History of the Americas Books
Random House USA Inc Death on the Ice The Great Newfoundland Sealing
Book SynopsisEach year, for generations, poor, ill-clad Newfoundland fishermen sailed out “to the ice” to hunt seals in the hope of a few pennies in wages from the prosperous merchants of St. John’s. The year 1914 witnessed the worst in the long line of tragedies that were part of their harsh way of life. For two long days and nights a party of seal hunters—132 men—were left stranded on an icefield floating in the North Atlantic in winter. They were thinly dressed, with almost no food, and with no hope of shelter against the snow or the constant, bitter winds. To survive they had to keep moving, always moving. Those who lay down to rest died. This is an incredible story of bungling and greed, of suffering and heroism. With the aid of compelling, contemporary photographs, the book paints an unforgettable portrait of the bloody
£12.71
Doubleday Canada Canada
Book SynopsisIn this instant national bestseller, comedy superstar Mike Myers writes from the (true patriot) heart about his 53-year relationship with his beloved Canada. Mike Myers is a world-renowned actor, director and writer, and the man behind some of the most memorable comic characters of our time. But as he says: no description of me is truly complete without saying I'm a Canadian. He has often winked and nodded to Canada in his outrageously accomplished body of work, but now he turns the spotlight full-beam on his homeland. His hilarious and heartfelt new book is part memoir, part history and pure entertainment. It is Mike Myers' funny and thoughtful analysis of what makes Canada Canada, Canadians Canadians and what being Canadian has always meant to him. His relationship with his home and native land continues to deepen and grow, he says. In fact, American friends have actually accused him of enjoying being Canadian—and he's happy to plead guilty as charged. A true patriot who happens to be an expatriate, Myers is in a unique position to explore Canada from within and without. With this, his first book, Mike brings his love for Canada to the fore at a time when the country is once again looking ahead with hope and national pride. Canada is a wholly subjective account of Mike's Canadian experience. Mike writes, Some might say, 'Why didn't you include this or that?' I say there are 35 million stories waiting to be told in this country, and my book is only one of them. This beautifully designed book is illustrated in colour (and not color) throughout, and its visual treasures include personal photographs and Canadiana from the author's own collection. Published in the lead-up to the 2017 sesquicentennial, this is Mike Myers' birthday gift to his fellow Canadians. Or as he puts it: In 1967, Canada turned one hundred. Canadians all across the country made Centennial projects. This book is my Centennial Project. I'm handing it in a little late. . . . Sorry.
£29.96
Doubleday Canada Maple Syrup
Book SynopsisA forester's enlightening journey to uncover the story behind Canada's iconic sweet nectar. Blending history, culture, science and personal reflection, this illustrated love letter to maple syrup will appeal to fans of Canadiana and those interested in how maple syrup became Canada's obsession.Maple syrup flows through the spirit of Canada and has done so since it was first extracted from the forests by Indigenous Peoples. In eastern Canada, especially in the heart of maple syrup country in Quebec, the arrival of sugaring off-season in spring offers an excuse for feasts with dancing in the cabanes à sucre, or sugar shacks. But behind the parties lies a high-tech, high-stakes business. A cartel controls every aspect of the syrup cycle in Quebec and decides who may make maple syrup, where and how much. To skirt this iron grip, sugar bush rebels sneak their barrels of syrup out of Quebec in the dark of night, risking crippling fines and banishment from the syrup business.In Maple Syrup, forester and journalist Peter Kuitenbrouwer leads us through the sugar maple forests, from the syrup's semi-legendary beginnings to its commercial explosion and global conquest, weaving in his own story of tapping the forest along the way. For him, sugaring off is a magical season, when the days start to get longer and the snow begins to melt. It signals a time of togetherness and shared experience as his family battles the elements in the indomitable forest to produce bottles of pure, golden, delicious sweetener.
£20.39
Random House USA Inc Contempt of Court The TurnOfTheCentury Lynching
Book Synopsis
£18.00
Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc The Age of Gold
Book Synopsis
£17.85
Random House USA Inc Harriet Tubman
Book SynopsisFrom the award-winning novelist and biographer Beverly Lowry comes an astonishing re-imagining of the remarkable life of Harriet Tubman, the “Moses of Her People.”Tubman was an escaped slave, lumberjack, laundress, raid leader, nurse, fund-raiser, cook, intelligence gatherer, Underground Railroad organizer, and abolitionist. In Harriet Tubman, Lowry creates a portrait enriched with lively imagined vignettes that transform the legendary icon into flesh and blood. We travel with Tubman on slave-freeing raids in the heart of the Confederacy, along the treacherous route of the Underground Railroad, and onto the battlefields of the Civil War. Integrating extensive research and interviews with scholars and historians into a rich and mesmerizing chronicle, Lowry brings an American hero to life as never before.
£17.06
Random House USA Inc Robert Oppenheimer
Book SynopsisAn unforgettable story of discovery and unimaginable destruction and a major biography of one of America’s most brilliant—and most divisive—scientists, Robert Oppenheimer: A Life Inside the Center vividly illuminates the man who would go down in history as “the father of the atomic bomb.”“Impressive. . . . An extraordinary story.”—The New York Times Book Review“Judicious, comprehensive and reliable. . . . By far the most thorough survey yet written of Oppenheimer’s physics.—Washington Post Oppenheimer’s talent and drive secured him a place in the pantheon of great physicists and carried him to the laboratories where the secrets of the universe revealed themselves. But they also led him to contribute to the development of the deadliest weapon on earth, a discovery he soon came to fear. His attempts to resist the escalation of the Cold War arms race—coupled wi
£22.80
Random House USA Inc Slavery by Another Name The ReEnslavement of
Book SynopsisThis groundbreaking historical expose unearths the lost stories of enslaved persons and their descendants who journeyed into freedom after the Emancipation Proclamation and then back into the shadow of involuntary servitude shortly thereafter in “The Age of Neoslavery.”By turns moving, sobering, and shocking, this unprecedented Pulitzer Prize-winning account reveals the stories of those who fought unsuccessfully against the re-emergence of human labor trafficking, the companies that profited most from neoslavery, and the insidious legacy of racism that reverberates today.Following the Emancipation Proclamation, convicts—mostly black men—were “leased” through forced labor camps operated by state and federal governments. Using a vast record of original documents and personal narratives, Douglas A. Blackmon brings to light one of the most shameful chapters in American history.“An astonishing book. . . . It will
£16.80
WW Norton & Co Up Front
Book SynopsisThe definitive biography of the greatest cartoonist of the Greatest Generation.
