The Immortal Game
The Immortal Game

Author: David Shenk

Publisher: Anchor

Published: 2007-09-04

Total Pages: 328

ISBN-13: 0307387666

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A fresh, engaging look at how 32 carved pieces on a Chess board forever changed our understanding of war, art, science, and the human brain. Chess is the most enduring and universal game in history. Here, bestselling author David Shenk chronicles its intriguing saga, from ancient Persia to medieval Europe to the dens of Benjamin Franklin and Norman Schwarzkopf. Along the way, he examines a single legendary game that took place in London in 1851 between two masters of the time, and relays his own attempts to become as skilled as his Polish ancestor Samuel Rosenthal, a nineteenth-century champion. With its blend of cultural history and Shenk’s lively personal narrative, The Immortal Game is a compelling guide for novices and aficionados alike.

100 Turning Points in American History
100 Turning Points in American History

Author: Alan Axelrod

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2019-04-01

Total Pages: 393

ISBN-13: 1493037447

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Arnold J. Toynbee, the most famous professional historian of the twentieth century, is widely quoted as having declared that “History is just one damn thing after another.” This book argues that history is not about “things” at all but is all about turning points—the decisions, acts, innovations, errors, ideas, successes, and failures on which the shape of a nation’s life—our lives—depends. It presents the 100 points at which America’s path decisively turned on its way to where we find ourselves today. ● Columbus arrives in the New World ● The first slaves arrive in America ● Independence is declared ● Female suffragists meet in Seneca Falls ● Fort Sumter falls ● A transcontinental railroad is completed ● Edison lights his first electric lamp ● FDR offers a “New Deal” ● The B-29 Enola Gay drops an atomic bomb on Hiroshima ● Neil Armstrong sets foot on the moon ● President Nixon creates the EPA ● 9/11 … Obama … Sandy Hook … Russian election “meddling” … the Age of Trump … These and many more are the crucial “plot points” in our grand national story, and best-selling historian Alan Axelrod presents them here.