Books in the Pivotal Moments in American History series

Thomas Kessner offers a revealing account of Charles Lindbergh and his iconic flight, as well as the lasting influence they had on American life.

In the dramatic period leading to the American Revolution, no event did more to foment patriotic sentiment among colonists than the armed occupation of Boston by British soldiers. As If an Enemy's Country is Richard Archer's gripping narrative of those critical months between October 1, 1768 and the winter of 1770 when Boston was an occupied town. Bringing colonial Boston to life, Archer moves between the governor's mansion and cobble-stoned back-alleys as he traces the origins of the colonists' conflict with Britain. He reveals the maneuvering of colonial political leaders such as Governor Francis Bernard, Lieutenant Governor Thomas Hutchinson, and James Otis Jr. as they responded to London's new policies, and he evokes the outrage many Bostonians felt toward Parliament and its local representatives. Equally important, Archer captures the popular mobilization under the leadership of John Hancock and Samuel Adams that met the oppressive imperial measures--most notably the Sugar Act and the Stamp Act--with demonstrations, Liberty Trees, violence, and non-importation agreements. When the British government responded with the decision to garrison Boston with troops, it was a deeply felt affront to the local population. Almost immediately, tempers flared and violent conflicts broke out. Archer's tale culminates in the swirling tragedy of the Boston Massacre and its aftermath, including the trial of the British troops involved--and sets the stage for what was to follow.

Filling a gap in presidential history, Roosevelt's Second Act uncovers in complex detail what lay behind Roosevelt's decision to stand for an unprecedented third term, and examines the multiplicity of conflicting forces at work on him.

The book offers fresh and illuminating portraits of both Adams and Jackson and reveals how, despite their vastly different backgrounds, they had started out with many of the same values, admired one another, and had often been allies in common causes. But by 1828, caught up in a shifting political landscape, they were plunged into a competition that separated them decisively from the Founding Fathers' era and ushered in a style of politics that is still with ustoday.

In this captivating volume in the acclaimed Pivotal Moments series, Calloway reveals how the 1763 Treaty of Paris had a profound effect on American history, setting in motion unexpected consequences, as Indians and Europeans, settlers and frontiersmen, all struggled to adapt to new boundaries, alignments, and relationships, and shows how and why.

They were black and white, young and old, men and women. In the spring and summer of 1961, they put their lives on the line, riding buses through the American South to challenge segregation in interstate transport. Their story is one of the most celebrated episodes of the civil rights movement, yet a full-length history has never been written until now. In these pages, acclaimed historian Raymond Arsenault provides a gripping account of six pivotal months that joltedthe consciousness of America.

The first narrative history in 25 years of the landmark Supreme Court case that outlawed school segregation in America and its aftermath.

In a dramatic and colorful narrative of a pivotal moment in American history, we see how the campaign developed in a web of hard choices by many actors on both sides of the Delaware. 91 halftones,15 maps.

Louis P. Masur uses Abraham Lincoln's final public address in April 1865 to trace the debate over reconstruction policies from the earliest days of the Civil War.

A lively narrative of one of the most transformative pieces of legislation in American history.

Acclaimed historian Emory Thomas highlights the delusions that dominated each side's thinking at the beginning of the Civil War.

A masterful account of one of the most disastrous missteps in in American foreign policy, The Bay of Pigs gives the engrossing story of the US-backed invasion of Cuba in April of 1961 by 1400 exiled Cubans.

A vibrant portrait of a major turning point in American women's history, and in human history, this book is essential reading for anyone wishing to fully understand the origins of the women's rights movement.

In Storm Over Texas Joel Silbey explores the shaping and development of one event in American history - the Texas annexation controversy - and how it came to be a truly pivotal moment, explaining why the debate over annexation of Texas in the 1840s followed a course that led, ultimately, to civil war.

The untold story of the fiercely contested ratification of the United States Constitution, and how Founding Father James Madison defied his fellow Virginians who opposed the Constitution, to ensure that it, and the Bill of Rights, would bring the colonies together as a unified nation.

The Crash of '29 is one of the key moments in American, and indeed world history. This gifted narrative historian addresses its effects on both business and society, and recreates the coming together of economic forces culminating in this disaster.

The Battle of Midway in the central Pacific, on the morning of June 4, 1942, marked a dramatic turning point in the Second World War, when Allied forces seized the upper hand from the Axis powers. Lincoln Prize winner Craig Symonds offers an account of the Battle from a global perspective, as well as of the first six months of the war.