Charles River

*Includes pictures*Includes accounts of camp life written by internees*Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading*Includes a table of contents"The truth is-as this deplorable experience proves-that constitutions and laws are not sufficient of themselves... Despite the unequivocal language of the Constitution of the United States that the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, and despite the Fifth Amendment's command that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law, both of these constitutional safeguards were denied by military action under Executive Order 9066." - Supreme Court Justice Tom C. Clark "I don't want any of them here. They are a dangerous element. There is no way to determine their loyalty... It makes no difference whether he is an American citizen, he is still a Japanese. American citizenship does not necessarily determine loyalty... But we must worry about the Japanese all the time until he is wiped off the map." - General John L. DeWitt, head of the Western CommandEven before Congress declared war on Japan the day after Pearl Harbor, the implications for people of Japanese ancestry living in the United States had begun. On December 7th, several hundred Issei, or first-generation Japanese immigrants, were arrested in Hawaii and on the mainland, having been earlier identified by the FBI as potentially disloyal to the United States. In the months that followed, the scope of suspicion would expand to include all of the 125,000 Japanese living on the mainland, and, though a smaller percentage, many in Hawaii as well. By the time the war ended, the period of internment of Japanese immigrants and citizens, lasting from 1941-1945, was considered one of the most unfortunate episodes of American history. Many government officials in the immediate aftermath of the war era continued to defend internment, citing the possibility of attack and the need to protect Americans at all costs. There were many Americans, however, whose rights as citizens went unprotected, and political arguments aside, no American can fail to acknowledge the costs of internment to Nikkei families, physically, financially, socially and psychologically. It was not until the first week of September in 1945, just a few weeks after the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan and the surrender of the Japanese that followed, that Japanese internees knew for sure they would be allowed to leave the camps. The Internment of Japanese Americans during World War II: The History of the Controversial Decision to Relocate Citizens Across the West Coast examines one of the darkest chapters in American history. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about the decision to intern Japanese Americans like never before.

*Includes pictures *Includes accounts of the battles written by black soldiers *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents "Who would be free themselves must strike the blow.... I urge you to fly to arms and smite to death the power that would bury the Government and your liberty in the same hopeless grave. This is your golden opportunity." - Frederick Douglass After the Battle of Fort Sumter made clear that there would be war between the North and South, support for both the Union and Confederacy rose. Two days after the surrender of the fort, President Abraham Lincoln issued a call-to-arms asking for 75,000 volunteers, a request that would rely on Northern states to organize and train their men. While most Americans had hoped to avert war, many abolitionists had come to view war as inevitable, and the news from Fort Sumter suggested a chance to rectify the country's original sin through the defeat of the South. Though abolitionists were a minority that was mostly confined to New England and often branded as radicals, they had long sought to end slavery and secure basic civil rights for blacks. One of the most famous abolitionists, the escaped slave Frederick Douglass, realized immediately what kind of opportunity the Civil War presented to all blacks, whether they were slaves or free: "Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letter, U. S., let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket, there is no power on earth that can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship." In 1861, Lincoln was particularly concerned about alienating the border slave states that had not joined the Confederacy, particularly Kentucky and Missouri. The fighting at Fort Sumter had already driven Virginia into the Confederacy, and Lincoln rightly worried that the conscription of black soldiers might alienate whites in the North and the border states. As he famously put it, "I hope to have God on my side, but I must have Kentucky." When Generals John C. Fr mont and David Hunter issued proclamations emancipating slaves in their military regions and permitting them to sign up for active duty, the Lincoln Administration swiftly and sternly revoked their orders. Ultimately, and perhaps not surprisingly, the War Department would only change its tune once it felt that doing so was a military necessity. Most notably, even before Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, the Union had organized its first black regiment; in July of 1862, General David Hunter, the same one whose emancipation order had caused a political crisis in 1861, impressed slaves in the South Carolina Sea Islands and enlisted them in the Union Army to deprive the Confederates of the ability to rely on them. While it was obviously a sensitive issue to emancipate slaves in border states, Lincoln clearly understood the military value gained by adding Southern slaves to the Union war effort, and it was a logical stepping stone from Hunter's actions to simply recruiting blacks to aid the North. In time, the addition of black soldiers would help turn the tide of the war, adding hundreds of thousands of soldiers to the ranks, and the U. S. Colored Troops would fight in some of the most famous battles of the war, including at Fort Wagner, Fort Pillow, and at the Battle of the Crater during the siege of Petersburg. While there continues to be controversy over the way Southern slaves were utilized by the Confederacy, it's unquestionable that freedmen and escaped slaves were crucial to lifting the North to victory from 1863-1865. The United States Colored Troops: The History and Legacy of the Black Soldiers Who Fought in the American Civil War traces the development of black regiments during the war and the impact they had on the second half of it.

