Describes adventures and disasters in the lives of people who rushed to the gold mines of California in 1848 and explains how this event sparked the state's development.

An account of the first permanent English settlement in North America, with all its tragedies and disasters, established in 1607 in Jamestown, Virginia.

An introductory history of the Oregon Trail and its significance in opening the west to settlers, including information on the people who opened the Trail, their reasons for going west, modes of transportation, and a description of a typical day on t

Introduces the European immigrants who came to North America as explorers and settlers, their interactions with native people, and the wars that ultimately led to their independence.

Describes the function of the more than 400 Navajo marines who invented a secret code that was never broken by the enemy during World War II.

Discusses the events that precipitated the Gettysburg Address.

In China, an entire generation's most formative years took place in remote rural areas when city kids were sent to the countryside to become rusticated youth and partake in Mao's mandated Great Leap Forward. In an inspiring tale, Emei Burrell shares her mother's true experience during the Down to the Countryside Movement of the early 1970s, which sought to increase agricultural outreach and spur social and ideological change amongst youth. Burell's...