Radiometric dating of nearby rocks indicated the skeleton, classified as Ardipithecus ramidus, was 4.4 million years old, more than a million years older than "Lucy," then the oldest known human ancestor. The findings challenged many assumptions about human evolution--how we started walking upright, how we evolved our nimble hands, and, most significantly, whether we were descended from an ancestor that resembled today's chimpanzee--and repudiated a half-century of paleoanthropological orthodoxy.Fossil Men is the first full-length exploration of Ardi, the fossil men who found her, and her impact on what we know about the origins of the human species. It is a scientific detective story played out in anatomy and the natural history of the human body. Kermit Pattison brings into focus a cast of eccentric, obsessive scientists, including one of the world's greatest fossil hunters, Tim White--an exacting and unforgiving fossil hunter whose virtuoso skills in the field were matched only by his propensity for making enemies; Gen Suwa, a Japanese savant who sometimes didn't bother going home at night to devote more hours to science; Owen Lovejoy, a onetime creationist-turned-paleoanthropologist; Berhane Asfaw, who survived imprisonment and torture to become Ethiopia's most senior paleoanthropologist and who fought for African scientists to gain equal footing in the study of human origins; and the Leakeys, for decades the most famous family in paloanthropology.An intriguing tale of scientific discovery, obsession and rivalry that moves from the sun-baked desert of Africa and a nation caught in a brutal civil war, to modern high-tech labs and academic lecture halls, Fossil Men is popular science at its best, and a must read for fans of Jared Diamond, Richard Dawkins, and Edward O. Wilson.

    She reveals them to be curious, clever connoisseurs of their world, technologically inventive and ecologically adaptable. Above all, they were successful survivors for more than 300,000 years, during times of massive climatic upheaval.At a time when our species has never faced greater threats, we’re obsessed with what makes us special. But, much of what defines us was also in Neanderthals, and their DNA is still inside us. Planning, co-operation, altruism, craftsmanship, aesthetic sense, imagination... perhaps even a desire for transcendence beyond mortality.It is only by understanding them, that we can truly understand ourselves.

    While several of these are well known, for all those that have been recorded, many have been unjustly forgotten. Our history is overflowing with different cultures that have all evolved over time, sometimes dissolving or reforming, though ultimately shaping the way we continue to live. But for every culture that has been remembered, what have we forgotten?This thorough guide explores those civilizations that have faded from the pages of our textbooks but played a significant role in the development of modern society. Forgotten Peoples of the Ancient World covers the Hyksos to the Hephthalites and everyone in between, providing a unique overview of humanity’s history from approximately 3000 BCE–550 CE. A wide range of illustrated artifacts and artworks, as well as specially drawn maps, help to tell the stories of forty lost peoples and allow readers to take a direct look into the past. Each entry exposes a diverse culture, highlighting their important contributions and committing their achievements to paper.Forgotten Peoples of the Ancient World is an immersive, thought-provoking, and entertaining book for anyone interested in ancient history.

    Many have tried, but all have failed to locate the legendary Nazi gold train.Jack Reilly mourns the loss of his grandmother, a Holocaust survivor, and an esteemed historian. In memory of her, the retired Delta operator tours the place of her imprisonment, the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, site of the infamous Nazi concentration camp.Suddenly, the crowded complex is taken over by a well-armed force. They’re led by a woman on a personal quest. The mercenary commander yearns to uncover the lucrative haul with the help of a journal that once belonged to Heinrich Himmler, leader of Adolf Hitler’s ruthless paramilitary organization, the Schutzstaffel. She shanghaies Jack into service after she learns of his past.With innocent lives on the line, Jack agrees to help. If he fails, people die. But if he succeeds, and he unwillingly helps resurrect the Nazi party, even more people will die. Never in his life has Jack been stuck between a bigger rock and a harder place.The Forgotten Fortune is the first book in international bestselling author Matt James’ action-packed archaeological thriller series, The Jack Reilly Adventures.

