Delgado explores the intersection of technological innovation and American capitalism during the Civil War era, highlighting the ambitious yet misguided efforts to develop submarines. The narrative delves into the challenges faced due to a lack of understanding regarding the physiological impacts of deep diving, illustrating both the ingenuity and naivety of the time. This historical account sheds light on the complexities of progress amidst the backdrop of war.
Alcatraz the island has a history much longer than the years its famous prison was in operation, and this 48-page book traces more than a hundred years of island history -- as a fort, as a military prison, and finally as the inescapable federal penitentiary that housed such notorious criminals as Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelly, and Robert Birdman Stroud. The island is now part of a national park and visited by nearly one million curious people each year.
A portrait of the national parks depicts Old Faithful, the Colorado River, the Grand Canyon, the Everglades, the Appalachians, and other pristine lands from Maine to Samoa
Set against the backdrop of the Gold Rush era, this book explores the vibrant and tumultuous life in a bustling port town during a time of great opportunity and hardship. It delves into the stories of diverse characters drawn to the promise of wealth, showcasing their struggles, ambitions, and the impact of the gold rush on society and culture. The narrative captures the excitement and challenges of this historical period, offering insights into the human spirit amid the quest for fortune.
In 1279, off China’s southeast coast, Khubilai Khan routed the Song navy and completed the grand dream of his grandfather, Genghis Khan—the conquest of China. The Grand Khan now ruled the largest empire the world had ever seen, stretching from the China Sea to the plains of Hungary. Having also inadvertently inherited the world’s largest navy—more than seven hundred ships—the Mongols began audacious attacks on Japan, Vietnam and Java. Yet within fifteen years, Khubilai had squandered his massive fleet, and the Mongols were a spent maritime force.Considered for centuries to be little more than legend, the story of the Mongols’ fleet has finally been confirmed. Renowned archaeologist and historian James P. Delgado has dived with the Japanese team studying the remains of the Khan’s lost fleet at Takashima. Using original sources as diverse as actual sunken ships, land excavations, temple inscriptions, hand-painted scrolls and historical and literary records from China, Japan and Vietnam, Delgado takes the reader on an exciting history of Khubilai Khan’s great Mongol navy, whose rise and fall presaged the great fleets of the fifteenth-century Ming Dynasty, made famous in the best-seller 1421 .
