The Instant New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Publishers Weekly Bestseller!Killing the Witches revisits one of the most frightening and inexplicable episodes in American history: the events of 1692 and 1693 in Salem Village, Massachusetts. What began as a mysterious affliction of two young girls who suffered violent fits and exhibited strange behavior soon spread to other young women. Rumors of demonic possession and witchcraft consumed Salem. Soon three women were arrested under suspicion of being witches--but as the hysteria spread, more than 200 people were accused. Thirty were found guilty, twenty were executed, and others died in jail or their lives were ruined.Killing the Witches tells the dramatic history of how the Puritan tradition and the power of early American ministers shaped the origins of the United States, influencing the founding fathers, the American Revolution, and even the Constitutional Convention. The repercussions of Salem continue to the present day, notably in the real-life story behind The Exorcist and in contemporary “witch hunts” driven by social media. The result is a compulsively readable book about good, evil, community panic, and how fear can overwhelm fact and reason. Read more

The author of The Island at the Center of the World offers up a thrilling narrative of how New York―that brash, bold, archetypal city―came to be.In 1664, England decided to invade the Dutch-controlled city of New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island. Charles II and his brother, the Duke of York, had dreams of empire, and their archrivals, the Dutch, were in the way. But Richard Nicolls, the military officer who led the English flotilla bent on destruction, changed his strategy once he encountered Peter Stuyvesant, New Netherland’s canny director general.Bristling with vibrant characters, Taking Manhattan reveals the founding of New York to be an invention, the result of creative negotiations that would blend the multiethnic, capitalistic society of New Amsterdam with the power of the rising English empire. But the birth of what might be termed the first modern city is also a story of the brutal dispossession of Native Americans and of the roots of American slavery. The book draws from newly translated materials and illuminates neglected histories―of religious refugees, Indigenous tribes, and free and enslaved Africans.Taking Manhattan tells the riveting story of the birth of New York City as a center of capitalism and pluralism, a foundation from which America would rise. It also shows how the paradox of New York’s origins―boundless opportunity coupled with subjugation and displacement―reflects America’s promise and failure to this day. Russell Shorto, whose work has been described as “astonishing” (New York Times) and “literary alchemy” (Chicago Tribune), has once again mined archival sources to offer a vibrant tale and a fresh and trenchant argument about American beginnings. 29 images, 2 maps Read more

Timed for the 250th anniversary of one of America’s most famous founding events: Paul Revere’s heroic ride, newly told with fresh research into little-known aspects of the story Americans have heard since childhood but hardly understoodOn April 18, 1775, a Boston-based silversmith, engraver, and anti-British political operative named Paul Revere set out on a borrowed horse to fulfill a dangerous but crucial mission: to alert American colonists of advancing British troops, which would seek to crush their nascent revolt.Revere was not the only rider that night, and indeed, he had completed at least 18 previous rides across New England and other colonies, disseminating intelligence about British movements. But this ride was like no other, and its consequences in the months and years to come―as the American Revolution morphed from isolated skirmishes to a full-fledged war―became one of our founding legends.In The Ride, Kostya Kennedy presents a dramatic new narrative of the events of April 18 and 19, 1775, informed by fresh primary and secondary source research into archives, family letters and diaries, contemporary accounts, and more. Kennedy reveals Revere’s ride to be more complex than it is usually portrayed―a loosely coordinated series of rides by numerous men, near-disaster, capture by British forces, and finally success. While Revere was central to the ride and its plotting, Kennedy reveals the other men (and, perhaps, a woman with information about the movement of British forces) who helped to set in motion the events that would lead to America’s independence.Thrillingly written in a dramatic, unstoppable narrative, The Ride re-tells an essential American story for a new generation of readers. Read more

None

This keepsake edition presents Thomas Paine's persuasive and impassioned case for America's independence from Great Britain.Published in 1776 and destined to become an important piece of historic literature, Common Sense presented influential moral and political arguments to encourage common people in the Thirteen Colonies to fight for egalitarian government.Elegant presentation: Beautiful hardcover gift edition is embossed and embellished with gold foil.Each turn of the page is accentuated by gilded-gold edges that catch the light.Preserving history: Printed on premium acid-free archival-quality paper for longevity.Designed for portability: Compact volume measures 4-1/2'' wide x 7-1/2'' high.72 pages encapsulate the essence of America's foundational principles.An indispensable addition to any personal or professional library. Read more