    Secret Britain offers an expertly guided tour of Britain’s most fascinating mysteries: archaeological sites and artefacts that take us deep into the lives of the many different peoples who have inhabited the island over the millennia.Illustrated with beautiful photographs, the wonders include buried treasure, stone circles and geoglyphs, outdoor places of worship, caves filled with medieval carvings, and enigmatic tools to divine the future. Explore famous sites such as Stonehenge and Glastonbury, but also discover:The Lindow Man bog body, showing neatly trimmed hair and manicured fingernails despite having been killed 2,000 years agoThe Uffington White Horse, a horse-shaped geoglyph maintained by an unbroken chain of people for 3,000 yearsA roman baby’s bronze cockerel, an underworld companion for a two-year-old who died sometime between AD 100–200St Leonard’s Ossuary, home to 1,200 skulls and a vast stack of human bones made up of around 2,000 people who died from the 1200s to the 1500sThe Wenhaston Doom painting, an extraordinary medieval depiction of the Last Judgement painted on a chancel arch.Explore Britain’s secret history and discover why these places still resonate today.

    Meet:- The cowboy who found an ancient skeleton- A famous king buried underneath a parking lot- The team who found New York City's hidden African Burial Ground- A boy who finds the Dead Sea Scrolls while looking for his lost goat- And many more.Packed with incredible stories and expert tips for making your own exciting finds, this is an accessible, action-packed introduction to the world of archaeology.

    They sit behind plate glass: dignified, tastefully lit. Accompanying pieces of card offer a name, date and place of origin. They do not mention that the objects are all stolen.Few artefacts embody this history of rapacious and extractive colonialism better than the Benin Bronzes - a collection of thousands of brass plaques and carved ivory tusks depicting the history of the Royal Court of the Obas of Benin City, Nigeria. Pillaged during a British naval attack in 1897, the loot was passed on to Queen Victoria, the British Museum and countless private collections.The story of the Benin Bronzes sits at the heart of a heated debate about cultural restitution, repatriation and the decolonisation of museums. In The Brutish Museums, Dan Hicks makes a powerful case for the urgent return of such objects, as part of a wider project of addressing the outstanding debt of colonialism.

    When tragedy strikes and everything she loves is threatened, Faye Longchamp, an expert in American archaeology, will resort to desperate measures. Because some losses cut to the bone...A murder mystery with an archaeological twist, Wrecked is:Florida-based mysteryPerfect for fans of James Lee Burke and Nevada BarrFor readers of archaeological mysteriesThe suspicious drowning death of Captain Edward Eubank breaks archaeologist Faye Longchamp's heart. It also confuses her, because he was found in scuba gear and she's never heard him even mention scuba diving. During their last conversation, he told her that he believed he'd found a storied shipwreck, but when Faye checks it out, she finds nothing there—not a plank, not a single gold coin, nothing. If there's no treasure, then why is her friend dead?But the situation quickly escalates beyond a murder mystery. Surrounded by a community struggling in the aftermath of a major hurricane that has changed the very landscape, Faye grapples not only with the loss of her friend, but with her fears for her daughter, who is being romanced by a man who may be very dangerous.As a professional with her own consulting firm, Faye had long ago given up her "anything goes" attitude when the law stood between her and an interesting dig. Now that recklessness is back. There's nothing she won't do to protect her daughter.

    For truth seekers in search of physical evidence relating to the history of the world and the origin of faith, archaeology provides a rich treasure trove pointing toward the answers they seek.   In How Archaeology Confirms the Bible, Dr. Titus M. Kennedy presents 101 objects from more than 50 museums, private collections, and archaeological sites, to offer strong and compelling evidence for the historical accuracy of Scripture. Follow along the chronology of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, with artifacts from the Mesopotamian tablets that record creation to an inscription that mentions Pontius Pilate the governor. Examine inscriptions, coins, scarabs, tablets, papyri, stelae, reliefs, statues, altars, jewelry, weapons, tools, and pottery through vivid color photography. And learn how these artifacts not only demonstrate the historical reliability of the Bible but illuminate the ancient context for a more accurate understanding of God’s Word.

     For centuries, the ancient ruins of Egypt have provided an endless source of fascination for explorers, antiquarians, archaeologists, and the public. All, from the very earliest travelers, were entranced by the beauty of the landscape and the remains of tombs, temples, and cities consumed by drift sand. Early adventurers were gripped by the urge to capture what they saw in writings, sketches, paintings, and photographs.   While it was always the Egyptologists who were in charge, they depended on the assistance of architects, artists, engineers, and photographers. Yet when we read about Flinders Petrie and Norman de Garis Davies, we rarely hear about their wives, Hilda and Nina, or how the work of Amelia Edwards helped to fund their explorations. Only through diaries, letters, and other archival discoveries have we come to realize how important these other partners were. Similarly, the contributions of Egyptians, such as Hassan Effendi Hosni, are only now coming to light.  Egyptologists’ Notebooks is a visual celebration of Egypt’s ancient past, featuring evocative sketches, paintings, and photographs from pioneering explorers’ and archaeologists’ journals. Reproduced in their original form, they provide intimate, behind-the-scenes access to the archaeological discovery of Egypt.

