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He was born in the backwoods of Kentucky in a humble log cabin, but Abraham Lincoln was savvy enough to embrace the new technology of his time—photography—to propel him all the way to the White House. This simple man with lofty goals was willing to use any means necessary, including the power of photography, to save the union and free the slaves—leaving behind an unmatched legacy of sacrifice, service, and achievement. More than one hundred images of Lincoln’s life and times provide a complete portrait of this revered president and the events that defined him. From the only confirmed existing picture of Lincoln before the historic Gettysburg Address to his second inauguration—where he is unknowingly surrounded by John Wilkes Booth and his coconspirators—to the execution of his murderers, this eye-opening, inspiring visual journey provides a fresh take on one of the most documented and beloved figures in American history. ...
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A “significant historic and literary achievement”: that’s what the Associated Press called Martin W. Sandler’s enthralling Resolute. Now, Sandler returns to the high seas, this time for an in-depth look at the Atlantic, those who sailed across it, and the world-shifting transformations wrought by those explorers and travelers.
Since 300 B.C.E., the Atlantic has served as the corridor for fundamental exchanges of peoples and technologies, a pathway for the transfer of ideas and cultures that defined and challenged communities across wide spans of time and space. This, the first illustrated and comprehensive history of the Atlantic World, is at the forefront of an exciting new wave of study in universities and think tanks. Atlantic History is an increasingly dynamic field of scholarship based on the notion that the Americas, Africa, and Europe have composed a regional system from the late 15th century to the present.
Sandler explores the historical, socioeconomic, political, scientific, and cultural developments that occurred throughout this important region and that shaped the modern world to this very day. They include everything from exploration and discovery, the dissemination of ideas, and the growth of global commerce, and the fall of imperialism.
Lavishly illustrated with exquisite antique maps, period paintings and engravings, documents, political cartoons, and photographs, this unique volume is an engaging read sure to appeal to audiences everywhere. ...
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The Dust Bowl was a time of hardship and disaster. The worst ecological disaster in our nation’s history turned more than 100 million acres of fertile land almost completely to dust. Hundreds of thousands of people were forced to seek new homes and opportunities thousands of miles away, while millions more chose to stay and battle nature to save their land. These terrible repercussions from the Dust Bowl contributed to the Great Depression, which impacted the entire country. FDR’s New Deal army of photographers took to the roads during this national crisis to document the human struggle of the proud people of the plains. Their pictures spoke a thousand words, and a new form a storytelling—photojournalism—was born. These talented cameramen and women used photographs to inform the rest of the nation and bring about much-needed change. With the help of iconic images from Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, Arthur Rothstein, and many more, Martin W. Sandler tells the story of this man-made natural disaster and these troubling economic times, ultimately showing how a nation can endure its darkest days through extraordinary courage and human spirit. ...
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This is the incredible story of the visionary engineer who built New York City’s first subway. The Secret Subway is the gripping tale of a man whose vision was years ahead of his time; a man whose dream was crushed by the greed and political jockeying for power that characterized the city in the days of Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall.
In the late 1860s New York was congested and dangerous, a place one terrified commentator described as "bedlam on wheels. "Alfred Beach, a multitalented young man, set out to solve the problem. Rather than just addressing the chaos on the streets, he looked deeper for a solution, into the very foundations of the city. He financed the subterranean project himself, and pledged his workers to secrecy. When the fruits of his plans were revealed the public raved about his new tunnel, single station and subway car. Many believed this new system would relieve some of the congestion aboveground, and could be the first step toward a wider transportation network. But perceiving such ideas as a direct threat to his power, Boss Tweed intervened. The subway system Beach envisioned remained buried in the realm of dreams.
Between 1900 and 1904, a subway line was finally built in NYC. Workers extending that line cut right into Beach’s tunnel, which remained intact. The station, tunnel, and carexcept for the decaying wooden partswere just as Beach had left them. To this day they lie buried beneath the city’s streets, an interred monument to a dream cruelly killed by political greed and jealousy....
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