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Accelerated Reader
IL: MG+ - BL: 8 - AR Pts: 5
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The Iranian people despised their leader, Reza Shah, who catered to foreign businesses while ruling Iran as a dictator. In 1979 discontent boiled up into all-out revolution. Led by the charismatic Ayatollah Khomeini, the Iranian people seized control and created a new government based on the Islamic religion.
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What happens when a foreigner takes over the throne of a powerful country like England? In the case of William the Conqueror, the forced rule would have an impact that lasted centuries. William was already Duke of Normandy-part of modern-day France. In 1066, he-along with thousands of Norman soldiers-invaded England and defeated King Harold Godwinson in the Battle of Hastings. As a result of William's victory, England's ties to Scandinavia loosened...
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As legend has it, a young prince, Alexander, once subdued a wild stallion others couldn't control. Impressed by the youngster's bravery, his father, King Philip of Macedonia, predicted that Alexander would need to find a kingdom big enough for his ambitions. And when Alexander became king, that's exactly what he did. Alexander and his well-trained armies first gained the support of the Greek city states. Then in the mid-300s B.C., he conquered Egypt...
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Could a few fleas really change the world? In the early 1300s, the world was on the brink of change. New trade routes in Europe and Asia brought people in contact with different cultures and ideas, while war and rebellions threatened to disrupt the lives of millions. Most people lived in crowded cities or as serfs tied to the lands of their overlords. Conditions were filthy, as most people drank water from the same sources they used for washing and...
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Can one man really change the world? If that man is Genghis Khan, the answer is yes. Born around 1161, Temujin, as he was named, grew up in humble surroundings. As a teenager, he fled from enemy raiders, but he became a fearless-and feared-man who commanded an army of thousands and an empire of millions. In fact, by the mid-1200's Genghis Khan's Mongol Empire included much of the known world. Though he was responsible for the deaths of millions, he...
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Can one book really change the world? A handwritten manuscript by Marco Polo in 1288 did. Polo, son of a wealthy Italian merchant, wrote about his incredible experiences traveling to China with his father and uncle on a trade expedition, and also about his adventures as an envoy of Kublai Khan, the ruler of most of China. Polo's book became a bestseller in Europe in the fourteenth century. It was copied over and over by hand, translated into fourteen...
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Can one document really change the world? In June, 1215 King John of England met with a group of nobles in a meadow on the banks of the Thames River. There, John affixed his royal seal to a document designed to bring about peace between the king and a group of rebellious nobles. This attempt failed miserably, and the two parties were soon at war again. Yet the ideas laid out in the document-which would later be called Magna Carta-lived on, and would...
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Can the conquest of one city change the world? In 1519, two powerful empires - Spain and Mexica (Aztec) - were hungry for expansion in central Mexico. Led by emperor Motecuzoma II, the Mexica people had subdued their native enemies and now controlled a sprawling territory with the great city of Tenochtitlán at the center. Then the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés led an attack on the Mexica empire. Although the Spaniards had horses and guns,...
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How did the end of the shoguns pave the way for modern Japan? Between the eighth and twelfth centuries, emperors ruled Japan. But powerful families gained the loyalty of the samurai - the emperors' warriors. In 1185 one local lord took control as shogun, leader of the samurai armies. For the next seven hundred years, the emperors were ceremonial figures, and the shoguns ruled Japan, banning interaction with the Western world. In the nineteenth century,...
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Can one man's religious experience change the whole world? In the A.D. 600s, in the Arabian city of Mecca, a merchant named Muhammad began to receive and share messages from God. Muhammad attracted many followers. Eventually the revelations formed the basis for a new religion, Islam. By the time of Muhammad's death, the Islamic religion had spread across the Arabian Peninsula. Muhammad's successors continued to bring Islam to surrounding lands. Often,...
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Can one invention really change the world? Before the mid-fifteenth century, books were printed by hand, making them rare and expensive. Reading and learning remained a privilege of the wealthy-until Johannes Gutenberg developed a machine called the printing press. Gutenberg, a German metalworker, began in the 1440's by making movable type-small metal letters that were arranged to form words and sentences, replacing handwritten letters. Movable type...
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How did the loss of one city change the history of Europe? In the Middle Ages, Constantinople's perfect geographic location-positioned along a land trade route between Europe and Asia as well as on a strategic seaway from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean- made the city extremely desirous, and as a result, prone to attack. Under the control of the Roman and Byzantine Empires, Constantinople became known as "the Eye of the World," a center of government,...
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Can the demise of a government 1,500 years ago have repercussions felt around the globe centuries later? If that government is the powerful Roman Empire, it can. From first century B.C. through fifth century A.D., the Romans ruled over an empire that stretched across much of Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. Then in 476, a leader from a Germanic group called the Goths overthrew the Roman Emperor. To this day, questions still exist about how...
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"In this raw, searing new narrative account, Howard Jones reopens the case of My Lai by examining individual accounts of both victims and soldiers through extensive archival and original research. Jones evokes the horror of the event itself, the attempt to suppress it, as well as the response to Calley's sentence and the seemingly unanswerable question of whether he had merely been following orders. My Lai also surveys how news of the slaughter intensified...
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In Lincoln's Last Speech, renowned historian and author Louis P. Masur offers insight into this critical address and its vision of a reconstructed United States. Coming two days after Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox and a week after the fall of Richmond, Lincoln's speech was expected to be a victory oration. Instead, he looked to the future, discussing how best to restore the seceded states to the national government, and even endorsing limited...
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In February 1763, Britain, Spain, and France signed the Treaty of Paris, ending the French and Indian War. In this one document, more American territory changed hands than in any treaty before or since. As the great historian Francis Parkman wrote, "half a continent...changed hands at the scratch of a pen."As Colin Calloway reveals in this superb history, the Treaty set in motion a cascade of unexpected consequences. Indians and Europeans, settlers...
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During one sweltering week in July 1948, the Democratic Party gathered in Philadelphia for its national convention. The most pressing and controversial issue facing the delegates was not whom to nominate for president-the incumbent, Harry Truman, was the presumptive candidate-but whether the Democrats would finally embrace the cause of civil rights and embed it in their official platform.
On the convention's final day, Hubert Humphrey, the relatively...
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Today we hold the Constitution in such high regard that we can hardly imagine how hotly contested was its adoption. Now Richard Labunski offers a dramatic account of a time when the entire American experiment hung in the balance, only to be saved by the most unlikely of heroes--the diminutive and exceedingly shy James Madison. Here is a vividly written account of not one but several major political struggles which changed the course of American history....
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