What was...?
Author
1)
What was Pearl Harbor?
Author
4)
What was the Boston Tea Party?
Author
5)
What was the first Thanksgiving?
Author
6)
What was the Gold Rush?
Author
7)
What was the March on Washington?
Author
Author
Series
Language
English
Formats
Description
"No one knows where the term Underground Railroad came from--there were no trains or tracks, only 'conductors' who helped escaping slaves to freedom. Including real stories about 'passengers' on the 'Railroad,' this book chronicles slaves' close calls with bounty hunters, exhausting struggles on the road, and what they sacrificed for freedom"--
Author
Series
Pub. Date
2014.
Language
English
Description
"Before 1914, traveling from the East Coast to the West Coast meant going by land across the entire United States. To go by sea involved a long journey around South America and north along the Pacific Coast. But then, in a dangerous and amazing feat of engineering, a 48-mile-long channel was dug through Panama, creating the worlds most famous shortcut: the Panama Canal!"--Amazon.com.
11)
What was Ellis Island?
Author
Author
Series
Pub. Date
[2014]
Language
English
Description
At 800-feet long, the Hindenburg was the largest airship ever built--just slightly smaller than the Titanic. Also of a disastrous end, the zeppelin burst into flame as spectators watched it attempt to land in Lakehurst, New Jersey, on May 6, 1937. In under a minute, the Hindenburg was gone, people jumping from windows to escape. However, only 62 of the 97 crew members and passengers onboard survived. The exact cause of the disaster is still unknown...
16)
What is the World Series?
Author
17) What was D-Day?
Author
Series
Pub. Date
[2015]
Language
English
Description
An introduction to one of the most famous historical moments in war time: D-Day.
Author
Series
Pub. Date
[2015]
Language
English
Description
"On August 25th, 2005, one of the deadliest and most destructive hurricanes in history hit the Gulf of Mexico. High winds and rain pummeled coastal communities, including the City of New Orleans, which was left under 15 feet of water in some areas after the levees burst. Track this powerful storm from start to finish, from rescue efforts large and small to storm survivors' tales of triumph"--
19)
What was the Great Depression?
Author
Author
Series
Pub. Date
[2015]
Language
English
Appears on list
Description
"Something wicked was brewing in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692. It started when two girls, Betty Parris and Abigail Williams, began having hysterical fits. Soon after, other local girls claimed they were being pricked with pins. With no scientific explanation available, the residents of Salem came to one conclusion: it was witchcraft. Over the next year and a half, nineteen people were convicted of witchcraft and hanged while more...
Author
Series
Pub. Date
[2016]
Language
English
Description
"Step back in time to the birth of America and meet the real-life rebels who made this country free! On a hot summer day near Philadelphia in 1776, Thomas Jefferson sat at his desk and wrote furiously until early the next morning. He was drafting the Declaration of Independence, a document that would sever this country's ties with Britain and announce a new nation--The United States of America. Colonists were willing to risk their lives for freedom,...
Author
Series
Pub. Date
[2016]
Language
English
Description
"Did the Great Chicago Fire really start after a cow kicked over a lantern in a barn? Find out the truth in this addition to the What Was? series. On Sunday, October 8, 1871, a fire started on the south side of Chicago. A long drought made the neighborhood go up in flames. And practically everything that could go wrong did. Firemen first went to the wrong location. Fierce winds helped the blaze jump the Chicago River twice. The Chicago Waterworks...
Author
Series
Pub. Date
[2016]
Language
English
Description
"In this addition to the What Was? series, kids will experience what it was like to be in San Francisco in 1906 when the ground buckled in a major, catastrophic earthquake. One early April morning in 1906, the people of San Francisco were jolted awake by a mammoth earthquake--one that registered 7.8 on the Richter Scale. Not only was there major damage from the quake itself but broken gas lines sparked a fire that ravaged the city for days. More than...
25)
What was Woodstock?