£20.89
WW Norton & Co REVOLUTION MAPPING THE ROAD TO
Book SynopsisThe American Revolution's progress shown in 60 spectacular contemporary maps.Trade Review"This glorious collection-ravishingly beautiful, exquisitely curated, brilliantly annotated-is one of the most graphic and illuminating treatments of the American Revolution ever brought to press. Here is the road to revolution and the war itself, from the opening of the French and Indian War in 1755 to the surrender at Yorktown in 1781 and the Treaty of Paris two years later. Combining the virtues of an historical atlas, a luscious exhibition, and a detailed but concise history of the wars, it is a GPS to the American Revolution." -- Ric Burns, documentary filmmaker, Steeplechase Films "Revolution is a dazzling achievement that casts new light on the imperial wars of the late eighteenth century. These maps-many of them rare manuscripts, reproduced here for the first time-remind us that the battle for (and against) American independence unfolded in space as well as in time. Here the long road to revolution becomes visible as a hard-fought contest over territory as well as clash of ideals. A feast for the eye, Revolution also invites fresh thinking about the founding of the United States and Britain's American War." -- Jane Kamensky, Mary Ann Lippitt Professor of American History, Brown University "This beautiful book, with its superbly reproduced images, brings to life the decades leading to the birth of the U.S.A. The authors have given a highly skilled analysis of the background, contents and significance of the images. The readable style and brilliant use of little-known cartographical works has created a book that anyone with an interest in the interplay between maps and history should buy-and read." -- Peter Barber, head of Map Collections, the British Library
£53.99
WW Norton & Co Natures God The Heretical Origins of the
Book SynopsisA startling, paradigm-shifting exploration of the revolutionary part of the American Revolution: the ideas that changed the world for good.Trade Review"...splendidly polemical account of the philosophy of the founding fathers..." -- Prospect
£21.84
WW Norton & Co Freedom National
Book SynopsisA powerful history of emancipation that reshapes our understanding of Lincoln, the Civil War, and the end of American slavery.Trade Review"Brilliant in analysis and compelling in argument, this is now the book to read on how slavery died." -- Library Journal"This remarkable book offers the best account ever written of the complex historical process known as emancipation. The story is dramatic and compelling, and no one interested in the American Civil War or the fate of slavery can afford to ignore it." -- Eric Foner, author of The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery"Freedom National provides the best account we have of the process of emancipation and the ultimate abolition of slavery, on the ground in the South and in the halls of power at Washington. It also makes clear that from the beginning, nearly all participants recognized that the central issue of the war was slavery and that its likely outcome was a new birth of freedom." -- James M. McPherson, author of War on the Waters: The Union and Confederate Navies, 1861—1865"A masterful piece of scholarship.... A must-read book for anyone seeking a greater understanding of the complicated and politically charged nature of emancipation." -- Robert I. Girardi - Washington Independent Review of Books
£22.79
WW Norton & Co Contraband
Book SynopsisSkirting the law once defined America’s relation to the world.Trade Review"[A] well-researched and well-written account of the underside of America's growth as an economic power." -- Publishers Weekly "Featuring a host of colorful characters, Contraband is a fascinating and revealing book, which makes a compelling case that smuggling, and efforts to suppress it, offer a window into broader historical issues, including the American state, political machines, and economic enterprise." -- Eric Foner, author of Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad "Andrew Wender Cohen has revolutionized our understanding of nineteenth-century America, putting smugglers and rogues, custom-house workers and naval gunboat officers, Jews and Gentiles, Confederates and Unionists at the heart of one of the liveliest and most consequential histories I have read in years." -- Nelson Lichtenstein, author of A Contest of Ideas: Capital, Politics, and Labor "Cohen not only uncovers a heretofore hidden history, but anchors this invisible world in the central events of the American past." -- Timothy Gilfoyle, author of The Pickpocket's Tale "Andrew W. Cohen has written that rarest of books: a gripping narrative filled with colorful characters whose exploits will cause readers to rethink their understanding of the American past. Deeply researched, powerfully argued, and beautifully written, Contraband is at once a page-turner and an important reframing of the nation's history." -- Ari Kelman, author of A Misplaced Massacre: Struggling over the Memory of Sand Creek "Andrew Cohen smuggles a rich and exotic cargo into this tale of American taxation and its discontents. Forget tea parties and the IRS; think rum, silk, opium, erotica, rakish con men, and corrupt revenuers. Highly readable and heroically researched, Contraband gives us the hidden prehistory of our ongoing war over how to fill the public coffer." -- Tony Horwitz, author of Midnight Rising
£18.99
WW Norton & Co City of Ambition
Book SynopsisTwo political titans forge a modern city and a vibrant public sector in this history of strong leadership at a time of national crisis.Trade Review"This illuminating study offers a fresh vantage from which to comprehend key features of the New Deal and the history of New York. Moving between a vibrant portrayal of persons and incisive accounts of processes, City of Ambition is written with verve and imagination." -- Ira Katznelson, author of Fear Itself: The New Deal and the Origins of Our Time"An excellent account—well written and thoroughly researched—of how FDR and La Guardia, in an era of depression and war, channeled federal resources into crisis-ridden municipalities. Williams’s recounting of their achievement is a salutary reminder of what was once possible, and could be again." -- Mike Wallace, coauthor of Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898"An extraordinary book. In telling the story of how Roosevelt and La Guardia—men as fascinating as they were powerful—forged a mighty political collaboration, it brilliantly reinterprets the New Deal from the vantage point of the nation’s greatest city. It also marks the remarkable debut of a gifted young historian." -- Sean Wilentz, author of The Rise of American Democracy
£20.90
WW Norton & Co The War on Alcohol Prohibition and the Rise of
Book SynopsisA ground-breaking history of Prohibition and a new creation story for the powerful American state.Trade Review"... a focused and thought-provoking book." -- The Economist
£19.79
WW Norton & Co Republic of Spin
Book SynopsisRepublic of Spin illuminates the power of image crafting and its limits—its capacity not only to mislead but also to lead.Trade Review"From Teddy Roosevelt to Barack Obama, David Greenberg has written a brilliant, fast-moving narrative history of the leaders who have defined the modern American presidency." -- Bob Woodward - The Washington Post
£26.59
WW Norton & Co Rose Kennedy
