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An illustrated history of how scientific study and religious thought have influenced each other throughout the history of the United States.Discovery and Revelation explores the evolving relationship between religion, science, and technology in America through the centuries as humans strive to understand the world and their place in it. With at least 40 significant and rarely seen artifacts from the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, the book highlights the way religious and scientific ideas have influenced each other and informed cultural change. Religious tradition has often adapted in response to scientific discoveries, while scientists have been motivated to undertake research both because of faith and in opposition to it. Delving deep into this intersection, Discovery and Revelation examines how these two approaches to understanding the world have changed the landscape of American society. It explores scientific advancements through artifacts like: • Benjamin Franklin's lightning rod: sparked debate about the relationship between weather and God. • Charles Darwin's "Tree of Life" sketch: represented his theory of evolution, which some objected to as being atheistic while others thought it reflected the intent of a Creator. • John Thomas Scopes portrait: photograph taken ahead of his time on trial for teaching evolution against Tennessee law forbidding denial of the Biblical account of man's origin. • Apollo 8's live television script: the crew caused controversy for reading from the Bible for their Christmas Eve broadcast. Discovery and Revelation is a testament to the fascinating and multifaceted nature of faith and knowledge and how they've shaped our nation.

The go-to guide for visitors who want to maximize their experience at the Smithsonian’s 19 museums and National ZooThe Smithsonian holds more than 155 million artifacts and specimens in its trust. The Official Guide to the Smithsonian makes navigating the world’s largest museum complex more efficient and fulfilling. Featuring a huge amount of history, highlights, and pertinent museum information, the colorful guide is designed to enrich time spent in the Smithsonian’s incredible galleries and museums on the National Mall, the Washington metropolitan area, and New York City. The new 2021 edition features major updates for all the museums. This includes a full treatment of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the most recent Smithsonian museum, as well as the Deep Time hall at the National Museum of Natural History, their new fossil hall that displays towering fossils of dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures to explore the epic story of Earth. Each detailed section presents the history of the museum and offers a fully illustrated, gallery-by-gallery tour. It also includes all the practical information such as location, hours, phone numbers, public transportation, services, tours, dining, gift shops, special attractions for children, and website addresses. With so much to see and do across the vast Smithsonian collections, this is the definitive source of information in one place. 

A gorgeous publication that reveals the historical importance of first ladies through portraiture.Each first lady has brought her own priorities and flair to the position that has never been officially defined. They have served as hostesses, trendsetters, activists, and political players. First Ladies of the United States features 84 portraits of the nation''s first ladies, as varied in style and representation as the individual women they depict. From watercolors and oil paintings to engravings and photographs, this book celebrates the legacy of first ladies throughout history.First ladies are some of the most scrutinized public figures in the country, praised or criticized on everything from their fashion to their level of political involvement. There''s no better way to explore their visibility and lasting impact than with First Ladies of the United States, which places remarkable portraits alongside an insightful essay and lively entries that illuminate the history of the women who have shaped the White House.

An extraordinary illustrated overview of the National Marine Sanctuary System and a guide to its fourteen protected underwater locationsAmerica's Marine Sanctuaries tells the story of fourteen underwater places so important they are under special protection, together forming the US National Marine Sanctuary System. These sanctuaries, spanning more than 620,000 square miles and ranging from the Florida Keys to the Great Lakes and to the Hawaiian Islands, are critical and breathtaking marine habitats that provide homes to endangered and threatened species. They also preserve America's rich maritime heritage and act as living laboratories for science, research, education, and conservation, offering outdoor recreation experiences for all ages. Through 175 full-color photographs and lively narrative, America's Marine Sanctuaries showcases each of the marine sanctuaries and the creatures that live there, from whales and manatees to Hawaiian monk seals and Laysan ducks, as well as sunken ships from the Ghost Fleet and USS Monitor to Shipwreck Alley. The book underscores how marine sanctuaries have shaped the nation's development, survival, and identity, and celebrates these protected underwater treasures for all they can tell us about our communities, our country, and our world.

