"Encyclopedia of American Religious History, Third Edition" outlines the numerous philosophers, personalities, social issues, and cultural histories of religious practices throughout American history. Special emphasis is placed on recent developments in religious life in this country and the historical contributions of people long neglected by mainstream religious historians, including African Americans, Native Americans, and women. In addition, an expanded introduction gives students a narrative historical overview of religion in America.

A fascinating, in-depth timeline of American Indian history, "Chronology of American Indian History, Updated Edition", updated and expanded with current information, describes thousands of years of events that helped shape the lives and cultures of Native Americans, as well as American society as a whole - from their ancestors' arrival in North America to the present.

Like race and gender, disability history has recently become a critical field of study in examining our nation's heritage. Sparked by the disability rights movement of the late 20th century, disability history both expands and challenges the traditional American narrative of self-reliance, individualism, and opportunity and yields new understandings of such bedrock American values as community, family, and citizenship.

Disasters, accidents, and crises have profoundly shaped American history - from the "starving time" at Jamestown, the smallpox epidemic during the Revolutionary War, and the "year without a summer" in 1816 to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the San Francisco earthquake, and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Not only have these catastrophic events upended lives and wreaked untold havoc, they have often transformed society, demarcating one era from another and generating vast social change.

The Creation of a Republican Empire traces American foreign relations from the colonial era to the end of the Civil War, paying particular attention not only to the diplomatic controversies of the era but also to the origins and development of American thought regarding international relations.

This Encyclopedia is a comprehensive, highly-credentialed multidisciplinary historical work that examines the numerous ways wars affect societies. The three volumes cover a wide range of general thematic categories, issues, and topics that address not only the geopolitical effects of war, but also show how the U.S. engagement in national and international conflicts has affected the social and cultural arena.

The third edition of the American Heritage Dictionary is a beauty--2,134 pages --containing a lexicon of more than 200,000 entries, plus an appendix of Indo-European roots for etymology enthusiasts. The crisp white pages and sharp black print are easy on the eyes, the drawings and pictures (nearly 4,000 in all) are a delight, and along with the lucid, erudite definitions are 4,000-plus quoted illustrations of usage from the likes of Shakespeare, Melville, and Updike. Though it's the chosen reference of editors, it's more than a mere tool of the trade--it's a luxurious linguistic experience.