National Network for Equitable Library Service

Writing Geographical Exploration: Thomas James and the Northwest Passage, 1631-33 summarizes the various factors that influence the writing and interpretation of exploration narratives, demonstrating the limitations of the assumption that there is a direct relationship between what the explorer saw and what the text describes. Davies offers a revisionist evaluation of Captain Thomas James, who spent eighteen months in search of the Northwest Passage in the 1630s, to illustrate how modern textual analysis can enrich the appreciation of a traveller's account.

Originally published in 1837 in Europe in German, French, and Slovenian editions, Baraga’s Short History of the North American Indians is the personal, first-hand account of a Catholic missionary in the Great Lakes area of North America. Baraga served as a missionary and as bishop of Sault Ste. Marie and Marquette, from 1830 until his death in 1868. His significant contribution to Native American history is associated with this publication and provides invaluable insight into the nature of mid-nineteenth century central European mission initiatives to the New World.

From Many, One looks at the educational policies and practices of the presidency of Plutarco Elías Calles in post-revolutionary Mexico. Andrae Marak examines attempts of the Calles government to centralize control over education in the U.S.-Mexican borderlands region and to transform its rural and indigenous inhabitants into more "mainstream" Mexicans. During his presidency and the period known as the Maximato, Plutarco Elías Calles put in place a series of national educational policies with the goal of constructing an economically prosperous and culturally unified Mexico.

What was romance like for Canadians a century ago? What qualities did marriageable men and women look for in prospective mates? How did they find suitable partners in difficult circumstances such as frontier isolation and parental disapproval, and, when they did, how did courtship proceed in the immediate post-Victorian era, when traditional romantic ideals and etiquette were colliding with the modern realities faced by ordinary people?

Using valuable primary source material, most of which is previously unpublished, and some of which has been translated from the Flemish-Dutch and French, editors Mary Eggermont-Molenaar and Paul Callens introduce the Van Tighem brothers to today's reader. Missionaries Among Miners, Migrants, and Blackfoot contains the transcribed diaries of brothers Leonard and Victor Van Tighem, Belgian Catholic missionaries in Alberta between 1874 and 1917. Leonard, an Oblate priest, served in a number of parishes in southern Alberta, some of which he helped establish.

A century ago, agriculture was the dominant economic sector in much of Africa. By the 1990s, however, African farmers had declining incomes and were worse off, on average, than those who did not farm. Colonial policies, subsequent 'top-down' statism, and globalization are usually cited as primary causes of this long-term decline. In this unprecedented study of the Igbo region of southeastern Nigeria, Chima Korieh points the way to a more complex and inclusive approach to this issue.

Reissued with a new preface by the author, The Paraguayan War is an engrossing and comprehensive account of the origins and early campaigns of the deadliest and most extensive interstate war ever fought in Latin America. A 2003 CHOICE Academic Title of the Year, this book sets the stage for The Road to Armageddon. Together, these books fill an important gap in our understanding of Latin American History.

From the best-selling author of The Invention of Nature comes an exhilarating story about a remarkable group of young rebels—poets, novelists, philosophers—who, through their epic quarrels, passionate love stories, heartbreaking grief, and radical ideas launched Romanticism onto the world stage, inspiring some of the greatest thinkers of the time.

This book seeks to educate and inspire, bringing to life iconic and lesser-known female figures of Black history such as abolitionist Sojourner Truth, pilot Bessie Coleman, chemist Alice Ball, politician Shirley Chisholm, mathematician Katherine Johnson, poet Maya Angelou, and filmmaker Julie Dash, relating their true stories of breaking boundaries and expectations.

Jabari Asim goes beyond what's taught in the classroom and tells a fact-filled history of African Americans through politics, activism, sports, entertainment, music, and much more.