Carti Smithsonian Books

Philip Pullman

The Amber Spyglass

Editura: Yearling Books

Anul aparitiei: 2003

HIS DARK MATERIALS IS NOW AN HBO ORIGINAL SERIES STARRING DAFNE KEEN, RUTH WILSON, ANDREW SCOTT, AND LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA! The unforgettable His Dark Materials trilogy that began with The Golden Compass and continued with The Subtle Knife, reaches its astonishing conclusion in The Amber Spyglass. These modern fantasy classics have been hailed by Entertainment Weekly as an "All-Time Greatest Novel" and Newsweek as a "Top 100 Book of All Time" Throughout the worlds, the forces of both heaven and hell are mustering to take part in Lord Asriel's audacious rebellion. Each player in this epic drama has a role to play--and a sacrifice to make. Witches, angels, spies, assassins, tempters, and pretenders, no one will remain unscathed. Lyra and Will have the most dangerous task of all. They must journey to a gray-lit world where no living soul has ever gone and from which there is no escape. As war rages and Dust drains from the sky, the fate of the living--and the dead--comes to depend on Lyra and Will. On the choices they make in love, and for love, forevermore. A #1 New York Times BestsellerWinner of the Whitbread AwardWinner of the British Book Award (Children's)Published in 40 Countries ...

Sally M. Walker

Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland

Editura: Carolrhoda Books

Anul aparitiei: 2009

Bright white teeth. Straight leg bones. Awkwardly contorted arm bones. On a hot summer day in 2005, Dr. Douglas Owsley of the Smithsonian Institution peered into an excavated grave, carefully examining the fragile skeleton that had been buried there for four hundred years. "He was about fifteen years old when he died. And he was European," Owsley concluded. But how did he know? Just as forensic scientists use their knowledge of human remains to help solve crimes, they use similar skills to solve the mysteries of the long-ago past. Join author Sally M. Walker as she works alongside the scientists investigating colonial-era graves near Jamestown, Virginia, as well as other sites in Maryland. As you follow their investigations, she'll introduce you to what scientists believe are the lives of a teenage boy, a ship's captain, an indentured servant, a colonial official and his family, and an enslaved African girl. All are reaching beyond the grave to tell us their stories, which are written in bone.

Thomas Fleming

The Intimate Lives of the Founding Fathers

Editura: Harper Paperbacks

Anul aparitiei: 2010

In The Intimate Lives of the Founding Fathers from Smithsonian Books, historian Thomas Fleming, author of The Perils of Peace , offers a fresh look at the critical role of women in the lives of Washington, Franklin, Adams, Jefferson, Hamilton, and Madison. Fleming nimbly takes readers through a great deal of early American history, as our founding fathers struggle to reconcile the private and public-and often deal with a media every bit as gossip-seeking and inflammatory as ours today.

Linda Lear

Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature

Editura: Mariner Books

Anul aparitiei: 2009

Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, published in 1962, did more than any other single publication to alert the world to the hazards of environmental poisoning and to inspire a powerful social movement that would alter the course of American history. This definitive, sweeping biography shows the origins of Carson's fierce dedication to natural science--and tells the dramatic story of how Carson, already a famous nature writer, became a brillant if reluctant reformer. Drawing on unprecendented access to sources and interviews, Lear masterfully explores the roots of Carson's powerful connection to the natural world, crafting a " fine portrait of the environmentalist as a human being" (Smithsonian).

Kyra E. Hicks

This I Accomplish: Harriet Powers' Bible Quilt and Other Pieces

Editura: Black Threads Press

Anul aparitiei: 2009

The powerful quilts of Harriet Powers (1837-1910), a former Athens, Georgia slave, continue to capture our imagination today. Her two-known creations, the Bible Quilt and the Pictorial Quilt, have independently survived since stitched more than a century ago. Over the years, thousands of museum visitors to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston have stood transfixed viewing her artwork. Powers' two quilts are arguably the most well-known and cited coverings in American quilt history. But, until today, no one has told the entire, dramatic story of how these two quilts, one of which initially sold for $5, were coveted, cared for, and cherished for decades in private homes before emerging as priceless, national treasures. This I Accomplish: Harriet Powers' Bible Quilts and Other Pieces brings to light new, exciting facts - many never before published: complete exhibition history for both known quilts; proof Harriet Powers was a literate, award-winning quilter, who stitched at least five quilts and promoted her own artwork; profiles of the two nineteenth century women who sought to purchase the Bible Quilt; profiles ...

