Charles River

*Includes pictures *Includes accounts of the accidents by survivors, workers, and residents *Includes bibliographies for further reading Uranium is best known for the destructive power of the atom bombs, which ushered in the nuclear era at the end of World War II, but given the effectiveness of nuclear power, plants like those at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania were constructed to generate energy for Americans during the second half of the 20th century. While nuclear power plants were previously not an option and thus opened the door to new, more efficient, and more affordable forms of energy for domestic consumption, the use of nuclear energy understandably unnerved people living during the Cold War and amidst ongoing nuclear detonations. After all, the damage wrought on Hiroshima and Nagasaki made clear to everyone what nuclear energy was capable of inflicting, and the health problems encountered by people exposed to the radiation also demonstrated the horrific side effects that could come with the use of nuclear weapons or the inability to harness the technology properly. Thus, it seemed that everyone's worst fears were realized on March 28, 1979 when the nuclear plant at Three Mile Island suffered a partial meltdown. Since it occurred years before Russia's Chernobyl disaster took place, the accident, a combination of mechanical and management failures, was at the time the worst civilian nuclear disaster yet, and the predictions of its consequences were dire. Given the release of radioactive material, nearby residents feared for their lives, and the nature of the radioactive contamination meant it would take nearly 15 years and $1 billion to fully clean up after the disaster. Fortunately, the human cost was eventually ruled insignificant, but the scare forced the implementation of new regulations in an effort to ensure the use of nuclear energy was safer. As a result, Three Mile Island, while still well-known among Americans today, remains more of a caution tale than a tragedy. As bad as it was, Three Mile Island paled in comparison to Chernobyl, which to this day remains the most notorious nuclear accident in history. Located in the Ukraine, the Chernobyl power plant was undergoing experiments in the early morning hours of April 26, 1986 when it suffered a series of explosions in one of its nuclear reactors, killing over 30 people at the plant and spread radioactive fallout across a wide swath of the Soviet Union. Although the Soviets would try to cover up just how disastrous the accident at Chernobyl was, it was impossible to hide the full extent of the damage given that radioactive material was affecting Western Europe as well. All told, the accident caused an estimated $18 billion in damages, forced the evacuation of everybody nearby, and continues to produce adverse health effects that are still being felt in the region. As with Three Mile before it, Chernobyl emphatically demonstrated the dangers of nuclear power plants, and it brought about new regulations across the world in an effort to make the use of nuclear energy safer. Meanwhile, scientists and scholars are still studying the effects of the radiation on people exposed to it and continue to come up with estimates of just how deadly Chernobyl will wind up being. Chernobyl and Three Mile Island chronicles the worst nuclear accident in history and the aftermath of the accident. Along with pictures and a bibliography, you will learn about Chernobyl like never before.

*Includes pictures *Discusses how the battle was fought and legends about the battle such as Pheidippides running back to Athens *Includes a bibliography for further reference "The Athenians...charged the barbarians at a run. Now the distance between the two armies was little short of eight furlongs about a mile]. The Persians, therefore, when they saw the Greeks coming on at speed, made ready to receive them, although it seemed to them that the Athenians were bereft of their senses, and bent upon their own destruction; for they saw a mere handful of men coming on at a run without either horsemen or archers..." - Herodotus The Ancient Greeks have long been considered the forefathers of modern Western civilization, but the Golden Age of Athens and the spread of Greek influence across much of the known world only occurred due to one of the most crucial battles of antiquity: the Battle of Marathon. In 491 B. C., following a successful invasion of Thrace over the Hellespont, the Persian emperor Darius sent envoys to the main Greek city-states, including Sparta and Athens, demanding tokens of earth and water as symbols of submission, but Darius didn't exactly get the reply he sought. According to Herodotus in his famous Histories, "Xerxes however had not sent to Athens or to Sparta heralds to demand the gift of earth, and for this reason, namely because at the former time when Dareios had sent for this very purpose, the one people threw the men who made the demand into the pit and the others into a well, and bade them take from thence earth and water and bear them to the king." Thus, in 490 B. C., after the revolt in Ionia had been crushed, Darius sent his general Mardonius, at the head of a massive fleet and invading force, to destroy the meddlesome Greeks, starting with Athens. The Persian army, numbering anywhere between 30,000 and 300,000 men, landed on the plain at Marathon, a few dozen miles from Athens, where an Athenian army of 10,000 hoplite heavy infantry supported by 1,000 Plataeans prepared to contest their passage. The Athenians appealed to the Spartans for help, but the Spartans dithered; according to the Laws of Lycurgus, they were forbidden to march until the waxing moon was full. Accordingly, their army arrived too late. Thus, it fell upon the Athenians to shoulder the burden. With their army led by the great generals Miltiades and Themistocles, the Athenians charged the outnumbering Persians. Outmatched by the might of the heavy, bronze-armored Greek phalanx, the inferior Persian infantry was enveloped and destroyed, causing them to flee for their ships in panic. The Athenians had won a colossal victory against an overwhelming and seemingly invincible enemy. Somewhat ironically, the Battle of Marathon has been best commemorated by the race that bears its name, a tradition that started based on a legend that a Greek man named Pheidippides ran the 26.2 miles back to Athens in order to announce the Greek victory and subsequently collapsed and died as soon as he had done so. However, the importance of the battle itself cannot be overstated. The Battle of Marathon proved to be one of the biggest sources of enmity between the Greeks and Persians, and Darius's son Xerxes would seek to undo the results with his own invasion just years later. As it was, the rivalry between the Greeks and Persians would last for over 150 years and culminated with Alexander the Great's destruction of the Achaemenid Persian capital city of Persepolis. Marathon also positioned the city-state of Athens as a major power not only in Greece but throughout the Mediterranean and Near East, as their military, diplomatic, and economic influence grew after the battle. The Greatest Battles in History: The Battle of Marathon chronicles the decisive Greek victory that ended the First Persian War and ensured the safety of mainland Greece.

