Early in the Book of Mormon, Nephi wrote, 'We did sojourn for the space of many years, yea, even eight years in the wilderness. And we did come to the land which we called Bountiful, because of its much fruit and also wild honey; and all these things were prepared of the Lord that we might not perish.' (1 Nephi 17:4�5.)Now, nearly 2,600 years later, we wonder: Where was Nephi's Bountiful? Where was Nahom, the place Lehi and his party stopped to mourn and bury Ishmael? What was the ...

Cherished by millions of readers, this #1 New York Times bestselling novel is a powerful tale of perseverance and hope. Newbery Medalist Linda Sue Park interweaves the stories of two Sudanese children who overcome mortal dangers to improve their lives and the lives of others.A Long Walk to Water begins as two stories, told in alternating sections, about two eleven-year-olds in Sudan, a girl in 2008 and a boy in 1985. The girl, Nya, is fetching wat...

"An enthusiastically written book for readers from YA to armchair adventure lovers who dream of being archaeologists or Egyptologists." — Library JournalA real-life "Indiana Jones," Donald P. Ryan, Ph.D., offers a breathtaking personal account of his adventures in archaeology in Beneath the Sands of Egypt. Fans of The Lost City of Z will thrill to the exploits of this "unconventional archaeologist" as he retrieves the remains of Egypt's pa...

The ancient Near East is known as the "cradle of civilization"--and for good reason. Mesopotamia, Syria, and Anatolia were home to an extraordinarily rich and successful culture. Indeed, it was a time and place of earth-shaking changes for humankind: the beginnings of writing and law, kingship and bureaucracy, diplomacy and state-sponsored warfare, mathematics and literature. This Very Short Introduction offers a fascinating account of this momentous time in human history. The thr...

A "certainly weird . . . strangely wonderful . . . [and] often irresistible" search to find the real Garden of Eden ( The New York Times Book Review).Where, precisely, was God's Paradise? St. Augustine had a theory. So did medieval monks, John Calvin and Christopher Columbus. But when Darwin's theory of evolution changed our understanding of human origins, shouldn't the desire to put a literal Eden on the map have faded away? Not so fast.This "glori...

Rhythms of Time: Reconnecting Palestine's Past looks at how Palestine lost its past, how in can be reconnected and why the past is important for Palestine's present. Palestine’s past is crucial to its future. The way the past is understood has profound implications for the contemporary Israeli-Palestinian conflict and for the rest of the Middle East. The idea that Israel is reclaiming an ancient state and its capital Jerusalem, as founded by King David, is constantly repeated by Israeli go...

Three thousand years ago, a dusky queen swept into the court of King Solomon, and from that time to the present day, her tale has been told and retold. Who was this queen? Did she really exist? In a quixotic odyssey that takes him to Ethiopia, Arabia, Israel, and even a village in France, Nicholas Clapp seeks the underlying truth behind the multifaceted myth of the queen of Sheba.It's an eventful journey. In Israel, he learns of a living queen of Sheba -- a pilgrim suffering from "J...

"[Sivertsen] has done an exceptional job of digging into the wide variety of fields relevant to understanding the Exodus. A superb and stunning book." ―Paul and Elizabeth Barber, authors of When They Severed Earth from SkyFor more than four decades, biblical experts have tried to place the story of Exodus into historical context—without success. What could explain the Nile turning to blood, insects swarming the land, and the sky falling to darkness? Integra...

What was King Tut's like as a boy? Did he go to school? Did he have royal duties? If so, what were they?This book tells of the young life of the boy King Tutankhaten, who later changed his name to Tutankhamen. It tells the stories that have been found on the walls of the temples and shows what his life would have been like growing up.Find out more about this young king of Egypt and his life in this 15-minute biography.LearningIsland.com believes in the value of chil...

Journeys in the Hinterlands of AfghanistanGolden Years of Nature ConversationThis book is a narrative of our trips into the mountains and plains of the country in search of its elusive wildlife. It is a testament of our encounters with the people of the land, their culture, folklore and how they cope with the rigors of life.It describes our experiences in Afghanistan during the 1970s as we were engaged in the starting of a natural resources conservation program and t...

The Nile River has amazed people for thousands of years. It runs opposite from most river systems. It floods for miles, pushing back the desert and providing farming lands for civilizations to thrive. It fills a massive swamp and has canyons and waterfalls that are as spectacular as anywhere in the world. Most of its course is through the desert, yet it never runs dry.How much do you know about the Nile River? Can you answer these questions:Is the Nile River the longest river...

A popular introduction to archaeology and the methods archaeologists use to reconstruct the history of ancient Israel.