Michael P. Belfiore

The Department of Mad Scientists: How DARPA Is Remaking Our World, from the Internet to Artificial Limbs

Editura: Harper Paperbacks

Anul aparitiei: 2010

From Smithsonian Books, The Department of Mad Scientists is the first trade book ever on DARPA--the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency--the maverick and controversial agency whose futuristic work has had amazing military and civilian application, from the Internet to GPS to driverless cars. Michael Belfiore, author of Rocketeers , visited science research sites across the country to provide this unprecedented look at the people who shape our country's future technology.

Sara Rath

H. H. Bennett, Photographer: His American Landscape

Editura: Terrace Books

Anul aparitiei: 2010

"My energies for near a lifetime have been used almost entirely to win such prominence as I could in outdoor photography."--H. H. BennettHenry Hamilton Bennett (1843-1908) became a celebrated photographer in the half-century following the American Civil War. Bennett is admired for his superb depictions of dramatic landscapes of the Dells of the Wisconsin River and also for his many technical innovations in photography, including a stop-action shutter and a revolving solar printing house that is now housed at the Smithsonian Institution. With his instantaneous shutter, he gained recognition for his striking images of moving subjects, such as lumber raftsmen shooting the river rapids and his son Ashley leaping in midair from a bluff to the craggy pillar of Stand Rock. Less well-known are Bennett's splendid urban photographs of nineteenth-century Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul. This engaging biography of H. H. Bennett tells his life story, illustrated throughout with his remarkable photographs, some of them rarely viewed before. It draws on the photographer's own letters and journals, along with other family documents, to portray the sweep of his career and personal life. An ...

Frank Rowsome

Verse by the Side of the Road: The Story of the Burma-Shave Signs and Jingles

Editura: Plume Books

Anul aparitiei: 1979

"In the fall of 1925, young Allan Odell conceived the idea of using consecutive signs along the roadside. . . . In 1963 the last signs were taken down, ending the most famous outdoor advertising venture ever."-- 1977 Minnesota Almanac The whole story is in this book, plus all the jingles used. The signs are gone now, except for one set on permanent display at The Smithsonian. You can have them all, always, in your own library with this book. "Rowsome's volume indexes each of the 600 jingles . . . and as you down the list, preferably reading aloud, it might evoke visions of 1940 Chevies, roadside diners, signs that said EATS. . . . Why were the Burma-Shave jingles so universally loved? Because they were light-hearted and humorous in hard times and war times."--Bov Swift, Knight News Service

P. Sturges, A. Vojtech, Philemon Sturges

Ten Flashing Fireflies

Editura: NorthSouth

Anul aparitiei: 1997

Lyrical, expressive, varied, and excellent for reading out loud. - School Library Journal, starred review Counting down from ten to one, a girl and a boy empty the night sky of fireflies as -- counting up from one to ten -- they fill their jar with them. But once captured, the fireflies' light flickers and fades, so in a generous good-night gesture, the children release them. Luminous pictures and a chant-aloud text combine to make this two-way counting book as joyous and magical as catching fireflies on a summer night. A book quietly luminous as its subject. - Kirkus Reviews Elegant mathematical simplicity and careful rhyme, illustrated in keeping with its nocturnal theme and bedtime role. - NAPPA Awards National Parenting Publications Awards, Gold Medal, 1995 Smithsonian Magazine Notable Books for Children, 1995 Booklinks Salutes a Few Good Books, 1995 American Bookseller Pick of the Lists

Joy Hakim

The Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way

Editura: Smithsonian Books

Anul aparitiei: 2004

Readers will travel back in time to ancient Babylonia, Egypt, and Greece. They will meet the world's first astronomers, mathematicians, and physicists and explore the lives and ideas of such famous people as Pythagoras, Archimedes, Brahmagupta, al-Khwarizmi, Fibonacci, Ptolemy, St. Augustine, and St. Thomas Aquinas. Hakim will introduce them to Aristotle--one of the greatest philosophers of all time--whose scientific ideas dominated much of the world for eighteen centuries. In the three-book The Story of Science series, master storyteller Joy Hakim narrates the evolution of scientific thought from ancient times to the present. With lively, character-driven narrative, Hakim spotlights the achievements of some of the world's greatest scientists and encourages a similiar spirit of inquiry in readers. The books include hundreds of color photographs, charts, maps, and diagrams; informative sidebars; suggestions for further reading; and excerpts from the writings of great scientists.