*Includes pictures of important people and places, as well as art depicting the battle. *Includes accounts of the fighting written by men on both sides. *Includes a bibliography for further reading. Since the Battle of the Little Bighorn, George Armstrong Custer has possessed one of the most unique places in American history. Although he was a capable cavalry officer who served honorably during the Civil War, he remains one of the most instantly identifiable and famous military men in American history due to the fact he was killed during one of the country's most well known and ignominious defeats, the Battle of Little Bighorn. At the same time, this one relatively insignificant battle during America's Indian Wars has become one of the country's most mythologized events and continues to fascinate Americans nearly 140 years later. On the morning of June 25, Custer's scouts discovered a Native American village about 15 miles away in the valley of the Little Bighorn River. Choosing to disregard his superiors' orders to wait for a concerted effort, the grandstanding Custer intended to deliver his own decisive victory by dividing his command into three units, an extremely bold tactic when done in the face of a much larger force. Due to their belief in the inferiority of the Plains Indians, and mindful of previous Indian tactics that sought to avoid pitched battle, Custer and his men were most concerned with forcing the action and failed to understand the true nature of the situation they had entered. The Native American gathering, centered around the famous Sioux chief Sitting Bull, numbered roughly 8,000 individuals, and about 2,000 of them were warriors. Custer's forces amounted to a mere 31 officers, 566 troopers, and 50 scouts and civilians, and they had been split into three columns in order to stop a possible retreat. Before the battle, it is believed Custer thought he was facing a group of about 800, which was Sitting Bull's strength in the weeks before the battle. However, the Army's Native American scouts and civilian scouts had not adequately informed the Army of the reinforcements that arrived, and at Little Bighorn, Custer's three-pronged attack was completely overwhelmed. How Custer met his fate, and whether there even was a Last Stand, remain subjects of debate, but what is known is that the Battle of the Little Bighorn was one of the U. S. military's biggest debacles. All told, the 7th Cavalry suffered over 50% casualties, with over 250 men killed and over 50 wounded. The dead included Custer's brothers Boston and Thomas, his brother-in-law James Calhoun, and his nephew Henry Reed. Custer and his men were buried where they fell. A year later, Custer's remains (or more accurately, the remains found in the spot labeled with his name) were relocated to West Point for final interment. The Battle of the Little Bighorn: The History and Controversy of Custer's Last Stand comprehensively covers the entire campaign leading up to the decisive battle, analyzes the decisions made by the battle's most important leaders, and explains the controversial aftermath and legacy of the fighting. Along with a bibliography and pictures of important people and places, you will learn about the Battle of the Little Bighorn like you never have before, in no time at all.

"Yo pele diariamente, sin interrupci n, contra Tajarqa, rey de Egipto y Etiop a, el maldito de todos los dioses. Cinco veces lo impact con la punta de mis flechas infligi ndole heridas de las que no se recuperar a, y entonces entabl sitio contra Menfis, su residencia real, y la conquist en medio d a con minas, brechas y escaleras de asalto." Esarhad n "Captur 46 ciudades...fusionando rampas para subir arietes...con ataques de infanter a, minas, brechas y m quinas de sitio." -Senaquerib Cuando los eruditos estudian la historia del antiguo Cercano Oriente a menudo se destacan varias guerras que tuvieron consecuencias extremadamente brutales (al menos de acuerdo con los est ndares modernos). Remoci n forzada de poblaciones enteras, sitios que diezmaron ciudades por completo y destrucci n sin sentido de la propiedad eran t cticas empleadas entre s por varios pueblos del antiguo Cercano Oriente, pero los asirios fueron los primeros en hacer de la guerra toda una ciencia. Cuando se menciona a los asirios, lo primero que viene a la mente son im genes de guerra y brutalidad, a pesar del hecho de que su cultura prosper por casi 2.000 a os. Como muchos individuos e imperios en aquella regi n, la percepci n negativa de la antigua cultura asiria ha sido transmitida a trav s de los relatos b blicos y, sin importar la precisi n de los relatos que la biblia hace de ciertos acontecimientos, los asirios ciertamente desempe aron el papel de adversarios de los israelitas. De hecho, Asiria (Sinar en la biblia) y los asirios juegan un papel importante en varios libros del Antiguo Testamento y son mencionados por primera vez en el libro del G nesis: "Y el principio de su reino fue Babel y Erek, y Acad y Calneh, en la tierra de Sinar. De aquella tierra sali Asur y construy N nive y la ciudad de Rejobot y Calaj." (G n. 10: 10-11). Aunque los relatos b blicos sobre los asirios est n entre los m s interesantes y son a menudo corroborados