Nelson Runger
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Thirty years ago, the theory that continents are comprised of drifting plates-plate tectonics-evoked more scorn than serious research. Today, this revolutionary theory continues to dazzle and challenge geologists and laymen alike. Assembling California explores an area uniquely demonstrative of the plate tectonic theory: California, which according to "tectonicists," is breaking apart at its seams.
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Acclaimed urbanist Kotkin examines the evolution of urban life over the millennia and, in doing so, attempts to answer the age-old question: What makes a city great? Despite their infinite variety, all cities essentially serve three purposes: spiritual, political, and economic. Kotkin follows the progression of the city from the early religious centers of Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, and China to the imperial centers of the Classical era, through...
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Noted historian Robert Hendrickson has written more than 40 books and has earned critical acclaim for his meticulous historical research and highly readable style. In The Road to Appomattox, by weaving together passages from diaries, military reports, and newspapers, Hendrickson creates a vivid, firsthand account of the final year of the Civil War. Putting down their arms and flags, Lee's Confederate troops made a formal surrender at Appomattox on...
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In the mid-eighteenth century, red and white Americans commenced a struggle to determine which race would be sovereign in the "Old Northwest," as the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley was once known. The nearly fifty years of strife that ensued were filled with hundreds of hit-and-run raids by small partisan bands, occasional battles between armies of warriors and soldiers, and innumerable acts of treachery, terrorism, and torture. When the fighting was...
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John McPhee's Pulitzer Prize-winning Annals of the Former World takes readers on mind-expanding adventures in geology. In the first book, Basin and Range, McPhee traveled to Nevada with a proponent of plate techtonics. Now, an engaging sceptic working for the United States Geological Survey is his guide to some of eastern America's most fascinating geologic formations. Respected geologist Anita Harris doesn't completely accept the reigning gospel...
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With compassion and sensitivity, best-selling inspirational author Joseph F. Girzone tells the dramatic story of his own godson's life. Joey is a boy like any other, eagerly looking forward to a lifetime of adventure. But as he becomes a talented musician, his sunny world splinters into a maze of confusion and troubles.
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With his Pulitzer Prize-winning Annals of the Former World, John McPhee explores not only the richly varied surface of the United States, but the geological wonders hidden deep beneath our feet. In this final book of the series, he embarks on a fascinating journey across the basement of the continent-the land masses forming Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, and thereabouts-with a professor and geochronologist acting as a guide. Whether Randy Van Schmus is...
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Using the same blend of narrative and rhetorical brilliance that made his critically acclaimed debut history so successful, Andro Linklater begins with premier U.S. surveyor Andrew Ellicott calculating the Pennsylvania-Virginia border in 1784- using telescope, chronograph, and astronomical tables. As pioneers move westward, Ellicott and his kind create property which hastens the formation of stabilizing government.
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In his best-selling study, syndicated columnist and talk show personality Christopher Matthews combines newly-uncovered information and acute political analysis to portray two stunning, ultimately tragic figures who defined a generation. In language that is always accessible, Matthews vividly traces the lasting impacts John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon had on each other's political campaigns-and their presidencies. Despite their differences in...
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Fifty-six years ago, two college friends named Bill Hewlett and David Packard decided to start a company out of a one-car garage. Today, that company-Hewlett-Packard-is universally acclaimed as the world's most admired technology corporation. Hewlett-Packard produces thousands of innovative products for customers around the globe and boasts nearly $24 billion in sales. Now, Bill Hewlett and David Packard's wildly successful approach to business is...
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He's been called the first modern general-the first military leader to understand that in the future, wars would be won not by fighting, but by the movement of troops. His memoirs rank with Grant's as the greatest of the Civil War. In vigorous, frank, and powerful prose, Sherman reveals his strategic planning for battles such as Bull Run, Shiloh, and Vicksburg and delivers classic lessons-and military philosophies-about this war.
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In the early 1960s Donald McCaig left his job at a hot New York advertising agency and his Greenwich Village apartment for a rustic farm in a remote county in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. This is McCaig's story of farming in contemporary America, a timely tribute to a dying way of life.
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In this fascinating consideration of the Allied war effort, historian Richard Overy answers one of the great questions of the 20th century. What led to the unmistakable Allied victory, when in the early stages of World War II, the balance of power so strongly favored the Axis? Searching for a compelling explanation, the author explores decisive military campaigns: struggles along the eastern front, the battles for the seas, the war in the air above,...
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For a person who has not encountered John McPhee's lively writing, The Second John McPhee Reader is the perfect introduction. McPhee, author of Coming Into the Country, and Assembling California punctuates his delightful prose with a sharp sense of humor and a fascination with things most of us never bother to notice. Whether he's working for a farmer in the Greenmarkets in Harlem, Brooklyn or the Upper East Side in Giving Good Weight, or trekking...
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This richly detailed, definitive biography is essential reading for anyone who seeks to gain a better understanding of one of the most powerful and influential figures of today. Tad Szulc, veteran news correspondent, paints a fascinating, unbiased portrait of the leader of the largest Christian church on earth. Filled with information culled from primary, some secret, sources, it gives fresh insights into this remarkable man's years of service to...
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When American sheep farmer Donald McCaig travels to Scotland in search of the perfect sheepdog, he is certain he'll return home empty-handed. In addition to the touchy matters of expense, pedigree, and the high demand in America for Scottish Border Collies, McCaig has to transcend the wholly understandable suspicion among the Scots that Americans don't know the first thing about sheepdogs. How McCaig finally finds his "wee bonny Gael" is a story of...
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In Care of the Soul, Thomas Moore explored the importance of nurturing the soul and struck a chord nationwide-the book became a long-term bestseller, topping charts across the country. Building on that book's wisdom, Soul Mates explores how relationships of all kinds enhance our lives and fulfill the needs of our souls. Moore emphasizes the difficulties that inevitably accompany many relationships and focuses on the need to work through these differences...
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Tim Newark's lively narrative answers the most commonly asked questions about the Dark Ages. Who were the Vandals and the Goths? What were Attila the Hun and Charlemagne really like? From surviving contemporary literature and artifacts now shrouded in myth and legend, Newark reconstructs the battles, campaigns, sieges, and legendary leaders of one of the most mysterious eras of European history.
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A National Book Award winner, Martin E. Marty is a University of Chicago Professor Emeritus, Lutheran minister, and prolific writer on history, culture, and theology. In his comprehensive yet concise The Christian World, Marty outlines the life and teachings of Christ and details how his followers spread the gospel to the world.
80) The Africans
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David Lamb, critically-acclaimed author of The Arabs, spent four years in Africa as a news correspondent, traveling through 48 of its countries. Written in 1983, The Africans is a remarkable and very personal commentary on the people of this vast continent. It offers colorful, close-up views of presidents, peasants, guerilla leaders, and merchants while tracing a vivid history of one of the most varied populations on earth. Everyone interested in...