A look at sugar in 19th-century American culture and how it rose in popularity to gain its place in the nation's diet today. American consumers today regard sugar as a mundane and sometimes even troublesome substance linked to hyperactivity in children and other health concerns. Yet two hundred years ago American consumers treasured sugar as a rare commodity and consumed it only in small amounts. In Refined Tastes: Sugar, Confectionery, and Consumers...

Electromagnetics are everywhere--inside our homes, in our computers, even our televisions! Readers will explore the history of electromagnetics and how they work through numerous images and supportive text. The fascinating facts and sidebars will have children excited and eager to learn more about things such as alternating and direct currents, electricity, magnetic fields, conductors, amps, volts, and generators. Readers will also learn about scientists...

Raised to believe that she could do anything, astronomer Jillian Greer dreamed of going into space. When she and her research partner Kera Sullivan invented a specialized telescope, it looked as though these two dogged scientists would fulfill the dream they shared. But ten years later, while Kera trains in a space simulator, Jillian is married with children, packing lunches and helping her kids with homework. With her field's archaic "all or nothing"...

Scientists, philosophers and Buddhist scholars discuss the nature of reality in a book that goes inside a Mind and Life Institute conference. For over a decade, members of the Mind and Life Institute have gathered to discuss questions that are both fundamental and profound: can physics, chemistry, and biology explain the mystery of life? How do our philosophical assumptions influence science and the ethics we bring to biotechnology? And how does an...

This award—winning study examines American Indian communities in Southern New England between the Revolution and Reconstruction. From 1780—1880, Native Americans lived in the socioeconomic margins. They moved between semiautonomous communities and towns and intermarried extensively with blacks and whites. Drawing from a wealth of primary documentation, Daniel R. Mandell centers his study on ethnic boundaries, particularly how those boundaries...

"Classroom-safe lab makes electricity concepts easy to grasp--with hands-on experiments and ready-to-use tools! The 29 pieces come with 7 cards featuring step-by-step experiments, from testing for conductors to creating a simple switched circuit. Plus, the back of each card has background information on the scientific concept covered by the experiment--so children learn important facts as they work!"--Publisher description

Drawing on private journals, letters, ships' logs, memoirs, and newspaper accounts, True Yankees traces America's earliest encounters on a global stage through the exhilarating experiences of five Yankee seafarers. Merchant Samuel Shaw spent a decade scouring the marts of China and India for goods that would captivate the imaginations of his countrymen. Mariner Amasa Delano toured much of the Pacific hunting seals. Explorer Edmund Fanning circumnavigated...

From safety pins to steam engines to cell phones, the stories behind innovations that have transformed everyday lives. We take thousands of inventions for granted, using them daily and enjoying their benefits. But how much do we really know about their origins and development? This absorbing new book tells the stories behind the inventions that have changed the world, with details about: Convenience items, such as safety pins, toothbrushes,...