From hand tools to holidays to weapons to washing machines, "An Uncommon History of Common Things" features hundreds of colorful illustrations, timelines, sidebars, and more as it explores just about every subject under the sun. Who knew that indoor plumbing has been around for 4,600 years, but punctuation, capital letters, and the handy spaces between written words only date back to the Dark Ages? Or that ancient soldiers baked a kind of pizza on...

Includes numerous signed essays, alphabetically arranged, and written or reviewed by subject experts and edited to form a consistent, readable, and straightforward reference. Entries cover topics and persons in major areas of popular culture: film; music; print culture; social life; sports; television and radio; and art and performance (which include theater, dance, stand-up comedy, and other live performance).

This book explores American life in the 1940s through personal profiles of individuals and families and their lives at home, at work and in the community; includes lists of significant events and milestones for America, from technical advances and political events to new products and popular movies, and lists of recorded popular songs in the United States; and 1940 Census summary and comparison data.

Covers everything from monumental events and groundbreaking individuals to the fascinating details of Americans' daily lives. Supports historical research in disciplines from the arts and business to law, medicine, technology and social trends.

Identifies the social, cultural, political, and economic factors that helped slaves from various regions of the African continent integrate their individual religions, artistic expressions, and languages into a distinctive African American culture.