*Includes pictures *Includes accounts of the hurricane written by survivors *Includes a bibliography for further reading "The big lesson I learned from Hurricane Katrina is that we have to be thinking about the unthinkable because sometimes the unthinkable happens." - Mike Leavitt Hurricanes have been devastating communities for thousands of years, bringing about various combinations of rain and wind that can do everything from taking down some dead limbs to wiping out houses. They are also common enough that people who live for any length of time in a region prone to having hurricanes are inclined to accept them as something of a periodic nuisance rather than a serious danger. Modern construction styles allow houses to withstand winds in excess of 100 miles an hour, and early warning systems allow people to evacuate. Thus, most hurricanes of the 21st century take fewer lives than a serious highway accident. As a result, the world watched in horror as Hurricane Katrina decimated New Orleans in August 2005, and the calamity seemed all the worse because many felt that technology had advanced far enough to prevent such tragedies, whether through advanced warning or engineering. Spawning off the Bahamian coast that month, Katrina quickly grew to be one of the deadliest natural disasters in American history, killing more than 1,800 people and flooding a heavy majority of one of America's most famous cities. At first, the storm seemed to be harmless, scooting across the Floridian coast as a barely noticeable Category 1 storm, but when Katrina reached the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, its winds grew exponentially before slamming into the southern Louisiana coast as a massive Category 5 hurricane. In addition to the deadly nature of the hurricane, it was also incredibly destructive as a result of failed levees around the New Orleans area. By the time the storm had passed, it had wreaked an estimated $108 billion of damage across the region, and the human suffering, with nearly 2,000 deaths and a million people displaced, was available for viewing across the world. Naturally, the reactions of political leaders would be heavily scrutinized in the aftermath, and people studied the lessons to be learned from the disaster to prevent a similar occurrence in the future. Hurricane Katrina: The Story of the Most Destructive Hurricane in American History chronicles the storm from its formation to the devastating effects it had across the Gulf of Mexico. Along with pictures and a bibliography, you will learn about Hurricane Katrina like never before, in no time at all.

