Books in The Past in Pictures series

The Picture the Past series looks at the many kinds of communities in America's past. Each book describes what made each community different and what children and adults did each day. Life in the Dust Bowl In this book, discover what life was like on the Great Plains in the 1930s. Learn how dry weather and wind storms created the Dust Bowl. Travel with families who left their farms and moved to California. Visit camps where the families stayed until they built new homes. Then use a recipe to make a popular food from the time–meat stew!

The Picture the Past series looks at the many kinds of communities in America's past. Each book describes what made each community different and what children and adults did each day. Life in a New England Mill Town In this book, discover what life was like in one of the first factory towns in the United States. Find out how towns like Lowell, Massachusetts, grew as textile mills, boardinghouses, canals, schools, and libraries were built. Learn how children and adults worked in the mills. Then use a recipe to make a popular treat from the time–apple cider cobbler!

First cultivated by the Sumerians, who were replaced by the Assyrians and the Babylonians, Mesopotamia is commonly known as the cradle of civilization, for it was there that the first cities and monumental temples were built, and there too that writing, schools, libraries, written law codes, mathematics and astronomy developed. Today this land is known as Iraq. Beginning with irrigation and the formation of cities, Mesopotamia: Iraq in Ancient Times covers such topics as farming, writing, craft, trade, domestic life, religion, warfare, burial, kingship and law. Using artifacts, such as a vase or a cuneiform tablet, geographical sites, and archaeological evidence, this book looks at the past in a new and exciting way. It does this by showing in simple graphic terms how ancient buildings and objects were actually used, and by providing examples of numerous everyday objects.Each two-page spread covers a different topic. text, photographs, illustrations, archaeology information boxes and time-lines are used to great affect. Captions and diagramming also are used to relate the different elements of the presentation, and each spread contains a link to an authoritative website for further information. A chronology of political and social history, as well as a glossary and index are included.Informative and amply illustrated, Mesopotamia: Iraq in Ancient Times is sure to prove of great interest, particularly at this time, in the aftermath of war and the looting of the Iraqi National Museum, which housed many of the oldest artifacts of Western Civilization. The Picturing the Past Series:How do we know what we know about ancient peoples and their cultures that have disappeared? Ultimately, there are three main sources of information: the images that survive in wall paintings, ceramics and sculptures; artifacts, such a jewelry, utensils, toys, clothing, and tools; and the writings of ancient authors that have survived the ravages of time. From such sources, it is possible to begin to reconstruct the life of the distant past with an astonishing degree of accuracy.

The Picture the Past series looks at the many kinds of communities in America's past. Each book describes what made each community different and what children and adults did each day. Life at the Alamo In this book, discover how Spanish people from Mexico set up the home of the Alamo in Texas in the early 1700s. Find out how life changed for the Native Americans of Texans. Learn how Americans moved into Texas and, after battles with the Mexicans, made Texas part of the United States. Then use a recipe to make a popular treat from the time–picadillo!

The Picture the Past series looks at the many kinds of communities in America's past. Each book describes what made each community different and what children and adults did each day. Life in San Francisco's Chinatown In this book, learn why thousands of people from China came to San Francisco after 1848. Discover how they mined for gold, build railroads, and set up homes, stores, laundries, and restaurants. Find out how Chinatown grew and changed and what it is like today. Then use a recipe to make a popular treat from the timefortune cookies!

This book tells about life in Boston, Massachusetts, from 1760 to 1773. Boston was one of the largest cities in the thirteen colonies of Great Britain. At first, the people who live in Boston copied the way things were done in Britain. But as time passed, they grew unhappy with the fact that they did not make their own laws. By the 1760s, Bostonians felt they were paying too many taxes to Britain. They felt they had no say in how their colony was being run. People began to hold meetings to complain about the taxes and to talk about independence. The Bostonians wanted to be free from Great Britain. We have illustrated the book with paintings and drawings from colonial times and with artists’ ideas of how things looked then.

This book covers a wide range of historical and social issues within the Victorian period. This includes the Royal Family, inventions, the seaside, hospitals and health, clothes, and crime and punishment. Readers are also introduced to the major personalities of the day including Queen Victoria, Brunel, Gladstone and Disraeli, and Florence Nightingale. A wide range of visual sources of information are used such as artifacts, contemporary illustrations, photographs, and posters to really bring the subject to life.

Throughout history people have fought each other. So people used to make their towns and villages safer by building fences or ditches around them. Starting in about 850, during the medieval period, people in Europe built castles, or defended homes just for a lord and his household. The lord, his family, and his servants and soldiers all lived there. All the land and castles belonged to the king, but the lord could live in the castle as long as he was loyal to the king.

The Picture the Past series looks at the many kinds of communities in America's past. Each book describes what made each community different and what children and adults did each day. Life on the Underground Railroad In this book, discover what life was like for slaves escaping to freedom in the North. Learn how slaves found out about the trails to follow and how people helped them on their way. Travel with the slaves as they head north, avoiding slave catchers. Then use a recipe to make a food that runaway slaves have eatensouthern biscuits!