The first book to appear in the illustrious Oxford History of the United States, this critically-acclaimed volume - a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize - offers an unsurpassed history of the Revolutionary War and the birth of the American republic. This panoramic view of the conflict between England and America combines the political and the personal, giving the listener a vivid sense of how the colonists perceived the events of their struggle for independence, from the French and Indian War to “the shot heard round the world”, and the importance the colonists assigned to them.Praised as “state of the art” and “the most distinguished series in American historical scholarship”, the four new volumes of the Oxford History of the United States – including The Glorious Cause – are narrated with engagingly casual warmth by Robert Fass, who previously read an earlier volume in the series, Empire of Liberty, by Gordon S. Wood. Please note: The individual volumes of the series have not been published in historical order. The Glorious Cause is number III in The Oxford History of the United States. Read more

The memoirs of a brilliant and beloved Founding Father Printer, author, scientist, inventor, statesman, revolutionary—arguably no American life has been more remarkable than Benjamin Franklin’s.Penned between 1771 and 1790 and published after his death, the unfinished Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is one of the most acclaimed and widely read personal histories ever written. From his youth as a printer’s assistant working for his brother’s Boston newspaper through his own publishing, writing, and military careers, his scientific experiments and worldwide travels, his grand triumphs and heartbreaking tragedies, Franklin tells his story with aplomb, bringing to life the flesh-and-blood man behind the American icon.This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices. Read more

None

Anyone who uses and collects cookbooks will want to have The First American Cookbook. Cultural historians, Americana buffs, and gourmets will find this rare edition filled with interesting recipes and rich in early American flavor.  This facsimile of the first American-written cookbook published in the United States is not only a first in cookbook literature, but a historic document. It reveals the rich variety of food Colonial Americans enjoyed, their tastes, cooking and eating habits, even their colorful language. Author Amelia Simmons worked as a domestic in Colonial America and gathered her cookery expertise from firsthand experience. Her book points out the best ways of judging the quality of meats, poultry, fish, vegetables, etc., and presents the best methods of preparing and cooking them. In choosing fish, poultry, and other meats, the author wisely advises, "their smell denotes their goodness." Her sound suggestions for choosing the freshest and most tender onions, potatoes, parsnips, carrots, asparagus, lettuce, cabbage, beans, and other vegetables are as timely today as they were nearly 200 years ago.Here are the first uniquely American recipes using corn meal — Indian pudding, "Johnny cake," and Indian slapjacks — as well as the first recipes for pumpkin pudding, winter squash pudding, and for brewing spruce beer. The words "cookie" and "slaw" made their first published appearance in this book. You'll also find the first recommended use of pearlash (the forerunner of baking powder) to lighten dough, as well as recommendations for seasoning stuffing and roasting beef, mutton, veal, and lamb — even how to dress a turtle. Along with authentic recipes for colonial favorites, a Glossary includes definitions of antiquated cooking terms: pannikin, wallop, frumenty, emptins, and more. And Mary Tolford Wilson's informative Introductory Essay provides the culinary historical background needed to appreciate this important book fully.   History at your fingertips! Discover a piece of American history with this facsimile of the first American-written cookbook to be published in the United States. Explore early traditional American cooking. Step back in time and explore the origins of classic American recipes.Discover a rich variety of food that the Colonial Americans enjoyed. Enjoy a unique window to the tastes, cooking and eating habits of Colonial Americans. Find recommendations for choosing the freshest and most tender vegetables, even tips on judging quality of meats, poultry, and fish.Uncover authentic recipes for colonial favorites! Learn how to make pumpkin pudding, winter squash pudding, and Indian slapjacks!This cookbook is also packed with the first recommended uses of pearlash (the forerunner of baking powder) as well as seasoning and roasting instructions for beef, mutton, veal, and lamb.Get familiar with antiquated cooking terms such as pannikin, wallop, frumenty, emptins and more. Understand where popular words like "slaw" and "cookie" originated with their first published appearances in this book!A great gift for the kitchen cook, gourmet chefs, and history enthusiasts. Read more

