In 1789, when George Washington took office as the nation's first president, the United States was an experiment that could easily fail. Only a few years earlier, the fledgling democracy had broken away from British rule. The thirteen states were vying for power and had only reluctantly accepted a strong central government. Whoever led that central government would face many challenges. Most Americans believed Washington was the right person for the...

"In 1876, Lakota chief Crazy Horse helped lead his people's resistance against the white man's invasion of the northern Great Plains. One of the leaders of the US military forces was Army Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer. The men had long been enemies. At the height of the war, when tribalism had reached its peak, they crossed paths for the last time. In this action-packed double biography, S. D. Nelson draws fascinating parallels between Crazy Horse...

The Marquis de Lafayette was a young aristocrat from France who played a key role in the success of the American Revolution. From a wealthy family with a military history, he admired the struggle for independence in the American colonies and crossed the Atlantic Ocean to fight on the side of the colonists. Readers will learn how he became a longtime friend of the future president, George Washington, and how his skills both on the battlefield and in...