Before the United States joined World War II, the FBI uncovered a ring of Nazi spies in New York City, and President Franklin Roosevelt declared J. Edgar Hoover as America’s spymaster. As war began, a naturalized German-American was recruited by Nazis to convey messages to Germany. This man, William G. Sebold, approached the FBI and became the first double agent in the Bureau’s history, and the investigation led to the arrest of 33 enemy agents.

Billy Williams came to colonial Burma in 1920, fresh from service in World War I, to a job as a “forest man” for a British teak company. Mesmerized by the intelligence, character and even humor of the great animals who hauled logs through the remote jungles, he became increasingly skilled at treating their illnesses and injuries, and championed more humane treatment for them. In ELEPHANT COMPANY, Vicki Constantine Croke chronicles Williams’s growing love for elephants as the animals provide him lessons in courage, trust and gratitude.

When the German army found themselves desperate for a typhus vaccine, they turned to Rudolf Weigl. The success of Weigl's techniques gave him cover during the Nazi's reign, so he hired otherwise doomed men, protecting them from atrocity. Among the scientists saved was a gifted Jewish immunologist named Ludwik Fleck. Condemned to Buchenwald and pressured to recreate the vaccine, Fleck had to make a choice between his scientific ideals or the truth of his conscience.

America’s first “celebrity” general, William Tecumseh Sherman was a man of many faces. Some of them were exalted in the public eye. Others were known only to intimates --- his family, friends and lovers, and the soldiers under his command. In this rich and layered portrait, Robert L. O’Connell captures the man in full for the first time. Sherman was, as O’Connell puts it, the “human embodiment of Manifest Destiny.”

The Hundred Years War was fought between 1337 and 1453 over English claims to both the throne of France by right of inheritance and large parts of the country that had been at one time Norman or, later, English. The fighting ebbed and flowed, but despite their superior tactics and great victories at Crécy, Poitiers and Agincourt, the English could never hope to secure their claims in perpetuity: France was wealthier and far more populous, and while the English won the battles, they could not hope to hold forever the lands they conquered.

After suffering a stinging defeat in the 1960 presidential election and the 1962 California gubernatorial election, Richard Nixon's political career was proclaimed dead by everyone. Yet on January 20, 1969, he would stand taking the oath of office as the 37th President of the United States. Patrick J. Buchanan --- who served as one of two staff members to Nixon --- gives a first-hand account of those pivotal years, in which Nixon worked to reverse his political fortunes in a decade marked by revolution, the Vietnam War, assassinations, and the rise of the New Left.

The Statue of Liberty has become one of the most recognizable monuments in the world: a symbol of freedom and the American Dream. But the story of the creation of the statue has been obscured by myth. In reality, she was the inspiration of one quixotic French sculptor hungry for fame and adoration. LIBERTY'S TORCH tells the story of an artist, entrepreneur and inventor who fought against all odds to create this wonder of the modern world.

Much has been written about Neil Armstrong, America’s modern hero and history’s most famous space traveler. Yet, shy of fame and never one to steal the spotlight, Armstrong was always reluctant to discuss his personal side of events. Here, for the first time, is the definitive story of Neil’s life of flight he shared for five decades with a trusted friend --- Jay Barbree.

President Nixon's voice-activated taping system captured every word spoken in the Oval Office, Cabinet Room and other key locations in the White House, and at Camp David --- 3,700 hours of recordings between 1971 and 1973. Yet less than five percent of those conversations have ever been transcribed and published. Now, thanks to professor Luke Nichter's massive effort to digitize and transcribe the tapes, the world can finally read an unprecedented account of one of the most important and controversial presidencies in U.S. history.

In 1964, Marvin Gaye, record producer William “Mickey” Stevenson, and Motown songwriter Ivy Jo Hunter wrote “Dancing in the Street.” The song was supposed to be an upbeat dance recording, but it became one of the icons of American pop culture. As the country grew more radicalized in the summer of 1964, “Dancing in the Street” gained currency as an activist anthem and took on new meanings for the many different groups that were all changing as the country changed.

