History in Action

Dive into thrilling tales of the past with 'History in Action'—explore gripping action books that bring history's most epic events and heroes to life.

Stardust Cover
Book

Stardust

by Neil Gaiman

Young Tristran Thorn will do anything to win the cold heart of beautiful Victoria—even fetch her the star they watch fall from the night sky. But to do so, he must enter the unexplored lands on the other side of the ancient wall that gives their tiny village its name. Beyond that old stone wall, Tristran learns, lies Faerie—where nothing, not even a fallen star, is what he imagined. From #1 New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman comes a remarkable quest into the dark and miraculous—in pursuit of love and the utterly impossible.
Sons of Yocahu Cover
Book

Sons of Yocahu

by Gloria Bond

"When Christopher Columbus landed on the island known as Hispaniola, he discovered the magnificent culture of the Tainan people, a people who believed in peace because of the teachings of their great zemie, Yocahu. Many of the arriving Europeans brought with them brutal assumptions of superiority. Would the Taino tradition of peace be destroyed by that brutality? Or would the Europeans who claimed to worship the 'Prince of Peace' learn from those they conquered?"--P. [4] of cover.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay Cover
Book

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

by Michael Chabon

This brilliant epic novel set in New York and Prague introduces us to two misfit young men who make it big by creating comic-book superheroes. Joe Kavalier, a young artist who has also been trained in the art of Houdiniesque escape, has just smuggled himself out of Nazi-invaded Prague and landed in New York City. His Brooklyn cousin Sammy Clay is looking for a partner to create heroes, stories, and art for the latest novelty to hit America the comic book. Inspired by their own fears and dreams, Kavalier and Clay create the Escapists, The Monitor, and Luna Moth, inspired by the beautiful Rosa Saks, who will become linked by powerful ties to both men. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is the winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
The Power of One Cover
Book

The Power of One

by Bryce Courtenay

“The Power of One has everything: suspense, the exotic, violence; mysticism, psychology and magic; schoolboy adventures, drama.” –The New York Times “Unabashedly uplifting . . . asserts forcefully what all of us would like to believe: that the individual, armed with the spirit of independence–‘the power of one’–can prevail.” –Cleveland Plain Dealer In 1939, as Hitler casts his enormous, cruel shadow across the world, the seeds of apartheid take root in South Africa. There, a boy called Peekay is born. His childhood is marked by humiliation and abandonment, yet he vows to survive and conceives heroic dreams–which are nothing compared to what life actually has in store for him. He embarks on an epic journey through a land of tribal superstition and modern prejudice where he will learn the power of words, the power to transform lives, and the power of one. “Totally engrossing . . . [presents] the metamorphosis of a most remarkable young man and the almost spiritual influence he has on others . . . Peekay has both humor and a refreshingly earthy touch, and his adventures, at times, are hair-raising in their suspense.” –Los Angeles Times Book Review “Marvelous . . . It is the people of the sun-baked plains of Africa who tug at the heartstrings in this book. . . . [Bryce] Courtenay draws them all with a fierce and violent love.” –The Washington Post Book World “Impressive.” –Newsday “A compelling tale.” –The Christian Science Monitor
Till We Have Faces Cover
Book

Till We Have Faces

by Clive Staples Lewis

This is the story of Orual, Psyche's embittered and ugly older sister, who posessively and harmfully loves Psyche. Much to Orual's frustration, Psyche is loved by Cupid, the god of love himself, setting the troubled Orual on a path of moral development.
The sign of the beaver Cover
Book

The sign of the beaver

 

No summary available.
Heaven's Net is Wide Cover
Book

Heaven's Net is Wide

by Lian Hearn

Follows the story of spiritual mentor Lord Otori Shigeru, who receives warrior training, forges a relationship with a tribe of mysterious assassins, and meets the Lady Maruyama.
The Land of the Silver Apples Cover
Book

