"Our world was made on and by the Silk Roads. For millennia it was here that East and West encountered each other through trade and conquest, leading to the spread of ideas and cultures, the birth of the world's great religions, the appetites for foreign goods that drove economies and the growth of nations. From the first cities in Mesopotamia to the growth of Greece and Rome to the depredations by the Mongols and the Black Death to the Great Game...

"Discover how the superwealthy made it to the top (and you can too!) From the richest Romans to the robber barons to today's bankers and tech billionaires, Sam Wilkin offers Freakonomics-esque insights into what it really takes to make a fortune. These stories of larger-than-life characters, strategies, and sacrifices reveal how the wealthiest did it, usually by a passion for finding loopholes, working around bureaucratic systems, and creating obstacles...

"In this book readers will learn all about how fireworks were invented in China over 2,000 years ago, how Queen Elizabeth I created a special honor for the person who created the best fireworks, and much more!"--Provided by publisher.

"We spend most of our lives in buildings. We make our homes in them. We go to school in them. We work in them. But why and how did people start making buildings? How did they learn to make them stronger, bigger, and more comfortable? Why did they start to decorate them in different ways? From the pyramid erected so that an Egyptian pharaoh would last forever to the dramatic, machine-like Pompidou Center designed by two young architects, Patrick Dillon's...

"On October 29, 1929, life in the United States took a turn for the worst. The stock market, the system that controls money in America, plunged to a record low. But this event was only the beginning of many bad years to come. By the early 1930s, one out of three people was not working. People lost their jobs, their houses, or both and ended up in shantytowns called Hoovervilles named for the president at the time of the crash. By 1933, many banks...

Soaps and detergents are among the great benefits of modern life. They help to keep us comfortable and save us from smelling unpleasant, but above all, they help to protect us from the germs that cause infectious diseases. Learn how soap works, how it is made, and how much harder life would be if we really did have to live without it.

This book examines the events that led up to the American Civil War. It discusses the political and military strategies that Union and Confederate leaders employed, and provides information about key people, battles, and events.

The year is 1883, and in New York City, it's a time of dizzying splendor, crushing poverty, and tremendous change. With the gravity-defying Brooklyn Bridge nearly complete and New York in the grips of anti-vice crusader Anthony Comstock, Anna Savard and her cousin Sophie--both graduates of the Woman's Medical School--treat the city's most vulnerable, even if doing so may put everything they've strived for in jeopardy. Anna's work has placed her in...