Author
Author
Series
Pub. Date
[2016]
Language
English
Description
"Discover the true story of the Twin Towers--how they came to be the tallest buildings in the world and why they were destroyed. When the Twin Towers were built in 1973, they were billed as an architectural wonder. At 1,368 feet, they clocked in as the tallest buildings in the world and changed the New York City skyline dramatically. Offices and corporations moved into the towers--also known as the World Trade Center--and the buildings were seen...
Author
Series
Pub. Date
[2017]
Language
English
Appears on list
Description
"Here is the story behind the ten laws that have been the guiding light of Judeo-Christian belief. Not just about Moses, whose origin story leaves open questions, this book looks back at the time when the commandments were written, how the belief in one all-powerful God set the Israelites apart from other ancient peoples, and the roles the Ten Commandments have played in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It also looks at what each individual commandment...
30)
What was the Ice Age?
Author
Author
Series
Pub. Date
[2018]
Language
English
Description
Signed on September 17, 1787, the Constitution laid out the supreme law of the United States of America. Here is a behind-the-scenes look at the hotly fought issues and the key players who suffered through countless revisions to make the Constitution happen.
Author
Series
Pub. Date
[2018]
Language
English
Appears on list
Description
"From Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton to Gloria Steinem and Hillary Clinton, women throughout US history have fought for equality ... Hopkinson chronicles the beginning of the movement in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when women were demanding the right to vote. She explores the 1960s, which pushed equal rights and opportunities for women--both at home and in the workplace--even further, and then moves toward present-day...
Author
Series
Pub. Date
[2018]
Language
English
Description
"For more than 100 years, people have been captivated by the disastrous sinking of the Titanic that claimed over 1,500 lives. Now young readers can find out why the great ship went down and how it was discovered seventy-five years later. At 2:20 a.m. on April 15, 1912, the Royal Mail Steamer Titanic, the largest passenger steamship of this time, met its catastrophic end after crashing into an iceberg. Of the 2,240 passengers and crew onboard, only...
Author
Series
Pub. Date
[2018]
Language
English
Description
"Flappers, flag-pole sitting, and the Ford Model T--these are just a few of the things that instantly conjure up a unique era--the Roaring Twenties. It was the bees' knees, the cat's meow. If you're not familiar with 1920s slang, all the more reason to read this fascinating look at that wild, exciting decade. It began on the heels of one tragedy--the flu pandemic of 1918--and ended with another: the start of the Great Depression. But in between there...
37) What is NASA?
Author
Series
Pub. Date
[2019]
Language
English
Description
"Find out all about NASA in this out-of-this-world addition to the What Was? series. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, better known as NASA, began in 1958. With its creation, the United States hoped to ensure it won the space race against the Soviet Union. Author Sarah Fabiny describes the origins of NASA, the launching of the Apollo program that landed the first human on the moon, and the many missions and discoveries that have taken...
Author
Series
Pub. Date
[2019]
Language
English
Appears on list
Description
In the early-morning hours of June 28, 1969, police arrived at the Stonewall Inn's doors and yelled, "Police! We're taking the place!" But the people in this New York City neighborhood bar, members of the LGBTQ community, were tired of being harassed. They rebelled in the streets, turning one moment into a civil rights movement and launching the fight for equality among LGBTQ people in the United States.
Author
Series
Pub. Date
[2018]
Language
English
Appears on list
Description
"A thoughtful and age-appropriate introduction to an unimaginable event--the Holocaust. The Holocaust was a genocide on a scale never before seen, with as many as twelve million people killed in Nazi death camps--six million of them Jews. Gail Herman traces the rise of Hitler and the Nazis, whose rabid anti-Semitism led first to humiliating anti-Jewish laws, then to ghettos all over Eastern Europe, and ultimately to the Final Solution. She presents...
Author
Series
Pub. Date
[2019]
Language
English
Appears on list
Description
"Learn how the United States ended up fighting for twenty years in a remote country on the other side of the world. The Vietnam War was as much a part of the tumultuous Sixties as Flower Power and the Civil Rights Movement. Five US presidents were convinced that American troops could end a war in the small, divided country of Vietnam and stop Communism from spreading in Southeast Asia. But they were wrong, and the result was the death of 58,000 American...
