"A collection of essays on race"--

In May 2017 Conover went to Colorado to explore a rural way of life cheaply, on his own land -- and keeping clear of the mainstream. But along with independence and stunning views can come fierce winds, neighbors with criminal pasts, and minimal government and medical services. This is his story of four years in the often contentious culture of the far margins. In their struggles to survive and get along, he tells us about an America riven by difference,...

An introduction to four hundred years of opera and its composers with recommended key recordings for the key opera singers.

"A sharp, funny, and honest collection of real-life stories from Kelly Ripa, showing the many dimensions and crackling wit of the beloved daytime talk show host"-- Ripa writes of her life: as a professional, a wife, a daughter, a mom, a woman. With a career spanning more than three decades, Ripa has hosted entertainers, politicians, athletes and other cultural icons. In these essays she shares stories and anecdotes from over the years, live as she...

"A Priest, a Prostitute, and Some Other Early Texans" looks into the lives of fourteen individuals who traveled the Texas landscape in the 1800s. It shows the shade and the shadow of both men and women, who were caught up in the turmoil, adventures, and events of the time. Mostly unknown, they nevertheless left their stamps on the pages of Lone Star history.

A meticulously researched account about how an alcoholic prostitute was transformed into a Wild West heroine is presented in this biography of Martha Canary, the woman known as Calamity Jane.

This captivating biography of the bestselling children's author in history reveals at last the man who had a unique influence on four generations of Americans who championed children's rights before that phrase was familiar, and who revolutionized the way children learn to read. The very name Dr. Seuss inevitably provokes a smile and some recollection of a beloved character - Horton, perhaps, or Thidwick or the Cat in the Hat. Yet during his lifetime...

"After the end of World War II, top-secret research continued across the United States as engineers and programmers rushed to complete their confidential assignments. Among them were six pioneering women, tasked with figuring out how to program the world's first general-purpose, programmable, all-electronic computer - a machine built to calculate a single ballistic trajectory in twenty seconds rather than forty hours by human hand - even though there...

Ron Chernow tells the story of a man who overcame all odds to shape, inspire, and scandalize the newborn America. Few figures in American history have been more hotly debated or more grossly misunderstood than Alexander Hamilton. Chernow's biography argues that the political and economic greatness of today's America is the result of Hamilton's countless sacrifices to champion ideas that were often wildly disputed during his time. Chernow here recounts...

"The definitive account of the disastrous siege at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, featuring never-before-seen documents, photographs, and interviews, from former investigative reporter Jeff Guinn, bestselling author of Manson and The Road to Jonestown. For the first time in thirty years, more than a dozen former ATF agents who participated in the initial February 28, 1993, raid speak on the record about the poor decisions of their commanders...