National Network for Equitable Library Service

On August 19, 1418, a competition concerning Florence's magnificent new cathedral, Santa Maria del Fiore was announced: "Whoever desires to make any model or design for the vaulting of the main Dome ... shall do so before the end of the month of September." The proposed dome was regarded far and wide as all but impossible to build. The dome would literally need to be erected over thin air. Of the many plans submitted, one stood out.

A revealing history of the West that pivots on Native peoples and the mixed families they made with European settlers. There is mixed blood at the heart of America. And at the heart of Native life for centuries there were complex households using marriage to link communities and protect people within circles of kin. These family circles took in European newcomers who followed the fur trade into Indian Country from the Great Lakes to the Columbia River. Vividly combining the panoramic and the particular, Anne F.

This book is dedicated to exploring the gods and goddesses that the Aztec people on the pre-Columbian American continent worshiped, and within the pages you will find subtopics like: The origins and influences on Aztec beliefs, or in other words, where they got it all from, The most important themes in Aztec mythology, Gods and goddesses and their background stories from Aztec mythology, Aztec myths about the creation of the world, Details about the Aztec empire, their art, religion, and more, Legends about Aztec women who became goddesses after they died from childbirth.

Roughly 2,500 years ago, the elite classes of Athens gradually ceded power to the inexperienced masses, thus establishing a radical democracy in which power derived from the votes of everyday citizens. The sequence of events that led to this development is astonishing, and the society that flourished under Athenian democracy is one of the greatest-even if greatly flawed-achievements in world history. Today, when the foundations of our own democracy are under greater and greater scrutiny, the Athenian experiment in citizen rule offers a powerful object lesson in national politics.

The definitive history of Peter Jackson's Middle-earth saga, Anything You Can Imagine takes us on a cinematic journey across all six films, featuring brand-new interviews with Peter, his cast & crew. From the early days of daring to dream it could be done, through the highs and lows of making the films, to fan adoration and, finally, Oscar glory. LightsA nine-year-old boy in New Zealand's Pukerua Bay stays up late and is spellbound by a sixty-year-old vision of a giant ape on an island full of dinosaurs. This is true magic. And the boy knows that he wants to be a magician.

What does it mean to be human? Where did we come from? And what unites us in our diversity today? Anthropology and the Study of Humanity is your chance to tackle these big questions as you survey one of the world's most engaging - and human - sciences. Taught by acclaimed professor and field researcher Scott M. Lacy of Fairfield University, these 24 wide-ranging lectures are the ideal guide through the world of anthropology, or the study of humanity across time and space.

How humankind first hunted and gathered explains our emergence as a new species and our earliest technology. Our first food systems, from fire to agriculture, tell where we settled and how civilizations expanded. The quest for food for growing populations drove exploration, colonialism, slavery, even capitalism. A century ago, food was industrialized. Since then, new styles of agriculture and food production have written a new chapter of human history, one that is driving both climate change and global health crises.

For the past few hundred years, most of what we've been taught about the native cultures of North America came from reports authored by the conquerors and colonizers who destroyed them. Now-with the technological advances of modern archaeology and a new perspective on world history-we are finally able to piece together their compelling true stories.

We live our lives immersed in name brand products. It's hard to drive down the street without seeing a plethora of chain restaurants, car dealerships, branded clothing they're all around us. What most of us don't know is that the origins of many of the most well-known and beloved brands in the world are shrouded in controversy, drug use and sometimes even addled with blatant racism.

The act of sex has not changed since people first worked out what went where, but the ways in which society dictates how sex is culturally understood and performed have varied significantly through the ages. Humans are the only creatures that stigmatize particular sexual practices, and sex remains a deeply divisive issue around the world. Attitudes will change and grow-hopefully for the better-but sex will never be free of stigma or shame unless we acknowledge where it has come from.