First Books imprint: 72 books
ISIS
The Global Face of Terrorism
Language: English
Release Date: August 1, 2017
The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, emerged in the Middle East during the first decade of the 2000s. The group vows to wage violent jihad, or holy war, on those who do not adhere to its extremist interpretation of Islamic law. ISIS conquers territory and rules savagely. ISIS terrorists manipulate...
Sneaker Century
A History of Athletic Shoes
Language: English
Release Date: January 1, 2017
Whether you call them kicks or sneakers, runners or gutties, you probably have a pair of athletic shoes in your closet. The earliest sneakers debuted in the 1800s and weren't much more than a canvas upper and a flexible sole made of a crazy new material—rubber. The stuff might have been new to Americans...
The Horrors of Andersonville
Life and Death Inside a Civil War Prison
Language: English
Release Date: August 1, 2014
The Confederate prison known as Andersonville existed for only the last fourteen months of the Civil War―but its well-documented legacy of horror has lived on in the diaries of its prisoners and the transcripts of the trial of its commandant. The diaries describe appalling conditions in which vermin-infested...
LGBTQ+ Athletes Claim the Field
Striving for Equality
Language: English
Release Date: August 1, 2016
In 2015, the world watched as soccer star Abby Wambach kissed her wife after the US women's World Cup victory. Milwaukee Brewers' minor league first baseman David Denson came out as gay. And Caitlyn (born Bruce) Jenner, an Olympic decathlete, came out as transgender.
It hasn't always been this...
American Hip-Hop
Rappers, DJs, and Hard Beats
Language: English
Release Date: January 1, 2017
A rapper spits rhymes into a microphone.
A DJ scratches a record back and forth against a turntable needle.
Fans' feet stomp along to a stiff beat.
These are the sounds of hip-hop.
Hip-hop music busted out of New York City in the 1970s. Many young African Americans found their voices after...
Teen Incarceration
From Cell Bars to Ankle Bracelets
Language: English
Release Date: August 1, 2016
In the United States, the conversation about teen incarceration has moved from one extreme to another. For centuries, execution of juvenile offenders was legal. By the twenty-first century, the US Supreme Court had moved closer to banning all executions of minors, regardless of the severity of the...
De-Extinction
The Science of Bringing Lost Species Back to Life
Language: English
Release Date: January 1, 2017
In the twenty-first century, because of climate change and other human activities, many animal species have become extinct, and many others are at risk of extinction. Once they are gone, we cannot bring them back—or can we?
With techniques such as cloning, scientists want to reverse extinction...
Women in the Military
From Drill Sergeants to Fighter Pilots
Language: English
Release Date: January 1, 2019
In December 2015, the Pentagon changed a rule to allow American women to serve for the first time ever in front-line ground combat troops. Women have fulfilled many military roles throughout history, including nursing; driving ambulances; handling administrative duties; working as mechanics; and serving...
Animals Go to War
From Dogs to Dolphins
Language: English
Release Date: August 1, 2018
In the twenty-first century, military marine mammals detect lost equipment and underwater mines. Large rats are trained to find land mines in more than 80 countries. Military working dogs search for explosive devices and other weapons and are trained to take down enemy combatants. In earlier centuries,...
Swashbuckling Scoundrels
Pirates in Fact and Fiction
Language: English
Release Date: August 1, 2015
You might be a fan of Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. But did you know that real-life pirates were even more daring and charismatic? For example, Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, reportedly kept a lit fuse under his hat, creating a frightening haze of smoke around his...
Iceberg, Right Ahead!
The Tragedy of the Titanic
Language: English
Release Date: January 1, 2017
"Iceberg, Right Ahead!" Only 160 minutes passed between the time a sailor on lookout duty uttered these chilling words and the moment when the mighty ocean liner Titanic totally disappeared into the cold, dark waters of the North Atlantic. This century-old tragedy, which took more than 1,500 lives,...
by Mark C. Brown
Language: English
Release Date: December 15, 2011
Language: English
Release Date: December 15, 2011
Inspired by the wisdom of Lao-Tzu and BUddha, and grounded in the observations of Western psychology, "Live Like a Window, Work Like a Mirror" introduces a totally new perspective on creation and the integral nature of everything in it that will change the way you look at life forever. This...
Living Simply
A Teen Guide to Minimalism
Language: English
Release Date: January 1, 2019
Twenty-first-century minimalism is an increasingly mainstream response to global environmental crises such as climate change, the garbage glut, fast fashion, and other manifestations of the harmful impact of consumerism. Originally founded in the art world in the decades after World War II, minimalism...
Bioluminescence
Nature and Science at Work
Language: English
Release Date: August 1, 2015
What do giant squids, mantis shrimp, and fireflies have in common? These animals, along with a wide range of creatures, are able to give off light; this is called bioluminescence. Different species use different chemistries to bioluminesce, and they produce their light for a variety of reasons, including...