Some historians claim that Richard III's "black legend" is nothing more than political propaganda. Yet such an interpretation, according to Desmond Seward, suggests a refusal to face the facts of history. Even in the king's lifetime, there were rumors about his involvement in the murders of Henry VI and of his nephews, while his reign was considered by many to be a nightmare, not least for the king himself. The real Richard III was both a chilling and compelling monarch, a peculiarly grim young English precursor of Machiavelli's Prince.

Rose Kennedy was the daughter of a state senator and the mayor of Boston, wife of an ambassador, and mother of nine children, including one U.S. president and two U.S. senators. She led a life of wealth, celebrity, privilege and power, yet suffered great personal tragedy. Here is a behind-the-scenes look at one of America's most influential mothers of the 20th century.

Scandal! Intrigue! Cossacks! Here the world’s most engaging royal historian chronicles the world’s most fascinating imperial dynasty: the Romanovs, whose 300-year reign was remarkable for its shocking violence, spectacular excess and unimaginable venality. In this incredibly entertaining history, Michael Farquhar collects the best, most captivating true tales of Romanov iniquity.

Kim Philby’s story is not a tale of one spy, but of three: Philby, his fellow Englishman Nicholas Elliott, and the American James Jesus Angleton. These men supposedly served the same cause, but Philby was channeling all of their confidences to his Soviet handlers. As the web of suspicion closed around him, Elliott and Angleton never abandoned him. When the truth was revealed, it would have profound consequences on those who thought they knew him best.

TUDORS VERSUS STEWARTS brings alive a neglected aspect of British history --- the blood-spattered steps of two small countries on the northern fringes of Europe towards the union of their crowns. Beginning with the dramatic victories of two usurpers --- Henry VII in England and James IV in Scotland --- in the late 15th century, Linda Porter's book sheds new light on Henry VIII, his daughter Elizabeth I and his great-niece, Mary Queen of Scots, still seductive more than 400 years after her death.

Appearing in paperback for the first time, with 20 arresting new photos and an extensive Q&A with the author, UNBROKEN is an unforgettable testament to the resilience of the human mind, body and spirit, brought vividly to life by SEABISCUIT author Laura Hillenbrand. Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for biography and the Indies Choice Adult Nonfiction Book of the Year award, UNBROKEN will be made into a feature film releasing on Christmas Day.

In UNDER A WILD SKY, William Souder reveals that John James Audubon not only composed the most famous depictions of birds the world has ever seen, he also composed a brilliant mythology of self, for he discovered that selling subscriptions to his bird paintings, an essential step to underwrite his work, required he sell his own story first. The author charts the life of a driven man who, despite frequent failure, no clear path to success, and rigorous physical and artistic work, became the historical figure we know today.

UNREASONABLE MEN takes us into the heart of the epic power struggle that created the progressive movement and defined modern American politics. Recounting the fateful clash between the pragmatic Roosevelt and the radical La Follette, Wolraich’s riveting narrative reveals how a few Republican insurgents broke the conservative chokehold on Congress and initiated the greatest period of political change in America’s history.

From the moment Charles Dickens, the century's best-loved novelist and London's greatest observer, arrived in the city in 1822, he obsessively walked its streets, recording its pleasures, curiosities and cruelties. Now, with him, Judith Flanders leads us through the markets, transport systems, rivers, slums, alleys, cemeteries, gin palaces, chop-houses and entertainment emporia of Dickens' London, to reveal the Victorian capital in all its variety, vibrancy and squalor.

WHEN THE UNITED STATES SPOKE FRENCH offers a fresh perspective on the tumultuous years of America as a young nation, when the Atlantic world’s first republican experiments were put to the test. It explores the country’s formative period from the viewpoint of five distinguished Frenchmen who took refuge in America after leaving their homes and families in France, crossing the Atlantic, and landing in Philadelphia. Through their stories, we see some of the most famous events of early American history in a new light.

As the historian Andrew C. Isenberg reveals, the Hollywood Wyatt Earp is largely a fiction --- one created by Earp himself. The lawman played on-screen by Henry Fonda and Burt Lancaster is stubbornly duty-bound; in actuality, Earp led a life of impulsive lawbreaking and shifting identities. When he wasn’t wearing a badge, he was variously a thief, a brothel bouncer, a gambler and a confidence man.