Book SynopsisAn unprecedented look at the life of Rose Kennedy reveals the private woman who became a political legend.Trade Review"Laudable…Perry employs a newly released trove of diaries and letters to add nuance and detail to an essentially familiar story." -- Julia M. Klein - Boston Globe"Barbara Perry's story of Rose Kennedy will likely become the definitive biography of one of the most important women of the 20th century. Perry utilizes newly released materials to tell a more complete story of the matriarch of the Kennedy family." -- Trey Grayson, Director, Institute of Politics, Harvard University"A fuller picture than ever before…Perry writes with compassion and brings keen insight into what Rose Kennedy’s own words tell us about this complex woman." -- Amy Scribner - Book Page"An insightful portrait of this paradoxical woman…[Kennedy] gave the public every reason to love her." -- People"Barbara Perry has done it again! Rose Kennedy is the much needed, balanced biography of the grand matriarch of American politics. Whether it was helping the disabled, raising children, or playing ward boss, Mrs. Kennedy was a force of nature." -- Douglas Brinkley, Professor of History at Rice University and author of Cronkite"At the core of most families, frequently out of the public spotlight, is the matriarch. She personifies and by example extends the values and mores that make that family unique. Mrs. Rose Kennedy was such a woman. Raised in a high profile political family, she nurtured one of America's most influential families. Her influence continues to be a force in American culture. Rose Kennedy captures the essence of this exceptional leader. It places her in the spotlight she avoided but richly deserves." -- Bob Graham, U.S. Senator"Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy was one of the most inspiring women of the twentieth century. Everyone knows her as the mother of President Kennedy, but her story is far richer—one for the ages. Barbara Perry brilliantly and sensitively shows us Rose’s world, filled with almost unimaginable privilege yet scarred by terrible tragedies that would have been unbearable for most. You will be deeply moved by Perry’s magnificently researched account of this remarkable centenarian, whose steely optimism and unshakeable religious faith overcame life’s darkest detours." -- Larry J. Sabato, Director, University of Virginia Center for Politics"Perry’s biography is a finely crafted, comprehensive account of one of the most driven women in the shadows of American political history…While there are untold numbers of books on the Kennedys, Perry adds archival details and nuance to our understanding of Rose. Kennedy completists and novices alike are sure to find the book fascinating as it further reveals the perspective of the strong woman behind the dynasty." -- Lisa Guardarini - Library Journal"Perry has created an insightful portrait of this paradoxical woman." -- Helen Rogan - People
£19.79
WW Norton & Co The Hunted Whale
Book SynopsisThe lethal industry that lit the world, explained and illustrated by precise photographs of its weapons and equipment.Trade Review"The Hunted Whale deftly combines brilliant images with engaging prose to take the reader on a fascinating and rewarding voyage into the heart of whaling during the age of sail. McGuane’s vivid portrait of one of America’s most iconic industries is a wonderful addition to the literature of the sea." -- Eric Jay Dolin, author of Leviathan"Jim McGuane’s The Hunted Whale is a labor of love, a comprehensive yet intimate study of American whaling under sail, in the shape of a stunning photographic essay." -- Joan Druett, author of Island of the Lost and In the Wake of Madness"McGuane covers every aspect of whaling lore, from life aboard whaling ships and descriptions of the hunt taken from nineteenth century journals, to surveying the kind of people who made up a crew and the often brutally designed tools of their trade…. Readers looking for a simple but rich overview of whaling will find it in this appealing and informative volume." -- Booklist"Gorgeous photographs… The reader turns over page after page in awe." -- Mary K. Bercaw Edwards - Mystic Seaport Magazine
£28.49
WW Norton & Co Prairie Fever
Book SynopsisThe extraordinary story of the British aristocracy's encounter with American frontier life in the nineteenth century.Trade Review"Something of the magic of the Great West — its big skies and great rivers and prairies filled with game — can be found in Peter Pagnamenta's compelling narrative of the mania for the prairie grasslands that swept British aristocrats in the middle of the 19th century. Grand solitary travelers came first and their tales of adventure brought scores and then hundreds of others — lords and younger sons needing a way to live and retired military officers and men hoping to get rich and sportsmen who wanted a grizzly and dreamers who imagined a ranching kingdom might end boredom once and for all. It's an extraordinary story, told in Prairie Fever with the kind of energy that makes you want to drop everything and go." -- Tom Powers, Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist and author of The Killing of Crazy Horse"Vivid… a constant delight. Mr. Pagnamenta tells this story with verve and style. His love of tales of derring-do on the prairie matches his subjects." -- Judith Flanders - Wall Street Journal"[A] lost—and deeply weird—world…has been lovingly excavated and brought back to life." -- Miranda Seymour - New York Times Book Review"Entertaining…. A deeply researched and finely delivered look at what can best be described as a counterintuitive slice of American history." -- Scott Martelle - Washington Post"A parade of colourful personalities and richly detailed scenes which entertain and, cumulatively, expose the violence of cultural imperialism." -- Times Literary Supplement"Lively and accessible… Prairie Fever skewers the delusion [of romance and heroism] with wit and charm." -- Brian Schofield - The Sunday Times
£20.89
WW Norton & Co Crazy Brave
Book SynopsisA spiritual coming-of-age memoir from a poet praised for her "breathtaking complex witness and world-remaking language" (Adrienne Rich).
£19.94
WW Norton & Co The Internal Enemy
Book SynopsisWinner of the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for History This searing story of slavery and freedom in the Chesapeake by a Pulitzer Prize–winning historian reveals the pivot in the nation’s path between the founding and civil war.Trade Review"Alan Taylor has added a remarkable chapter to American history, showing how the actions of black Virginians in the War of 1812 remade the nation’s politics in ways that profoundly influenced the racialized lead-up to the Civil War. Taylor’s meticulous research and crystal-clear prose make this essential reading for anyone seeking new insights into a troubled American past." -- Elizabeth A. Fenn, author of Pox Americana"Impressively researched and beautifully crafted… Mr. Taylor has established himself as one of our leading historians of the Early Republic." -- Mark M. Smith - The Wall Street Journal"A comprehensive, scholarly work, made accessible by Taylor’s skill as a storyteller." -- Kel Munger - Sacramento Bee"Remarkable… it’s hard not to be dazzled by the ease with which Taylor moves from the lives of individual slaves, to the history of a large planter family, to the fault lines of Virginia politics, to the national debate over slavery in the western territories, out into the Atlantic world to the history of the British Empire." -- James Oakes - Washington Post
£26.59
WW Norton & Co The Great Departure
Book SynopsisA panoramic history of the vast migration of Eastern Europeans to the West by a recent winner of a MacArthur Fellowship.Trade Review"... vivid and meticulously researched work... The Great Departure offers a deep, multifaceted understanding of mass migration." -- Times Higher Education"... timely, myth-busting chronicle..." -- Nature"... a perceptive history of migration and Eastern Europe..." -- The Economist
£20.69
WW Norton & Co The Presidential Recordings John F. Kennedy
Book SynopsisThe private vulnerabilities of the world’s most public man revealed.Trade Review"These volumes of presidential recordings both fascinate and illuminate. They show how John F. Kennedy reached his vital decisions, and they cast important new light on the conflicts of our times. This is history in the raw, and it is compelling." -- Arthur Schlesinger Jr. "A meticulous, thoughtfully rendered set of volumes that offer us the sharpest, clearest, and truest picture of the presidency during a high age of American power. The tense debate, the confusion, the insights, the jokes, the courage-it's all there, as it really happened. This is the true West Wing." -- Evan Thomas "These volumes will intrigue the general reader and keep historians working hard for a long time as we assess and reassess John Kennedy's presidency." -- Michael Beschloss "There is nothing comparable to this multivolume collection of presidential materials. This work is and will be an invaluable contribution to our understanding of the twentieth-century American presidency. It provides us with unprecedented insight into policymaking at the highest level." -- Robert Dallek
£101.14
WW Norton & Co thefourteenthdayjfkandtheaftermathofthecubanmissil
