Washoe County Library System

Chronicles the astonishing, true story of Nobel Prize winner Rigoberta Menchú, who is a Quinché Indian woman, as she stood up for her people and helped wage a rebellion in the wake of seemingly unconquerable oppression. Shot at the height of the heated battle between the heavily-armed Guatemalan Military and the nearly defenseless Mayan population.

In 140 AD, twenty years after the unexplained disappearance of the entire Ninth Legion in the mountains of Scotland, young centurion Marcus Aquila arrives from Rome to solve the mystery and restore the reputation of his father, the commander of the Ninth. Accompanied only by his British slave Esca, Marcus sets out across Hadrian's Wall into the uncharted highlands of Caledonia to confront its savage tribes, make peace with his father's memory, and...

"In the tradition of Erik Larson's Isaac's Storm, a riveting narrative about the biggest earthquake in recorded history in North America--the 1964 Alaskan earthquake that demolished the city of Valdez and obliterated the coastal village of Chenega--and the scientist sent to look for geological clues to explain the dynamics of earthquakes, who helped to confirm the then controversial theory of plate tectonics. On March 27, 1964, at 5:36 p.m., the biggest...

An extraordinary work of oral history that illuminates the diverse ways in which the Chinese perceive and understand their own modern history.

"A collection of essays and essay fragments John McPhee wrote over the course of his career, stressing the work he never completed, and why"-- A literary legend’s engaging review of his career, stressing the work he never completed, and why. Over seven decades, John McPhee has set a standard for literary nonfiction. Assaying mountain ranges, bark canoes, experimental aircraft, the Swiss Army, geophysical hot spots, ocean shipping, shad fishing,...

"A people's history of life in Britain during the Napoleonic Wars"-- "A beautifully observed history of the British home front during the Napoleonic Wars by a celebrated historian. We know the thrilling, terrible stories of the battles of the Napoleonic Wars--but what of those left behind? The people on a Norfolk farm, in a Yorkshire mill, a Welsh iron foundry, an Irish village, a London bank, a Scottish mountain? The aristocrats and paupers, old...

Traces the birth of the American national park idea in the mid-1800s and follows its evolution for nearly 150 years. Using archival photographs, first-person accounts of historical characters, personal memories and analysis from more than 40 interviews, and what Burns believes is the most stunning cinematography in Florentine Films' history, the series chronicles the steady addition of new parks through the stories of the people who helped create...