The time is 1933, the place, Berlin, when William E. Dodd becomes America's first ambassador to Hitler's Nazi Germany in a year that proved to be a turning point in history. A mild-mannered professor from Chicago, Dodd brings along his wife, son, and flamboyant daughter, Martha. At first Martha is entranced by the parties and pomp, and the handsome young men of the Third Reich with their infectious enthusiasm for restoring Germany to a position of...

Hollywood historian and film reviewer Leonard Maltin invites readers to pull up a chair and listen as he tells stories, many of them hilarious, of 50+ years interacting with legendary movie stars, writers, directors, producers, and cartoonists. Maltin grew up in the first decade of television, immersing himself in TV programs and accessing 1930s and '40s movies hitting the small screen. His fan letters to admired performers led to unexpected correspondences,...

Vincent Scully is likely the best-known living art historian in the United States today. Until recently, he was still teaching at his alma mater, Yale University, where a wide variety of students were drawn to his undergraduate history of art and architecture courses. For years, Scully's deep engagement with the subject and his passionate presentation style have inspired his students to value these subjects. Many of them have gone on to become prominent...

Illuminates the achievements of the nineteenth-century historian, writer, and intellectual, discussing Adams's relationships with political leaders inside and outside of his family and his witness to the dawn of modern America.

"Carter G. Woodson was born ten years after the end of the Civil War, to parents who had both been enslaved. Their stories were not the ones written about in history books, but Carter learned them and kept them in his heart. Carter's father could not read or write, but he believed in being an informed citizen. So Carter read the newspaper to him every day, and from this practice, he learned about the world and how to find out what he didn't know....

"A co-written project by Irvin and Marilyn Yalom, which describes their heartbreaking journey as a couple married 65 years facing the end of their long partnership. A longtime teacher and therapist on the subject of death anxiety, Dr. Yalom now confronts the loss of his wife and his own mortality. This book will offer wisdom from one of the foremost existential psychiatrists and illuminate the importance of relationships--friendship, family, and romantic--as...

Traces legal clerk Arturo Schomburg's efforts to curate a collection of African books, letters, music, and art.

Arturo Schomburg's passion for collecting books, music, and art led to the creation of the New York Public Library's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.