Book SynopsisA fly-on-the-wall narrative of the Oval Office in the wake of the Cuban Missile Crisis, using JFK’s secret White House tapes.Trade Review"No family has been better at shaping its own mythology than the Kennedys. Using White House tapes and his own prodigious research and keen insight, David Coleman has painted a portrait of the JFK White House after the Cuban Missile Crisis as it really was. The picture is not damning, but it is human and revealing." -- Evan Thomas, author of Robert Kennedy: His Life and Ike’s Bluff: President Eisenhower’s Secret Struggle to Save the World"Amid shelves of books on the Kennedy era, here at last is a genuinely fresh and interesting volume about his presidency. Coleman now leads the documentary team that transcribes and explains the recordings of meetings and phone calls that JFK secretly hoarded. Armed with that evidence and an exceptionally firm grasp of the personalities, institutions, and issues of that time, Coleman skillfully shows us a pivotal year, 1962 to mid-1963, the turning point of the Cold War and of the Kennedy presidency." -- Philip Zelikow, former counselor of the Department of State, co-author of The Kennedy Tapes"A half century later there are still important things about the Cuban missile crisis left to explore. David Coleman is the first to use the Kennedy tapes to show that the challenges posed by the crisis did not end on the fabled thirteenth day. The Fourteenth Day is a brilliant reconstruction of a time of superb presidential leadership. It is essential reading for those who love presidential history or just remain fascinated by JFK." -- Timothy Naftali, former director of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, co-author of One Hell of a Gamble"Illuminates a previously untold chapter about the most dangerous confrontation in human history." -- Graham Allison, former assistant secretary of Defense, author of Essence of Decision"Fascinating; Coleman brings this remarkable story to life, and his use of material from the Kennedy tapes is particularly impressive. This is the sort of book anyone interested in the period will enjoy reading." -- Marc Trachtenberg, author of A Constructed Peace"Director of the Miller Center’s Presidential Recording Program, Coleman has the goods." -- Library Journal"An engrossing and revealing account… Coleman has provided an excellent analysis of both short and long term results of the crisis." -- Booklist
£19.94
WW Norton & Co Fault Lines
Book SynopsisTwo award-winning historians explore the origins of a divided America.Trade Review"Kevin M. Kruse and Julian E. Zelizer’s Fault Lines is a brilliant primer for understanding the troubling precedents for today’s mass American political dysfunction. Both historians are deeply informed and surefooted thinkers. A must-read foundational work for our time!" -- Douglas Brinkley, history commentator for CNN"[With] deep detail and taut-as-a-thriller pacing…the authors detail how the Democratic and—especially—Republican parties moved the country from post-New Deal liberalism to an increasingly hard-right philosophy, culminating with Trump…If Fault Lines doesn’t provide easy answers to our current dilemma, its cleareyed, pin-sharp overview is a necessary map of how we got here." -- Michaelangelo Matos - Rolling Stone"Kruse and Zelizer do an admirable job of creating a narrative out of the chaotic events of the recent past." -- L. Benjamin Rolsky - Los Angeles Review of Books
£21.84
WW Norton & Co Buckley and Mailer
Book SynopsisA lively chronicle of the 1960s through the incredibly contentious and surprisingly close friendship of its two most colourful characters.Trade Review"Schultz's book is compelling and brilliant." -- Literary Review"Schultz's book is, among things, a very moving account of intellectual and political disappointment." -- Prospect"Kevin Schultz evidently had a lot of fun writing this exuberant, intelligent book, and so did I reading it." -- David Aaronovitch - The Times
£21.84
WW Norton & Co The Strange Career of William Ellis
Book SynopsisA prize-winning historian tells a new story of the black experience in America through the life of a mysterious entrepreneur.Trade Review"Jacoby...[is] a smart and eloquent writer..." -- Literary Review
£19.79
WW Norton & Co Our America
Book SynopsisAn eminent scholar finds a new American history in the Hispanic past of our diverse nation.Trade Review"With a lucid, engaging style, [Fernandez-Armesto] seeks to understand the continuity between the Spanish colonization and the fight for justice led by the Chicano movement in the sixties and by immigration advocates today...This is an invitation to look at America in full!" -- Ilan Stavans, general editor of The Norton Anthology of Latino History "In enviably lyrical prose, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto has written a bold and compelling synthesis of our nation's Hispanic past, from the Spanish arrival in the late fifteenth century to the current and contentious debate over immigration reform. Marshaling famous and forgotten individuals and events, he reminds us that there is much more to America's story than simply Massachusetts Pilgrims and Virginia Cavaliers." -- Andrew R. Graybill, director, Clements Center for Southwest Studies, Southern Methodist University "A rich and moving chronicle ... Perhaps the first history to make the case for this nation's becoming a bright Latin American country." -- Julio Ortega "Exceedingly well-written and engaging." -- Hector Tobar "Triumphantly rescues Hispanic America from obscurity." "A valuable contribution to those seeking a broader understanding of U.S. history." -- Janet Napolitano
£19.79
WW Norton & Co The Little Girl Who Fought the Great Depression
Book SynopsisHow the smile and fortitude of a child actress revived a nation.Trade Review"The Little Girl Who Fought the Great Depression is an illuminating and highly entertaining look at the life and career of the greatest young movie star of her era. John Kasson perceptively reveals how Shirley Temple brought hope and joy to a diverse array of people throughout the world while simultaneously transforming the nature of celebrity, consumption, and childhood culture in 1930s America." -- Steven J. Ross, author of Hollywood Left and Right: How Movie Stars Shaped American Politics"John Kasson delights the reader with his lively account of feel-good films starring the adorable curly-headed moppet who, with radiant smile and winsome guile, lit up the dark nights of the 1930s. A brilliant analyst, Kasson lays bare coruscatingly, too, how exploited child actors serve as ‘canaries in the mine shaft of modern consumer culture.’" -- William E. Leuchtenburg, author of In the Shadow of FDR: From Harry Truman to Barack Obama"Carefully argued and gracefully written. Not since the pioneering essays of Warren Susman has any historian so brilliantly illuminated the emotional life of Americans in the 1930s. The Great Depression—not to mention Shirley Temple and Franklin Roosevelt—will never look the same." -- Jackson Lears, author of Rebirth of a Nation: The Making of Modern America, 1877-1920"John F. Kasson skillfully uses Shirley Temple as a prism to cast light on a vast range of subjects: The rise of FDR, optimism as Depression-era propaganda, the double existence of African-American stars, innocence as a consumer commodity, the fickleness of star adoration and the dangers of the mob, the meaning of childhood in a changing culture, and Hollywood's exploitation of its human profit centers, no matter how small. Connecting them all is Temple herself, serene, self-composed, and indestructible—the one movie star who wasn't putting on an act." -- Ty Burr, author of Gods Like Us: On Movie Stardom and Modern Fame"Sparkling, beautifully written, nearly impossible to put down. John Kasson moves behind the seemingly effortless smile of Shirley Temple to uncover the child labor it required, and explores the complex emotional work performed by that smile for Americans struggling to survive the Great Depression. A compelling and creative new cultural history of the 1930s." -- Karen Halttunen, author of Confidence Men and Painted Women: A Study in Middle-Class Culture, 1830-1870"[A] look back to a moment in American society when…the movies mattered and when one magnetic star could help change people’s minds and hearts." -- Publishers Weekly"In a time of widespread suffering and frequent despair, this little girl touched the hearts of millions of people in our own land and others… John F. Kasson shows how her films provided therapy as well as entertainment." -- Richard Striner - Weekly Standard"Examines the impact of the child star not only on Hollywood, but on politics as well… Elucidating… a must-read." -- USA Today"[Kasson’s] insightful new book explores the politics of the time, racial attitudes, movie-going habits and the breadth and depth of Shirley Temple’s appeal." -- Elizabeth Bennett - Dallas Morning News"A wonderful epilogue to Temple's career… and an enlightening examination of the curly topped moppet's impact on Hollywood, the economy and the mood of a troubled nation." -- Daniel Bubbeo - Newsday
