From publisher description: Although little used during the American Civil War--the time in which it was invented--the Gatling gun soon changed the nature of warfare and the course of history. Discharging 200 shots per minute with alarming accuracy, the world's first machine gun became vitally important to protecting and expanding America's overseas interests. Its inventor, Richard Gatling, was famous in his own time for creating and improving many...

They began as courtiers in a hierarchy of privilege, but history remembers them as patriot-citizens in a commonwealth of equals. On April 18, 1775, a riot over the price of flour broke out in the French city of Dijon; that same night, across the Atlantic, Paul Revere mounted the fastest horse he could find. So began what have been called the "sister revolutions" of France and America. In a single narrative, this book tells the story of those revolutions...

America's most hilarious sportsman returns with this collection of insights about youth, the great outdoors, and the philosophy of fileting fish. When best-selling author Patrick McManus looks at a subject, you're sure to come away with an outrageously new perspective. In "Muldoon in Love" McManus examines how third-grade crushes can have a disastrous effect on show-and-tell. In "The Big Fix" he explores the insidious relationship between women and...

Who changed the sex of God? This groundbreaking book proposes that the rise of alphabetic literacy reconfigured the human brain and brought about profound changes in history, religion, and gender relations. Making remarkable connections across brain function, myth, and anthropology, Dr. Shlain shows why pre-literate cultures were principally informed by holistic, right-brain modes that venerated the Goddess, images, and feminine values. Writing drove...

Traveling through the Deep South in 1950 with Jeremiah Musgrove's Chinese Circus, magician Henry Walker finds himself in deep trouble with three angry white teenagers, while his friends from the circus describe how Henry received the gift of magic from the devil himself.

Part travelogue, part historical perspective, this work is an inspiring walk through World War II history from the national bestselling author of "Biggest Brother."