The beginnings of the contemporary Jewish community in Valdosta starts with the arrival of two Jewish confederate veterans, Abraham Ehrlich and Benjamin Kaul, in 1866 and ends with the formal establishment of the present-day congregation in 1908.  It is a very warm, personal tale of real people that fleshes out  the sterile charts, statistics, and sweeping generalizations found in history books.  During this period, you will peek over the shoulders of members of Va...

In this groundbreaking book, noted historian Thaddeus Russell tells a new and surprising story about the origins of American freedom. Rather than crediting the standard textbook icons, Russell demonstrates that it was those on the fringes of society whose subversive lifestyles helped legitimize the taboo and made America the land of the free.In vivid portraits of renegades and their “respectable” adversaries, Russell shows that the nation’s history has been driven by clashes betwee...

"Vonnegut's life was a fascinating tragicomedy worthy of his best novels . . . A superbly researched and above all very entertaining biography." —Blake Bailey, New York Times–bestselling author of Philip Roth: The BiographyA New York Times Notable BookA Washington Post Notable Nonfiction BookIn 2006, Charles Shields reached out to Kurt Vonnegut in a letter, asking for his endorsement for a planned bio...

Bruce Feiler’s New York Times bestsellers Abraham, Walking the Bible, and Where God Was Born brilliantly explored the roots of faith. With America’s Prophet, Feiler looks at Moses and the essential role the prophet has played in our nation’s history and development. Bruce Feiler’s most fascinating and thought-provoking book to date, America’s Prophet delves deeply into how the Exodus story and America’s true “Spiritual Founding Father” have inspired many of the most important figures and d...

Three New York Times bestsellers chronicle the rise of America's most influential Jewish families as they transition from poor immigrants to household names.In his acclaimed trilogy, author Stephen Birmingham paints an engrossing portrait of Jewish American life from the colonial era through the twentieth century with fascinating narrative and meticulous research.The collection's best-known book, "Our Crowd" follows nineteenth-century Germa...

"The story . . . has as much vigor and passion as Roosevelt himself. It's a fascinating and thoroughly American tale." — Candice Millard, New York Times–bestselling authorJohn J. Miller delivers the intriguing, never-before-told story of how Theodore Roosevelt saved American Football—a game that would become the nation's most popular sport. Miller's sweeping, novelistic retelling captures the violent, nearly lawless days of late 19th centur...

For more than eighty years the Jewish Daily Forward's legendary advice column, "A Bintel Brief" ("a bundle of letters") dispensed shrewd, practical, and fair-minded advice to its readers. Created in 1906 to help bewildered Eastern European immigrants learn about their new country, the column also gave them a forum for seeking advice and support in the face of problems ranging from wrenching spiritual dilemmas to petty family squabbles to the sometimes hilarious predicaments that r...

If someone has changed your life for the good, now is the time to celebrate by letting them know how much they matter. This gift book celebrates their story with personalization space “You changed my life by___” to be written in detail by the gifter. It also includes short stories told by New York Times bestselling author Max Lucado about others who have answered the call of their convictions and took steps of faith (both big and small) resulting in lasting change in the l...

Most people think the average teenager isn’t capable of much beyond hanging with their friends and wasting time. But Zach Hunter isn’t your average teenager. And he’s hoping to show you that you’re not either. Zach has been trying to end slavery around the globe. Most people (maybe even you) think that slavery has been over for a long time. But sadly, there are more people bound in slavery now than at any of the times we read about in our history books. Now Zach is working to end slavery a...

Some samples: 1) During the Holocaust, Oskar Schindler saved the lives of more than 1,200 Jews. His good deed is known today largely because of one of the Jews he saved: Poldek Pfefferberg, who lived in the United States under the name of Leopold Page. He told Mr. Schindler, "You protect us, you save us, you feed us—we survived the Holocaust, the tragedy, the hardship, the sickness, the beatings, the killings! We must tell your story!" In Beverly Hills, Mr. Page operated a store for the sa...

Neil Baldwin, one of the most exciting intellectual historians, has written extensively about the great thinkers and innovators who have shaped our unique American identity. In THE AMERICAN REVELATION, he turns his energies to the unfolding story of how the American spirit developed over 400 years.This inspiring examination of the ideals that have grown to inform our national identity and of the figures who set the course for our evolving self image covers:City on a Hill--Joh...

Daniel Drew was a robber baron in every sense of the term. He loved to be hated. He was into money for the game. Making money was great, but making it while stabbing someone in the back was better, and if the victim was his partner, electrifying. Yet, he could defraud someone one day and somehow wheedle his way into the man's good graces and confidence the next. He did it more than once and the recipients were not some country bumpkins, but men such Henry Astor and Cornelius Vanderbilt. ...