    ScrollWhen Special Agent Jack Riley asks college professor Dr. Abigail Spencer to translate an ancient copper scroll, she has no idea it will lead to the lost treasure of Croesus hidden for centuries.When they arrive in Ephesus, their contact is dead; the scroll is gone, and mercenaries sent by a covert organization are determined to kill them.It's a race against time for Abigail. Can she reach the treasure before the killers, and manage to stay alive?Book 2. PapyrusGoliath’s spear has allegedly come to light, and Abigail and Riley are sent to investigate. When they arrive in Cairo, their contact is murdered.Abigail and Riley must decipher the code in a 3,000 year old Egyptian papyrus while avoiding ruthless agents who will stop at nothing to guard the secrets of the spear.Book 3. CodexWhile in Rome, Biblical archeologist Dr. Abigail Spencer is surprised by a phone call from Special Agent Riley. A codex which can help reveal the location of the Spear of Destiny has been discovered. With the codex in their possession, Abigail and Riley are determined to find the ancient artifact before the ruthless organization, Vortex.But with further clues to the location of the Spear of Destiny seemingly destroyed when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, and with Vortex hot on their heels, do Spencer and Riley have any chance of victory?

    Now this breathtaking book documents the fulfillment of this vision, from the hills of Shiloh where shepherds once roamed, to the booming city of Tel Aviv, founded on sand dunes, to the stellar beaches of Caesarea, transformed from a small village into one of Israel's most stunning coastal cities and finally Jerusalem, the Eternal City of Peace, where in ancient times the power of worship resounded from the Temple. Here, rarely seen photographs taken between the 1880s and the 1940s juxtaposed with contemporary images of the same locations illustrate the region's biblical history as a place of monumental battle, celebration, worship, and awesome resilience.Whether by helicopter or on foot, on their own or with the aid of locals, author Doug Hershey and photographer Elise Monique Theriault negotiate the terrain to access the vantage points required to match the original photos, from the rooftop of Israel's National Museum of Science, Technology and Space in Haifa, to Jaffa Port's breakwater, and much more. Their quest creates a collection that will inspire and captivate as it illuminates Israel's foretold awakening in a new and unforgettable way.To help facilitate this dramatic view of history, Israel Rising will start at the beginning. It will look at what exactly Ezekiel prophesied. It will explore the historical accounts from Jewish, Christian, and Muslim eyewitnesses of what the land and region has experience and endured. And photos from the 1880s-1940s will be compared to new photos of the same locations. With more than 175 photos, Israel Rising will depict the transformation of Israel as it celebrates its 70th anniversary.

    

    We live on a unique planet. The only one that we know of that has life. Amidst the budding civilizations and testaments to human creativity and ingenuity, great geological and ecological diversity have surrounded us since humans took their first steps. The Earth has developed into a truly astounding place to live. The clash of the natural forces that sculpted earth’s surface for millions of years has been supplemented by the great creative spirit of human beings, who have built their own wonders. We have before us a whole world, our own to explore and discover, to find and revel in the natural paradises created by the patient hand of nature as well as the astonishing constructions imagined by the genius of humankind. You just have to look around and take in the spectacle.The wonders: Stonehenge, Pyramids of Giza, Valley of the Kings, Petra, Acropolis, Terracotta Army, The Colosseum, Teotihuacán, Nazca Lines, Chichen Itzá, The Moai, Angkor Wat, Machu Picchu, Forbidden City, St. Peter’s Basilica, Taj Mahal, Empire State Building, Sydney Opera House, Antarctica, Galapagos Islands, The Amazon, Iguazu Falls, Sahara, Virunga National Park, Kilimanjaro, Anjajavy, Himalayas, Niagara Falls, Grand Canyon, and Tongariro. See the best of human and natural creation in the World's Greatest Wonders.