por otras fuentes hist ricas, los asirios eran mucho m s que simples enemigos de los israelitas y maleantes brutales. Una investigaci n hist rica de la antigua cultura asiria revela que aunque fueron los mayores guerreros de su tiempo, fueron tambi n un pueblo de excelentes comerciantes, diplom ticos y con alto nivel de alfabetizaci n que registraban muy detalladamente su historia, sus rituales religiosos y sus creencias. Los asirios, como sus otros vecinos en Mesopotamia, sab an leer y escribir y desarrollaron su propio dialecto del idioma acadio, que usaron para escribir miles de documentos en escritura cuneiforme (Kuhrt 2010, 1:84). M s a n, los asirios prosperaron por tan largo tiempo que los historiadores dividen su cultura s en los per odos "antiguo", "medio" y "neo", no obstante que los asirios mismos vieron su historia como una larga sucesi n de dirigentes desde un per odo arcaico hasta el colapso del imperio neo-asirio en el siglo 7 A. C. De hecho, las divisiones actuales han sido hechas por los eruditos modernos bas ndose en los cambios ling sticos, no en las dinast as pol ticas (van de Mieroop 2007, 179). Los asirios: Historia del m s prominente imperio del antiguo cercano oriente sigue la historia y legado de Asiria durante varios milenios. Junto con fotos de gente importante, lugares y acontecimientos, usted aprender acerca de la historia de Asiria como nunca antes y en muy poco tiempo.

*Includes pictures. *Includes Crosby and Hope's quotes about each other and their own lives and careers. *Includes a bibliography for further reading. "You never get tired unless you stop and take time for it." - Bob Hope "I think popular music in this country is one of the few things in the twentieth century that have made giant strides in reverse." - Bing Crosby In 1948, American polls rated Bing Crosby "the most admired man alive", and it's no surprise given how popular he was across every major form of entertainment during the decade. With a string of major hits, Crosby was the most popular singer in the country during that era, with classic songs like "White Christmas" helping pave the way for other singers as varied as Bob Hope, Dean Martin, and Frank Sinatra. In fact, young Sinatra modeled his clothing and style after Crosby, who was his idol growing up. And as good as he was at singing, Crosby's work with radio technology helped pave the way for multitracking songs and making it possible to broadcast the same radio programs across the country without cutting another live version. All told, Crosby sold an estimated 500 million records in the 20th century. In addition to being one of America's most beloved singers and an accomplished radio presence, Crosby not only made popular movies but acted well enough to be critically acclaimed. His Road To... movie series with Bob Hope produced some of the best-selling movies of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, and he won an Oscar for Best Actor in Going My Way (1944) by playing Father Chuck O'Malley. When he was nominated for the same role in the 1945 sequel The Bells of St. Mary's, he became one of just 4 people nominated for two Oscars for playing the same role. Of all the show business icons in American history, one of the most beloved was Bob Hope, whose career spanned over 6 decades across film, television, vaudeville, comedy, and touring and earned him too many accolades to count. On the day of his 100th birthday, more than half of the states in America declared it "Bob Hope Day", a sign of just how monumental and influential he was as an entertainer. Along the way, he performed so many United Service Organization (USO) tours visiting troops that Congress made him the "first and only honorary veteran of the U. S. armed forces." Incredibly, he was given honorary awards for his career at the Academy Awards nearly 40 years before his death, and decades before he actually retired from public life. By the time he reached his twilight, he was an instantly recognized institution unto himself. All of that would have been impressive for any American, let alone someone who was actually born in England with the name Leslie Townes Hope. Indeed, the quintessential American entertainer wouldn't actually move to the country until he was 4, and while his English roots may have helped his impressive impersonation of Charlie Chaplin when Hope was merely a teen, he quickly became an American through and through. He later claimed he changed his first name to Bob because it had a folksy feel to it, and he definitely gave off that kind of aura throughout his 5 decades doing USO tours, his 4 decades making films, his television career of . In addition to his versatile career that ranged from Broadway to comedy, he was an accomplished athlete who once quipped that all of the money he made went towards his greens fees. In fact, Hope became notorious for carrying a golf club around, so much so that Stephen Colbert paid homage to him by carrying a golf club during his own USO performances in 2009. Bing Crosby and Bob Hope examines the lives and careers of the two most popular show business entertainers of the mid-20th century. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about both men like never before.

"Ite, inflammate omnia." (Id, incendiad el mundo.")-San Ignacio de Loyola La edad media sigue siendo una de las eras m s decisivas de la civilizaci n humana. Es una era caracterizada por monarcas ilustres, valientes caballeros en brillantes armaduras y una magn fica arquitectura g tica. Es tambi n una poca que se caracteriz por su ferviente fricci n, su brutal barbaridad, frecuentes hambrunas, plagas pestilentes y, por supuesto, muerte. Algunos dicen que la tasa de mortalidad en tiempos medievales no ha sido igualada; con aproximadamente un tercio de todos los ni os muriendo antes de los cinco a os, fue casi un milagro que alguien viviera m s de cuarenta a os. Como resultado de esto, la gente del medioevo pasaba toda su vida prepar ndose para lo inevitable: la muerte y la vida del m s all , con la esperanza de que alg n d a pudieran llegar al Reino de los Cielos. La Iglesia Cat lica hizo muy poco para aliviar el temor al infierno, tema com n de los sermones predicados por severos sacerdotes a lo largo de Europa. La nica manera segura de entrar al cielo, predicaban ellos, era por medio de un amor eterno y un seguimiento de Dios, con puntos adicionales disponibles de acuerdo con las cantidades de dinero y las contribuciones que uno estuviera dispuesto a dar a la iglesia. Naturalmente, el p blico enfurecido comenz a condenar a la Iglesia Cat lica por su dilatada corrupci n y el caos que ocasionaba. Fue en este per odo de tensi n tempestuosa en que aparecer a una legendaria orden religiosa. De todos los hombres y mujeres importantes que han sido venerados durante los ltimos 2.000 a os, uno de los m s populares e influyentes hombres de fe vivi tambi n una de las vidas m s excepcionales. Como el emperador romano Constantino el Grande, san Ignacio de Loyola (1491-1556) encontr a Dios tan lejos de la iglesia como era posible; fue durante su servicio militar que experiment una extraordinaria conversi n. Un caballero espa ol que proced a de una noble familia vasca, Ignacio parec a destinado a la gloria militar hasta el momento en que fue gravemente herido en 1521 durante la Batalla de Pamplona. Mientras convalec a, Ignacio empez a leer De Vita Christi de Ludolph de Sajonia, despu s de lo cual comenz una incansable carrera al servicio de la Iglesia Cat lica. Despu s de pasar varios a os estudiando la fe, Ignacio fund la Compa a de Jes s en 1539 y, como su superior general, envi a sus seguidores como misioneros por toda Europa para que crearan escuelas, colegios y seminarios. El 27 de septiembre de 1540, el Papa Paulo proclam una bula papal en la que reconoc a la m s reciente orden religiosa de la iglesia no como la Compa a de Jes s, sino como la Sociedad de Jes s (en espa ol, sin embargo, conserv el nombre de Compa a de Jes s). Todav a es poco claro el por qu decidi cambiar el nombre. Sin embargo, hay varias posibilidades. La primera, que el Papa Paulo pudo haber querido separar el grupo, y por lo mismo la iglesia, del recuerdo a n quemante de las cruzadas. Uno de los ataques dirigidos contra la iglesia cat lica por los protestantes era que ellos hab an financiado car simos intentos de recuperar la Tierra Santa para los cristianos imponiendo a los laicos pesadas cargas financieras, especialmente mediante la venta de indulgencias. No facilitar a las cosas el crear una orden religiosa cuyo nombre recordara el accidentado pasado militar de la iglesia. Otra raz n para el cambio de nombre pudo haber sido que Paulo III deseaba ver a los miembros m s enfocados en el estudio de la teolog a y de la doctrina b blica que yendo por el mundo para convertir gente. l estaba enfrentando internamente la amenaza de serias herej as, y ten a en medio 10 hombres muy inteligentes y bien educados que pose an todas las herramientas a su disposici n para emprender una defensa bien pensada de las ense anzas tradicionales de

*Includes pictures of important people and places. *Discusses Masterson's most famous shootouts and his friendship with famous Westerners like Wyatt Earp and Buffalo Bill. *Includes a Bibliography for further reading. "I have come over a thousand miles to settle this. I know you are heeled armed]. Now fight " - Bat Masterson Space may be the final frontier, but no frontier has ever captured the American imagination like the "Wild West", which still evokes images of dusty cowboys, outlaws, gunfights, gamblers, and barroom brawls over 100 years after the West was settled. A constant fixture in American pop culture, the 19th century American West continues to be vividly and colorful portrayed not just as a place but as a state of mind. In Charles River Editors' Legends of the West series, readers can get caught up to speed on the lives of America's most famous frontier figures in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known. Though he is no longer as well remembered as he once was, one of the most famous and notorious lawmen of the Wild West was Bat Masterson, who drifted around Dodge City and other parts of the West and was associated with legends like Wyatt Earp. Carrying a six-shooter that he called "the gun that tamed the West", Masterson was involved in several duels and shootouts, much of which was embellished during the early 20th century when he became a newspaper columnist and was given a chance to frame anecdotes about the frontier days and talk about colorful characters like Doc Holliday. Like Wyatt Earp, who once served as a lawman under