Brianna Dumont

Dramatic True Tales of Thomas Edison, Catherine the Great, Boss Tweed, Queen Elizabeth I, and More What do Mother Theresa, Honest Abe, and Mahatma Gandhi have in common? They're all too upstanding to be included in Thrilling Thieves: Liars, Cheats, and Cons who Changed History. Sure, you'll find some familiar faces like Queen Elizabeth I and Thomas Edison in here, but you'll learn that behind their angelic smiles were cunning con artists who stole their way to gold, glory, and greatness. Follow the twisting trail of twelve troublemakers to learn what really made the Mona Lisa the most iconic painting in the world, meet the most powerful pirate from history (it's probably not who you're expecting), and watch empires rise and fall with the theft of a simple tea plant. Turns out our world owes a lot to those who dabble on the dark side. If you're not scared of crooks, cons, and criminals, take a peek at this new side of history. Tales of twelve troublemakers inside include: The Venetians Francisco Pizarro Queen Elizabeth I Catherine the Great Madame Cheng Robert Fortune Robert Smalls William Tweed Thomas Edison Vincenzo Peruggia Klaus Fuchs

Jules Archer begins with laws that opened up America?public lands and homesteading?and continues with banking, the Bill of Rights, subversion and sedition, foreign policy. Natural resources, labor, business, education and welfare, farming, Prohibition, the New Deal, the draft and G. I. Bills, slavery and civil rights. Archer chronicles the history of laws in America. Each chapter opens with a dramatic incident, and then develops the laws relating to it. Brisk up-to-date, authoritative, informative?this volume will be valuable a supplementary reading in the classroom, as well as a welcome addition to libraries across the country. Readers of all ages will find this an exciting approach to what is usually considered difficult material.

What's so weird about U. S. presidents? Plenty Did you know that Abraham Lincoln was a great wrestler? That Ulysses S. Grant got a speeding ticket riding his horse - twice Or that Benjamin Harrison was afraid of electricity? And let's not forget that President McKinley had a pet parrot that whistled "Yankee Doodle Dandy" duets with him In this new single-subject Weird But True book, you'll have a blast learning that there's a lot of substance - and weirdness - in every president's past.

In this new single-subject Weird But True book, you'll have a blast learning that there's a lot of substance - and weirdness - in every president's past. What's so weird about U. S. presidents? Plenty! Did you know that Abraham Lincoln was a great wrestler? That Ulysses S. Grant got a speeding ticket riding his horse - twice! Or that Benjamin Harrison was afraid of electricity? And let's not forget that President McKinley had a pet parrot that whistled "Yankee Doodle Dandy" duets with him!

Anyone who has ever participated in a demonstration, gone to a rally, or even written a term paper on a subject remotely ?un-American,” you may have been watched. Whether they’ve helped organize a union or engaged in anti-labor activities, there is a chance that your phone may be tapped or your mail opened. There may be a file about you at the FBI. Currently, a very delicate balance exists between surveillance in the name of national security and spying. An upset in this balance can result in a threat to civil liberties. The growth of huge bureaucracies of superspies on the federal, state, and local levels has tipped this balance to jeopardize the right to privacy. The CIA, the FBI, virtually every government agency, and numerous corporations have stretched ?spying in the public interest” to its limits. Foreign governments are toppled, assassinations are plotted. The consequences of political dissent are enormous.

Early in life, Joseph Stalin became convinced of the inevitability of social revolution. And in it, he was determined to play a prominent role. He carefully masked his great personal ambition during his long climb to power and devoted all this energies to furthering the cause of Lenin and Bolshevism. Only after Lenin’s death, with the Bolshevik takeover of Russia accomplished, did Stalin’s comrades in leadership find themselves forced to bow to Stalin’s will?or be eliminated. His rise to power was bloody and ruthless, yet under his twenty-nine-year leadership, Russia became a mighty industrial nation. Illiteracy was banished, interest in the arts began to flourish, and Russia moved toward amazing scientific triumphs. Man of Steel is the story of Joseph Stalin, the man who rose to become absolute master of Soviet Russia and who cast his shadow over the entire globe.

History has shown that dictators often share similarities in the ways they come to power, hold power, and topple from power. The Dictators is a fascinating presentation of eighteen of this century’s most powerful dictators, representing fourteen countries. Their lives, political and social theories, and their achievements?good and bad?are carefully examined. Learn how men such as Lenin, Hitler, and Franco influenced their people and changed the world, and discover why a country will accept and support the rule of a dictator. The ideological and practical conflicts between dictatorships and democracies are carefully laid out within the pages of this book. The lives of dictators are important because they have, to a large extent, shaped much of the world we live in, and will continue to do so for generations to come. We all know about Hitler, Stalin, Castro, and Mao Tse-tung. But we also have new names, such as Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un, and Muammar Gaddafi and Robert Mugabe. It remains imperative that we understand as much about these men as we can?the peace of the world depends on it.

Treason can be defined as ?the breach of the allegiance which a person owes to the state under whose protection he lives.” But what exactly does it mean to be guilty of a ?breach of the allegiance” owed to your country? In a country that guarantees freedom of speech and dissent tp all citizens, the extent to which dissent becomes unlawful may not always be clear. Treason is punishable by the death penalty, underscoring the importance of the question: How do we go about proving that someone is indeed an enemy of his country?a traitor? In this book, renowned historian Jules Archer explores different cases of treason throughout our history, while encouraging young readers to really question the definition of treason and how it should be treated. He asks readers to consider the similarities between disloyalty and dissent and ultimately urges this generation to take it into their own hands to redefine American duties and liberties for our time.