    

    During the Renaissance, several ecclesiastical nobles, including the Borgia Pope Alexander VI claimed their descent from the Egyptian god Osiris. In the 1920s, the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings prompted one of the first true media frenzies in history. For thousands of years, the Pharaonic culture has been a source of almost endless fascination and obsession. But to what extent is the popular view of ancient Egypt at all accurate? In Pyramidiots: How We Became Obsessed With Ancient Egypt, Egyptologist Dr Nicky Nielsen examines the popular view of Egypt as an exotic, esoteric, mystical culture obsessed with death and overflowing with mummies and pyramids. The book traces our obsession with ancient Egypt throughout history and methodically investigates, explains and strips away some of the most popular misconceptions about the Pharaohs and their civilization

    From the decipherment of hieroglyphics in 1822 to the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb by Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon a hundred years later, the uncovering of Egypt’s ancient past took place in an atmosphere of grand adventure and international rivalry.In A World Beneath the Sands, acclaimed Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson chronicles the ruthless race between the British, French, Germans, and Americans to lay claim to its mysteries and treasures. He tells riveting stories of the men and women whose obsession with Egypt’s ancient civilization helped to enrich and transform our understanding of the Nile Valley and its people, and left a lasting impression on Egypt, too. Travelers and treasure-hunters, ethnographers and archaeologists: whatever their motives, whatever their methods, a century of adventure and scholarship revealed a lost world, buried for centuries beneath the sands.

    You'll discover the significance of these locations in the Bible and see what travelers are likely to find there today. This handy 6"x 6" book fits in a backpack and makes a great travel guide. It's an ideal way to link the stories and places of the Bible to our modern world for you to visit in person or on the printed page.

    Keighren attends to the sensory, technological, and emotional interpretation of landscape; Isla Forsyth examines the relationship between objects, memory, and place; the significance of verticality, the aerial, and groundedness is discussed by Andrew Harris; and Joanne Norcup considers the contested interconnections of gender, expertise, and knowledge making. The collection is bookended by reflections on the creative processes and decisions that supported the journey of Detectorists from script to screen: in a foreword written by its writer-director, Mackenzie Crook, and in an afterword written by its originating producer, Adam Tandy.Illustrated throughout with black and white stills from the programme.

    An ancient cult. A quest for redemption that could leave her dead…New Mexico, 1952. Archaeology grad student Ruby Delgado is plagued by guilt after losing her son. So when her latest excavation drops her down a sinkhole filled with suspiciously mutilated bodies, she’s driven to bring the murderer to justice. But when digging deeper brings her dangerously close to a sinister religious sect, she could be their next sacrifice…Discovering some of the victims were crucified, Ruby pushes hard to give the evidence to the authorities. But when her trail crosses the path of a beaten man left for dead in the desert, she realizes she may be the only person who can save the community.Can Ruby stop the sacrifices and slay her inner demons, or will hers be the next body laid to rest?Bones of the Redeemed is a hair-raising standalone Southwestern mystery. If you like complex heroines, cult conflict, and hard-won redemption, then you’ll love Kari Bovee’s grisly tale.

    But what if the key to being present lies in the past?Neil Oliver invites us to reach back in time, to grab hold of the wisdom buried in forgotten cultures and ancient civilisations. From Laetoli footprints in Tanzania, to Keralan rituals, to stone circles and cave paintings, Oliver takes us on a global journey through antiquity. Drawing on his immense knowledge of our ancient past and masterful storytelling, he reveals wisdom in 12 messages that have endured the test of time. The result is powerful and profound, moving and inspirational.

    It served as a template for the forging of much of Latin America and initiated the globalized world we inhabit today. The violent clash that culminated in the Aztec-Spanish war of 1519-21 and the new colonial order it created were millennia in the making, entwining the previously independent cultural developments of both sides of the Atlantic.Collision of Worlds provides a deep history of this encounter, one that considers temporal depth in the richly layered cultures of Mexico and Spain, from their prehistories to the urban and imperial societies they built in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Leading Mesoamerican archaeologist David Carballo offers a unique perspective on these fabled events with a focus on the physical world of places and things, their similarities and differences in trans-Atlantic perspective, and their interweaving in an encounter characterized by conquest and colonialism, but also resilience on the part of Native peoples. An engrossing and sweeping account, Collision of Worlds debunks long-held myths and contextualizes the deep roots and enduring consequences of the Aztec-Spanish conflict as never before.

