civil War. He rose from a brash second lieutenant to a seasoned brevet lieutenant general and leader of thousands of Union cavalrymen. His heroics at Gettysburg turned the tide of battle for the North and likely saved the Union. Autie’s brother, Thomas Ward Custer, or simply “Tom,” enlisted in the Union Army as a private. Tom’s spectacular deeds of valor earned him a battlefield commission and not one but two Medals of Honor. Autie’s youngest brother, Boston, was too young to serve in the Civil War, but he was not too young to join his older brothers in a date with fate on the Little Bighorn. |
The Life and Times of Clara BartonISBN 9781584156673List Price $29.95School/Library Price $20.95In StockIn the eighteenth century, a woman had few choices. If she was lucky, she received a decent education. Then she got married. In an era when women didn’t work, Clara Barton was one of the nation’s first career women. Not only did she work, she did a man’s job and demanded a man’s wage. Some said she was scandalous, but friends and family thought she was generous and charming. The wounded from the battles of the Civil War called her the angel of the battlefield. Clara Barton is remembered not only as a nurse, but also as a woman who threw convention aside and went to the battlefields to care for the wounded and dying. Her courageous heart, personal sacrifice, and demands for better medical care for the wounded during the Civil War earned her the respect and love of the entire nation. After the war, she applied the same attributes to the founding of the American Red Cross. She is still loved today. |
The Life and Times of Eli WhitneyISBN 1-58415-434-9 • 9781584154341List Price $29.95School/Library Price $20.95In StockEli Whitney was an inventor best known for his invention of the cotton gin. But it was his ideas and methods that had the greatest impact on America, bringing the country into the Industrial Revolution. He grew up as a farmer's son, but was often found in his father's workshop. As a boy during the American Revolution, he started his first business as a supplier of nails. Against his family's wishes, he insisted on getting an education from Yale. It was while he was studying to be a lawyer that he stumbled upon a solution to clean cotton. Whitney most enjoyed looking at a problem and trying to solve it, whether it was how to clean cotton or lock a desk. He created solutions with easily understood steps. With these steps, he developed a system of manufacturing that worked well with anything that had pieces to be put together. It would be used to mass-produce guns, sewing machines, and, later, cars. Today's manufacturing can be traced to Eli Whitney. |
The Life and Times of Father Jacques MarquetteISBN 9781584155287List Price $29.95School/Library Price $20.95In StockEuropean explorers searched in vain for a northwest waterway through the North American continent. French traders living in the northeast heard of a great river that the natives called Messi-Sipi to the west. Was this river the Northwest Passage? Or was the Messi-Sipi really the Rio Grande, the river that Hernando de Soto had discovered a century earlier? That’s what Father Jacques Marquette and his companion explorer Louis Jolliet hoped to discover in 1673. It’s hard to imagine a more unlikely explorer and hero than Father Jacques Marquette, yet his gentle and compassionate nature made him the perfect ambassador to the friendly native peoples they met along the banks of the great Mississippi River. |
The Life and Times of George Rogers ClarkISBN 1-58415-448-9 • 9781584154488List Price $29.95School/Library Price $20.95In StockMany people do not realize that there were two theaters of warfare during the American Revolution. One was in the east, with George Washington and his Continental Army. The other was in the west, with George Rogers Clark and his spirited volunteers trying to hold off the British and their Native American allies. The story of George Rogers Clark is one of courage, bravery, and daring in the face of overwhelming odds. Often finding himself in what appeared to be a hopeless situation, Clark used skill and ingenuity to improvise his way to repeated victories. He was the fabled “Long Knife,” known far and wide not only for his brutality but also for his honesty and bravery. His victories played a key part in helping America win the War of Independence. Unfortunately, the later years of his life were not kind to Clark. Although he died a forgotten and tragic figure, nothing can erase his heroic accomplishments. |
The Life and Times of Hernando CortésISBN 1-58415-449-7 • 9781584154495List Price $29.95School/Library Price $20.95In StockThe Spanish explorer Hernando Cortés is a very controversial figure. To some people, he was heroic. Even though he was greatly outnumbered, he was able to defeat the Aztec Emperor Montezuma and conquer the Aztec empire because of his personal courage and leadership abilities. The Aztec empire was centered in modern-day Mexico. Its religion was based on human sacrifice. Cortés replaced it with Christianity. To others, including many Mexicans, he was a villain because he destroyed the Aztecs’ way of life. They believed he was a cruel man. He was also a symbol of Spanish domination. When Mexico became independent from Spain in 1821, its people tried to remove their memories of him. Either way, one thing is certain. Hernando Cortés was one of the most important figures in the history of the New World. |