£34.20
WW Norton & Co William Wells Brown
Book SynopsisA ground-breaking biography of the most pioneering and accomplished African American writer of the nineteenth century.Trade Review"Ezra Greenspan's painstaking historical research and artful insights of literary analysis have returned William Wells Brown to his rightful place...The very soul of this talented and complex man is laid bare by Greenspan's rich contextualization of Brown's abolitionist success, his remarkably prolific writing, and his legal statelessness in America yet cosmopolitan status as world citizen." -- Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Harvard University "An informative and often moving account." "A compelling life of one of the most remarkable men of the nineteenth century-a boon to our understanding of African American and American culture." -- Arnold Rampersad, Stanford University "A scholarly tour de force. Drawing from an astonishing range of primary materials, Greenspan renders Brown's life in a gripping, elegant narrative that opens up many new vistas on Brown and his world." -- David S. Reynolds, CUNY Graduate Center "Rich and fascinating...Ezra Greenspan has accomplished a remarkable feat of innovative research and has lucidly brought Brown, the self-taught former slave, to life as a person and as a writer who repeatedly reinvented himself in several genres while producing a brilliant critique of America's dilemma with race." -- David W. Blight, Yale University "In his day, Brown rivaled Frederick Douglass as a prominent black abolitionist and exceeded him as an author of important histories and biographies of African Americans. Ezra Greenspan's definitive biography rescues Brown from undeserved obscurity." -- James M. McPherson, Princeton University "William Wells Brown not only was the first African American novelist; he was a master at bringing his contemporaries, the heroic black men and women of the Civil War generation, into full view with his pen. Now, at last, biographer Ezra Greenspan has done the same for Brown. The result is an "experimental voyage," beautifully written and exhaustively researched, that enthralls the reader while illuminating the improvisational genius of one of the nation's most influential fugitive slaves. In reconstructing the fullness of his story, long obscured by the Jim Crow era that followed, William Wells Brown: An African American Life, ensures that Brown's rightful place in the constellation of leading black men and women of letters will remain fixed for future generations." -- Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Harvard University "A fascinating read and an excellent piece of historical detective work." -- Annette Gordon Reed, Harvard University "Greenspan's detailed study of this life of constant growth should win Brown his proper place in American history."
£23.75
W. W. Norton & Company The King and Queen of Malibu The True Story of
Book SynopsisNew York Times best-selling author David K. Randall spins a remarkable tale of the American West and the desire of one couple to preserve paradise.Trade Review"The King and Queen of Malibu is an irresistible and compelling tale of a strong-willed and fabulously wealthy woman who sought to keep the beaches and mountains of Malibu as her private enclave." -- Meryl Gordon, author of Mrs. Astor Regrets"David Randall’s The King and Queen of Malibu is a compelling love story about an unlikely couple and at the same time a rich and instructive tale about the American Dream crashing head-on into the march of American progress. Always fascinating and elegantly written, it totally absorbed me in the unfolding drama." -- Howard Blum, New York Times best-selling author of Dark Invasion and American Lightning"Anchoring himself in exhaustive research, David K. Randall enshrines this paradigmatic American story in a compelling narrative that at once explores the power and the limits of the Southern California dream." -- Kevin Starr, University of Southern California"David K. Randall’s The King and Queen of Malibu is a vivid narrative of a strong-willed woman in a man’s world. May Rindge, the landlady of her private Malibu paradise, was feared, even hated, but also respected. Randall tells the true story of a bloody feud that needs no invention." -- Bill Dedman, coauthor of Empty Mansions"David Randall has unearthed a rowdy origin story for Malibu, vividly proving that movie stars weren’t the first people to bring drama to that fabled stretch of coastline. This thrilling book shows that before Barbie and surfers showed up, the beach was a battleground." -- Monte Reel, author of Between Man and Beast
£17.99
WW Norton & Co The Italian Americans
Book SynopsisThis richly researched, beautifully designed and illustrated volume strips away stereotypes and nostalgia to tell the story of the true Italian-American experience.Trade Review"A first-rate, cliche-killing, and insightful exploration of the Italian-American journey. I couldn't put it down. Essential." -- John Turturro "Rich and satisfying, loaded with fascinating interviews, glorious photographs and fresh insights, this compilation is a keeper. With her trademark literary elegance and journalistic integrity, Maria Laurino pulls disparate threads together creating one lush tapestry that shows us who we are." -- Adriana Trigiani "The Italian Americans is clear, fresh and vivid. It answers a thousand questions about where we came from, how and why our ancestors got here, and why we think and act as we do." -- Russell Shorto "The Italian Americans is a revelation-a rich and truthful history, full of little-known information, insight, and narrative color, giving full dimension to people far too often reduced to stereotype." -- Gay Talese
£26.59
WW Norton & Co The Lost World of the Old Ones Discoveries in
Book SynopsisAn award-winning author and veteran mountain climber takes us deep into the Southwest backcountry to uncover secrets of its ancient inhabitants.Trade Review"Stimulating, provoking, mournful…. [Roberts] has a deep and infectious passion for the landscapes, history and people of the Southwest." -- Gerard Helferich - Wall Street Journal"[H]as the pull and excitement of a suspense novel and appeals to a wide range of readers interested in this region’s deep past and great beauty." -- Booklist, Starred review"With the verve of his great mountaineering books, David Roberts takes us inside a lost ''genius climber'' civilization and its mysteries, introducing the looters, ruin baggers, warring academics, and wary tribal descendants who frame the ethical conflicts of modern archaeology—while never losing his own explorer’s energy and thirst for the thrill of wilderness discovery. These tales should be told around a campfire." -- Tom Kizzia, author of Pilgrim’s Wilderness: A True Story of Faith and Madness on the Alaska Frontier"David Roberts is not only an elegant writer and an intrepid explorer, he’s an ideal guide to the mysteries and wonders of the ancient Southwest. The Lost World of the Old Ones is the rare sequel that stands alone yet also takes its rightful place as a classic alongside its predecessor volume." -- Mitchell Zuckoff, author of Lost in Shangri-La"David Roberts brings an unusual panoply of talents to The Lost World of the Old Ones. Part ethnographer, part archaeologist—with healthy doses of skeptical enquirer, curiosity seeker, and professional mountain climber mixed in—this talented writer navigates the secret canyons and hidden watercourses of the American Southwest in search of a lost civilization." -- Alex Beam, author of American Crucifixion: The Murder of Joseph Smith and the Fate of the Mormon Church
£21.67
WW Norton & Co Tom Paines Iron Bridge Building a United States