This comprehensive biography of Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox, covers his famous wartime stories as well as a private side of him that has rarely been exploredIn the darkest days of the American Revolution, Francis Marion and his band of militia freedom fighters kept hope alive for the patriot cause during the critical British "southern campaign." Employing insurgent guerrilla tactics that became commonplace in later centuries, Marion and his brigade inflicted enemy losses that were individually small but cumulatively a large drain on British resources and morale.Although many will remember the stirring adventures of the "Swamp Fox" from the Walt Disney television series of the late 1950s and the fictionalized Marion character played by Mel Gibson in the 2000 film The Patriot, the real Francis Marion bore little resemblance to either of those caricatures. But his exploits were no less heroic as he succeeded, against all odds, in repeatedly foiling the highly trained, better-equipped forces arrayed against him.In this action-packed biography we meet many colorful characters from the Revolution: Banastre Tarleton, the British cavalry officer who relentlessly pursued Marion over twenty-six miles of swamp, only to call off the chase and declare (per legend) that "the Devil himself could not catch this damned old fox," giving Marion his famous nickname; Thomas Sumter, the bold but rash patriot militia leader whom Marion detested; Lord Cornwallis, the imperious British commander who ordered the hanging of rebels and the destruction of their plantations; "Light-Horse Harry" Lee, the urbane young Continental cavalryman who helped Marion topple critical British outposts in South Carolina; but most of all Francis Marion himself, "the Washington of the South," a man of ruthless determination yet humane character, motivated by what his peers called "the purest patriotism."In The Swamp Fox, the first major biography of Marion in more than forty years, John Oller compiles striking evidence and brings together much recent learning to provide a fresh look both at Marion, the man, and how he helped save the American Revolution. Read more

New York Times Book Review — Editors’ Choice • Chicago Tribune — "60 Best Reads for Right Now" • St. Louis Post-Dispatch — "50 Fall Books You Should Consider Reading"Challenging conventional wisdom, The Cause offers a “necessary” (John S. Gardner, Guardian) account of the origins and clashing ideologies of America’s revolutionary era.For Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Joseph J. Ellis, The Cause marks the culmination of a lifetime of engagement with the founding era, completing a trilogy of books that began with Founding Brothers. Here Ellis, countering popular histories that romanticize the “Spirit of ’76,” demonstrates through “evocative profiles of British loyalists, slaves, Native Americans and soldiers uncertain of what was being founded” (Christopher Borrelli, Chicago Tribune) that the rebels fought not for a nation but under the mantle of “The Cause,” a mutable, conveniently ambiguous principle all but destined to give rise to the warring factions of later American history. Combining action-packed tales of North American military campaigns with characteristically trenchant insight, The Cause “deftly foreshadows all the issues that would complicate America’s trajectory” (Richard Stengel, New York Times Book Review), forcing us to finally reconsider the story we have long told ourselves about our origins—as a people, and as a nation.“At the intersection of his expertise and our need for coherence about our national founding arrives historian Joseph J. Ellis. . . . Ellis is no apologist, but he is a chronicler of the entire revolution, its best aspirations, its worst contradictions, and its ongoing dilemmas.” —Hugh Hewitt, Washington Post Read more

Relive the revolution that gave birth to the United States as it stands today…The word ‘Independence’ is, quite frankly, a very common word today – celebrated, venerated, and metaphorically worn as a badge by every citizen of a democracy, such as the United States.And it has a deep association with the word ‘Freedom.’For any American today, these two form the basis of their fundamental rights – you were born with them, and you will die with them.But have you ever thought about the weight that these two words carry?Or the toll they left in their wake within the bloodied pages of the history of the United States?In his famous Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln evoked the pillars on which the founding fathers established America: “…a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”This “new nation” was built by the toil, sweat, and blood of thousands of Americans… and the founding fathers had to play a vital role in this revolution.Because 18th century America was simply an extension of the British Empire, one that the reigning lords of the isles wanted to subjugate under their various reformations and acts…Acts that stripped the hardworking people of America from living a life of freedom.So, what course did those determined to separate themselves from the tyranny of England take?That’s what this book explores… retracing the history of the American Revolution and celebrating the contribution of those brave men and women who turned over a new leaf that ended with American Independence.Inside, you’ll discover:How the Seven Years’ War set the stage for the greatest revolution in American historyOf Massacres and “Tea Parties” – how Boston became the hotbed of revolution and resistance against the British ruleThe 15 acts from the British parliament that formed a noose around the hardworking populace of the AmericaRoots of a modern Congress – why the 13 colonies resorted to creating their own parliament (and how it laid the foundations of a future governing body)The key battles and sieges that formed a turning point and were crucial in shaping the course of the American RevolutionUntold stories of 9 influential and revolutionary women and their contribution toward American IndependenceIn the aftermath – explore the trials and triumphs of a new nation born in the aftermath of the American Revolution And much more.From the very seeds of the Rebellion to the Declaration of Independence and the years of a new dawn, this book expertly covers every nuance of this historical conflict.With various founding fathers and key individuals sharing the stage, you’ll also get to see the human side of a revolution that cemented ‘Liberty’ as the core of the American Constitution.The past is a prologue… are you ready to witness the prologue that laid the foundation of the United States of America? Then scroll up and click “Add to Cart” right now. Read more