An ABC book celebrating and inspiring diversityA Is for All the Things You Are: A Joyful ABC Book is an alphabet board book developed by the National Museum of African American History and Culture that celebrates what makes us unique as individuals and connects us as humans. This lively and colorful book introduces young readers, from infants to age seven, to twenty-six key traits they can explore and cultivate as they grow. Each letter offers a description of the trait, a question inviting the reader to examine how he or she experiences it in daily life, and lively illustrations. The book supports understanding and development of each child's healthy racial identity, the joy of human diversity and inclusion, a sense of justice, and children's capacity to act for their own and others' fair treatment.

Replete with color photographs, drawings, and maps of Viking sites, artifacts, and landscapes, this book celebrates and explores the Viking saga from the combined perspectives of history, archaeology, oral tradition, literature, and natural science. The book''s contributors chart the spread of marauders and traders in Europe as well as the expansion of farmers and explorers throughout the North Atlantic and into the New World. They show that Norse contacts with Native American groups were more extensive than has previously been believed, but that the outnumbered Europeans never established more than temporary settlements in North America.

The ideas of US Air Force Colonel John Boyd have transformed American military policy and practice. A first-rate fighter pilot and a self-taught scholar, he wrote the first manual on jet aerial combat; spearheaded the design of both of the Air Force's premier fighters, the F-15 and the F-16; and shaped the tactics that saved lives during the Vietnam War and the strategies that won the Gulf War. Many of America's best-known military and political leaders consulted Boyd on matters of technology, strategy, and theory.In The Mind of War, Grant T. Hammond offers the first complete portrait of John Boyd, his groundbreaking ideas, and his enduring legacy. Based on extensive interviews with Boyd and those who knew him as well as on a close analysis of Boyd's briefings, this intellectual biography brings the work of an extraordinary thinker to a broader public.

WINNER OF THE DEXTER PRIZE OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE HISTORY OF TECHNOLOGY Launched by the Third Reich in late 1944, the first ballistic missile, the V-2, fell on London, Paris, and Antwerp after covering nearly two hundred miles in five minutes. It was a stunning achievement, one that heralded a new age of ballistic missiles and space launch vehicles. Michael J. Neufeld gives the first comprehensive and accurate account of the story behind one of the greatest engineering feats of World War II. At a time when rockets were minor battlefield weapons, Germany ushered in a new form of warfare that would bequeath a long legacy of terror to the Cold War, as well as the means to go into space. Both the US and USSR's rocket programs had their origins in the Nazi state.

The year 2002 marked the 100th anniversary of the first installation of air-conditioning. During the past century, it has become a staple of American life; 83% of US homes are now air-conditioned. In this engaging social history, Marsha Ackermann explores how the idea of "cooling" became firmly embedded in the social perceptions and expectations of Americans, transforming our definition of comfort and the way we live, work, and play.

Scholars in recent decades have begun to pay a great deal of attention to the mobilization of women in the Great War, but why so many women, civilian and military alike, wore uniforms is a question that has scarcely been asked, much less answered. The contributors to Cutting a New Pattern bring this question to the fore and show why it matters. Of the many ways the Great War divided the past from the future, few were more significant than the reordered place of women in society. Although women's new status clearly had prewar roots, it just as clearly derived from their wartime participation in uniform. Not only did tens of thousands of women for the first time become members of the uniformed forces, many tens of thousands more wore uniforms as members of an enormous variety of paramilitary or quasi-military services, civilian relief and welfare organizations, and as workers. Uniformed female workers and volunteers for wartime service in such large numbers was unprecedented. This ground-breaking project moves women's uniforms to center stage.