Book SynopsisThe little-known story of the architectural project that lay at the heart of Tom Paine’s political blueprint for the United States.Trade Review"Fascinating and important: Gray gives us Paine as we have never seen him before…as committed to building a new order as he was to tearing down the old." -- Kathleen DuVal - Wall Street Journal"Ed Gray deftly reveals Paine as a polymath who designed innovative bridges as well as radical politics. Vividly written and rich with insight, Tom Paine’s Iron Bridge illuminates the nexus of politics, science, and aesthetics in the Age of Revolutions." -- Alan Taylor, author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning The Internal Enemy"If you thought nothing more could be said of Thomas Paine, you were wrong. Ed Gray’s new book is a game-changer. An iron bridge, a unified economy, a legislative heart of the union: Ed Gray demonstrates as never before Paine’s greater vision." -- Ray Raphael, author of A People’s History of the American Revolution"In his engaging new book, Edward Gray introduces us to Thomas Paine, the visionary nation-builder. Paine’s design for an iron bridge to transcend the new nation’s divisions was in its way as revolutionary as his call for an independent American republic in Common Sense." -- Harvey J. Kaye, author of Thomas Paine and the Promise of America"Americans want to see the nation’s adolescence as a time of infinite possibility, and so did Thomas Paine. But Edward Gray’s engrossing account of Paine’s lifelong fixation on bridge-building reminds us that a host of human vices, from religious bigotry to political and sectional bias, were always there, waiting as patiently as the wolf at the door." -- Woody Holton, author of Abigail Adams"Another gem from one of America's most imaginative historians." -- Gordon S. Wood, author of The Radicalism of the American Revolution
£17.99
WW Norton & Co New Yorkers
Book SynopsisWinner of the 2021 Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize A symphony of contemporary New York through the magnificent words of its people—from the best-selling author of Londoners.Trade Review"Books about N.Y.C. risk falling into sentimentality and redundancy, but Craig Taylor avoids both with this absorbing oral history, a collective portrait of the city’s people (and speech patterns)." -- Jennifer Schuessler, New York Times"A teeming oral history…[This] kaleidoscopic portrait captures the city’s thrilling lexical diversity, as well as moments of grace, compassion, cruelty, and racism." -- The New Yorker"[New Yorkers] is a gift right now, when New York City is coming back from a pandemic winter…In New Yorkers the city is hopping, punching, reeling, dancing, thrumming, honking, thriving…Taylor's presence is felt between the lines; he is as skilled a writer of literary nonfiction as I have ever read." -- Mary Norris, Times Literary Supplement (UK)"Thankfully, New Yorkers is not War and Peace, with its several hundred characters. Taylor culled and cut a lot. But among those who made it into New Yorkers, some are unforgettable…Taylor finds stories in the people who navigate the streets." -- James Barron, New York Times Book Review"The people are the texture of New York…and there are 75 of them in New Yorkers, speaking in their own voices of their own experiences. Taylor is Canadian, an outsider: his love of New York is plain, his ability to listen extraordinary." -- Erica Wagner, New Statesman"Jaw-dropping…enthralling…Start spreading the news: Taylor’s book is a stunning work of modern social history." -- Independent (UK)"Ambitious and entertaining…Much of the pleasure of New Yorkers comes from a kind of sly parataxis, the rhetorical trope in which elements are placed side by side, without being overtly connected together." -- Hari Kunzru, The Guardian"A beautifully woven tapestry." -- Sunday Times (UK)"A fine and fearless follow-up to Londoners—fine because it’s so thoughtful and revealing, fearless because the author’s method is to engage strangers in conversation that quickly becomes oral history…A compelling portrait of New York and a must-read for residents and visitors alike." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"An engrossing, multihued ‘oral portrait’ of New York City as told by the people who live there…Expertly edited and arranged, these striking snapshots make clear that in New York, ‘the people are the texture.’ Admirers of the Big Apple will be enthralled." -- Publishers Weekly"A monumental and beautiful testimony to a city and to life itself. Joseph Mitchell, one of the great chroniclers of New York and whose work Taylor wonderfully continues, once profiled an unusual man named Joe Gould who said, more or less, that by overhearing the conversations of New Yorkers you could know the world and all its history. And this is what Craig Taylor has done: not just reveal a city, but the human spirit that lights the city; that spirit, which despite its flaws and madness, seems in the end to always wish to transform chaos and hatred into meaning and love." -- Jonathan Ames, author of The Extra Man"Craig Taylor gets us. His sojourn in New York has resulted in a wonderful portrait of the city and its people, in good times and in bad, living, persevering, triumphant." -- Kevin Baker, author of The Fall of a Great American City"An incredible achievement. Insightful, funny, surprising, profound, moving and honest. This could be the great American novel—and it isn’t even a novel." -- Joe Dunthorne, author of Submarine"Monumental…Every decade or so, a book comes along to define an epoch in New York life: Joe Gould's Secret, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, The Power Broker, Random Family…Craig Taylor’s New Yorkers is one of those. For those newly arrived to the city or long in love with it, New Yorkers belongs on the short shelf of required reading." -- Garth Risk Hallberg, author of City on Fire"As gorgeous, cacophonous, and shocking as New York itself. Like those great oral historians Studs Terkel and Ronald Blythe, Craig Taylor has the gift of drawing out the most idiosyncratic confidences, creating a magical, uproarious and sometimes terrifying portrait of life in the ultimate city." -- Olivia Laing, author of Everybody"Craig Taylor has conducted Gotham’s voices into a gorgeous score…I’ve never heard New York sound this good, this in tune, despite its seas of trouble." -- Leanne Shapton, author of Swimming Studies"New York is nothing if not its people, and in New Yorkers Craig Taylor has given us their voices—wary and wise; insistent or sweet; fast and sage and sometimes oblique; impossible, often, to forget. This is a marvelous portrait of the city now, and bound to last." -- Joshua Jelly-Schapiro, co-creator of Nonstop Metropolis: A New York City Atlas
£22.79
WW Norton & Co The Source How Rivers Made America and America
Book SynopsisAn Amazon Best Book of the Year How rivers have shaped American politics, economics, and society from the beginnings of the Republic to today.Trade Review"Original [and] poignant. . . . [T]ells the story of how rivers have shaped the United States from its founding." -- Robert Glennon - New York Times Book Review"An original and thought-provoking exploration of the sinuous course that water has carved through our economic and political landscape." -- Gerard Helferich - Wall Street Journal"In [Doyle’s] telling, rivers become a lens on federalism, energy and conservation—a rolling narrative taking us from George Washington's quest to find a passage from the Atlantic Ocean to the Ohio River, through decades of levee-building, flood control, water wars and much more." -- Nature"Authoritative…Even readers with an allergy to learning history will come away with a greater understanding of how rivers have literally made our country." -- Tracy Ross - Outside Magazine"A vigorous look at American history through the nation’s waterways…Doyle speaks well to issues that are as pressing today as in the first years of the republic." -- Kirkus Reviews"Readers interested in everything from American history to business, engineering, environmental concerns, and canoeing will find Doyle’s work absorbing and educational." -- Booklist"Just like its topic, The Source flows magnificently from end to end, carving out a story that spans a continent and several centuries. Martin Doyle weaves together a gripping mix of American history, geology, engineering, economics, and politics to show that American rivers are one of the inspirations of the constitution, the connective fabric of our industry, a triggering cause of environmental movements, and a source of power—physical, economic, and political." -- Michael E. Webber, author of Thirst for Power"Brilliantly conceived, The Source is a unique synthesis that recasts American history and flows with the power of unexpected insight." -- David R. Montgomery, author of Growing A Revolution"Move over Cadillac Desert and The Last Oasis; a new classic on American rivers has arrived. One of the world’s leading authorities on hydrology, Martin Doyle shows how rivers have served as the arteries and veins of the United States since the country’s very founding. It is a rich history both impressive and unsettling." -- James Salzman, author of Drinking Water: A History
£19.94
WW Norton & Co CourtMartial
Book SynopsisA timely, provocative account of how military justice has shaped American society since the nation's beginnings.