The Life and Times of James MadisonISBN 9781584155300List Price $29.95School/Library Price $20.95In StockCitizens of the United States can thank a man who lived 200 years ago for some of the important rights they enjoy, including the right to speak their mind, criticize the government, and practice the religion of their choice. His important contributions to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights earned him the nickname Father of the Constitution. As the fourth president, James Madison guided the nation through some of its early growing pains, including the War of 1812, which finally broke the grips of a bullying Great Britain. Meanwhile, he and his glamorous wife threw some of the liveliest parties the White House had ever seen. When he died at the age of eighty-five, the nation mourned the passing of its last Founding Father. Madison was gone, but his foresight and tireless service had helped to carve out a free nation. |
The Life and Times of John AdamsISBN 1-58415-442-X • 9781584154426List Price $29.95School/Library Price $20.95In StockFor many years, most people didn't think very highly of John Adams. He was regarded as a small man between the two giants, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Today, this opinion is changing. Adams is increasingly honored for his many contributions to the cause of liberty. He helped draft the Declaration of Independence. He urged the appointment of George Washington to lead the Continental Army. He did valuable work in Europe to help the colonists in their struggle. And he served as the second president of the United States. This is the story of an amazingly honorable man and the times that helped mold him. |
The Life and Times of John CabotISBN 1-58415-451-9 • 9781584154518List Price $29.95School/Library Price $20.95In StockOn June 24, 1497, Italian navigator Giovanni Caboto—better known as John Cabot—became the first European of his day to record an official landing on the North American continent. Funded by British merchants and sailing under the English flag, Cabot claimed his discovery of the “New founde land” for England. His claim cleared the way for future English settlements in the New World. On his return voyage to Bristol, England, Cabot sailed his tiny ship Matthew through rich fishing grounds off the Newfoundland coast now known as the Grand Banks. His crew hauled in huge quantities of cod simply by lowering weighted baskets into the sea. This find led directly to the great rise of the Newfoundland cod fishery. Born around 1450, probably in Genoa, Italy, John Cabot lived at about the same time as Christopher Columbus. Like Columbus, Cabot sailed west to find a new route to China and Japan. He found the American continent instead. |
The Life and Times of John HancockISBN 1-58415-443-8 • 9781584154433List Price $29.95School/Library Price $20.95In StockBorn to a clergyman and his wife and raised by a wealthy aunt and uncle, John Hancock truly went from rags to riches. While still a young man, Hancock lent his name, money, and position in Boston’s society to the ever-growing group of colonists calling for a complete break from England. He was labeled a traitor by King George III, who put a price of 500 pounds on his head, and was hunted by members of the king’s army. Hancock made his way from Massachusetts to Connecticut to Philadelphia, where, in 1775, he represented Massachusetts at the Second Continental Congress. Hancock’s life progressed from wealthy businessman to rebel to Founding Father. This story of the first man to sign the Declaration of Independence is the story of all Americans. Those who read about this selfless man will not only be inspired by his life, but will also learn what it means to be an American. |
The Life and Times of John Paul JonesISBN 9781584155294List Price $29.95School/Library Price $20.95In StockWhen we think of bravery at sea, we can’t help thinking of John Paul Jones. Numerous times, the enemy outgunned him, but he outthought them and outmaneuvered them. Born in Scotland to servants, going to sea as a young boy was an opportunity to change his place in life—something rarely accomplished in the mid-1700s. From the son of a gardener, he rose to the rank of commodore of the newly established Continental Navy of the United States of America. When he wasn’t capturing enemy ships, he was charming the ladies of American and French society. So great was his reputation that Catherine the Great in far-off Russia sent for him to run her navy. Jones’s victories made him one of the greatest American heroes. |
The Life and Times of John Peter ZengerISBN 1-58415-437-3 • 9781584154372List Price $29.95School/Library Price $20.95In StockJohn Peter Zenger was a German immigrant who came to the United States at the age of 13. He soon became a printer's apprentice and learned everything he could about printing. He published the first independent political newspaper in the American colonies, The New-York Weekly Journal. The British colonial government became angry about articles in the newspaper that criticized the government. They demanded to know who wrote the articles. Although Zenger wasn't the writer, he refused to tell and was arrested for printing seditious libel. After eight months in jail, a sensational trial was held that found Zenger not guilty. John Peter Zenger and his trial influenced freedoms of speech and press that were later made a part of the Bill of Rights. But the consequences of the Zenger trial reached even farther. As one of the founding fathers who wrote the U.S. Constitution, Gouverneur Morris said, "The trial of Zenger in 1735 was the germ of American freedom, the morning star of that liberty which subsequently revolutionized America." |
