Books with author Michael L. Cooper

In this close look at the first relocation camp built for Japanese evacuees living on the West Coast after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, social historian Michael Cooper makes extensive use of the actual wordsfrom diaries, journals, memoirs, and news accountsof the people who were held behind barbed wire in the high California desert. Many were American citizens who felt betrayed by their country. They had to leave their jobs, their homes, and their friends and go live in crowded barracks, eat in noisy mess halls, and do without supplies or books for work or schooling. They showed remarkable bravery and resilience as they tried to lead normal lives, starting their own schools, playing baseball, attending Saturday night dances, and publishing their own newspaper. Archival photographs, some by Ansel Adams and Dorothea Lange, augment the informative text. Manzanar is now a National Historic Site and hosts an annual pilgrimage that is attended by former internees, their families, and friends. Endnotes, Internet resources, index.

From colonial times to the modern day, two things have remained constant in American history: the destructive power of fires and the bravery of those who fight them.Fighting Fire! by Michael L. Cooper brings to life ten of the deadliest infernos this nation has ever endured: the great fires of Boston, New York, Chicago, Baltimore, and San Francisco, the disasters of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, the General Slocum, and the Cocoanut Grove nightclub, the wildfire of Witch Creek in San Diego County, and the catastrophe of 9/11. Each blaze led to new firefighting techniques and technologies, yet the struggle against fires continues to this day. With historical images and a fast-paced text, this is both an exciting look at firefighting history and a celebration of the human spirit.

From colonial times to the modern day, two things have remained constant in American history: the destructive power of fires and the bravery of those who fight them.Fighting Fire! brings to life ten of the deadliest infernos this nation has ever endured: the great fires of Boston, New York, Chicago, Baltimore, and San Francisco, the disasters of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, the General Slocum, and the Cocoanut Grove nightclub, the wildfire of Witch Creek in San Diego County, and the catastrophe of 9/11. Each blaze led to new firefighting techniques and technologies, yet the struggle against fires continues to this day. With historical images and a fast-paced text, this is both an exciting look at firefighting history and a celebration of the human spirit.

From colonial times to the modern day, two things have remained constant in American history: the destructive power of fires and the bravery of those who fight them.Fighting Fire! brings to life ten of the deadliest infernos this nation has ever endured: the great fires of Boston, New York, Chicago, Baltimore, and San Francisco, the disasters of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, the General Slocum, and the Cocoanut Grove nightclub, the wildfire of Witch Creek in San Diego County, and the catastrophe of 9/11. Each blaze led to new firefighting techniques and technologies, yet the struggle against fires continues to this day. With historical images and a fast-paced text, this is both an exciting look at firefighting history and a celebration of the human spirit.

The 1930s in America will always be remembered for twin disasters-the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. Michael L. Cooper takes readers through this tumultuous period, beginning with the 1929 stock market crash that ushered in the Great Depression and continuing with the severe drought in the Midwest, known as the Dust Bowl. He chronicles the everyday struggle for survival by those who lost everything, as well as the mass exodus westward to California on fabled Route 66. The crisis also served as a turning point in American domestic policy, prompting the establishment of programs, such as welfare and Social Security, that revolutionized the role of the federal government. Vivid personal anecdotes from figures such as John Steinbeck and Woody Guthrie, and an extensive selection of photographs by Dorothea Lange and others, illuminate the individuals who faced poverty, illness, and despair as they coped with this extraordinary challenge. Endnotes, bibliography, Internet resources, index.

In a marble crypt in Annapolis, Maryland, at the U.S. Naval Academy Chapel, lies an American hero. In death, as in life, John Paul Jones commands the deepest affection of his fellow countrymen. Veteran children's writer Michael Cooper takes a fresh look at one of the most colorful characters of the Revolutionary War period. The war is viewed from Jones's perspective and the reader lives out all the uncertainties, the risks, and the dangers faced by Jones with each dramatic battle at sea. A Scots immigrant, John Paul Jones arrived in America on the eve of the War for Independence, and went on to serve in the Continental Navy. The arc of his exciting life's narrative would lead him to deliver the sting of war to the British people. We follow Jones's seaborne odyssey until his fate is forged in the biggest naval battle of the American Revolution. Jones and his crew aboard the Bonhomme Richard engage the Royal Navy's Serapis and vanquish the world's greatest sea power. The name of John Paul Jones is thereafter etched into the imagination of generations of American schoolboys. Now, Hero of the High Seas gives our generation an original, accurate, and objective historical reference point for one of our country's earliest naval heroes. In Jones we meet a determined, commanding man who demanded perfection and constantly strove for improvement. Although he remained a well-respected inspirational figure to his men, Jones's fiery temper also led him into several clashes with authority. Michael Cooper tells the story of this hero of the high seas with an invigorating realism and eye for detail. This historical biography is generously illustrated with period artwork, and photographs of historical artifacts. Fine National Geographic cartography traces the voyages and ports of call of this American hero.National Geographic supports K-12 educators with ELA Common Core Resources.Visit www.natgeoed.org/commoncore for more information.

Filled with moving personal stories and archival photographs, a fascinating book documents the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania, the first institution opened by the federal government to teach Native American children the "white man's way," which led some students such as Olympian Jim Thorpe to success, but for many others it was an education in isolation and estrangement.

Two-term president. Nobel Peace Prize winner. Commander of the Rough Riders. Avid conservationist. Adventurer. All of these and more, Theodore Roosevelt lived his long life to the fullest and left a legacy still remembered more than ninety years after his death. He started his long, successful political career at just twenty-three in New York State, and continued working in the public arena until well after his second term as president. Up Close biographer Michael C. Cooper takes readers beyond T.R.'s bold-faced achievements and explores the driving forces behind one of this country's greatest leaders.

Many slave spirituals—songs such as “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” “Michael, Row the Boat Ashore,” and “Go Down, Moses”—have become interwoven into the fabric of American culture. For centuries these deeply moving songs were sung by slaves as they worked in the fields. In 1871, six years after the end of slavery, a group from Fisk University known as the Jubilee Singers toured the United States and abroad, raising money for their bankrupt school and, more important, bringing slave spirituals to the attention of a wide audience. This engrossing account, illustrated with archival prints and photographs and appended with the words and music to seven songs, tells the inspiring story of the Jubilee Singers and reveals spirituals to be an invaluable and unique history of American slavery.