£19.95
WW Norton & Co Indelible Ink
Book SynopsisThe story of the battle to legalise free expression in America.Trade Review"Celebrates the power of free expression...a comprehensive tribute to Zenger's legal battle against censorship and reprisal." -- Starred Review - Publishers Weekly "Event by compelling event, readers follow Zenger through the drama that eventually landed him in jail on libel charges-before a liberty-loving jury freed him with a 1735 verdict signaling a clear American commitment to the unfettered reporting that can check abuse of power. The much-needed prologue to today's headlines." -- Starred Review - Booklist "Kluger raises important questions still resonating today...This thought-provoking account deserves to be read by everyone." -- Starred Review - Library Journal "Enlightening and frightening... A book of American history for all, but lawyers and journalists will especially appreciate it." -- Kirkus Reviews "Beneath WikiLeaks and Edward Snowden, beneath the whole modern concept of a free press, lies the trial of a German-American printer in colonial New York. Richard Kluger's account of the Zenger trial is thoughtful, scrupulously detailed, and utterly relevant." -- Russell Shorto, author of The Island at the Center of the World "Indelible Ink is a triumph...a new and very compelling take on the Zenger case. I found myself glued to Kluger's book and much in agreement with his findings, and he has written it all wonderfully well." -- Stanley N. Katz, author of Newcastle's New York: Anglo-American Politics, 1723-53 and director of Princeton University's Center for Art and Cultural Studies
£18.99
WW Norton & Co Revolution Song
Book SynopsisFrom the author of the acclaimed history The Island at the Center of the World, an intimate new epic of the American Revolution that reinforces its meaning for today.Trade Review"Shorto’s achievement is a remarkable one. The intertwined stories of Revolution Song give a sense of how far-reaching a phenomenon the War of Independence was. It leaves to readers the pleasure of judging what each of the figures in the book—or perhaps the combination of them all—contributed to an event that changed the world." -- New York Times Book Review"An engaging piece of historical detective work and narrative craft." -- Chicago Tribune"Russell Shorto’s engaging new book appears at a moment when basic concepts of rights and equality are routinely disparaged. As if in response to our troubled political culture, he invites readers to return to the American Revolution to understand better how an 18th-century commitment to freedom took root and became a fundamental, unifying value in our nation’s history. . . . [Shorto has] produced a compelling work that reads almost like a good detective story. . . . Shorto deserves praise for reminding us of the complexity of freedom’s claims." -- Brian Greer - American Scholar"How did the teenaged daughter of a British officer view the American Revolution, from behind enemy lines in New York? What did that contest mean to a shrewd, contemplative Iroquois warrior? Russell Shorto has emerged from the archives with a bold, largely neglected cast. He has set them free in a rich, prismatic narrative, as intensely vivid as it is seamlessly constructed." -- Stacy Schiff, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Witches: Salem, 1692"Brilliant, captivating and fast-paced, Revolution Song is a wonderfully original take on the American Revolution that reads like a thriller. I couldn’t put this book down." -- Amy Chua, Yale Law School professor and author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother"With symphonic sweep, cinematic detail and compelling, superbly researched real-life characters, Shorto shows how our struggle for freedom began and why it remains so sadly unfinished. If Spielberg wrote history, this is how it would read." -- Howard Fineman, NBC News analyst and author of The Thirteen American Arguments"Amazing: Russell Shorto shows us what a diverse, fascinating, cosmopolitan place this country has been since its founding." -- Charles C. Mann, author of 1491"An engaging, readable and surprisingly complete account of the American Revolution. A tour de force." -- Gordon S. Wood, author of The Radicalism of the American Revolution"Russell Shorto has long had an astonishing talent for adjusting the focus in ways that make familiar swaths of history seem intriguingly foreign and fresh. With Revolution Song, he’s worked his magic again. Through his vigorous language, his mastery of archival sources and the pleasing interweave of his six carefully chosen characters, Shorto has composed a powerful polyphonic story, simultaneously grand and intimate, that makes us hear (and see and feel) the tumult of our nation’s founding as never before." -- Hampton Sides, New York Times best-selling author of In the Kingdom of Ice
£21.84
WW Norton & Co Revolution on the Hudson New York City and the
Book SynopsisThe untold story of the fight for the Hudson River Valley, control of which, both the Americans and the British firmly believed, would determine the outcome of the Revolutionary War.Trade Review"In this fresh, vivid, and often surprising telling of the Revolutionary War, George Daughan explores the timeless theme of hubris and the critical role of geography in the making of American independence. A commanding, compelling performance by an inspired historian." -- Evan Thomas, author of John Paul Jones and Being Nixon"George C. Daughan’s narrative is by turns suspenseful, elegant, and moving. He entwines lucid analysis of politics and diplomacy with expertly rendered accounts of the military and naval campaigns." -- Ian W. Toll, best-selling author of Six Frigates"[A]n exacting account of the personal and national cost of the rebellion on both sides." -- Paula Uruburu - New York Times Book Review"[Daughan] deftly highlights how naval power shaped even war on land." -- William Anthony Hay - Wall Street Journal"In this sharply drawn narrative, Daughan offers something truly valuable: a focus on the grand scale." -- Noah Benjamin-Pollack - National Book Review"[An] enlightening combination of military and regional history." -- Mark Levine - Booklist
£18.99
WW Norton & Co The Accusation Blood Libel in an American Town
Book SynopsisA fascinating investigation of America’s only alleged case of blood libel and what it reveals about anti-Semitism in the United States and Europe.Trade Review"Two powerful new books show that anti-Semitism acknowledges no time limits and recognises no borders. Edward Berenson’s The Accusation: Blood Libel in an American Town is a warning against complacency." -- Jim Crace, Books of the Year 2019 - New Statesman"Berenson’s skill in this eye-opening and timely book includes weaving into this local story the larger history of the European blood libel, and how it migrated into the New World — in the 1920s it was rife in Montreal." -- Howard Cooper, Year in Review: Books in 2019 - The Jewish Chronicle"He [Berenson] offers a vivid picture of early twentieth-century America, a time of lynch mobs, urban riots and intolerance towards Jews, Catholics, African Americans and immigrants...The Accusation is part of a fascinating new wave of the social history of modern antisemitism." -- Times Literary Supplement
£18.89
WW Norton & Co A Colony in a Nation
