America's Oddest Historical Moments

America's Oddest Historical Moments PDF Author: M. H. Seeley
Publisher: Gareth Stevens Publishing LLLP
ISBN: 1482457547
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 32

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Book Description
America can be a weird place, but thankfully much of that weirdness is long in the past. From failed assassinations to the long stretch of time a town in New Jersey thought tomatoes were deadly poison, readers will love taking a trip through some of America’s strangest stories of yore. Full-color photographs paired with vivid historical retellings bring these stories to life for modern readers eager to relive some of the past’s funniest and oddest tales.

America's Oddest Historical Moments

America's Oddest Historical Moments PDF Author: M. H. Seeley
Publisher: Gareth Stevens Publishing LLLP
ISBN: 1482457547
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 32

Get Book Here

Book Description
America can be a weird place, but thankfully much of that weirdness is long in the past. From failed assassinations to the long stretch of time a town in New Jersey thought tomatoes were deadly poison, readers will love taking a trip through some of America’s strangest stories of yore. Full-color photographs paired with vivid historical retellings bring these stories to life for modern readers eager to relive some of the past’s funniest and oddest tales.

America's Oddest Historical Moments

America's Oddest Historical Moments PDF Author: M. H. Seeley
Publisher: Gareth Stevens Publishing LLLP
ISBN: 1482457539
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 34

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Book Description
America can be a weird place, but thankfully much of that weirdness is long in the past. From failed assassinations to the long stretch of time a town in New Jersey thought tomatoes were deadly poison, readers will love taking a trip through some of America’s strangest stories of yore. Full-color photographs paired with vivid historical retellings bring these stories to life for modern readers eager to relive some of the past’s funniest and oddest tales.

Terrible But True: Awful Events in American History

Terrible But True: Awful Events in American History PDF Author: Dinah Williams
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
ISBN: 0545909732
Category : Young Adult Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
Terrible But True invites readers to explore some of the weird, fascinating, scary, and altogether strange stories from America's past. Think American history is all boring battles and snooze-worthy old dudes? Think again!Welcome to Terrible But True, where you'll dig deep into America's forgotten past to uncover some creepy, disgusting, and just plain bizarre stories. From America's first serial killers and deadly vampire-like diseases to haunted ghost ships and vicious river pirates, our nation's history is weirder than you could have ever imagined. So dive in and prepare to be shocked, because sometimes the truth is even stranger than fiction.

America's Strange History:

America's Strange History: PDF Author: G. S. Smith
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781499768282
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 98

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Book Description
America's Strange History is a look into the other side of history from the mind of historian and author G.S. Smith

Flawless: Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History

Flawless: Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History PDF Author: Scott Andrew Selby
Publisher: Sterling Publishing
ISBN:
Category : True Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 397

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Book Description
"Tells the story with the gripping pace of a true-crime 'Ocean's Eleven.'" The New York Post • "Like a diamond, this true-life caper is clear, colorful, and brilliant." Publishers Weekly ★Starred Review★ The Antwerp Diamond Center was one of the most secure buildings in the world. With hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of diamonds stored in its subterranean vault, it had to be. Located in the heart of Belgium's ultra-secure Antwerp Diamond District, it benefited from two police stations, armed patrols, extensive video surveillance, and vehicle barriers securing an area where 80 percent of the world's diamonds traded hands. But on February 15, 2003, a band of skilled Italian thieves — fronted by the charming Leonardo Notarbartolo, who spent over two years clandestinely casing the building — subverted every one of the Diamond Center's defenses and made off with a record amount of loot. Experts estimate they got away with nearly half a billion dollars in diamonds, cash and other valuables. They'd pulled off the biggest heist in history--everybody loves diamonds and they now had more than any thief before them. The robbers did it with stealth and smarts; no one was hurt or even threatened during what was quickly labeled the largest diamond heist in history. The bandits — members of a group of professional thieves known as "The School of Turin" — used cunning in lieu of violence, successfully evading security cameras, thwarting an array of electronic sensors, and penetrating a vault protected by a double-locked foot-thick steel door. Even when the police zeroed in on who committed the crime, how it was done remained a mystery, like something out of a heist movie or TV show. Flawless is a fast-paced global scavenger hunt uncovering the truth behind the daring Valentine's Day weekend heist. Tracking clues, sources, and documents throughout Europe — from seedy cafés in Turin, Italy to sleek diamond offices in Antwerp, Belgium — authors Scott Selby and Greg Campbell retrace Notarbartolo's careful discovery of the building's security flaws. They recreate the heist and its aftermath — detailing how the thieves brilliantly neutralized each element of the security protecting the Diamond Center's vault while inviting the readers into the secretive world of diamonds and diamond dealing. The result is a thrilling ride through the better-than-fiction heist of the century. "Fans of caper books and movies will be in seventh heaven." Booklist ★Starred Review★

