Tom Shachtman
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This is the long-hidden saga of how a handful of Americans and East Africans fought the British colonial government, the U.S. State Department, and segregation to transport to, or support at, U.S. and Canadian universities, between 1959 and 1963, nearly 800 young East African men and women who would go on to change their world and ours. The students supported included Barack Obama Sr., future father of a U.S. president, Wangari Maathai, future Nobel...
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"In The Founding Fortunes, historian Tom Shachtman offers an in-depth look at a time when money became as vital as guns in securing victory on the Revolutionary War's battlefields, and how some of America's wealthiest men risked their fortunes to aid the new country even as they reaped benefits from its independence. While history teaches that successful revolutions depend on participation by the common man, the establishment of a stable and independent...
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Americans today have a love/hate relationship with France, but in How the French Saved America Tom Shachtman shows that without France, there might not be a United States of America.
To the rebelling colonies, French assistance made the difference between looming defeat and eventual triumph. Even before the Declaration of Independence was issued, King Louis XVI and French foreign minister Vergennes were aiding the rebels. After the Declaration,...
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A revelatory look at Amish youth as they have never been looked at before
Rumspringa is a fascinating look at a little-known Amish coming-of-age ritual, the rumspringa-the period of "running around" that begins for their youth at age sixteen. Through vivid portraits of teenagers in Ohio and Indiana, Tom Shachtman
offers an account of Amish life as a mirror to the soul-searching and questing that we recognize as a generally intrinsic part of adolescence.
The...
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In this engrossing scientific chronicle, a perennial paperback favorite, Tom Shachtman combines science, history, and adventure in the story of our four-centuries-long quest to master the secrets of cold. Now a documentary based largely on Shachtman's acclaimed book promises to bring these exhilarating scientific accomplishments to a new audience. Underwritten by the National Science Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and set to air on...
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Explores the scientific pursuits and discoveries of the Founding Fathers, from George Washington's embrace of an experimental vaccination for smallpox that saved the American army in 1777 to Thomas Paine's many inventions, including the first-ever iron span bridge. --Publisher's description.
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A city with eight million people has eight million ways to die
For fifteen years, Shiya Ribowsky worked as a medicolegal investigator in New York City's medical examiner's office-the largest, most sophisticated organization of its kind in the world. Utilizing his background in medicine, he led the investigations of more than eight thousand individual deaths, becoming a key figure in some of New York's most bizarre death cases and eventually taking...
10) Growing up Masai
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Describes the daily activities of two young members of the Masai tribe.
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Presents over 25 villages and small towns in New England, chosen for their beauty and historical significance and for the way they represent the region's diverse landscape. The photographs aim to capture the phenomenon of New England's seasons. The book comes with a map and a traveller's guide.
18) Absolute zero
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Presents the history of low-temperature research and the quest for ever-lower notches on the thermometer. The conquest of cold opens with experiments in the 1600s that asked what heat and cold are and whether they are different aspects of the same phenomenon. Shows how the experiments that settled those questions helped stoke the Industrial Revolution. The race for absolute zero dramatizes the rivalry between Scottish researcher James Dewar and Dutch...