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Walt Whitman, the great American poet, is also in many ways a great American enigma compared to other famous men from the 19th century in US history. On the one hand, he was the product of something of an all-American family, the sort of salt of the earth people he would later describe so vividly in his work. On the other, he was a complete bohemian and profligate, given to vanity in the way he dressed and lived. He started out his career as a school teacher and was later a newspaper man, but he left both those types of work for a job as a government bureaucrat.

The Greatest Battles in History: The Battle of Gettysburg comprehensively covers the entire Pennsylvania campaign, analyzes the decisions made by the battle’s most important leaders, and explains the aftermath of the Union victory and the legacies that were made and tarnished by the battle.

An inexplicable draft of wind dances across the dirt floors of the narrow passageway, which seems to stretch on with no end. The flickering flames of the torches mounted onto the rough, sandpaper-like walls of stone create eerie shadows on the dirt floors. One can hear the disembodied whispers intermingling with the chill of the musty air, prompting the hair on many people's arms to raise.

In the campaign leading up to the election of Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate frequently discussed the importance of moving the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. For many conservative Christian Americans and Israelis, this was tantamount to the United States agreeing to Jewish control over Jerusalem. As it stands now, the US has a consulate in Jerusalem, yet no country houses their embassy in Jerusalem due to the conflicting claims of the Israelis and Palestinians.

Despite Russia's imposing image in the world, less apparent weaknesses within the tsarist government threatened the country's stability. Several events in the early 20th century led to an eroding loyalty among Russian military forces, and Potemkin was the first modern ship to reveal it, an act that would bring it fame and make it the subject of some of the most well-known works of film and literature in Russian history.

Even as the young United States successfully secured its independence, the new nation was beset by problems. The drafters of the Articles of Confederation had deliberately avoided giving the national legislature the power to tax, because Parliament had so abused that authority against the colonies, but this proved to be a severe limitation on the national government.

The mere mention of his name, Tutankhamun, brings to mind visions of gold and splendor and thoughts of a majestic kingdom. The reality of this king is something quite different. His fame has less to do with his position in history and nearly everything to do with the discovery of his tomb by Howard Carter in 1922. There are many questions and mysteries still surrounding this famous king of Egypt. Who was Tutankhamun? Where did he come from? What was his kingdom like? How did he live and die?

From the moment Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes first found and confronted them, the Aztecs have fascinated the world, and they continue to hold a unique place both culturally and in pop culture. Ironically, and unlike the Mayans, the Aztecs are not widely viewed or remembered with nuance, in part because their own leader burned extant Aztec writings. The World's Greatest Civilizations: The History and Culture of the Aztecs attempts to portray the Aztecs as they actually were.

Without question, the most famous battle of the war took place outside of the small town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. From July 1 to 3, Robert E. Lee’s Confederate Army of Northern Virginia tried everything in its power to decisively defeat George Meade’s Union Army of the Potomac, unleashing ferocious assaults that inflicted nearly 50,000 casualties in all.

The Seven Hills of Rome: The History and Legacy of the Hills That Form the Heart of the Eternal City takes a trek around each and every one of the famous hills, and illustrates how the different events that transpired on each mound have contributed to the shaping of Roman history. You will learn about the Seven Hills of Rome like never before.

We live in a fast-paced world. The first mature thing to do when being confronted by this reality is to accept that you will not arrive at your intended destination within the time frame that you planned, but you will still strive to achieve it. The next step is to prepare for the daily grind of working for years to achieve your long-term goals. Part of preparing for this career journey is developing the right habits that will lead you to success

When one thinks of the world’s first cities, Sumer, Memphis, and Babylon are some of the first to come to mind. If the focus then shifts to India, then Harappa and Mohenjo Daro will undoubtedly come up, but after that, India’s other ancient cities are often overlooked. This is unfortunate, since India’s oldest civilization, known as the Indus Valley civilization or the Harappa civilization, was contemporary with ancient Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt and had extensive contacts with the former, which makes it one of the most important early world civilizations.

In the mid-1960s, an era on the cusp of change from the musical and social norms of the previous decade, the emergence of Jim Morrison, the charismatic poet/musician of The Doors, helped to transform the subgenre of rock n' roll as a stylistic flavor to the full-fledged institution of rock music. Morrison accomplished this transformation by avoiding membership in any of the known categories of modern rock music during the age of protest, but at the same time, he became the general symbol of anti-authoritarianism for his generation and the next.

While the Lincoln Administration and most Northerners were preoccupied with trying to capture Richmond in the summer of 1861, it would be the little known Ulysses S. Grant who delivered the Union’s first major victories, over a thousand miles away from Washington. Grant’s new commission led to his command of the District of Southeast Missouri, headquartered at Cairo, after he was appointed by “The Pathfinder”, John C. Fremont, a national celebrity who had run for president in 1856.

It seems to be a normal, modern-day practice to reduce all the gods of the ancient pantheons to their most basic abstract concepts: Ares represents war; Demeter, agriculture; Aphrodite, love; and so on. In the process, these characters lose any personality with which they might have been imbued over millennia of stories

Ironically, one of the generals who often escapes the attention of Civil War fans who compile the lists of best generals is the man who won the war's most famous battle, George G. Meade (1815-1872). In fact, Meade has become a perfect example of how the generals who did not self-promote themselves and write memoirs after the war had their reputations suffer in the ensuing decades.

In the 14th century, a ruthless killer stalked the streets of England, wiping out up to 60 percent of the terror-stricken nation's inhabitants. This invisible and unforgiving terminator continued to harass the population for hundreds of years, but nothing could compare to the savagery it would unleash three centuries later. This conscienceless menace was none other than the notorious bubonic plague, also known as the "Black Death".

Of all the great cities in the world, few personify their country like New York City. As America’s largest city and best known immigration gateway into the country, NYC represents the beauty, diversity, and sheer strength of the United States, a global financial center that has enticed people chasing the “American Dream” for centuries.

The 1920s in the United States were known as the "Roaring Twenties" and the Jazz Age, a time in the nation that glorified hard and fast living. Nobody personified the age or wrote so descriptively about it better than F. Scott Fitzgerald. In addition to covering Fitzgerald’s timeless classic in detail, Everything You Need to Know About The Great Gatsby includes a biography of the Fitzgeralds, discussion about Fitzgerald's inspiration for the novel's characters, and a full-fledged explanation of the plot, themes, and symbols of this "Great American Novel".

Citizens of the United States of America are very proud of their heritage; the country is known as the "land of opportunity" because of some self-made men who made a go of themselves in the country. When comparing the country to other places in the world, the United States is still a young country and was built on immigrants and disadvantaged people rising to the top and shaping the country into what it is today.