17th century

Examines the founding of the English colony at Jamestown, its struggle for survival, and its eventual decline.

Photographs, illustrations, and maps describe the life of John Smith, who helped to settle the Jamestown colony in 1607.

Lost in the woods near Plymouth Colony, fourteen-year-old John, a member of the trouble-making Billington family that accompanied the Pilgrims on their Mayflower voyage in 1620, receives shelter and nourishment from the Nauset tribe.

Supposedly an eye-witness account of the devastation of the Great Plague of London in 1665, this is really a fictional narrative told with such vividness that it feels real. The answer to why it feels so real can possibly be found in the introduction to this edition.

Focuses on the critical year the reign of the childless Elizabeth I ended and a Machiavellian struggle ensued to find her successor.

Discusses how the religious oppression suffered by Jewish people during the Inquisition lead some individuals to become pirates on the open seas, and describes the lives of Sinan--Barbarossa's second-in-command--Rabbi Samuel Palache--who commanded ships before founding Holland's Jewish community--and others.

Reveals how seventeenth-century French culture set the standards of sophistication, style, and glamour that still rule modern society.

Examines the role witchcraft played in early American culture, focusing on witchcraft cases in New England during the colonial period, and explains why the colonists' views on witchcraft still matter to the modern world.

Contains the text of the play about the swashbuckling Cyrano de Bergerac who secretly loves his cousin Roxane but believes he is too ugly to ever win her affection, and includes notes and a full introduction.