A renowned historian debunks current distortion and myths about European colonialism in the New World and restores much needed balance to our understanding of the past.Was America really “stolen” from the Indians? Was Columbus a racist? Were Indians really peace-loving, communistic environmentalists? Did Europeans commit “genocide” in the New World?It seems that almost everyone—from CNN to the New York Times to angry students pulling down statues of our founders—believes that America’s history is a shameful tale of racism, exploitation, and cruelty.In Not Stolen, renowned historian Jeff Fynn-Paul systematically dismantles this relentlessly negative view of U.S. history, arguing that it is based on shoddy methods, misinformation, and outright lies about the past.America was not “stolen” from the Indians but fairly purchased piece by piece in a thriving land market. Nor did European settlers cheat, steal, murder, rape or purposely infect them with smallpox to the extent that most people believe. No genocide occurred—either literal or cultural—and the decline of Native populations over time is not due to violence but to assimilation and natural demographic processes.Fynn-Paul not only debunks these toxic myths, but provides a balanced portrait of this complex historical process over 500 years. The real history of Native and European relations will surprise you. Not only is this not a tale of shameful sins and crimes against humanity—it is more inspiring than you ever dared to imagine. Read more

The bestselling author of In the Heart of the Sea, Mayflower, and In the Hurricane's Eye tells the story of the Boston battle that ignited the American Revolution, in this "masterpiece of narrative and perspective." (Boston Globe)In the opening volume of his acclaimed American Revolution series, Nathaniel Philbrick turns his keen eye to pre-Revolutionary Boston and the spark that ignited the American Revolution. In the aftermath of the Boston Tea Party and the violence at Lexington and Concord, the conflict escalated and skirmishes gave way to outright war in the Battle of Bunker Hill. It was the bloodiest conflict of the revolutionary war, and the point of no return for the rebellious colonists. Philbrick gives us a fresh view of the story and its dynamic personalities, including John Adams, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Paul Revere, and George Washington. With passion and insight, he reconstructs the revolutionary landscape—geographic and ideological—in a mesmerizing narrative of the robust, messy, blisteringly real origins of America. Read more

Mostly probably a hoax, this letter to slave owners in the ante-bellum American South purports to advise on how to manage a slave population. The writer, himself a slaveowner from the Caribbean, advises other slave masters on his method for controlling black slaves. The document has been in print since at least 1970, but first gained widespread notice in the 1990s, when it appeared on the Internet. Since then, it has often been promoted as an authentic account of slavery during the 18th century, though its inaccuracies and anachronisms have led historians to conclude that it is a hoax. Still an interesting view of slavery from the psychological perspective of "breaking" human beings into acceptance of their captivity. Lynch draws comparisons between the "breaking" of slaves and the breaking of horses, suggesting that processes are similar in several ways. Illustrated with contemporary engravings of slave life. Read more

None

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Cleopatra, the #1 national bestseller, unpacks the mystery of the Salem Witch Trials. It began in 1692, over an exceptionally raw Massachusetts winter, when a minister's daughter began to scream and convulse. It ended less than a year later, but not before 19 men and women had been hanged and an elderly man crushed to death. The panic spread quickly, involving the most educated men and prominent politicians in the colony. Neighbors accused neighbors, parents and children each other. Aside from suffrage, the Salem Witch Trials represent the only moment when women played the central role in American history. In curious ways, the trials would shape the future republic. As psychologically thrilling as it is historically seminal, The Witches is Stacy Schiff's account of this fantastical story -- the first great American mystery unveiled fully for the first time by one of our most acclaimed historians. Read more

In "The Founding of New England," James Truslow Adams meticulously chronicles the early settlement of New England, offering a nuanced exploration of the social, political, and religious motivations that spurred the Pilgrims and Puritans to transcend the Atlantic. Adams employs a scholarly yet accessible literary style, blending rich narrative with incisive analysis to illuminate the complexities of the region's founding. Published in the context of early 20th-century American historiography, the work reflects an emerging desire to reconcile the nation's past with its contemporary identity, thereby situating New England's founding within broader themes of liberty and governance. James Truslow Adams, a noted American historian and author, was deeply influenced by his belief in the American Dream and the unique contributions of early settlers. His extensive research into primary sources and personal reflections on America's cultural heritage culminated in this seminal work, which underscores the societal dilemmas and triumphs faced during New England's formative years. Adams's keen understanding of historical context and his commitment to demystifying America's origins shaped his narrative approach. This book is an essential read for anyone intrigued by American history, social movements, or the complex interplay of religion and governance in the formation of a nation. Adams's insightful analysis serves as both an academic resource and a compelling story, making it a valuable addition to the library of scholars and history enthusiasts alike. Read more