Norman Dietz

Nailing It is a warm, knowing, and often hilarious commemoration of small-town life during the Great Depression of the 1930s. A celebration of the humor and indomitability of the human spirit, the tale tells the story of one young man, a local volunteer fireman, who is determined to rescue his neighbors—from boredom and sadness if nothing else—in the tiny village of Oliver, New York, deep in the snow country east of Buffalo. He banishes

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The adventures of a boy and a runaway slave as they travel down the Mississippi River on a raft.

Let me tell you something, son. When youre young, and you head out to wonderful, everything is fresh and bright as a brand-new penny, but before you get to wonderful youre going to have to pass through all right. And when you get to all right, stop and take a good, long look, because that may be as far as youre ever going to go.

It is the summer of 1948 when a handsome, charismatic stranger, Charlie Beale, recently back from the war in Europe,

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As breathtaking today as when it was completed, Hoover Dam ranks among America's greatest achievements. The story of its conception, design, and construction is the story of the United States at a unique moment in history: when facing both a global economic crisis and the implacable elements of nature, we prevailed. The United States after Hoover Dam was a different country from the one that began to build it, going from the glorification of individual...

In 1871, an entire fleet of whaling ships was caught in an arctic ice storm and destroyed. Though few lives were lost, the damage would forever shape one of America's most distinctive commodities: oil. New Bedford, Massachusetts, was fertile ground for this country's first multimillion-dollar industry. Founded by assiduous Quaker merchants seeking refuge for their austere religion, the town also lent unparalleled access to the high seas. The combination...