"In 1929 Stalin launched his policy of agricultural collectivization--in effect a second Russian revolution--which forced millions of peasants off their land and onto collective farms. The result was a catastrophic famine, the most lethal in European history. At least five million people died between 1931 and 1933 in the USSR. But instead of sending relief the Soviet state made use of the catastrophe to rid itself of a political problem. In Red Famine,...

The story takes place in Kingsbridge during the year 1327, two centuries after the townspeople finished building the exquisite Gothic cathedral that was at the heart of The Pillars of the Earth. The cathedral and the priory are again at the center of a web of love and hate, greed and pride, ambition and revenge, but this sequel stands on its own. This time the men and women of an extraordinary cast of characters find themselves at a crossroad of new...

Brother William turns detective in medieval Italy when seven bizarre deaths take place in seven days and nights.

Their love affair happened long ago by whatever measurement Claire Randall took. Two decades before, she had traveled back in time and into the arms of a gallant eighteenth-century Scot named Jamie Fraser. Then she returned to her own century to bear his child, believing him dead in the tragic Battle of Culloden. Yet his memory has never lessened its hold on her ... and her body still cries out for him in her dreams. When she discovers that Jamie...

A prominent classicist explores ancient Rome and how its citizens adapted the notion of imperial rule, invented the concepts of citizenship and nation, and made laws about those traditionally overlooked in history, including women, slaves, and criminals.

Presents information about men and women spies throughout history as well as about the tools and equipment they used in espionage and intelligence service.

"[Vermont an Illustrated History] demonstrates that although the faces of Vermont's inhabitants have changed, the qualities of self-determination and endurance so necessary in establishing Vermont's modern communities remain active features in today's Green Mountain state. The text is illuminated with more than 400 vintage photographs, including thirty-two pages of brilliant color. Biographies of many Vermont businesses and organizations are highlighted...

The gripping story of an epic prairie snowstorm that killed hundreds of newly arrived settlers and cast a shadow on the promise of the American frontier. January 12, 1888, began as an unseasonably warm morning across Nebraska, the Dakotas, and Minnesota, the weather so mild that children walked to school without coats and gloves. But that afternoon, without warning, the atmosphere suddenly, violently changed. One moment the air was calm; the next...

Trying to make sense of the horrors of World War II, Death relates the story of Liesel - a young German girl whose book-stealing and story-telling talents help sustain her family and the Jewish man they are hiding, as well as their neighbors. Includes readers' guide.

With a masterful mix of comic timing and disarming poignancy, a Newbery Honoree charmingly recounts his childhood growing up in Cold War Russia.