The Land of the Silver Apples

by Nancy Farmer

THE CHILDREN FROM THE SEA OF TROLLS BRAVE THEIR WORST NIGHTMARES -- UNDERGROUND. Jack is amazed to have caused an earthquake. He is thirteen, after all, and only a bard-in-training. But his sister, Lucy, has been stolen by the Lady of the Lake; stolen a second time in her young life, as he learns to his terror. Caught between belief in the old gods and Christianity (790 AD, Britain), Jack calls upon his ash wood staff to subdue a passel of unruly monks, and, for his daring, ends up in a knucker hole. It is unforgettable -- for the boy and for readers -- as are the magical reappearance of the berserker Thorgil from a burial by moss; new characters Pega, a slave girl from Jack's village, and the eager-to-marry-her Bugaboo (a hobgoblin king); kelpies; yarthkins; and elves (not the enchanted sprites one would expect but the fallen angels of legend). Rarely does a sequel enlarge so brilliantly the world of the first story. Look for the conclusion in The Islands of the Blessed in 2009.
Item Not Found
ID: 0399154434
(Type: books)
Fever 1793 Cover
Book

Fever 1793

by Laurie Halse Anderson

An epidemic of fever sweeps through the streets of 1793 Philadelphia in this novel from Laurie Halse Anderson where "the plot rages like the epidemic itself" (The New York Times Book Review). During the summer of 1793, Mattie Cook lives above the family coffee shop with her widowed mother and grandfather. Mattie spends her days avoiding chores and making plans to turn the family business into the finest Philadelphia has ever seen. But then the fever breaks out. Disease sweeps the streets, destroying everything in its path and turning Mattie's world upside down. At her feverish mother's insistence, Mattie flees the city with her grandfather. But she soon discovers that the sickness is everywhere, and Mattie must learn quickly how to survive in a city turned frantic with disease.
Item Not Found
ID: 0316286125
(Type: books)
Item Not Found
ID: 006093638X
(Type: books)
River God Cover
Book

River God

by Wilbur Smith

A Novel of Ancient Egypt.
Crispin Cover
Book

Crispin

 

No summary available.
Item Not Found
ID: 0060561564
(Type: books)
Quicksilver Cover
Book

Quicksilver

by Neal Stephenson

Quicksilver is the story of Daniel Waterhouse, fearless thinker and conflicted Puritan, pursuing knowledge in the company of the greatest minds of Baroque-era Europe, in a chaotic world where reason wars with the bloody ambitions of the mighty, and where catastrophe, natural or otherwise, can alter the political landscape overnight. It is a chronicle of the breathtaking exploits of "Half-Cocked Jack" Shaftoe -- London street urchin turned swashbuckling adventurer and legendary King of the Vagabonds -- risking life and limb for fortune and love while slowly maddening from the pox. And it is the tale of Eliza, rescued by Jack from a Turkish harem to become spy, confidante, and pawn of royals in order to reinvent Europe through the newborn power of finance. A gloriously rich, entertaining, and endlessly inventive novel that brings a remarkable age and its momentous events to vivid life, Quicksilver is an extraordinary achievement from one of the most original and important literary talents of our time. And it's just the beginning ...
The Last Kingdom Cover
Book

The Last Kingdom

by Bernard Cornwell

In the middle years of the ninth-century, the fierce Danes stormed onto British soil, hungry for spoils and conquest. Kingdom after kingdom fell to the ruthless invaders until but one realm remained. And suddenly the fate of all England—and the course of history—depended upon one man, one king. From New York Times bestselling storyteller Bernard Cornwell comes a rousing epic adventure of courage, treachery, duty, devotion, majesty, love, and battle as seen through the eyes of a young warrior who straddled two worlds.
Item Not Found
ID: 0060728310
(Type: books)
Item Not Found
ID: 1590131436
(Type: books)
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Cover
Book

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

by Mark Twain

Our classic and authoritative edition with a new cover to match the new edition of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Johnny Got His Gun Cover
Book

Johnny Got His Gun

by Dalton Trumbo

A powerful narrative which exposes the brutalities and useless suffering caused by war.
Labyrinth Cover
Book

Labyrinth

by Kate Mosse

July 2005. In the Pyrenees mountains near Carcassonne, Alice, a volunteer at an archaeological dig, stumbles into a cave and makes a startling discovery-two crumbling skeletons, strange writings on the walls, and the pattern of a labyrinth. Eight hundred years earlier, on the eve of a brutal crusade that will rip apart southern France, a young woman named Alais is given a ring and a mysterious book for safekeeping by her father. The book, he says, contains the secret of the true Grail, and the ring, inscribed with a labyrinth, will identify a guardian of the Grail. Now, as crusading armies gather outside the city walls of Carcassonne, it will take a tremendous sacrifice to keep the secret of the labyrinth safe.
Item Not Found
ID: 039598078X
(Type: books)
The Last Cavalier Cover
Book