    With stunning photography, it serves as both a dazzling spectacle and travel inspiration, making it perfect for armchair travelers and world adventurers alike!Archaeological sites tell a story spanning thousands of years, and the ones in this book range from the well-known to hidden gems, handpicked for their desirability as destinations. Explore the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde (the largest archaeological preserve in the United States), the Abu Simbel twin temples in Egypt that commemorate Pharaoh Ramesses II and his queen Nefertari, the Terracotta Army in China, the Nazca Lines in Peru that feature large geoglyphs in the desert soil, and the hill fort known as Maiden Castle in England. These are just a sampling of the top-notch sites you'll find in this book. Incredible Archaeology takes a striking tour through human history, so come along!

    Would you call it fake news? In nineteenth-century America, this was in fact a powerful truth that shaped Manifest Destiny. The Mound Builder Myth is the first book to chronicle the attempt to recast the Native American burial mounds as the work of a lost white race of “true” native Americans. Thomas Jefferson’s pioneering archaeology concluded that the earthen mounds were the work of Native Americans. In the 1894 report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Cyrus Thomas concurred, drawing on two decades of research. But in the century in between, the lie took hold, with Presidents Andrew Jackson, William Henry Harrison, and Abraham Lincoln adding their approval and the Mormon Church among those benefiting. Jason Colavito traces this monumental deception from the farthest reaches of the frontier to the halls of Congress, mapping a century-long conspiracy to fabricate and promote a false ancient history—and enumerating its devastating consequences for contemporary Native people. Built upon primary sources and first-person accounts, the story that The Mound Builder Myth tells is a forgotten chapter of American history—but one that reads like the Da Vinci Code as it plays out at the upper reaches of government, religion, and science. And as far-fetched as it now might seem that a lost white race once ruled prehistoric America, the damage done by this “ancient” myth has clear echoes in today’s arguments over white nationalism, multiculturalism, “alternative facts,” and the role of science and the control of knowledge in public life.

    It takes readers through the years of dinosaurs and megafauna up to the appearance of our first human ancestors around six million years ago, to the evolution of hunter-gathering Homo sapiens in the Ice Age and the first civilizations.Perfect for children and parents to read together and discover the incredible story of life on our planet. Open the book and let the 700-million-year journey begin!

    As I did so I had the revelation that in what we do with our memories and the stuff that our parents leave behind, we are all museum makers, seeking to makes sense of the past.’Museum expert Rachel Morris had been ignoring the boxes of family belongings for decades. When she finally opened them she began a journey into her family’s dramatic story through the literary and bohemian circles of the nineteenth and twentieth century. It was a revelatory experience – one that finds her searching for her absent father in archives of the Tate, and which transports her back to the museums that had enriched a lonely childhood. By teasing out the stories of those early museum makers, and the unsung daughters and wives behind them, and seeing the same passions and neglect reflected in her own family, Morris digs deep into the human instinct for collection and curation.

    Seen as circular enclosures in the rural landscape and many existent for hundreds and thousands of years, they are often overgrown with trees and bushes, forming an unassuming yet encompassing presence, one grown from habitation, lived life and ritual. With increasing regularity, the Irish state has sanctioned the destruction of ringforts as part of motorway schemes and infrastructural development. How can we understand a nation hell-bent on the demolition of its own history for the expedient delivery of perceived notions of progress? And what forms of resistance should be formulated to counteract the barbarism of these tendencies? Environmentalist Sinead Mercier explores the legal and moral complexities surrounding the nature of ringforts, while artist Michael Holly’s fieldwork with folklorist Eddie Lenihan reveals and analyses many sites of resonance in County Clare. In addition, extensive large format aerial imagery and historical maps licensed from Ordnance Survey Ireland detail changes over recent decades to these landscapes. Designed by Daly & Lyon, Men Who Eat Ringforts appears with standard cyan, magenta and yellow process colours substituted by fluorescent Pantone inks, resulting in a luminous effect to images throughout. Co-published with Gaining Ground, a public art programme based in County Clare.