Author
Series
Pub. Date
[2020]
Language
English
Appears on list
Description
"As the Opening Ceremony for the 1948 Summer Olympic Games commenced in London, a similar sporting competition was taking place a few miles away. But the men at Stoke Mandeville weren't your typical athletes. They were paralyzed World War II veterans. The games at Stoke Mandeville were so successful that they would eventually lead evolve into the Paralympics. Participants from all around the world vie for the gold medal in a variety of sports, including...
43)
What is a presidential election?
Author
44) What is LEGO?
Author
Series
Pub. Date
[2020]
Language
English
Description
"The LEGO toy company was founded in 1934 by a Danish carpenter who loved making wooden pull toys. From its humble beginnings, the company has lived up to its name--which comes from the Danish phrase meaning to always "play well"--encouraging children to use their imagination and build whatever they can dream up. In this book, author Jim O'Connor describes how a simple concept--small plastic bricks that snap together--morphed into a cultural phenomenon"--...
Author
Series
Pub. Date
[2020]
Language
English
Description
"Even though slavery had ended in the 1860s, African Americans were still suffering under the weight of segregation a hundred years later. They couldn't go to the same schools, eat at the same restaurants, or even use the same bathrooms as white people. But by the 1950s, black people refused to remain second-class citizens and were willing to risk their lives to make a change"--
Author
Series
Pub. Date
[2020]
Language
English
Appears on list
Description
"By August 1945, World War II was over in Europe, but the fighting continued between American forces and the Japanese, who were losing but determined to fight till the bitter end. And so it fell to a new president--Harry S. Truman--to make the fateful decision to drop two atomic bombs--one on Hiroshima and one on Nagasaki--and bring the war to rapid close. Now, even seventy years later, can anyone know if this was the right choice? In a thoughtful...
Author
Series
Pub. Date
2021.
Language
English
Description
"Although fans the world over have been fascinated by the modern Summer Olympics since 1896, the Winter Olympics didn't officially begin until 1924. The event celebrates cold-weather sports, displaying the talents of skiers, ice skaters, hockey players, and, most recently, snowboarders. Like its summer counterpart, the Winter Games are dedicated to bringing together the world's top athletes to honor their talents and see who gets to stand on the medal...
Author
Series
Pub. Date
[2021]
Language
English
Description
"Explaining clearly and concisely what exactly Congress does, this book is peppered with fascinating stories, including the bloody beating in the Senate of a lawmaker in pre-Civil War days, the Watergate hearings, and Senator Joe McCarthy's shameful "witch hunt" of Communists. Kids may start considering a career in Congress themselves when they learn fun facts, such as the special "candy desk" in the Senate, and the fact that all lawmakers can bring...
Author
Series
Pub. Date
[2021]
Language
English
Description
"Before the fifteenth century, European sailors were unsure what waited for them beyond their well-known travel routes around the Mediterranean Sea, so they kept within sight of land. But all of that changed after Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal started sending ships down the coast in the hope of finding a sea route to India and Africa. This was the beginning of a giant leap toward understanding what the globe actually looked like. Certain...
Author
Series
Pub. Date
2021
Language
English
Appears on list
Description
"Travel back in time to the 1920s and 1930s to the sounds of jazz in nightclubs and the 24-hours-a-day bustle of the famous Black neighborhood of Harlem in uptown Manhattan. It was a dazzling time when there was an outpouring of the arts of African Americans--the poetry of Langston Hughes, the novels of Zora Neale Hurston, the sculptures of Augusta Savage, and that brand-new music called jazz as only Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong could play it....
54)
What are castles and knights?
Author
Author
Series
Pub. Date
2022.
Language
English
Description
"Best-selling author, former executive editor of the New York Times, and self-confessed political junkie, Jill Abramson has written a detailed and fascinating book that explains how the highest court in the United States works, who gets to serve on it, which cases have had the greatest impact on the country, and why the US justice system is so vital to democracy"--