Dark Tide

Dark Tide PDF Author: Stephen Puleo
Publisher: Beacon Press
ISBN: 0807078018
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
A new 100th anniversary edition of the only adult book on one of the odder disasters in US history—and the greed, disregard for poor immigrants, and lack of safety standards that led to it. Around noon on January 15, 1919, a group of firefighters were playing cards in Boston’s North End when they heard a tremendous crash. It was like roaring surf, one of them said later. Like a runaway two-horse team smashing through a fence, said another. A third firefighter jumped up from his chair to look out a window—“Oh my God!” he shouted to the other men, “Run!” A 50-foot-tall steel tank filled with 2.3 million gallons of molasses had just collapsed on Boston’s waterfront, disgorging its contents as a 15-foot-high wave of molasses that at its outset traveled at 35 miles an hour. It demolished wooden homes, even the brick fire station. The number of dead wasn’t known for days. It would be years before a landmark court battle determined who was responsible for the disaster.

The WEIRDest People in the World

The WEIRDest People in the World PDF Author: Joseph Henrich
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 0374710457
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 420

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Book Description
A New York Times Notable Book of 2020 A Bloomberg Best Non-Fiction Book of 2020 A Behavioral Scientist Notable Book of 2020 A Human Behavior & Evolution Society Must-Read Popular Evolution Book of 2020 A bold, epic account of how the co-evolution of psychology and culture created the peculiar Western mind that has profoundly shaped the modern world. Perhaps you are WEIRD: raised in a society that is Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic. If so, you’re rather psychologically peculiar. Unlike much of the world today, and most people who have ever lived, WEIRD people are highly individualistic, self-obsessed, control-oriented, nonconformist, and analytical. They focus on themselves—their attributes, accomplishments, and aspirations—over their relationships and social roles. How did WEIRD populations become so psychologically distinct? What role did these psychological differences play in the industrial revolution and the global expansion of Europe during the last few centuries? In The WEIRDest People in the World, Joseph Henrich draws on cutting-edge research in anthropology, psychology, economics, and evolutionary biology to explore these questions and more. He illuminates the origins and evolution of family structures, marriage, and religion, and the profound impact these cultural transformations had on human psychology. Mapping these shifts through ancient history and late antiquity, Henrich reveals that the most fundamental institutions of kinship and marriage changed dramatically under pressure from the Roman Catholic Church. It was these changes that gave rise to the WEIRD psychology that would coevolve with impersonal markets, occupational specialization, and free competition—laying the foundation for the modern world. Provocative and engaging in both its broad scope and its surprising details, The WEIRDest People in the World explores how culture, institutions, and psychology shape one another, and explains what this means for both our most personal sense of who we are as individuals and also the large-scale social, political, and economic forces that drive human history. Includes black-and-white illustrations.

Discovering the Civil War

Discovering the Civil War PDF Author:
Publisher: Giles
ISBN: 9781904832911
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Peels back years of accumulated analysis, interpretation, and opinion to reveal the human face of history.