*Includes pictures*Includes accounts of the plague written by survivors across Europe*Includes a bibliography for further reading"The trend of recent research is pointing to a figure more like 45-50% of the European population dying during a four-year period. There is a fair amount of geographic variation. In Mediterranean Europe, areas such as Italy, the south of France and Spain, where plague ran for about four years consecutively, it was probably closer to 75-80% of the population. In Germany and England ... it was probably closer to 20%.." - Philip Daileader, medieval historianIf it is true that nothing succeeds like success, then it is equally true that nothing challenges like change. People have historically been creatures of habit and curiosity at the same time, two parts of the human condition that constantly conflict with each other. This has always been true, but at certain moments in history it has been abundantly true, especially during the mid-14th century, when a boon in exploration and travel came up against a fear of the unknown. Together, they both introduced the Black Death to Europe and led to mostly incorrect attempts to explain it. The Late Middle Ages had seen a rise in Western Europe's population in previous centuries, but these gains were almost entirely erased as the plague spread rapidly across all of Europe from 1346-1353. With a medieval understanding of medicine, diagnosis, and illness, nobody understood what caused Black Death or how to truly treat it. As a result, many religious people assumed it was divine retribution, while superstitious and suspicious citizens saw a nefarious human plot involved and persecuted certain minority groups among them. Though it is now widely believed that rats and fleas spread the disease by carrying the bubonic plague westward along well-established trade routes, and there are now vaccines to prevent the spread of the plague, the Black Death gruesomely killed upwards of 100 million people, with helpless chroniclers graphically describing the various stages of the disease. It took Europe decades for its population to bounce back, and similar plagues would affect various parts of the world for the next several centuries, but advances in medical technology have since allowed researchers to read various medieval accounts of the Black Death in order to understand the various strains of the disease. Furthermore, the social upheaval caused by the plague radically changed European societies, and some have noted that by the time the plague had passed, the Late Middle Ages would end with many of today's European nations firmly established. The Black Death: The History and Legacy of the Middle Ages' Deadliest Plague chronicles the origins and spread of a plague that decimated Europe and may have wiped out over a third of the continent's population. Along with pictures and a bibliography, you will learn about the Black Death like never before, in no time at all.

*Includes pictures *Includes a bibliography for further reading "I know I'm not much on face value, but when it comes to stage value, I'll deliver for you." - Edward G. Robinson For most enthusiasts of film history, Edward G. Robinson's name is virtually synonymous with the Depression-era gangster films of the 1930s. After all, Robinson starred in Little Caesar (1931), which was one of the first major gangster films and is perhaps the most representative example of the genre. Little Caesar remains his most iconic gangster role, but he acted in several other notable gangster films over the course of the decade, including The Little Giant (1933) and A Slight Case of Murder (1938). Even during the 1940s, after the gangster genre had ceded much of its standing to the postwar film noir genre, Robinson retained his ties to gangster films, memorably playing gangster Johnny Rocco in Key Largo (1948). With his short, round physique and irascible screen persona, Robinson became a kind of cinematic brother to James Cagney, and the two remain the most famous of the Hollywood gangster stars. As much as Robinson's fame remains attached to the rise of the gangster films of the 1930s, it also is important to recognize that he was successful in progressing into the postwar noir films-a genre that bears important similarities with the gangster genre but reworks it in significant ways. Indeed, Robinson starred in what may have been the most famous gangster picture - he played a memorable role in Double Indemnity (1944), which may well be the most famous noir movie ever made. Edward established his status as a worthy noir actor by starring in a duo of underrated Fritz Lang films-The Woman in the Window (1944) and Scarlet Street (1945)-as well as the Orson Welles movie The Stranger (1946). As his memorable noir performances demonstrate, Edward G. Robinson was more than just a famous gangster villain. He represents someone who was able to successfully navigate the changes in Hollywood cinema from the 1930s through the following decade. Interestingly, even as Robinson became a star on the screen, events off screen also made him abdicate his lofty standing. A first-generation immigrant who moved to the United States from Romania while still a child, Robinson's rise in the entertainment industry-first on stage and then in Hollywood-embodied the Horatio Alger myth of a self-made man. Lacking the conventional attractiveness that characterized most male actors (particularly leading men), it was through his sheer skill and virtuosity that Robinson was able to fashion a successful career. However, if Robinson benefited early in his career from the opportunities presented by Hollywood, it was also at the hands of the industry that his career was compromised during the early 1950s through the efforts of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Although he was not a member of the Hollywood Ten, Robinson was a suspected Communist, and his name was tarnished within the acting community and in the eyes of the American public. He would continue to act through the end of his life, but his days as a major figure in Hollywood were brought to an abrupt end. Legends of Hollywood: The Life and Legacy of Edward G. Robinson analyzes Robinson's career in the 1930s and 1940s, as well as his real life roles as Hollywood star and victim.. Along with pictures and a bibliography, you will learn about Edward G. Robinson like never before, in no time at all.

