Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

Drawing on the diaries of a midwife and healer in eighteenth-century Maine, this intimate history illuminates the medical practices, household economies, religious rivalries, and sexual mores of the New England frontier.

The Wordy Shipmates

by Sarah Vowell

The Wordy Shipmates is New York Times –bestselling author Sarah Vowell’s exploration of the Puritans and their journey to America to become the people of John Winthrop’s “city upon a hill”—a shining example, a “city that cannot be hid.” To this day, America views itself as a Puritan nation, but Vowell investigates what that means— and what it should mean. What was this great political enterprise all about? Who... (more)

The Historians' History of the United States - The Pageant of American History From the Outstanding Works of America's Foremost Historians (2 Volume Set)

The Historians' History of the United States - The Pageant of American History From the Outstanding Works of America's Foremost Historians (2 Volume Set)

This book does not attempt to present a balanced, comprehensive history of the United States. It focuses rather on the pivotal events of American history, and as much upon the historian who has recorded them as upon the events. The historian is primarily an investigator, seeking within the framework of extant evidence to pose and answer questions about the past. Yet rarely, if ever, can a historian achieve an... (more)

The General Textile Strike of 1934: From Maine to Alabama

The General Textile Strike of 1934: From Maine to Alabama

by John A. Salmond

In January 1933, the United Textile Workers of America was in danger of collapse. Its membership was no larger than 15,000; its attempts to organize southern workers had failed disastrously; and it was constantly under attack from rival organizations. Yet, barely eighteen months later, with 300,000 dues-paying members, with newly established or revived branches covering southern cotton textile workers, as well as... (more)

The Naked Quaker: True Crimes and Controversies from the Courts of Colonial New England

The Naked Quaker: True Crimes and Controversies from the Courts of Colonial New England

by Diane Rapaport

A lawyer and historian scours the court records of early New England to reveal the daily underside of Puritan life.

Moby Dick or the Whale

by Herman Melville

Under the Cope of Heaven

by Patricia U. Bonomi

In this pathbreaking study, Patricia Bonomi argues that religion was as instrumental as either politics or the economy in shaping early American life and values. Looking at the middle and southern colonies as well as at Puritan New England, Bonomi finds an abundance of religious vitality through the colonial years among clergy and churchgoers of diverse religious background. The book also explores the tightening... (more)

Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War

Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War

by Nathaniel Philbrick, Nathaniel Philbrick

Nathaniel Philbrick became an internationally renowned author with his National Book Award– winning In the Heart of the Sea , hailed as "spellbinding" by Time magazine. In Mayflower , Philbrick casts his spell once again, giving us a fresh and extraordinarily vivid account of our most sacred national myth: the voyage of the Mayflower and the settlement of Plymouth Colony. From the Mayflower ’s... (more)

A Civil Action (Vintage Books) (Vintage)

A Civil Action (Vintage Books) (Vintage)

by Jonathan Harr

"The legal thriller of the decade." --Cleveland Plain Dealer Now a Major Motion Picture! In this true story of an epic courtroom showdown, two of the nation's largest corporations stand accused of causing the deaths of children. Representing the bereaved parents, the unlikeliest of heroes emerges: a young, flamboyant Porsche-driving lawyer who hopes to win millions of dollars and ends up nearly losing... (more)

Famous Trials - The Boston Massacre (Famous Trials)

Famous Trials - The Boston Massacre (Famous Trials)

by Bonnie L. Lukes

Historical examination of the aftermath, including the trials, of the Boston Massacre of 1770.