Joy Hakim

The Story of Science: Newton at the Center

Editura: Smithsonian Books

Anul aparitiei: 2005

In volume two, students will watch as Copernicus's systematic observations place the sun at the center of our universe--to the dismay of establishment thinkers. After students follow the achievements and frustrations of Galileo, Kepler, and Descartes, they will appreciate the amazing Isaac Newton, whose discoveries about gravity, motion, colors, calculus, and Earth's place in the universe set the stage for modern physics, astronomy, mathematics, and chemistry. In the three-book The Story of Science series, master storyteller Joy Hakim narrates the evolution of scientific thought from ancient times to the present. With lively, character-driven narrative, Hakim spotlights the achievements of some of the world's greatest scientists and encourages a similiar spirit of inquiry in readers. The books include hundreds of color photographs, charts, maps, and diagrams; informative sidebars; suggestions for further reading; and excerpts from the writings of great scientists.

Joy Hakim

The Story of Science: Einstein Adds a New Dimension

Editura: Smithsonian Books

Anul aparitiei: 2007

In volume three, students will look over Albert Einstein's shoulder as he and his colleagues develop a new kind of physics. It leads in two directions: to knowledge of the vast universe and its future (insights build on Einstein's theories of relativity), and to an understanding of the astonishingly small subatomic world (the realm of quantum physics). Students will learn why relativity and quantum theory revolutionized our world and led to the most important ideas in modern science, maybe of all time. In the three-book The Story of Science series, master storyteller Joy Hakim narrates the evolution of scientific thought from ancient times to the present. With lively, character-driven narrative, Hakim spotlights the achievements of some of the world's greatest scientists and encourages a similiar spirit of inquiry in readers. The books include hundreds of color photographs, charts, maps, and diagrams; informative sidebars; suggestions for further reading; and excerpts from the writings of great scientists.

Nathaniel Philbrick

Sea of Glory: America's Voyage of Discovery, the U.S. Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842

Editura: Penguin Books

Anul aparitiei: 2004

"A treasure of a book."--David McCullough The harrowing story of a pathbreaking naval expedition that set out to map the entire Pacific Ocean, dwarfing Lewis and Clark with its discoveries, from the New York Times bestselling author of Valiant Ambition and In the Hurricane's Eye.A New York Times Notable Book America's first frontier was not the West; it was the sea, and no one writes more eloquently about that watery wilderness than Nathaniel Philbrick. In his bestselling In the Heart of the Sea Philbrick probed the nightmarish dangers of the vast Pacific. Now, in an epic sea adventure, he writes about one of the most ambitious voyages of discovery the Western world has ever seen--the U.S. Exploring Expedition of 1838-1842. On a scale that dwarfed the journey of Lewis and Clark, six magnificent sailing vessels and a crew of hundreds set out to map the entire Pacific Ocean and ended up naming the newly discovered continent of Antarctica, collecting what would become the basis of the Smithsonian Institution. Combining spellbinding human drama and meticulous research, Philbrick reconstructs the dark saga of the voyage to show why, instead of being celebrated and revered as that of ...

Abbey, Edward Abbey

Hayduke Lives!

Editura: Back Bay Books

Anul aparitiei: 1991

This superb sequel to The Monkey Wrench Gang , the novel that was called ribald, outrageous, and, in fact, scandalous by Smithsonian, is finally available in paperback. Hayduke, an ex-Green Beret and wilderness avenger, was last seen hanging from a cliff, under fire from both a helicopter and a posse. Now he's back, fighting against the despoilers of the earth. Edward Abbey was born in Home, Pennsylvania, in 1927. He was educated at the University of New Mexico and the University of Edinburgh. He died at his home in Oracle, Arizona, in 1989.

American Wild Flowers Coloring Book

Editura: Dover Publications

Anul aparitiei: 1971

Displaying the beauty and variety of America's most popular wildflowers, naming and locating each of the species, this most unusual book is intended for coloring. Redrawn from the original Smithsonian Rickett plates by Paul Kennedy, well-known illustrator of children's books, each of the 46 renderings is ready to be colored as realistically -- like the cover illustrations -- or as imaginatively as you may choose. Includes 46 illustrations: lady's slipper, black-eyed susan, bird's foot violet, cardinal flower, pitcher plant, trout lily, and others. Botanical identifications, common names, and information on habitats are also included.

