Books published by publisher Twenty-First Century

"Girls, from the bottom of my heart, I beg you not to go back to work. We are all poor, many of us are suffering hunger, none of us can afford to lose a day's wages. But only by fighting for our rights, and fighting all together, can we better our miseries; and so let us fight for them to the end!"―Nineteen-year-old shirtwaist striker, November 1909 In 1909, on the Lower East Side of New York, thousands of immigrant women―many only teenagers―toiled at shirtwaist factories. For up to twelve hours a day, seven days a week, they hunched over sewing machines, making women's blouses. The work was tedious, the pay was low, and the factories were unsafe. Women who dared complain usually were fired. But on November 23, 1909, twenty-thousand shirtwaist workers from five hundred factories walked off the job. Members of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, they vowed to strike until factory owners met their demands. They wanted a fifty-two-hour workweek, fair wages, and a guarantee that factories would hire only union workers. Police harassed and arrested the picketers. But they endured for almost three months, and factory owners finally met many of their demands. In this captivating story of grit and determination, we'll explore how the strike became a rallying point for both women and men in the labor movement. We'll also see how the shirtwaist strike dovetailed with the fight for women's suffrage―the right to vote―and for other civil rights reforms.

In 1949, Mao Zedong came to power in China after a long and brutal civil war. He and his Chinese Communist Party immediately set out to transform their nation into a Communist state. They seized land from wealthy and middle-class farmers and distributed it to poor peasant farmers. The government also took over ownership of all industries. Citizens who resisted these changes were branded “counterrevolutionaries,” and thousands were imprisoned or executed. Within a few years, Mao had turned China into a totalitarian state, controlling all aspects of his citizens’ daily lives. In the 1960s, he sought to wipe out what remained of traditional Chinese society by launching the Cultural Revolution. Millions died as the country erupted into spasms of mob violence. Yet, despite the tumult, Chairman Mao remained a revered, almost godlike figure, worshiped by his people. How did he do it? Learn more about one of the most powerful and controversial figures of the 20th century.

In 2015 two powerful telescopes detected something physicists had been seeking for more than one hundred years―gravitational waves from the collision of two black holes. This announcement thrilled the scientific community. Since the eighteenth century, astronomers have predicted the existence of massive, invisible stars whose gravity would not let anything―even light―escape. In the twenty-first century, sophisticated technologies are bringing us closer to seeing black holes in action. Meet the scientists who first thought of black holes hundreds of years ago, and learn about contemporary astrophysicists whose work is radically shaping how we understand black holes, our universe, and how it originated.

On a hot day in the African savannah, a group of elephants searches for food. While foraging they often lose sight of one another. Yet at the end of the day, in one coordinated movement, the elephants suddenly regroup. This coordinated movement―and others like it―has puzzled scientists and caused them to question how elephants communicate with each other. Since the 1990s, scientists have gathered significant data on elephant “talk.” Biologists have determined that elephants use a complex system of communication of at least ten distinct sounds, combined in many variations. Researchers are now asking: what do these sounds mean? As scientists study the elephant sounds that humans can hear, they are also identifying ways elephants communicate through nonverbal behaviors and making sounds too low for human ears. Scientists have realized that elephants even receive messages by using their sensitive feet to feel vibrations in the ground. All of these discoveries are helping elephant researchers better understand elephant behavior. But the elephant’s time as a wild animal is running out. Threatened by habitat loss and illegally hunted for their ivory tusks, elephants are on the brink of extinction. Will understanding elephant talk be the key to saving the species?

Anyone who texts recognizes LOL, 2G2BT, and PRW as shorthand for laughing out loud, too good to be true, and parents are watching. But did you know that in the 1800s--when your great-great-great-grandparents were alive telegraph operators used similar abbreviations in telegrams? For example, GM, SFD, and GA meant good morning, stop for dinner, and go ahead. At the time, telegrams were a new and superfast way for people to network with others. Social networking isn't a new idea. People have been connecting in different versions of circles and lists and groups for centuries. The broad range of social media includes wampum belts, printed broadsides (early newspapers), ring shouts (secret slave gatherings with singing and dancing), calling cards, telegrams, and telephones. The invention of the Internet and e-mail, text messaging, and social utilities such as Facebook and Google+--is just the latest way in which humans network for fun, work, romance, spiritual bonding, and many other reasons. Friend Me! takes readers through the amazing history of social networking in the United States, from early Native American councils to California's Allen Telescope Array (ATA), where researchers are hoping to interact with extraterrestrial beings. Learn how Americans have been connecting in imaginative ways throughout history, and you'll see social networking in a whole new light.

Some true crimes reveal themselves in bits and pieces over time. One such case is the Florida School for Boys, a.k.a. the Dozier School, a place where―rather than reforming the children in their care―school officials tortured, raped, and killed them. Opened in 1900, the school closed in 2011 after a Department of Justice investigation substantiated allegations of routine beatings and killings made by about 100 survivors. Thus far, forensic anthropologist Dr. Erin Kimmerle and her team from the University of South Florida have uncovered fifty-five sets of human remains. Follow this story of institutional abuse, the brave survivors who spoke their truth, and the scientists and others who brought it to light.

- Bank Street College Best Children's Books of the Year - 2015 "Alone, the tip to mimic a superhero's stance to build confidence makes the title a worthwhile investment. . . . gift a copy to your child or child's teacher; help this extraordinary resource make the rounds." - VOYA, starred review Are you nervous about your presentation tomorrow? Or about going onstage for the school play? What about trying out for the baseball team? Try standing like a superhero for a few seconds before you start. Research shows that standing like a hero makes you feel--and act--like one! Humans use words to communicate, but we also use our bodies to send messages. We may shrug our shoulders to show we don't care, or open our eyes wide in surprise, or give the thumbs up to show we approve of something. But did you know that giving the thumbs up in Greece is pretty rude? Or that nodding your head--which means "yes" in the United States and Canada--actually means "no" in the European countries of Albania and Bulgaria? Every Body's Talking explores the complexities of body language. Discover what is really being expressed when people stand, sit, or move in certain ways and learn how you can use your body and facial expressions to communicate more effectively in a variety of situations.

While most people say they believe in equal rights, the word feminism―America's new F-word―makes people uncomfortable. Explore the history of US feminism through pioneers such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Betty Friedan, Shirley Chisholm, and Gloria Steinem. Meet modern leaders such as Rebecca Walker and Julie Zeilinger, who are striving to empower women at work, in government, at home―and in cultural and personal arenas. Learn from interviews with movement leaders, scholars, pop stars, and average women, what it means to be a feminist―or to reject it altogether. After reading this book, readers will be able to respond to "Am I a feminist?" with a confident, informed voice.