Smithsonian Books imprint: 162 books

This compelling collection of essays explores the Qhapaq nan (or Great Inca Road), an extensive network of trails reaching modern-day Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina. These roads and the accompanying agricultural terraces and structures that have survived for more than six centuries...

An entertaining and well-researched history of the Hope diamond Since its discovery in seventeenth-century India, the Hope diamond, a glimmering deep blue gem weighing over 45 carats, has been shrouded in mystery and steeped in intrigue. In this groundbreaking work, Dr. Richard Kurin goes beyond...

How women changed the American landscape from planting war victory gardens to saving the redwoods, beautifying the highway to creating horticultural standards. In 1904, Elizabeth Price Martin founded the Garden Club of Philadelphia. In 1913, twelve garden clubs in the eastern and central United...

Before 1880 most Americans had never seen a banana. By 1910 bananas were so common that streets were littered with their peels. Today Americans eat on average nearly seventy-five per year. More than a staple of the American diet, bananas have gained a secure place in the nation's culture and folklore....

This long-awaited follow-up to Deagan’s first volume on ceramics, glassware, and beads focuses on the portable personal objects owned and used by the residents of Spanish colonial America. These objects are not only of Spanish origin; the collection includes many English, French, Dutch, German,...

Sea turtles have been the focus of research and intense conservation efforts for decades and the Loggerhead Sea Turtle, currently listed as a threatened species, is arguably one of the best studied of the seven species. Loggerhead Sea Turtles brings together, for the first time, international experts...

Robert V. Brulle, who flew seventy ground support missions with the 366th Fighter Group, links his daily experiences in the cockpit not only with the battles in which he participated but also with events in the wider European theater. Combining anecdotes from his personal diary, research in US and...

Lawns now blanket thirty million acres of the United States, but until the late nineteenth century few Americans had any desire for a front lawn, much less access to seeds for growing one. In her comprehensive history of this uniquely American obsession, Virginia Scott Jenkins traces the origin of...