The Last Cavalier

by Alexandre Dumas

Rousing, big, spirited, its action sweeping across oceans and continents, the last novel of Alexandre Dumas-lost for 125 years in the archives of the National Library in Paris-completes the oeuvre that Dumas imagined at the outset of his literary career. Now, dynamically, in a tale of family honor and undying vengeance, of high adventure and heroic derring-do, The Last Cavalier fills that gap. The last cavalier is also the last Count Hector de Sainte-Hermine, who for three years has been languishing in prison when, in 1804, on the eve of Napoleon's coronation as emperor of France, he learns what's to be his due. Stripped of his title and denied the hand of the woman he loves, he is freed by Napoleon on the condition that he serve as a common foot soldier in the imperial army. So it is in profound despair that Hector embarks on a succession of daring escapades. Again and again he wins glory-against brigands, bandits, the British; boa constrictors, sharks, crocodiles. And at the battle of Trafalgar it's his marksman's bullet that fells the famed English admiral Lord Nelson. Yet however far his adventures may take him-from Burma's jungles to the wilds of Ireland-his destiny lies always in Paris, with his father's enemy, Napoleon. One of the most famous French writers of the nineteenth century, Alexandre Dumas (1802â__1870) is best remembered for two enormous books, The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers . Both novels have sold millions of copies worldwide.
The Gods of War Cover
Book

The Gods of War

by Conn Iggulden

Conclusion of the trilogy that began with "The Field of swords" and continued with "The Gates of Rome". Caesar is preparing to lead his troops across the Rubicon River to confront his last rival for supreme power.
The Courage of Sarah Noble Cover
Book

The Courage of Sarah Noble

by Alice Dalgliesh

Sarah and her father leave their family to build a home in the wilderness of colonial America. When they finish, he goes away to bring the rest of the family, telling her that "to be afraid and to be brave is the best courage of all." "This story is one to be long remembered for its beautiful simplicity and dignity."--"New York Times Book Review." Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.
Heyday Cover
Book

Heyday

by Kurt Andersen

Englishman Benjamin Knowles heads for America to build a new life and joins up with three young Americans--journalist Timothy Skaggs, war veteran Duff Lucking, and Duff's actress sister, Polly--to seek their fortunes in the gold fields of California.
A Lion to Guard Us Cover
Book

A Lion to Guard Us

 

No summary available.
The Seventh Scroll Cover
Book

The Seventh Scroll

by Wilbur Smith

The discovery of the Seventh Scroll, an ancient Egyptian papyrus containing the secret to a pharaoh's hidden tomb and its wealth, unleashes a deadly race to find the secret treasure.
The fighting ground Cover
Book

The fighting ground

 

No summary available.
Brethren Cover
Book

Brethren

 

No summary available.
Power of the Sword Cover
Book

Power of the Sword

 

No summary available.
Item Not Found
ID: 0060275243
(Type: books)
Emperor Cover
Book

Emperor

by Conn Iggulden

This critically acclaimed novel takes the reader on a breathtaking journey from the grandeur of Rome to the savagery of its most far-flung provinces, as one of history's greatest narratives unfolds.
Item Not Found
ID: 0964380331
(Type: books)
The Egyptian Cover
Book

The Egyptian

by Mika Waltari

Set in Egypt, more than a thousand years before Christ, it encompasses all of the then-known world. It is told by Sinhue, physician to the Pharaoh Akhenaton, and is the story of his life. Through his eyes are seen innumerable characters, fully drawn and covering the whole panorama of the ancient world.
1633 Cover
Book

1633

by Eric Flint

Science fiction-roman.
Indian Captive Cover
Book

Indian Captive

by Lois Lenski

In this classic frontier adventure, Lois Lenskireconstructs the real life story of Mary Jemison, who was captured in a raid as young girl and raised amongst the Seneca Indians. Meticulously researched and illustrated with many detailed drawings, this novel offers an exceptionally vivid and personal portrait of Native American life and customs.
The Last Legion Cover
Book

The Last Legion

by Valerio Massimo Manfredi

Follows the meeting between Arthur Pendragon and the wizard Merlin, during which a small band of British Roman soldiers embarks on a daring rescue mission across northern Europe to save the son of the last emperor, Romulus Augustus.