17th century

"New York Times bestselling author and art critic Laura Cumming reveals the fascinating, little-known story of the Thunderclap--the massive explosion at a gunpowder store in Holland that killed Carel Fabritius, renowned painter of The Goldfinch, and nearly killed Johannes Vermeer, painter of Girl with a Pearl Earring--two of the greatest artists of the 17th century"--.

"Bust some of history's biggest myths and learn the truth about the Salem witch trials"--Provided by publisher.

"Bust some of history's biggest myths and learn the truth about the Salem witch trials"--.

By looking at clothing that was bought, created, and remade, Maeve Kane brings to life how Haudenosaunee women used access to global trade to maintain a distinct and enduring Haudenosaunee identity in the face of colonial pressures to assimilate and disappear. Drawing on rich oral, archival, material, visual, and quantitative evidence, Shirts Powdered Red tells the story of how Haudenosaunee people worked to maintain their nations' cultural and political sovereignty through selective engagement with trade and the rhetoric of civility, even as Haudenosaunee clothing and gendered labor increasingly became the focus of colonial conversion efforts throughout the upheavals and dispossession of the nineteenth century. Shirts Powdered Red offers a sweeping, detailed cultural history of three centuries of Haudenosaunee women's labor and their agency to shape their nations' future.

"No one in Salem was safe. From 1692 through 1693 neighbors were accusing neighbors of witchcraft and sentencing one another to death. Follow along with the true story of a doomed town in the midst of some of the world's most famous witch trials"--Provided by publisher.

"The unlikely true story of why we know the name William Shakespeare today, and the four-hundred-year-old book that made it possible. Four hundred years ago, no one bothered to write down the exact words of stage plays. Characters' lines were scribbled on small rolls of paper (as in, an actor's role) and passed around, but no master script was saved for the future. The main reason we've heard of Romeo, Juliet, Hamlet, and Shakespeare himself is that a group of people made the excellent choice to preserve the plays after the Bard died. If they hadn't created the book known as the 'First Folio,' Shakespeare and his works would surely have been lost to history. Part literary scavenger hunt (the search for every existing First Folio continues today), part book trivia treasure trove, and part love letter to Shakespeare, this behind-the-scenes, sharply funny true story is an ideal introduction to the Bard and his famous plays"--Provided by publisher.

"Some studies of early America highlight events such as the first Thanksgiving and the establishment of different colonies. But true historians realize that American history is tightly bound to the history of enslavement in the Americas. This carefully researched volume presents the difficult topic of American slavery sensitively yet comprehensively. Readers will learn about the European slave trade and how and why it expanded to the American colonies. They'll also learn how slavery repeatedly threatened to tear the nation apart for decades before the Civil War"--Provided by publisher.

"[The author] revisits one of the most frightening and inexplicable episodes in American history: the events of 1692 and 1693 in Salem Village, Massachusetts. What began as a mysterious affliction of two young girls who suffered violent fits and exhibited strange behavior soon spread to other young women. Rumors of demonic possession and witchcraft consumed Salem. Soon three women were arrested under suspicion of being witches--but as the hysteria spread, more than 200 people were accused. Thirty were found guilty, twenty were executed, and others died in jail or their lives were ruined. What really happened in Salem? [This book] tells the horrifying story of a colonial town's madness, offering the historical context of similar episodes of community mania during that time, and exploring the evidence that emerged in the Salem trials, in contemporary accounts, and in subsequent investigations"--Provided by publisher.

"Follow the terrifying events of the 1692 Salem witch trials from the perspective of Tituba, an enslaved woman who was accused of bewitching two girls, Elizabeth Parris and Abigail Williams, during this harrowing, historic period. A story of speculation, mass hysteria, and survival, this graphic novel invites readers to immerse themselves into this haunting moment in American history - brought to life by gripping narrative and vivid full-color illustrations that jump off the page"--Provided by publisher.

Looks at the history of the Salem Witch Hunt.