The Wartime Letters of Friedrich Reiner Niemann documents the life and frontline experiences of a German soldier from the 6th Infantry Division from 1941-1945. Niemann, a well-educated youth from an artist family in Cologne, was sent to the Russian Front four times. In his extensive correspondence, Niemann describes the fighting at Rzhev, Russia, 1942-1943, and his survival of the destruction of his division during the Soviet summer offensive in 1944. His is a rare view of battles that annihilated entire German divisions and armies. Read More

In 1936 Buddhist monks searched Tibet for the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. They discovered a two-year-old farm boy with special gifts and brought him to Lhasa where he was raised among monks to be the religious and governmental leader of his country. In 1950, however, when the Dalai Lama was only 15 years old, Chinese Communists invaded Tibet. Nine years later, the young Dalai Lama was forced to escape into exile. Winner of the 1989 Nobel Prize for Peace, Read More

In 1936 Buddhist monks searched Tibet for the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. They discovered a two-year-old farm boy with special gifts and brought him to Lhasa where he was raised among monks to be the religious and governmental leader of his country. In 1950, however, when the Dalai Lama was only 15 years old, Chinese Communists invaded Tibet. Nine years later, the young Dalai Lama was forced to escape into exile. Winner of the 1989 Nobel Prize for Peace, Read More

When Aung San Suu Kyi returned to her native Burma to tend to her ailing mother, no one could have known that within a few months she would become a leader of her people. In 1989, after Suu Kyi had worked only a year in Burma’s renewed struggle for democracy, the military government placed her under house arrest. In 1991, still under arrest, Aung San Suu Kyi won the Nobel Prize for peace. Upon her release from house arrest in 1995, Read More

When Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay scrambled up the last bit of ice to reach the summit of Mount Everest, they became the first people to stand on top of the world’s tallest mountain. The ascent of Everest propelled Hillary into public life and inspired the queen of England to knight him. In the years that followed, Sir Edmund Hillary played a critical role in an expedition to cross Antarctica, searched for evidence of the Abominable Snowman, Read More

Mao Zedong was one of the most powerful people in the world during his lifetime. Yet when he was born in 1893, China was still ruled by the Qing dynasty. Many people longed for a new China, however, and Mao led the way. He came to power in 1949, when China became a Communist nation. As China’s ruler, Mao controlled all aspects of Chinese life. The Chinese people studied his writings, and pictures of Mao adorned buildings and walls throughout the country. Read More

When Deng Xiaoping was born on August 22, 1904, China was still ruled by the Qing Dynasty, but many people longed for a new China. Although Deng was in and out of favor during his eventful life, he became one of the most powerful and influential Chinese leaders. Deng’s life spans the Japanese invasion, the rise of Communism, the Long March, the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, and the Tiananmen Square confrontation. Perhaps more than any other person Deng Xiaoping is responsible for shaping modern China. Read More

In this historical mystery for young readers, author Whitney Stewart leads her two young heroes, Anna and Nat, back into the Nantucket of the 1800s. With the aid of a ghostly crow, a time warp and a poignant love story, the children find a pirate treasure—and discover the island’s rich and spooky past in the process. Read More

Eric Wieman, thirteen years old and a gifted guitarist, travels out of New England for the first time to compete in a guitar competition in New Orleans. Faced with the pressure of making new friends in a new place while keeping up his electric guitar finger style, Eric is paralyzed. Will he back out of the contest and give up his dream of being a professional guitar player? Does he have the right attitude to find personal happiness? Read More

Eric Weiman is on his way to a famous music camp in San Francisco. He hopes he’ll make new friends and find a guitar teacher and mentor there. All that will happen. But, a strange twist of fate causes Eric to call on reserves of courage when he visits the most fascinating places in this complex and beautiful city. Read More