From hand tools to holidays to weapons to washing machines, "An Uncommon History of Common Things" features hundreds of colorful illustrations, timelines, sidebars, and more as it explores just about every subject under the sun. Who knew that indoor plumbing has been around for 4,600 years, but punctuation, capital letters, and the handy spaces between written words only date back to the Dark Ages? Or that ancient soldiers baked a kind of pizza on...

Jane Addams (1860-1935) was one of the leading figures of the Progressive era. This "pragmatic visionary," as Knight calls her, is best known as the creator of Hull House, a model settlement house offering training, shelter, and culture for Chicago's poor. Addams also involved herself in a long list of Progressive campaigns. Her rhetorical skills as both speaker and writer made her internationally recognized as a supporter of civil rights, woman suffrage,...

"From Hollywood to the halls of Congress, a lively conversation about women's leadership, equal pay, and family-work balance is underway. On the cusp of a historic breakthrough-- the potential election of America's first woman president-- Nancy L. Cohen takes us inside the world of America's women political leaders. Drawing on hundreds of hours of interviews with women governors and senators from both parties, experts, political operatives, and a...

Discusses the hollowing out of small-town America, a phenomenon in which young people graduate from high school and leave their small hometowns, many never to return, and discusses why it is important to the country to keep rural heartland towns growing and thriving.