*Includes pictures *Includes accounts written by doctors, scientists, and survivors about the history and effects of the virus *Includes a bibliography for further reading "The Ebola epidemic ravaging parts of West Africa is the most severe acute public health emergency seen in modern times. Never before in recorded history has a biosafety level four pathogen infected so many people so quickly, over such a broad geographical area, for so long." - World Health Organization, September 2014 It has long been a maxim that it is easy to forget when one is at war who the enemy really is, and that can certainly be said for the Ebola virus, which recently catapulted into headlines and instantly became the most feared disease in the world. In the case of the fight against Ebola, the enemy is not the person who has contracted the disease, nor is it the region where the virus has flourished. The enemy is a microscopic virus that, when seen under sufficient magnification, looks like a piece of loosely knotted rope. While a picture of Ebola under a microscope might look innocuous, it is a living organism that can be killed, but if it is not, it will multiply and evolve much like any other organism, including the human beings it so often kills. Despite the fact Ebola has been notorious for nearly 40 years, its ability to hide and change with the times has made its origins murky and left scientists without a vaccine. The World Health Organization (WHO) was able to identify the previously unknown disease after an outbreak in Sudan that killed a majority of the infected victims in 1976, and a doctor graphically described its effects later that year: "The illness is characterized with a high temperature of about 39 C 102 F], hematemesis, diarrhea with blood, retrosternal abdominal pain, prostration with 'heavy' articulations, and rapid evolution death after a mean of three days." Ultimately named after the Ebola River, the virus was a strain of the Marburg virus, and when it struck various nations in Africa from 1976-2003, it had incredibly high mortality rates and left hundreds dead in places like Zaire, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Most recently, a massive outbreak of Ebola began in Guinea and hit Liberia, where it has left thousands dead and ravaged local economies. All the while, the WHO conceded, "Countries affected to date simply do not have the capacity to manage an outbreak of this size and complexity on their own. I urge the international community to provide this support on the most urgent basis possible." In the meantime, the disease has trickled out to other nations, including the United States, and as of October 2014, there has been a scramble to isolate potential victims and race towards developing a vaccine. Ebola: The History of the Disease and Its Outbreaks looks at the origins of the disease and explains its causes, symptoms, and effects while discussing the current outbreak and previous ones. Along with pictures and a bibliography, you will learn about the Ebola virus like never before, in no time at all.

*Includes pictures *Includes accounts of the fighting and surrender by generals on both sides *Includes footnotes and a bibliography for further reading Of all the dramatic events that transpired during the Civil War, the end of the war in April 1865 brought perhaps the most remarkable of them all, and they came in such quick succession that it's still hard to believe nearly 150 years later. On April 2, the long siege of Petersburg by Ulysses S. Grant ended with Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia finally having its line broken, forcing Lee to retreat and give up Richmond in the process. Lee's battered army began stumbling toward a rail depot in the hopes of avoiding being surrounded by Union forces and picking up much needed food rations. While Grant's army continued to chase Lee's retreating army westward, the Confederate government sought to escape across the Deep South. On April 4, President Lincoln entered Richmond and toured the home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Fittingly, the food rations Lee moved toward did not arrive as anticipated, and on April 7, 1865, Grant sent Lee the first official letter demanding Lee's surrender. In it Grant wrote, "The results of the last week must convince you of the hopelessness of further resistance on the part of the Army of Northern Virginia in this struggle. I feel it is so, and regret it as my duty to shift myself from the responsibility of any further effusion of blood by asking of you the surrender of that portion of the Confederate States army known as the Army of Northern Virginia." Passing the note to General Longstreet, now his only advisor, Longstreet said, "Not yet." But by the following evening during what would be the final Confederate Council of War (and after one final attempt had been made to break through Union lines), Lee finally succumbed, stating regretfully, "There is nothing left me but to go and see General Grant, and I had rather die a thousand deaths." Communications continued until April 9, at which point Lee and Grant two met at Appomattox Court House. When Lee and Grant met, the styles in dress captured the personality differences perfectly. Lee was in full military attire, while Grant showed up casually in a muddy uniform. The Civil War's two most celebrated generals were meeting for the first time since the Mexican-American War. The Confederate soldiers had continued fighting while Lee worked out the terms of surrender, and they were understandably devastated to learn that they had surrendered. Some of his men had famously suggested to Lee that they continue to fight on. Porter Alexander would later rue the fact that he suggested to Lee that they engage in guerrilla warfare, which earned him a stern rebuke from Lee. As a choked-up Lee rode down the troop line on his famous horse Traveller that day, he addressed his defeated army, saying, "Men, we have fought through the war together. I have done my best for you; my heart is too full to say more." Although the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia to Grant and the Army of the Potomac at Appomattox Courthouse did not officially end the long and bloody Civil War, the surrender is often considered the final chapter of the war. For that reason, Appomattox has captured the popular imagination of Americans ever since Lee's surrender there on April 9, 1865. The Greatest Civil War Battles: The Appomattox Campaign chronicles the final campaign between the Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Virginia, and the one popularly remembered as sealing the fate of the Confederacy. Along with pictures and a bibliography, you will learn about Appomattox like never before, in no time at all.