Death at an Early Age

by Jonathan Kozol

Red Sox and Bluefish: And Other Things That Make New England New England

Red Sox and Bluefish: And Other Things That Make New England New England

by Susan Orlean

In these essays that first appeared in the Boston Globe magazine, Orlean notes the quirks, oddities and characters who lend a distinctive charm to New England. There's a hilarious chapter on Harvard Square. ("Do you want to relive the '60s? The '70s? The early '80s? Have you ever matriculated at, applied to, or pretended to attend Harvard University?") There is an essay on boiled dinners. ("No New Englander dares... (more)

William Lloyd Garrison and the Fight Against Slavery: Selections from the Liberator (Bedford Series in History and Culture)

William Lloyd Garrison and the Fight Against Slavery: Selections from the Liberator (Bedford Series in History and Culture)

by William E. Cain, William Lloyd Garrison

William E. Cain is professor of English at Wellesley College. His scholarly work is concentrated on nineteenth- and twentieth-century America, with a special focus on the literature and history of the Civil War period. His publications include The Crisis in Criticism (1984) and F. O. Mathiessen and the Politics of Criticism (1988) in addition to numerous essays on English and American literature, American and... (more)

A Delusion of Satan: The Full Story of the Salem Witch Trials

A Delusion of Satan: The Full Story of the Salem Witch Trials

by Frances Hill

This acclaimed history illuminates the horrifying episode of Salem with visceral clarity, from those who fanned the crisis to satisfy personal vendettas to the four-year-old "witch" chained to a dank prison wall in darkness till she went mad. Antonia Fraser called it "a grisly read and an engrossing one."

The Peabody Sisters: Three Women Who Ignited American Romanticism

The Peabody Sisters: Three Women Who Ignited American Romanticism

by Megan Marshall

Fascinating, insightful, and wholly engrossing, The Peabody Sisters is a landmark biography of three women who made American intellectual history.Though theirs may not be household names, Elizabeth, Mary, and Sophia Peabody had an extraordinary influence on the thought of their day, the movement of intense creative ferment known as American Romanticism. Megan Marshall adeptly brings to life the sisters and the men... (more)

King Philip's War: The History and Legacy of America's Forgotten Conflict

King Philip's War: The History and Legacy of America's Forgotten Conflict

by Eric B. Schultz

King Philip's War--one of America's first and costliest wars--began in 1675 as an Indian raid on several farms in Plymouth Colony, but quickly escalated into a full-scale war engulfing all of southern New England. At once an in-depth history of this pivotal war and a guide to the historical sites where the ambushes, raids, and battles took place, King Philip's War expands our understanding of American history... (more)

The Name of War: King Philip's War and the Origins of American Identity (Vintage)

The Name of War: King Philip's War and the Origins of American Identity (Vintage)

by Jill Lepore

Skillfully interpreting reactions to the war on both sides, the historian author reveals the crucial role the conflict played in shaping the adversaries' ideas of themselves and to each other. 34 illustrations, 2 maps.

Judge Sewall's Apology: The Salem Witch Trials and the Forming of an American Conscience

Judge Sewall's Apology: The Salem Witch Trials and the Forming of an American Conscience

by Richard Francis

The Salem witch hunt has entered our vocabulary as the very essence of injustice. Judge Samuel Sewall presided at these trials, passing harsh judgment on the condemned. But five years later, he publicly recanted his guilty verdicts and begged for forgiveness. This extraordinary act was a turning point not only for Sewall but also for America's nascent values and mores. In Judge Sewall's Apology , Richard... (more)

The Salem Witch Trials: An Unsolved Mystery from History

The Salem Witch Trials: An Unsolved Mystery from History

by Jane Yolen, Heidi Elisabet Y Stemple

In 1692 Salem, Massachusetts, witnessed one of the saddest and most inexplicable chapters in American history. When a group of girls came down with a horrible, mysterious bout of illness, the town doctor looked in his medical books but failed to find a reasonable diagnosis. Pretty soon everyone in town was saying the same thing: The girls were ill because they were under a spell, the spell of witchcraft! And... (more)

Hope Leslie [EasyRead Comfort Edition]

by Catharine Maria Sedgwick

Set in 17th-century New England, this is a portrait of early American life and the role of women in building the Republic. It challenges the conventional view of Indians, tackles interracial marriage and cross-cultural friendship, and claims for women their rightful place in history.

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Tags: history-u.s.-new england

The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812

by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich