""Perhaps no one has ever told the tale of Robinson's arrival in the major leagues] so well as Simon] does in this extended essay.""
--The Washington Post Book World

""Scott Simon tells a compelling story of risk and sacrifice, profound ugliness and profound grace, defiance and almost unimaginable courage. This is a meticulously researched, insightful, beautifully written book, one that should be read, reread, and remembered.""
--Laura Hillenbrand, author of the New York Times bestseller Seabiscuit...

""Most Americans living today never heard Ed Murrow in a live broadcast. This book is for them I want them to know that broadcast journalism was established by someone with the highest standards. Tabloid crime stories, so much a part of the lust for ratings by today's news broadcasters, held no interest for Murrow. He did like Hollywood celebrities, but interviewed them for his entertainment programs; they had no place on his news programs. My book is focused on this life in journalism. I offer it in the hope that more people in and...

The first title in ABC-CLIO's groundbreaking series Turning Points--Actual and Alternate Histories delves into the history of North America before European contact. There is much classroom literature on Native Americans after first contact; there is little on the history before. This work fills that gap, detailing the thousands of years before Europeans arrived.

Climate changes, major battles, technology, and settlement patterns--all played a part in shaping the pre-Columbian history of North America. This book takes eight key points in history, presents the facts as they happened, and...

This volume poses "what if" questions about ten crucial "tipping points" in the history of U.S. expansionism between 1800 and the Civil War. It not only describes what happened--in the case of Lewis and Clark, the War of 1812, the Monroe Doctrine, railroads and telegraphs, the Mexican War, the gold rush, the Compromise of 1850--it also offers alternative scenarios, essays on what "could" have happened.

In this exciting and imaginative approach to history, students not only develop analytical skills by tracing the causes and effects of crucial events; they are empowered by the knowledge...

In colorful, readable prose, this volume provides a full history of the Civil War--including John Brown's raid; the story of the Confederate States of America; the battles of Bull Run, Antietam, and Gettysburg; Sherman's March to the Sea; the Emancipation Proclamation; the Thirteenth Amendment; Lincoln's assassination; Reconstruction; and Andrew Johnson's impeachment.

But more importantly, it offers a range of essays on how events could have turned out differently--militarily, politically, and culturally. It challenges students and general readers alike to remember that the course of...

This volume in the Turning Points--Actual and Alternative Histories series looks at a tumultuous recent era in American history, a time when pivotal, often tragic, world-changing events seemed to be happening at an alarming rate.

"America in Revolt during the 1960s and 1970s" looks at 12 significant events, from the assassination of John F. Kennedy to the passage of the Civil Rights Act, from the student killings at Kent State to Richard Nixon's resignation. Drawing on the concepts of alternative history, the book portrays each event as it happened, then considers some plausible...

"The Reagan Era" explores a time that saw the rise of the political conservatism that has dominated U.S. politics in recent years, as well as the end of the Cold War, which drove American foreign policy for nearly a half century.

What if Jimmy Carter had successfully navigated the energy shortage and the Iranian hostage crisis? What if the assassination attempt on Reagan had succeed? What if Iran-Contra had not become a scandal? These are among the specific topics examined in

the book, which looks at 11 crucial events and speculates on the effects of alternative outcomes. By showing...

The fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453 marked the end of a thousand years of the Christian Roman Empire. Thereafter, world civilisation began a process of radical change. The West came to identify itself as Europe; the Russians were set on the path of autocracy; the Ottomans were transformed into a world power while the Greeks were left exiles in their own land. The loss of Constantinople created a void. How that void was to be filled is the subject of this book.

Michael Angold examines the context of late Byzantine civilisation and the cultural negotiation which allowed...