Inside the Klavern is an annotated collection of the minutes of a thriving Ku Klux Klan in La Grande, Oregon, between 1922 and 1924. The most complete set of Klan minutes ever uncovered, these documents illustrate the inner workings of a Klan chapter of...

In this nuanced look at white working-class life and politics in twentieth-century America, Kenneth Durr takes readers into the neighborhoods, workplaces, and community institutions of blue-collar Baltimore in the decades after World War II.Challenging...

In the wake of Brown v. Board of Education, racial equality in American public education appeared to have a bright future. But, for many, that brightness dimmed considerably following the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Milliken v. Bradley (1974)...

The “remarkable” story of America's secret post-WWII science programs (The Boston Globe), from the New York Times bestselling author of Area 51. In the chaos following World War II, the U.S. government faced many difficult decisions, including what to do...

The first international history of railroads and railroad infrastructure told through stunningly reproduced maps. Since their origins in eighteenth-century England, railroads have spread across the globe, changing everything in their path, from where and...

A sweeping history of New York that chronicles the construction of one of the world's great cities. Between the 1880s and the 1930s, New York City experienced explosive growth as nearly a million buildings, dozens of bridges and tunnels, hundreds of...

A sobering exploration of the near unchecked power of sheriffs in the United States. Across the United States, more than 3,000 sheriffs occupy a unique position in the US political and legal systems. Elected by voters--usually in low-visibility,...

A gripping history that spans law, international affairs, and top-secret technology to unmask the tension between intellectual property rights and national security. At the beginning of the twentieth century, two British inventors, Arthur Pollen and...

A sweeping narrative history of the Atlantic slave trade and slavery in the Americas. During the era of the Atlantic slave trade, more than twelve million enslaved Africans were forcibly transported to the Americas in cramped, inhumane conditions. Many...

A Pulitzer Prize finalist in History, this eye-opening rethinking of nineteenth-century American history reveals the interdependence of the Northern industrial economy and Southern slave labor. The industrializing North and the agricultural...

This collection of 6 essays provides a definitive analysis of the doctrinal development of the law of treason in the U.S., beginning with its English origins and concluding with the present day. The author traces the materials available for studying the...

“Thomas Paine, a singularly injudicious man, requires an exceptionally judicious biographer, and in Mr. Hawke he has at last got one. . . . An absorbing narrative that moves briskly through two revolutions and three countries.” ―The New Yorker John Adams...

A surprising history unfolded in New Deal– and World War II–era New York City under Mayor Fiorello La Guardia. Throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, members of the NYPD had worked to enforce partisan political power rather than...

A sweeping history of the electric light revolution and the birth of modern AmericaThe late nineteenth century was a period of explosive technological creativity, but more than any other invention, Thomas Edison’s incandescent light bulb marked the...

A Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award"The definitive book about Depression culture for our time." ―San Francisco ChronicleHailed as one of the best books of 2009 by the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, this vibrant portrait of...

The Smithsonian Institution is America's largest, most important, and most beloved repository for the objects that define our common heritage. Now Under Secretary for Art, History, and Culture Richard Kurin, aided by a team of top Smithsonian curators...

A New York Times Notable Book of 2013A Kirkus Best Book of 2013A Bookpage Best Book of 2013Dazzling in scope, Ecstatic Nation illuminates one of the most dramatic and momentous chapters in America's past, when the country dreamed big, craved new lands...