The Life and Times of Nathan HaleISBN 1-58415-447-0 • 9781584154471List Price $29.95School/Library Price $20.95In StockThe war was looking bleak for the American colonists. General George Washington and his army had just barely escaped destruction at the Battle of Brooklyn, and now the mighty British fleet was preparing another attack. Washington desperately needed to figure out the enemy’s plan. The only way to get the information he needed was to send a spy behind British lines. The soldier who volunteered to take the assignment was a twenty-one-year-old former schoolteacher named Nathan Hale. He became the first American spy executed in the line of duty, and his last words, “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country,” became a rallying cry for the Revolution. Nathan Hale’s courage in the face of death has become an enduring symbol of American patriotism. His willingness to sacrifice his life for the greater good stands as a powerful testament to the selflessness that turns ordinary men into heroes. |
The Life and Times of Patrick HenryISBN 1-58415-438-1 • 9781584154389List Price $29.95School/Library Price $20.95In StockWhen it came time to question whether America should be independent from Great Britain, many were quiet. Fearful of committing treason against the King of England, many American colonists were afraid to speak their minds. Patrick Henry spoke when others wouldn't. When the British taxes and rules became more than the colonists could bear, Henry unleashed his contempt for the British monarchy. He even went so far as to warn that tyrants often meet with a violent end. He said what many Americans felt but were too afraid to say. Some believed he spoke treason and his words could've led him to the gallows. Instead, his words led Americans to war, and to independence from the tyrannical King George III. |
The Life and Times of Paul RevereISBN 1-58415-441-1 • 9781584154419List Price $29.95School/Library Price $20.95In StockPaul Revere was an expert silversmith. He became one of America's first industrialists. He was active in the movement that led to American independence. Yet Paul Revere's fame rests almost entirely on the few hours that he sped through the Massachusetts countryside in the early morning of April 19, 1775. He was warning the inhabitants that the British regulars were on their way. It marked the beginning of the Revolutionary War. Few people outside the Boston area knew of his exploit. It took another war—the Civil War—to make him famous throughout the country. A famous poet named Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wanted to prevent the Civil War. He showed his fellow Americans a hero they could all admire. To him—and to millions of others after him—Paul Revere was that hero. |
The Life and Times of Peter StuyvesantISBN 9781584155263List Price $29.95School/Library Price $20.95In StockThree years after the Pilgrims founded the Massachusetts Colony in 1620, the Dutch founded their own North American colony on the island that would eventually become New York City. When leading members of the Dutch colony, called New Amsterdam, needed a new governor, the company began looking for a replacement. They wanted someone who was honest, brave, loyal to the company, and experienced in colonial affairs. Peter Stuyvesant had all these qualities and more. Stuyvesant remained New Amsterdam’s governor from 1647 until 1664, when the city was captured by an English army under the command of the Duke of York. Along the way, Stuyvesant’s often narrow-minded beliefs made him a few enemies. Find out how “Pegleg Pete,” who had lost a leg in battle for the Dutch, helped the young colony survive its growing pains and laid the foundation for its future greatness. |
The Life and Times of Rosa ParksISBN 9781584156666List Price $29.95School/Library Price $20.95In StockWhen a young African-American seamstress named Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, city bus to a white passenger, she turned the smoldering civil rights movement into a firestorm. For years, blacks in the South had seen their civil liberties stolen through segregation laws that demanded the races be kept separate but equal—except there was no equality about it. Parks’s arrest was chosen to challenge the constitutionality of Montgomery’s bus segregation laws. Soft-spoken and unassuming, Rosa Parks was an unlikely activist. But her sense of justice inspired her to speak out against racism and injustice, regardless of the personal price it exacted. In the process, she became an enduring symbol of the power of an individual to change the course of history. |
