Frank Carlson Library

Cataphracts' were the most heavily armoured form of cavalry in the ancient world, with riders and mounts both clad in heavy armour. Originating among the wealthiest nobles of various central Asian steppe tribes, such as the Massegatae and Scythians, they were adopted and adapted by several major empires. The Achaemenid Persians, Seleucids, Sassanians and eventually the Romans and their Byzantine successors. 0 0Usually armed with long lances, they...

True tales of executioners culled from the annals of history Award-winning mystery writer Howard Engel traces the hangman's tradition from medieval England and early Canada to the present-day United States. From beheadings and hangings to the electric chair, Engel offers gritty details of the executioner's process, focusing on key players who epitomize both the exemplars and buffoons of the dark profession. Citing far-removed examples of past punishments,...

The Politics of Upheaval, 1935-1936, volume three of Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and biographer Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.'s Age of Roosevelt series, concentrates on the turbulent concluding years of Franklin D. Roosevelt's first term. A measure of economic recovery revived political conflict and emboldened FDR's critics to denounce "that man in the White house." To his left were demagogues - Huey Long, Father Coughlin, and Dr. Townsend. To his...

"A deeply-researched, dramatic, and character-driven narrative account of the violent struggle between Union and Confederate forces to claim the American West during the Civil War"-- "A dramatic, riveting, and deeply researched narrative account of the epic struggle for the West during the Civil War, revealing a little-known, vastly important episode in American history. In The Three-Cornered War Megan Kate Nelson reveals the fascinating history...

Penguin delivers you to the front lines of The Pacific Theater with the real-life stories behind the HBO miniseries. Former Marine and Pacific War veteran Robert Leckie tells the story of the invasion of Okinawa, the closing battle of World War II. Leckie is a skilled military historian, mixing battle strategy and analysis with portraits of the men who fought on both sides to give the listener a complete account of the invasion. Lasting eighty-three...

Told from the tender perspective of a young girl who comes of age amid the Cambodian killing fields, this novel is based on the author's personal story. For seven-year-old Raami, the shattering end of childhood begins with the footsteps of her father returning home in the early dawn hours bringing details of the civil war that has overwhelmed the streets of Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital. Soon the family's world of carefully guarded royal privilege...

An award-wining biologist explores the dramatic expeditions that unearthed the history of life on Earth--from the epic journeys of pioneering naturalists to the breakthroughs making headlines today.

From Pulitzer Prize-winning author Taylor Branch, the second part of his epic trilogy on the American Civil Rights Movement. In the second volume of his three-part history, a monumental trilogy that began with Parting the Waters, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award, Taylor Branch portrays the Civil Rights Movement at its zenith, recounting the climactic struggles as they commanded the national stage.

Pen-and-ink drawings of nineteenth century New England mills demonstrate their changes in architecture, power production and mechanization.

"Acclaimed history writer William Weir takes on the most common myths that our school textbooks have proliferated through the years. He not only uncovers some startling untruths, but also he exposes the reasoning behind each lie and examines why the myths keep going. The true stories behind historical events give readers a fascinating new look at our past. The revelations shock and amaze by exposing veiled motivations and convenient inaccuracies in...