Bizarre History

Bizarre History PDF Author: Joe Rhatigan
Publisher: Charlesbridge Publishing
ISBN: 1607345137
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 162

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Book Description
This is history served up high-octane, with all of the fun and none of the boredom. It's not about memorizing lists of dates or names, or remembering which general won what battle. Instead, BIZARRE HISTORY merrily digs up the scandals, the strangeness, and the scintillating details that illuminate personalities, events, and real life. Think of it not as a textbook, but as history’s juicy unauthorized biography--a historical document in which relevance never gets in the way of a good read. There are humorous quotes from famous figures such as Mark Twain and Napoleon ("History is a myth that men agree to believe"), as well as witty commentary about leaders of the past. After all, while you're probably familiar with William the Conquerer, have you heard of Charles the Simple, ruler of France and son of Louis the Stammerer? What about the emperor who entered Rome in a chariot drawn by 50 naked slaves—and invented the first whoopee cushion, too? But you can find lots of wildness closer to home: George Washington wrote love letters to a married woman; "Old Hickory" Andrew Jackson had been in at least seven duels before becoming president; and Benjamin Franklin fathered an illegitimate child. Paranoia also plagued a few of our presidents: the only thing Franklin Roosevelt had to fear was the number 13: he wouldn't invite 13 guests to a dinner party or travel on the 13th. And both Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan had encounters with UFOs! The fun facts span the globe, covering the crazy acts of Caligula in the Roman Empire; the "Dog Shogun" in 17th century Japan; the "Pork and Beans" war between the US and Canada; and even details about fashion, medicine, sports, and the real Dracula. It's a wild journey that no one could resist!

History Bytes

History Bytes PDF Author: Nick Vulich
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781514373743
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 166

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Book Description
Don't like history? You're probably reading the wrong books. Read this book, and you're gonna think, wow! Why didn't somebody tell me that? American history is full of strange paradoxes, and that's what makes it so interesting. The truth is much of what we learn about history is a series of little white lies that over time have grown into tall tales. Why doesn't everyone know the Boston Massacre wasn't really a massacre? Subsequent testimony proved the soldiers fired in self-defense. The King Street riot was started by a group of four street thugs who got their rocks off attacking lone British soldiers. Sam Adams and Paul Revere twisted it into a massacre. And, if you think the Boston Tea Party was a response to British taxes that raised the price of tea in the colonies, think again. The Tea Act of 1773 actually reduced the price of tea paid by the colonists. The people hurt by the Tea Act were the smugglers. The lower price of tea undercut their business, and ensured that the East India Company would have a monopoly on tea. The South Carolina Nullification Congress of 1832 was a harbinger of things to come. The question was if a state disagrees with a federal law, does it have the right to nullify it, and disregard that law? Vice-president John C. Calhoun argued state's rights superseded federal laws. President Andrew Jackson believed to his dying day that Calhoun was a damned traitor, and that he should have strung him up from the nearest branch. The Black Hawk War was a mix-up of frontier madness, mayhem, and murder. Illinois Governor John Reynolds called out the militia and raised thousands of volunteer troops. General Winfield Scott marched his regulars half way across the country to Fort Armstrong at Rock Island. Lieutenant Colonel Zachary Taylor led a group of infantrymen in the fighting. In the end, it was a massacre that nearly wiped out the Sac tribe. In the fall of 1845 President Polk offered Mexico five million dollars if they would recognize the Southwestern Boundary of Texas at the Rio Grande. When Mexico refused his offer Polk decided to force the issue. He sent General Zachary Taylor and 3,000 troops to Corpus Christi, Texas. In March of 1846 General Taylor moved his forces into the disputed territory between the Rio Grande and Nueces Rivers. Soon after that, Mexico was provoked into a war with the United States. It has been said that James Buchanan was a "weak, timid, old man" who didn't do anything to prevent the Southern states from seceding. Some historians have even gone so far as to declare Buchanan was an "accessory after the fact." He was a president, Southern sympathizer, and traitor. But, was he? Imagine what it would be like to wake up, flip on the morning news, and discover Bradley Cooper or Ashton Kutcher assassinated President Obama. That's what happened in 1865. People were shocked when they learned John Wilkes Booth killed President Lincoln. Booth was one of the most popular actors of his day. He was young, just twenty-six years old, considered one of the most attractive men in America. At the time he killed Lincoln, Booth was pulling down $20,000 a year as an actor (that's roughly $300,000 in 2015 money). And, yet-he sacrificed it all for his political beliefs. What was going on in the mind of John Wilkes Booth? I could tell you more, but you get the idea. Things aren't always what they appear to be. There are two sides to every story. All that stuff your teacher told you in school-it may, or may not be true. Read this book, and decide for yourself which version you should believe.