Book SynopsisNew York Times best-selling author and Emmy Award–winning news anchor Chris Hayes argues that there are really two Americas: a Colony and a Nation.Trade Review"Hayes’s forceful analysis...compel[s] readers to wrestle with some very tough questions about the nature of American democracy and its deep roots in racism, inequality and punishment.”" -- Khalil Gibran Muhammad - New York Times Book Review"A Colony in a Nation reminds us that fear of the other, when weaponized and mechanized by the state, usually makes things worse. That’s a lesson Americans of every color would do well to remember." -- Eric Liu - Washington Post"Terrific and really important." -- Rebecca Traister"A Colony in a Nation is a highly original analysis of America’s arbitrary and erratic criminal justice system. Indeed, by Hayes's lights, the system is not erratic at all—it treats one group of Americans as citizens, and another as the colonized. This is an essential and ground-breaking text in the effort to understand how American criminal justice went so badly awry." -- Ta-Nehisi Coates, author of Between the World and Me"A thorough exploration of how the ‘tough on crime’ ideology leaves poor isolated minority populations living under a different set of laws." -- Patrick Sauer - Esquire"Hayes doesn’t shy away from exposing bias where he finds it, which makes this passionate and well-researched account a compelling entry in the growing literature of social injustice." -- Geoff McKenzie - O Magazine"The first significant theorization on race of the Trump era.... Hayes has a particular talent for examining rather unflinchingly our national ills." -- Matthew Pulver - Salon"Hayes is a forceful and eloquent writer…. He offers a clear and useful framework for understanding the current dysfunctions of American society. It’s a brilliant diagnosis, [and] more urgent than ever." -- Nick Romeo - Christian Science Monitor"A major book, vital for our survival as a nation." -- Charles R. Larson - Counterpunch"An up-to-date (and masterfully interwoven) blend of statistics, history, and analysis." -- Peter C. Baker - Pacific Standard"Chris Hayes’ ominous account of what’s ailing America… [offers a] rare view into a wide racial and class cross-section of society." -- Ryan Cooper - The Week"This readable and thoughtful work... is especially insightful." -- William D. Pederson - Library Journal (starred review)"Writing with clarity, intelligence, and compassion, Hayes deftly illuminates the complex state of affairs that has evolved since the 1960s civil rights protests, and resulted in the current backlash." -- Carol Haggas - Booklist"A timely and impassioned argument for social justice." -- Kirkus"Important, persuasive… [A Colony in a Nation] can help Americans begin to heal." -- Publishers Weekly
£19.94
WW Norton & Co The Politicians and the Egalitarians
Book SynopsisAn eminent historian reminds us of the commanding role party politics has played in America's enduring struggle against economic inequality.
£20.69
WW Norton & Co March 1917 On the Brink of War and Revolution
Book SynopsisA riveting history of the month that transformed the world’s greatest nations as Russia faced revolution and America entered the First World War.
£17.99
WW Norton & Co Mad at the World
Book SynopsisA biography of one of America’s most popular and misunderstood authors, John Steinbeck.Trade Review"[Mad at the World] highlights the staggering amount of work he [Steinbeck] fitted into his overflowing life... highly readable..." -- The Sunday Times"William Souder’s Mad at the World is the first significant biography of Steinbeck since Jackson L. Benson’s... The True Adventures of John Steinbeck, Writer. It is readable, admiring and compact, and provides a narratively energetic look at a man who suffered many of the same weaknesses as his characters — for booze, benzedrine, depression and bad marriages... Souder writes well, and this is a good place to start reading (or rereading) about Steinbeck." -- Scott Bradfield - The Spectator"A comprehensive new biography of America’s best-known novelist of the Great Depression arrives at a timely moment." -- 17 New Books to Watch For in October - The New York Times"Souder’s sympathy for Steinbeck… is most effective and eloquent in his depiction of the California landscape or of the sea, which he describes as swimming with small pelagic crabs “like a crimson carpet spread across an ocean the color of lapis lazuli"." -- Brenda Wineapple - The New York Times Book Review"Painstakingly researched, psychologically nuanced, unshowy, lucid... [Souder] has brought a deeply human Steinbeck forth in all his flawed, melancholy, brilliant complication." -- Alex Kafka - The Washington Post"[An] appreciative yet clear-eyed assessment." -- Wendy Smith - The Boston Globe
£22.49
WW Norton & Co The Thin Light of Freedom Civil War and
Book SynopsisAmid the devastation of war rise the first stirrings of freedom in this absorbing, ground-level narrative by an acclaimed historian.
£26.59
WW Norton & Co Blood at the Root
Book SynopsisA gripping tale of racial cleansing in the American South and a harrowing testament to the deep roots of racial violence in America.Trade Review"In gripping and devastating detail, writer and poet Phillips uncovers a history of lynching, racial violence, terrorism, and white supremacy... There are few heroes in this accounting, which stands as a sobering reminder that the racial fantasies and fears that have ruled so much of our history only continue to haunt the present." -- Library Journal "This is a gripping, timely, and important examination of American racism, and Phillips tells it with rare clarity and power." -- Publisher's Weekly (starred) "Phillips brings a journalist's crisp perspective to this precise and disquieting account of a reprehensible and underreported chapter in America's racial history." -- Booklist, Starred review "An impressive reckoning with a shameful piece of the past that 'most natives of Forsyth would prefer to leave ... scattered in the state's dusty archives or safely hidden in plain sight.'" -- Kirkus Reviews, starred review "Nothing undermines social justice more than our collective ignorance about the racial terrorism that haunts too many places in America. Blood at the Root is a must-read, thorough, detailed, and powerful. It's a story we need to know and never forget." -- Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy "There are places the civil rights movement literally passed by, and for decades Forsyth County was one of those pockets. Blood at the Root is a vital investigation of Forsyth's history, and of the process by which racial injustice is perpetuated in America." -- U.S. Congressman John Lewis, author of March "Some would say that Patrick Phillips should leave well enough alone and keep quiet... But [his] voice is too honest, too brave, and too brilliant to be silenced. With a poet's gift for music, and with a detective's dedication to the facts, Blood at the Root faces the specter of a bloody history without turning its back on the hope that the present has brought us. If the truth sets us free, this book will give you wings." -- Tayari Jones, author of Silver Sparrow "The burden of southern history lies not in what we know about the past but what we do not know. Patrick Phillips uncovers an important untold piece of history... What he reveals in this important book does not make this chilling piece of the past any easier to bear, but he brings it into sharper focus, which is long overdue." -- W. Ralph Eubanks, author of Ever is a Long Time: A Journey in Mississippi's Dark Past
£18.89
WW Norton & Co Vermont
Book SynopsisFor many Americans, Vermont still seems what the United States at least in myth once was--a bucolic landscape of wooded hills, neat farms, and handsome villages--before modern forces transformed our agrarian nation into an urban-industrial giant.
£14.24
