civilization

Of all the peoples who fought for supremacy on the vast eastern European plains, the Slavs have proved the most enduring. This book describes how they spread out from homelands beyond the Carpathian Mountains, settling territory south into the Balkans and as far west as the Elbe River. Equally impressive is their spiritual journey, which began with the worship of ancient pagan gods and matured with the dawn of the Christian age. Any reader will be fascinated by these lesser-known myths.

"This book introduces readers to the epic legends and myths of Mesopotamia's ancient civilizations. One such story tells of the rage of the goddess Ishtar. Spurned by the warrior-king Gilgamesh and seeking to wreak her revenge, Ishtar persuaded her father, Anu, to release the Bull of Heaven. When the Bull snorted, huge chasms opened in the ground, sending hundreds of young men tumbling to their deaths. Gilgamesh slew the Bull and took the beast's horns as a trophy. This is only one of the many fantastic tales vividly retold in this fascinating book"--Provided by publisher.

"Okey Ndibe's funny, charming, and penetrating memoir tells of his move from Nigeria to America, where he came to edit the influential--but forever teetering on the verge of insolvency--African Commentary magazine. It recounts stories of Ndibe's relationships with Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, and other literary figures; examines the differences between Nigerian and American etiquette and politics; recalls an incident of racial profiling just 13 days after he arrived in the US, in which he was mistaken for a bank robber; considers American stereotypes about Africa (and vice-versa); and juxtaposes African folk tales with Wall Street trickery. All these stories and more come together in a generous, encompassing book about the making of a writer and a new American"--.

The American flag, the Statue of Liberty, and US popular culture are all world-famous symbols of the United States. In ... this book, readers will learn about the history and meaning behind these and other parts of the United States' unique cultural identity.

In 2009, award-winning journalist Rebecca Traister started All the Single Ladies about the twenty-first century phenomenon of the American single woman. It was the year the proportion of American women who were married dropped below fifty percent; and the median age of first marriages, which had remained between twenty and twenty-two years old for nearly a century (1890?1980), had risen dramatically to twenty-seven. But over the course of her vast research and more than a hundred interviews with academics and social scientists and prominent single women, Traister discovered a startling truth: the phenomenon of the single woman in America is not a new one. And historically, when women were given options beyond early heterosexual marriage, the results were massive social change?temperance, abolition, secondary education, and more. Today, only twenty percent of Americans are married by age twenty-nine, compared to nearly sixty percent in 1960.

From very early on in his career, John F. Kennedy?s allure was more akin to a movie star than a presidential candidate. Why were Americans so attracted to Kennedy in the late 1950s and early 1960s?his glamorous image, good looks, cool style, tough-minded rhetoric, and sex appeal? As Steve Watts argues, JFK was tailor made for the cultural atmosphere of his time. He benefited from a crisis of manhood that had welled up in postwar America when men had become ensnared by bureaucracy, softened by suburban comfort, and emasculated by a generation of newly-aggressive women. Kennedy appeared to revive the modern American man as youthful and vigorous, masculine and athletic, and a sexual conquistador. His cultural crusade involved other prominent figures, including Frank Sinatra, Norman Mailer, Ian Fleming, Hugh Hefner, Ben Bradlee, Kirk Douglas, and Tony Curtis, who collectively symbolized masculine regeneration.

Ms. Frizzle and her tour group are transported to ancient Egypt, where they learn about the pyramids, mummification, flooding of the Nile, and other aspects of life in Egypt long ago.

Discusses China, the world's oldest continuous civilization, from history and beliefs to everyday lives.

Presents little-known facts about ancient Egypt, including discussion of pharaohs, health and medicine, geography and climate, the afterlife, pyramids, and the civilization's downfall.