When Rosa Parks decided not to get out of her bus seat in 1955, African Americans across the United States were treated like second-class citizens. Sometimes they were not even considered citizens. They were not allowed to use "white-only" restaurants or hotels. They were kept out of public schools, parks, and swimming pools. And perhaps most importantly, they were not allowed to vote. Over the course of the next decade, African Americans and their...

Tells the history of the destructive 2004 tsunami and its devastating aftermath. The disaster in the Indian Ocean started with a massive undersea earthquake off the coast of Indonesia. What followed was a surge of water called a tsunami that killed thousands of people in nearly a dozen countries. Water rose up miles inland and destroyed everything in its path. Children were ripped from their parents' arms, husbands and wives were lost to each other...

The Great Depression was one of the great crises of the twentieth century. For some time, the very survival of the country appeared to be at stake. Businesses failed, banks closed, people lost their homes, and thousands lined up at soup kitchens across the country. The future appeared bleak indeed. Franklin Delano Roosevelt promised the people of the United States "a new deal," and in 1932 he was elected president. Many of his New Deal policies shaped...

The United States and the Soviet Union were two of the nations that defeated Nazi Germany in World War II. Yet their systems of government were completely different. These differences soon developed into the Cold War. Both sides became bitter enemies. But there was no actual fighting. That situation nearly changed in 1961. The Soviets secretly installed missiles with nuclear warheads in Cuba. These missiles could reach many cities in the United States....

When the Great War began in August 1914, many people thought it would be over by Christmas. Instead it lasted for more than four years and claimed millions of lives.The most dominant feature of the conflict was the seemingly endless miles of trenches that faced each other, often just a few hundred yards apart. The only way of attacking was through brutal frontal assaults. Often thousands of men died in a few hours. When they werent fighting, men lived...

The Great Depression was one of the worst crises of the twentieth century. For some time, the very survival of the country appeared to be at stake. Businesses failed, banks closed, people lost their homes, and thousands lined up at soup kitchens across the United States. Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed a new deal, and in 1932 he was elected president. Many of his New Deal policies shaped the country in ways that are still visible today, like Social...

Under the cover of darkness, a team of burglars broke into the Democratic National Committees headquarters at the Watergate Hotel. By a fluke, they were discovered by an observant security guard and arrested. At first glance it appeared nothing more than a random break-in. But when two Washington Post reporters began digging deeper into the background of the burglars, the trail led higher and higher and eventually straight to the White Houseand into...

Soviet history begins with bloodshed, oppression, and strife. Civil War stained the Russian landscape with the blood of its people after Nicholas II abdicated his throne to a provisional government. The Bolsheviks wanted Russia, and eventually they took her. Peasants became citizens with rights, but the truth is, the civil war only changed the name of their oppressor, from czar to Communist dictator. After decades of isolation and sometimes harsh...