Francisco Jimenez

Reaching Out

Editura: Graphia Books

Anul aparitiei: 2009

The third book in Francisco Jiménez's powerful and acclaimed memoirs about his childhood and adolescence as the son of Mexican immigrants in California. "In this eloquent, transfixing account, Jiménez again achieves a masterful addition to the literature of the memoir." --Smithsonian MagazineLeaving his home in Bonetti Ranch, a migrant community of dilapidated army barracks with no indoor plumbing or drinkable water, Francisco Jiménez sets off for college. He leaves behind a family struggling to pay for food and rent, and a desperate, broken father.Carrying memories of years of poverty and prejudice with him, he enters a world entirely different from his own. Yet as he types other students' papers in exchange for clothing, as he studies hard, as he meets with unexpected kindness, he uses those memories of struggle to see his way forward. Once again his telling is honest, true, and inspiring."Rooted in the past, Jiménez's story is also about the continuing struggle to make it in America, not only for immigrant kids but also for those in poor families. Never melodramatic or self-important, the spare episodes will draw readers with the quiet daily detail of work, anger, sorrow, ...

Fitzhugh Ward

Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga

Editura: Smithsonian Books

Anul aparitiei: 2000

Replete with color photographs, drawings, and maps of Viking sites, artifacts, and landscapes, this book celebrates and explores the Viking saga from the combined perspectives of history, archaeology, oral tradition, literature, and natural science. The book's contributors chart the spread of marauders and traders in Europe as well as the expansion of farmers and explorers throughout the North Atlantic and into the New World. They show that Norse contacts with Native American groups were more extensive than has previously been believed, but that the outnumbered Europeans never established more than temporary settlements in North America.

Jack Gantos (Author)

Hole in My Life

Editura: SQUARE FISH

Anul aparitiei: 2012

From the Newbery Award-winning author of Dead End in Norvelt, this is a memoir about becoming a writer the hard way. A Printz Honor and Sibert Honor book. In the summer of 1971, Jack Gantos was an aspiring writer looking for adventure, cash for college tuition, and a way out of a dead-end job. For ten thousand dollars, he recklessly agreed to help sail a sixty-foot yacht loaded with a ton of hashish from the Virgin Islands to New York City, where he and his partners sold the drug until federal agents caught up with them. For his part in the conspiracy, Gantos was sentenced to serve up to six years in prison. In Hole in My Life, this prizewinning author of over thirty books for young people confronts the period of struggle and confinement that marked the end of his own youth. On the surface, the narrative tumbles from one crazed moment to the next as Gantos pieces together the story of his restless final year of high school, his short-lived career as a criminal, and his time in prison. But running just beneath the action is the story of how Gantos--once he was locked up in a small, yellow-walled cell--moved from wanting to be a writer to writing, and how dedicating himself more ...

John R. Lovett (Author)

Guide to Native American Ledger Drawings and Pictographs in United States Museums, Libraries, and Archives

Editura: GREENWOOD PUB GROUP INC

Anul aparitiei: 1998

Whether painted by artist-warriors depicting their feats in battle or by other Native American artists, 19th and 20th century ledger drawings--drawn on blank sheets of ledger books obtained from U.S. soldiers, traders, missionaries, and reservation employees--provide an excellent visual source of information on the Great Plains Native Americans. An art form representing a transition from drawing on buffalo hide to a paper medium, ledger drawings range in style, content, and quality from primitive and artistically poor to bold and sharp with lavish use of color. Although interest in ledger drawings has increased in the last 20 years, there has never been a guide to holdings of these drawings. By bringing together the diverse and scattered institutions that hold them, this book will make finding the drawings quicker and easier. Illustrated with examples of ledger drawings, the guide identifies the libraries, archives, historical societies, and museums that hold ledger drawings. The institutions listed range from those with large collections, such as the Smithsonian, Yale, and Oklahoma museums, to institutions with only a few drawings. The book also includes a bibliography of books ...

Elaine Dewar (Author)

Bones: Discovering the First Americans

Editura: BASIC BOOKS

Anul aparitiei: 2004

Award-winning journalist Elaine Dewar explores new terrain with Bones , uncovering evidence that challenges the conventional wisdom on how the Americas were peopled in early history. In her probing investigation, Dewar travels from Canada's Mackenzie River to the Brazilian state of Piaui, from the offices of the Smithsonian Institution to the Washington state riverbank where the remains of Kennewick man were found. Dewar captures a tale of hard science and human folly where the high stakes include professional reputations, lucrative grants, fame, and the resting places of wandering spirits.