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General
History Book Resources |
10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America
by Steven M. Gillon / Paperback: 272 pages / Three Rivers Press (April
4, 2006)
Pinpoints pivotal days that transformed the United States. The History
Channel, for the TV series and the book, challenged a panel of leading
historians, including author Steven M. Gillon, to come up with some less
well-known but historically significant events that triggered change in
America. Together, the days they chose tell a story about the great
democratic ideals upon which our country was built. |
Cathedral,
Forge, and Waterwheel: Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages
by Frances Gies, Joseph Gies / Paperback: 368 pages / Harper Perennial; (February 1995)
In their lively history of medieval technology, the Gies team writes of such advances as
the heavy plow, the Gothic flying buttress, linen undergarments, water pumps, and the
lateen sail. Many of those inventions or adaptations, brought into Europe from China and
the Middle East, have scarcely been improved on today. |
Don't Know Much About History:
Everything You Need to Know About American
History but Never Learned
by Kenneth C. Davis / Paperback: 704 pages / Perennial (April 1, 2004)
Finally, someone who tells history like it was, without the old textbook
gloss that's put so many students into premature naptime and misinformed the
few who stayed awake. Davis corrects the myths and misconceptions from
Columbus up through the Clinton administration, and shows that truth is more
entertaining than propaganda |
The Engines of Our Ingenuity: An Engineer Looks at Technology and Culture
by John H. Lienhard / Paperback: 272 pages / Oxford University Press, USA
(December 4, 2003)
Based on episodes from Lienhard's widely
broadcast public radio series, this intriguing set of essays begins with
a simple premise: more than we often care to admit, our lives are shaped
by our machines. |
The History of Science and Technology
by Bryan Bunch, Alexander Hellemans / Hardcover: 768 pages / Houghton Mifflin Company; (2004)
Highly browsable yet richly detailed, expertly researched and indexed,
The History of Science and Technology is the perfect desktop reference
for both the science novice and the technologically advanced reader
alike |
Icons of
the 20th Century: 200 Men and Women Who Have Made a Difference
by Barbara Cady / Hardcover - 418 pages (1998) /
Overlook Press
Who becomes a legend most? For more than two years, a
panel composed of such arbiters of culture as Leo Castelli, Rita Dove, Bruce Jenner, Joyce
Carol Oates, Daniel Schorr, Gay Talese, Pierre Trudeau, and Eli Wallach pondered that
question and came up with a list of the 200 most important icons of the 20th century.
One can hardly think of a better way to take stock of the dramatic events,
advances, and--arguably--declines that have shaped the human experience over the past 100
years. |
The Knowledge Web: From
Electronic Agents to Stonehenge and Back -- And Other Journeys Through
Knowledge
by James Burke / Paperback: 288 pages / Simon & Schuster (June 22, 2000)
Takes a tour through the interlocking threads of knowledge running
through Western history. Breaks down complex concepts, offering
information in a manner accessible to anybody. Touches almost two
hundred interlinked points in the history of knowledge, ultimately
ending where it begins.. |
National
Geographic Eyewitness to the 20th Century
by National Geographic / Hardcover - 400 pages
(1999) / Natl Geo. Society
Experience 100 years of monumental change from the unique
perspective an organization that contributed to, witnessed, and documented it all, in this
lavishly illustrated, one-of-a-kind family reference. 600 photos. This is a rich
compilation of photographs, essays, and timelines. |
One
Nation: America Remembers September 11, 2001
by Life Magazine Staff / Hardcover - 192 pages / Little Brown & Company
(December 6, 2001)
The editors of LIFE have assembled a moving, brilliantly illustrated account of tragedy
and triumph.Ten percent of the cover price of this book will be donated to the September
11th Fund of the New York Community Trust and the United Way of New York City. |
A Social History of American Technology
by Ruth Schwartz Cowan / Paperback: 352 pages / Oxford University Press
(December 1, 1996)
This book surveys the history of American technology from the early 17th
century to the present, focusing on the key individuals, ideas, and
systems that have shaped the important technological developments
throughout American history. Cowan |
Quantum
Generations: A History of Physics in the Twentieth Century
by Helge Kragh /
Hardcover - 504 pages (November 1999) / Princeton Univ Pr
Helge Kragh's book is a magnificent achievement. It is a rich, erudite
history of physics from the end of the nineteenth century to the end of the twentieth that
is also informative and insightful about social, cultural, political, and institutional
contexts. |
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