Albert Marrin

A Polish Jew on the eve of World War II, Janusz Korczak turned down opportunities for escape in order to stand by the children in his orphanage as they became confined to the Warsaw Ghetto. Dressing them in their Sabbath finest, he led their march to the trains and ultimately perished with his children in Treblinka. Marrin examines not just Korczak's life but his ideology of children: that children are valuable in and of themselves, as individuals....

In spring of 1918, World War I was underway, and troops at Fort Riley, Kansas, found themselves felled by influenza. By the summer of 1918, the second wave struck as a highly contagious and lethal epidemic and within weeks exploded into a pandemic, an illness that travels rapidly from one continent to another. It would impact the course of the war, and kill many millions more soldiers than warfare itself. Of all diseases, the 1918 flu was by far...

In twentieth century America, no threat loomed larger than the communist superpower of the Soviet Union. The Communist Party of the United States attempted to use deep economic and racial disparities in American culture to win over members and sympathizers. Marrin shows how the miscarriage of justice in the Scotsboro Boys case, the tragedy of the Rosenbergs, and the menace of the Joseph McCarthy and his war hearings lured many Americans to the ideals...

"Wildfires have been part of the American landscape for thousands of years. Forests need fire--it's as necessary to their well-being as soil and sunlight. But some fires burn out of control, destroying everything and everyone in their path. In this book, you'll find out about how and why wildfires happen, how different groups . . . have managed forests and fire, the biggest wildfires in American history--how they began and . . . stories of both rescue...

Examines the life of abolitionist John Brown and the raid he led on the United States arsenal at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, in 1859, exploring his religious fanaticism and belief in "righteous violence,"--and committment to domestic terrorism.

Describes the world of the Incas and how it was changed forever when the Spanish expedition under Pizarro conquered Peru.

A history of the slick and foul-smelling substance that drives our existence and that becomes scarcer as our dependence on it grows.

A biography of the sixteenth-century English sea captain Sir Francis Drake, who is famous for his voyage around the world, his raids against the Spanish, and his defeat of the Spanish Armada.

Examines the political history, military events, social impact, and long-term effects of the Vietnam War.

Describes the causes and events of the Spanish-American War and how it led to the involvement of the United States in the Philippine Insurrection.