Alan James

"The Civil War is a much plumbed area of scholarship, so much so that at times it seems there is no further work to be done in the field. However, the experience of children and youth during that tumultuous time remains a relatively unexplored facet of the conflict. Children and Youth during the Civil War Era seeks a deeper investigation into the historical record by and giving voice and context to their struggles and victories during this critical...

"Sparks are champions of (weird) science, complete with capes and costumes and amazing superpowers that only make sense if you don't think about them too hard. Darklings are creatures of myth and magic: ghosts, vampires, were-beasts, and the like. Doors creak at their approach. Cobwebs gather where they linger. Kim Lam is just an ordinary college student until a freak scientific accident (what else?) transforms Kim and her three housemates into honest-to-goodness...

Discusses castles, manor houses, mansions, and other large fortified dwellings throughout history.

Thirty-seven stories on the black experience. They range from Ralph Ellison's Backwacking, A Plea to the Senator, which is a satire on racism, to Sherley Anne William's Meditation on History, the story of a slave uprising, to Toni Cade Bambara's The Lesson, on a poor girl's visit to a toy shop for the rich.