    This is the first book to present a comprehensive overview of the diverse cultural achievements and traditions of the region, spanning more than 1,300 years from the pre-Islamic period through the 19th century. It features some of the earliest extant art from Africa as well as such iconic works as sculptures by the Dogon and Bamana peoples of Mali. Essays by leading international scholars discuss the art, architecture, archaeology, literature, philosophy, religion, and history of the Sahel, exploring the unique cultural landscape in which these ancient communities flourished. Richly illustrated and brilliantly argued, Sahel brings to life the enduring creativity of the different peoples who lived, traded, and traveled through this crossroads of the world.

    Stewart takes us on a sweeping journey through founding legends of broken covenants and original sin, the Christian appropriation of the classical past, and images of decay in early modern allegory. Stewart looks in depth at the works of Goethe, Piranesi, Blake, and Wordsworth, each of whom found in ruins a means of reinventing his art. Lively and engaging, The Ruins Lesson ultimately asks what can resist ruination—and finds in the self-transforming, ever-fleeting practices of language and thought a clue to what might truly endure.

    

    True, Athens hardly commanded the number of allies it had when hegemon of its fifth-century Delian League or even its fourth-century Naval Confederacy, and its navy was but a shadow of its former self. But Athens recovered from itsperilous position in the closing quarter of the fourth century and became once again a player in Greek affairs, even during the Roman occupation. Athenian democracy survived and evolved, even through its dealings with Hellenistic Kings, its military clashes with Macedonia, and its alliance withRome. Famous Romans, including Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, saw Athens as much more than an isolated center for philosophy. Athens After Empire offers a new narrative history of post-Classical Athens, extending the period down to the aftermath of Hadrian's reign.

    

    Long before contact with Europeans, Maya communities built spectacular cities with large, well-fed large populations. They mastered the visual arts, and developed a sophisticated writing system that recorded extraordinary knowledge in calendrics, mathematics, and astronomy. The Maya achieved all this without area-wide centralized control. There was never a single, unified Maya state or empire, but always numerous, evolving ethnic groups speaking dozens of distinct Mayan languages. The people we call "Maya" never thought of themselves as such; yet something definable, unique, and endlessly fascinating - what we call Maya culture - has clearly existed for millennia. So what was their self-identity and how did Maya civilization come to be "invented?"With the Maya historically subdivided and misunderstood in so many ways, the pursuit of what made them "the Maya" is all the more important. In this Very Short Introduction, Restall and Solari explore the themes of Maya identity, city-state political culture, art and architecture, the Maya concept of the cosmos, and the Maya experience of contact with including invasion by outsiders. Despite its brevity, this book is unique for its treatment of all periods of Maya civilization, from its origins to the present.

    The Yoruba: A New History  offers an intriguing cultural, political, economic, intellectual, and social history from ca. 300 BC to 1840. It accounts for the events, peoples, and practices, as well as the theories of knowledge, ways of being, and social valuations that shaped the Yoruba experience at different junctures of time. The result is a new framework for understanding the Yoruba past and present.

    Yet Carolyn Yerkes and Heather Hyde Minor argue that his single greatest art form—one that combined his obsessions most powerfully and that he pursued throughout his career—was the book. Piranesi Unbound provides a fundamental reinterpretation of Piranesi by recognizing him, first and foremost, as a writer, illustrator, printer, and publisher of books.Featuring nearly two hundred of Piranesi’s engravings and drawings, including some that have never been published before, this visually stunning book returns Piranesi’s artworks to the context for which he originally produced them: a dozen volumes that combine text and image, archaeology and imagination, erudition and humor. Drawing on new research, Piranesi Unbound uncovers the social networks in which Piranesi published, including the readers who bought, read, and debated his books. It reveals his habit of raiding the wastepaper pile for cast-off sheets upon which to draw and fuse printed images and texts. It shows how, even after his books were bound, they were subject to change by Piranesi and others as pages were torn out and added.The first major exploration of the lives of Piranesi’s books, Piranesi Unbound reimagines the full range of the artist’s creativity by showing how it is inextricably bound to his career as a maker of books.

    is covered with water. But tiny Hardin, Missouri, is covered with something much, much worse: dead bodies.High-interest topics, real stories, engaging design, and astonishing photos are the building blocks of the XBooks, a new series of books designed to engage and motivate reluctant and enthusiastic readers alike. How can DNA help a convicted person prove their innocence? How did a burglar steal from a store without leaving any fingerprints? Why was the tiny town in Hardin, Missouri, awash with skeletons after a huge flood? With topics based in science, these action-packed books will help students unlock the power and pleasure of reading... and always ask for more!