Albert Marrin

Describes the conditions in the textile industry in the early 20th century behind the fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company that led to the death of many young women, and explains its impact on the labor movement and on society.

The Triangle Fire and Its Legacy

Flesh and Blood So Cheap

From National Book Award finalist Albert Marrin comes a fascinating look at the history and science of the deadly 1918 flu pandemic--and its chilling and timely resemblance to the worldwide coronavirus outbreak. In spring of 1918, World War I was underway, and troops at Fort Riley, Kansas, found themselves felled by influenza. By the summer of 1918, the second wave struck as a highly contagious and lethal epidemic and within weeks exploded into a pandemic, an illness that travels rapidly from one continent to another. It would impact the course of the war, and kill many millions more soldiers than warfare itself. Of all diseases, the 1918 flu was by far the worst that has ever afflicted humankind; not even the Black Death of the Middle Ages comes close in terms of the number of lives it took. No war, no natural disaster, no famine has claimed so many. In the space of eighteen months in 1918-1919, about 500 million people--one-third of the global population at the time--came down with influenza. The exact total of lives lost will never be known, but the best estimate is between 50 and 100 million. In this powerful book, filled with black and white photographs, nonfiction master Albert Marrin examines the history, science, and impact of this great scourge--and the possibility for another worldwide pandemic today. A Chicago Public Library Best Book of the Year!

The Influenza Pandemic of 1918

Very, Very, Very Dreadful

The causes and results of the Dust Bowl and how the lessons learned are still used today.

The Story of the Dust Bowl

Years of Dust

Describes how American military forces helped the Allies turn the tide of World War I and how the United States mobilized industry, trained soldiers, and promoted the war to the people at home.

The United States in the First World War

The Yanks Are Coming

Stalin

Focusing on the weeks before and months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, [the author of this book] tells the stories that took place in the jungles of Guadalcanal and Betio. He accurately portrays the struggles of the Navy and Marines as they crossed the Pacific, island to island, making their way to Japan. [He] conveys the struggles of war, along with information on the workings of a submarine and the experience of being stationed on one, along with technical information. [The book] is a fitting tribute to the American heroes who risked their all to answer the call of duty.

Victory in the Pacific

Hitler

Virginia's General

Janusz Korczak, His Orphans, and the Holocaust

Light in the Darkness

An examination of Red Scares in the United States, including the Rosenbergs, the Hollywood Ten and the McCarthy era.

America in the Era of Red Scares and Cold War

A Time of Fear

An accessible portrait of the 32nd president traces his privileged upbringing, the polio that cost him the use of his legs and his leadership during the Great Depression and World War II. By the National Book Award-finalist author of Flesh and Blood So Cheap. Simultaneous eBook.

FDR and the American Crisis

Considers the character and influence of the abolitionist, discussing the religious beliefs that prompted his use of terrorism to combat slavery while assessing his role in the Harper's Ferry raid that helped trigger the Civil War.

John Brown's War Against Slavery

A Volcano Beneath the Snow

Get ready to look at rats in a whole new way. These intelligent, compassionate creatures are greatly misunderstood.

The Story of Rats and People

Oh, Rats!

From National Book Award Finalist Albert Marrin comes the moving story of Janusz Korczak, the heroic Polish Jewish doctor who devoted his life to children, perishing with them in the Holocaust. Janusz Korczak was more than a good doctor. He was a hero. The Dr. Spock of his day, he established orphanages run on his principle of honoring children and shared his ideas with the public in books and on the radio. He famously said that children are not the people of tomorrow, but people today. Korczak was a man ahead of his time, whose work ultimately became the basis for the U.N. Declaration of the Rights of the Child. Korczak was also a Polish Jew on the eve of World War II. He turned down multiple opportunities for escape, standing by the children in his orphanage as they became confined to the Warsaw Ghetto. Dressing them in their Sabbath finest, he led their march to the trains and ultimately perished with his children in Treblinka. But this book is much more than a biography. In it, renowned nonfiction master Albert Marrin examines not just Janusz Korczak's life but his ideology of children: that children are valuable in and of themselves, as individuals. He contrasts this with Adolf Hitler's life and his ideology of children: that children are nothing more than tools of the state. And throughout, Marrin draws readers into the Warsaw Ghetto. What it was like. How it was run. How Jews within and Poles without responded. Who worked to save lives and who tried to enrich themselves on other people's suffering. And how one man came to represent the conscience and the soul of humanity. Filled with black-and-white photographs, this is an unforgettable portrait of a man whose compassion in even the darkest hours reminds us what is possible.

A Light in the Darkness

Theodore Roosevelt is one of America's liveliest and most influential figures. He was a scholar, cowboy, war hero, explorer, and a brilliant politician. As president, Roosevelt's far-reaching policies abroad and at home forever changed both our nation's place in the world and the life of every modern American.

Theodore Roosevelt and the Rise of Modern America

The Great Adventure

Uneducated as a boy, Thomas Paine grew up to become one of the most influential writers of the 18th century. He brought the world Common Sense, Rights of Man, and The Age of Reason; simply written, verbal battles against political, civil, and religious ignorance.

Crusader for Liberty: How One Man's Ideas Helped Form a New Nation

Thomas Paine

Traces the life of the revolutionary who led the struggle to make China a Communist nation in 1949 and unleashed the horror of the Cultural Revolution in the mid-1960's.

Mao Tse-Tung and His China

Nicholas Murray Butler

Examines the most significant factors that resulted in the near extinction of the buffalo, from the introduction of the horse by the Plains Indians to train travel, and the steps taken to ensure the buffalo's survival since that time.

Albert Marrin

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