The Life and Times of Samuel AdamsISBN 1-58415-440-3 • 9781584154402List Price $29.95School/Library Price $20.95In StockAs America's first politician, Samuel Adams dedicated his life to improving the lives of the colonists. At a young age, he began talking and listening to people to find out what issues mattered the most. Adams proposed new ideas, first in his own newspaper, then in other newspapers throughout the colonies. When Britain began taxing the colonies, Adams encouraged boycotting and peaceful protests. He was an organizer of the Boston Tea Party, one of the main events leading up to the American Revolution. The British seemed intent on imprisoning Adams to keep him from speaking out, but he refused to stop. He was one of the first people to publicly declare that the colonies should be independent, and he worked tirelessly to see that they gained that independence. According to Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Adams was the Father of the Revolution. |
The Life and Times of Sir Walter RaleighISBN 1-58415-452-7 • 9781584154525List Price $29.95School/Library Price $20.95In StockSir Walter Raleigh streaked across the Elizabethan heavens like a bright, shining star. Often regarded as a true Renaissance man—that is, a man gifted with many talents and abilities—he lived life to the fullest. Born to adventure, Raleigh parlayed a sharp mind and a yen for prestige and power into enough living for a dozen lesser men. As soldier, swashbuckler, writer, historian, poet, explorer, businessman, and more, he rose in favor at the court of Elizabeth I—England's Good Queen Bess—and made history as he wrote it. Raleigh fought courageously for England in France, Ireland, and elsewhere at sea. He founded the first American colony at Roanoke Island in the New World, introduced tobacco and the potato to Ireland, and searched for the golden city of El Dorado in South America. At the peak of his fame—some say infamy—he knelt down as a commoner and arose as a knight. When fortune failed him, and his star fizzled out, he showed brave men how to die. |
The Life and Times of Stephen AustinISBN 9781584155317List Price $29.95School/Library Price $20.95In StockStephen Austin brought American colonists to Texas; negotiated with the Mexican government to help those settlers, and braved the frontier to keep an American presence in Texas. The story of this small, frail man from Missouri is the story of Texas. |
The Life and Times of Susan B. AnthonyISBN 1-58415-445-4 • 9781584154457List Price $29.95School/Library Price $20.95In StockVoting is an important part of being an American. At one time, however, it was a right that only men enjoyed. That changed when a determined woman named Susan B. Anthony spoke up—and acted on her beliefs. She was so sure of her cause that she was more than willing to go to court and state her case in front of everyone, regardless of the threat of imprisonment. Her passion showed the country that something was wrong. Women rallied behind her. Men came to see that women’s voices were powerful and important not only in the home but also in the world at large. Anthony did not live long enough to see her vision for women realized. However, thanks to her years of countless speeches, writing, and hard work, along with the efforts of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Alice Paul, and many others, women finally achieved what they rightfully deserved: equal rights. |
The Life and Times of Thomas JeffersonISBN 1-58415-439-X • 9781584154396List Price $29.95School/Library Price $20.95In StockThomas Jefferson is one of the most famous men in American history. The list of his political accomplishments, such as writing the Declaration of Independence, serving as Minister to France, becoming America’s third President, and spearheading the Louisiana Purchase, is long indeed. But that describes Jefferson the public servant. What about Jefferson the private man? How was he affected by the untimely death of his wife? Where did he long to be above all other places in the world? What was his reaction to his fights with Alexander Hamilton under President George Washington? How did his passion for continually rebuilding his home lead to worry? While most people know of and about many of the political deeds he performed, few know much about his personal life. This biography tells not only the public accomplishments of Thomas Jefferson, but also reveals the private side of his remarkable life. |
The Life and Times of William PennISBN 1-58415-433-0 • 9781584154334List Price $29.95School/Library Price $20.95In StockWilliam Penn's "Holy Experiment" was a dedicated man's sincere effort to create a land where people of all faiths could live peacefully together. He founded Pennsylvania primarily as a safe haven for Quakers who were persecuted in Britain and other European countries. But he welcomed anyone, Quaker or not, who wanted to work hard to make a new life for his or her family. William's childhood was a happy one lived mostly in the country with his parents and brother and sister. He was a young adult when he first showed interest in the Quaker faith, and that interest never faded. His parents tried to persuade him to live the life that they mapped out for him as a government worker or some sort of royal official. Instead he founded Pennsylvania and formed his own government. It was as close as any colony would come to being a democracy. |
Profiles in American History: Complete Set (27 titles)9781584156680List Price $808.65School/Library Price $565.65In Stock Now |
