Give the gift of books: HISTORY

December 18, 2014

The JHU Press has an award-wining list in history, with acclaimed books on Lincoln and the Civil War, a fascinating account of the linothorax (the linen armor of the ancient world), and a new family-friendly guide to historic travel in the Mid-Atlantic. Read more about them or place an order by clicking on the titles below. To receive a 30% discount on all books featured in this blog post, enter code HDPD at checkout or mention this code when calling in your order at 1-800-537-5487. Happy holidays from JHUP!

Star-Spangled Banner: The Unlikely Story of America’s National Anthem Marc Ferris

“An engaging, conversational, and meticulously researched study of The Star-Spangled Banner over its 200-year history. Historians will find great insight into the importance of music as a tool for historical inquiry; musicologists will welcome a serious study of song; and general readers will gain a larger understanding of the way humans use national symbols to construct and reinforce identity.”— Susan Key, Star-Spangled Music Foundation “Ferris’s fascinating account is basically the biography of a song, one that originated in the Baltimore harbor, became a popular and patriotic favorite, and fended off challenges from the likes of America the Beautiful . . . Ferris gets extra credit for including thoughtful analysis of bold renditions by the likes of José Feliciano, Jimi Hendrix, and Marvin Gaye.”— John Lewis, Baltimore Magazine

Abraham Lincoln: A Life Michael Burlingame Hardcover boxed set Volume 1 in paperback Volume 2 in paperback

“This book supplants [Carl] Sandburg and supersedes all other biographies. Future Lincoln books cannot be written without it, and from no other book can a general reader learn so much about Abraham Lincoln. It is the essential title for the bicentennial.”— Publishers Weekly

“A complete view of Lincoln's life . . . thorough.”— U.S. News & World Report

“A monumental boxed effort that weighs in at 10 pounds . . . The result is a picture of Lincoln from all sides, in a style that is relentless but not daunting.”— Bloomberg News

“A magisterial enterprise.”— William Safire, The New York Times

Ronald S. Coddington’s Faces of the Civil War trilogy:

Faces of the Civil War: An Album of Union Soldiers and Their Stories

Faces of the Confederacy: An Album of Southern Soldiers and Their Stories

African American Faces of the Civil War: An Album

“A tour de force. The cartes de visite of soldiers proudly posed in their uniforms and the narratives of their lives, drawn from the veterans’ service and pension records, enable the reader to better understand the grim realities that confronted Civil War soldiers and sailors on the battlefield, in camp, on the march, at the hospital, and also on the home front.”— Edwin C. Bearss, Chief Historian Emeritus, National Park Service

Reconstructing Ancient Linen Body Armor: Unraveling the Linothorax Mystery Gregory S. Aldrete, Scott Bartell, and Alicia Aldrete “Reconstructing Ancient Linen Body Armor is a model example of the benefits that can come from creative engagement with historical re-enactors.”— Times Literary Supplement

“Reconstructing Ancient Linen Body Armor is essential for anyone interested in ancient warfare and/or experimental archaeology, from academic to layman, and is a defining and valuable contribution to our understanding of the ancient world.”— Bryn Mawr Classical Review

Living Hell: The Dark Side of the Civil War Michael C. C. Adams

“Provides a vital gut-wrenching counterpoint to the Civil War’s glamorization in America’s collective memory, a perspective as important to understanding the war as any political history or general’s biography. Living Hell will appeal to lovers of military history while being accessible enough for general readers. Those with the fortitude to endure its darkest moments will find it fascinating.”— Shelf Awareness

Travels through American History in the Mid-Atlantic: A Guide for All Ages Charles W. Mitchell with maps by Elizabeth Church Mitchell

“Mitchell combines a regional travel guide with direct quotations, immediate revelations, and stories that illuminate the deeper historical context of each selected site. He has sought out engaging reenactments and the best exhibits, where remarkable artifacts and excellent displays bring history alive. This is more than sightseeing.”— Kathryn Schneider Smith, author of Washington at Home: An Illustrated History of Neighborhoods in the Nation’s Capital

True Yankees: The South Seas and the Discovery of American Identity Dane A. Morrison

“What did it mean to be an independent nation? For New Englanders after the revolution, the answer to that question often lay not on their own shores but in the far-flung waters of the South Seas—in the commodity-rich ports of Canton, Calcutta and Cape Town, and in the oceans in between. As Dane Morrison shows in this important new book, the China Trade was where seafaring Yankees learned how precious their hard-won independence was, where they took the first steps toward having that independence accepted by others, and where they discovered what it meant to be Americans.”— Eliga Gould, author of Among the Powers of the Earth: The American Revolution and The Making of a New World Empire

Publish Date: December 18, 2014

Give the gift of books: HISTORY

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