him, Masterson was primarily known as being on the right side of the law, but he wasn't afraid to firmly straddle both sides of it. While tall tales about shootouts were commonplace and believed wholesale throughout the West in the 19th century, few men had as strong a reputation as Bat Masterson, who was known for public shootouts, one of which took place in Dodge City in 1878 that ended with the death of his brother and town marshal, Ed Masterson. Bat also took part in the famous Earp Vendetta Ride near Tombstone, which occurred in the wake of the Shootout at the O. K. Corral. Given the number of times he fought, and the fact that he was shot and injured himself, perhaps Bat Masterson's most remarkable feat was that he managed to survive into the 20th century, something few Western legends of his era (with the exception of Wyatt Earp) accomplished. Thanks to his survival, Masterson was able to parlay his notoriety into opportunities back East, including even being appointed marshal in New York by President Theodore Roosevelt. Through his reputation and his position as a writer, when Masterson died in 1921 at an office desk writing a newspaper column, he was something of a folk hero, and he would go on to be the title character of a critically acclaimed television series in the late 1950s. Legends of the West: The Life and Legacy of Bat Masterson chronicles the Western icon's life and examines the myths and legends in an attempt to separate fact from fiction. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Bat Masterson like you never have before, in no time at all.

*Includes dozens of pictures*Describes the construction of the Titanic, life aboard the ship during its maiden voyage, the sinking of the ship, rescue efforts, and the discovery and exploration of the wreck*Includes accounts written by passengers, crew members, White Star Line officials, and explorers of the wreck*Includes a bibliography for further reading"I cannot imagine any condition which would cause a ship to founder. I cannot conceive of any vital disaster happening to this vessel." - Captain Edward J. SmithJust before midnight on April 14, 1912, the RMS Titanic, the largest ship in the world, hit an iceberg, starting a chain of events that would ultimately make it history's most famous, and notorious, ship. In the over 100 years since it sank on its maiden voyage, the Titanic has been the subject of endless fascination, as evidenced by the efforts to find its final resting spot, the museums full of its objects, and the countless books, documentaries, and movies made about the doomed ocean liner. Thanks to the dramatization of the Titanic's sinking and the undying interest in the story, millions of people are familiar with various aspects of the ship's demise, and the nearly 1,500 people who died in the North Atlantic in the early morning hours of April 15, 1912. The sinking of the ship is still nearly as controversial now as it was over 100 years ago, and the drama is just as compelling. The Titanic was neither the first nor last big ship to sink, so it's clear that much of its appeal stems from the nature of ship itself. Indeed, the Titanic stands out not just for its end but for its beginning, specifically the fact that it was the most luxurious passenger ship ever built at the time. In addition to the time it took to come up with the design, the giant ship took a full three years to build, and no effort or cost was spared to outfit the Titanic in the most lavish ways. Given that the Titanic was over 100 feet tall, nearly 900 feet long, and over 90 feet wide, it's obvious that those who built her and provided all of its famous amenities had plenty of work to do. The massive ship was carrying thousands of passengers and crew members, each with their own experiences on board, and the various amenities offered among the different classes of passengers ensured that life on some decks of the ship was quite different than life on others. Almost everyone is familiar with what happened to the Titanic during its maiden voyage and the tragedy that followed, but the construction of the Titanic is often overlooked, despite being an amazing story itself, one that combined comfort and raw power with the world's foremost technological advances. Nonetheless, the seeds of the Titanic's destruction were sown even before it left for its first and last journey. Similarly, the drama involved with the sinking of the Titanic often obscures the important aftermath of the disaster, particularly the several investigations conducted on both sides of the Atlantic that sought to figure out not only why the Titanic sank but future changes that could be made in order to protect ships and passengers in the future. In fact, the course of the investigations was interesting in itself, especially since the British and Americans reached wildly different conclusions about what went wrong and led to the ship's demise. The Titanic examines the entire history and legacy of the ship, from its construction to its sinking, as well as the investigations and changes that followed, the discovery of the wreck in 1985, and even the current events surrounding the ship. Along the way, life aboard the Titanic is analyzed through passengers' accounts, as are the tales of survival and death that continue to resonate. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about the Titanic like never before, in no time at all.