A beautiful gift book commemorating the nation's most cherished springtime tradition, the National Cherry Blossom Festival, through original works of art from the Library of Congress collectionsExperience the splendor of the annual spring viewing of the nation's sakura (cherry blossoms) with this stunning keepsake book. Original artwork, photographs, and objects from the Library of Congress collections illuminate the story of these landmark trees and how they came to the nation's capital as a symbol of friendship with Japan. More than one million visitors from the US and abroad gather each year to enjoy Washington's glorious profusion of cloud-like blossoms and join in the festivities. Cherry Blossoms: Sakura Collections from the Library of Congress showcases exquisite watercolor drawings of blossom varieties among the original cherry trees, Japanese woodblock prints by such master artists as Kiyonaga and Hiroshige, early 3-D stenographs and contemporary photos of the Tidal Basin cherry blossoms, mementos from a former cherry blossom princess, posters of the festival, and more. These works offer the opportunity to explore Japanese culture while celebrating Washington's beloved cherry blossoms.

They flew low and slow, at treetop level, at night, in monsoons, and in point-blank range of enemy guns and missiles. They were missions no one else wanted, but the ones all other pilots prayed for when shot down. Flying the World War II-vintage Douglas A-1 Skyraider, a single-engine, propeller-driven relic in a war of “fast-movers,” these intrepid US Air Force pilots, call sign Sandy, risked their lives with every mission to rescue thousands of downed Navy and Air Force pilots.With a flashback memory and a style all his own, George J. Marrett depicts some of the most dangerous aerial combat of any war. The thrilling rescue of “Streetcar 304” and William Jones''s selfless act of heroism that earned him the Medal of Honor are but two of the compelling tales he recounts. Here too are the courages Jolly Green Giant helicopter crews, parajumpers, and forward air controllers who worked with the Sandys over heavily defended jungles and mountains well behind enemy lines.Passionate, mordantly witty, and filled with heart-pounding adrenaline, Cheating Death reads like the finest combat fiction, but it is the real deal: its heroes, cowards, jokers, and casualties all have names and faces readers will find difficult to forget.

Award-winning geneticist John C. Avise guides this delightful voyage around the planet in search of answers to nature's mysteries. He demonstrates how scientists directly examine DNA to address long-standing questions about wild animals, plants, and microbes. Through dozens of stories that span the world, nature emerges as a realm where truth can be far stranger than fiction. From a 100-ton mushroom to egg-swapping birds, extinct ground sloths to microbes inside our bodies, Avise examines a cornucopia of natural-history topics and explains how today's modern genetic techniques offer novel insights. Do armadillo litters really contain clones? When is a fig tree not just a single tree? Where have migratory whales traveled? Who are the mothers of the embryos carried by pregnant male seahorses? What insect was the world's earliest farmer? How closely related are Neanderthals to modern humans? Answers to these and many more questions are presented here in a straightforwad manner that reveals Avise's enthusiasm for uncovering nature's hidden ways. Each entry is accompanied by a beautiful illustration from Trudy Nicholson, widely recognized as one of today's leading nature artists.

In this brilliant study, Elizabeth White Nelson challenges a central tenet of 19th-century American history: namely, that men and women lived in separate spheres. Women, supposedly, lived lives focused around hearth and home; men focused on trade and commerce. Market Sentiments turns this theory on its head, arguing that the market and parlor sentimentality were closely intertwined for both men and women.Scholars have long seen 19th-century sentimentalism as a reaction to the rapid expansion of the marketplace, which some feared would threaten their traditional values of thrift, independence, and equality of economic opportunity. But Nelson demonstrates that the rise of sentimentalism and the marketplace were fundamentally linked and, indeed, fueled each other. The invention of Valentine's Day (called "this important Business of Love” by one 19th-century observer) during this era was a prime example of how emotional rhetoric could be economically pragmatic. Not only did people purchase sentimental objects for their parlors—brass candlesticks as spin-off products from Uncle Tom's Cabin, for instance—but they also used sentimental language to explain the profound changes in American culture.Through her voluminous and ingenious use of sources such as literary bestsellers, fashion magazines, hair jewelry, and the decoration of Victorian parlors, Elizabeth White Nelson shows that, for 19th-century Americans, hearth, home, and the pursuit of cash came together in one big sentimental enterprise.