Covering people and events from the 1630s to the present day, this reference offers 455 entries on such topics as dirty politics, white-collar scams, botched cover-ups, tawdry love affairs, and despicable acts of corruption.

This A to Z biographical dictionary contains 260 entries on important Americans from colonial times to the present. Each entry begins with a short description of the person's importance, then the entry provides the person's birth date and information, and proceeds chronologically though his/her life. Suggestions for further reading follow each entry. There is a topical introduction to the book, a bibliography at the end of the book, two subject indexes, and a general index.

Did you know that Warren G. Harding played poker in the White House at least once a week? Or that Richard Nixon was a Quaker? The History Buff's Guide to the Presidents takes a peek behind the scenes, revealing everything you ever wanted to know about the families, personal habits, and social lives of the most powerful job in the world. Author Thomas R. Flagel's unique perspective on the presidents makes this an essential book for the merely curious and hardcore history buffs alike. From George Washington to Barack Obama, Flagel's top ten lists compile the most religious presidents, the biggest scandals, and more to present a comprehensive history of the American presidents. Do You Think You Know The Presidents? Top Ten Presidential Pastimes Top Ten Most Controversial Elections Top Ten Assassinations and Attempts Top Ten Debt Presidencies Top Ten Most Influential First Ladies

Ronald Reagans legacy as president is nearly unparalleled in American history due to his domestic and foreign policy leadership. Reagans contrarian insistence on advocating limited government and supply-side economics drew much bipartisan criticism, causing the Great Communicator to take his argument that lowering taxes would encourage economic growth directly to the people. The result? Congress granted $750 billion in tax cuts in 1981. The Reagan Revolution had begun. By mid-1983, the nations economy was booming. On President Reagans first day in office, the Iran Hostage Crisis finally came to an end. Fifty-two American embassy personnel held hostage by a defiant Iran during the last four hundred-plus days of the Carter administration were freeda definite win for all Americans. But Reagan soon was widely criticized for insulting Russias leaders by calling the Soviet Union the evil empire. Later, Reagan was criticized at home and abroad for challenging Soviet premier Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall. Reagans most criticized proposal of all, however, was his insistence on developing his Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)space weapons to defend America from incoming Soviet nuclear missiles. Domestic critics dismissed his proposal as a Star Wars fantasy (but the Soviets feared SDI). By December 1991, it was clear that Reagans Star Wars fantasy helped cause the bankruptcy and total collapse of the Soviet Union, bringing a peaceful end to the decades-long Cold War.

Above the Well explores race, language and literacy education through a combination of scholarship, personal history, and even a bit of fiction. Inoue comes to terms with his own languaging practices in his upbring and schooling, while also arguing that there are racist aspects to English language standards promoted in schools and civic life. His discussion includes the ways students and everyone in society are judged by and through tacit racialized languaging, which he labels White language supremacy and contributes to racialized violence in the world today. Inoue’s exploration ranges a wide array of topics: His experiences as a child playing Dungeons and Dragons with his twin brother; considerations of Taoist and Western dialectic logics; the economics of race and place; tacit language race wars waged in classrooms with style guides like Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style; and the damaging Horatio Alger narratives for people of color.

This dynamic, two-volume reference work covers the complete scandal-filled history of American political corruption. Over 350 information-packed entries explore the people, crimes, investigations and court cases behind 200 years of political scandals.

As the nineteenth century came to an end, a number of voices within the British and American magazine industries pushed back against serialisation as the dominant publication mode, experimenting instead with less conventional magazine formats. This book explores these formats, focusing (in particular) on the ways in which the periodical press first published The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and The Return of Sherlock Holmes. What led magazines to publish excerpts from a forthcoming book, or an entire novel in a single issue, or a discontinuous short-story series? How did these experimental modes affect the act of reading? Drawing on a range of archival and other primary sources, Literary Experiments in Magazine Publishing: Beyond Serialization addresses these and other questions.

A Code of Jewish Ethics, Volume 1: You Shall Be Holy is the initial volume of the first major code of Jewish ethics to be written in the English language. It is a monumental work on the vital topic of personal character and integrity by one of the premier Jewish scholars and thinkers of our time. With the stated purpose of restoring ethics to its central role in Judaism, Rabbi Joseph Telushkin offers hundreds of examples from the Torah, the Talmud, rabbinic commentaries, and contemporary stories to illustrate how ethical teachings can affect our daily behavior. The subjects dealt with are ones we all encounter. They include judging other people fairly; knowing when forgiveness is obligatory, optional, or forbidden; balancing humility and self-esteem; avoiding speech that shames others; restraining our impulses of envy, hatred, and revenge; valuing truth but knowing when lying is permitted; understanding why God is the ultimate basis of morality; and appreciating the great benefits of Torah study. Telushkin has arranged the book in the traditional style of Jewish codes, with topical chapters and numbered paragraphs. Statements of law are almost invariably followed by anecdotes illustrating how these principles have been, or can be, practiced in daily life. The book can be read straight through to provide a solid grounding in Jewish values, consulted as a reference when facing ethical dilemmas, or studied in a group. Vast in scope, this volume distills more than three thousand years of Jewish laws and suggestions on how to improve one’s character and become more honest, decent, and just. It is a landmark work of scholarship that is sure to influence the lives of Jews for generations to come, rich with questions to ponder and discuss, but primarily a book to live by.

For teachers at the college and high school levels, this volume provides cutting-edge research and practical strategies for incorporating sports into the U.S. history classroom.

From Jezebel to Catherine the Great, from Cleopatra to Mae West, from Mata Hari to Bonnie Parker, strong women have been a problem for historians, storytellers, and readers. Strong females smack of the unfeminine. They have been called wicked, wanton, and willful. Sometimes that is a just designation, but just as often it is not. "Well-behaved women seldom make history," is the frequently quoted statement by historian and feminist Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. But what makes these misbehaving women "bad"? Are we idolizing the wicked or salvaging the strong? In BAD GIRLS, readers meet twenty-six of history’s most notorious women, each with a rotten reputation. But authors Jane Yolen and Heidi Stemple remind us that there are two sides to every story. Was Delilah a harlot or hero? Was Catherine the Great a great ruler, or just plain ruthless? At the end of each chapter, Yolen and Stemple appear as themselves in comic panels as they debate each girl’s badness—Heidi as the prosecution, Jane for context. This unique and sassy examination of famed, female historical figures will engage readers with its unusual presentation of the subject matter. Heidi and Jane’s strong arguments for the innocence and guilt of each bad girl promotes the practice of critical thinking as well as the idea that history is subjective. Rebecca Guay’s detailed illustrations provide a rich, stylized portrait of each woman, while the inclusion of comic panels will resonate with fans of graphic novels.