Books in You Choose: Modern History series

You’re living in the United States during the time of the Westward Expansion. Settlers are heading west on the Oregon Trail as they seek better lives. Will you: Go west with your family as part of a wagon train? Serve as a trail guide for a group of settlers? Try to cope with the changes in your way of life as a western American Indian? Everything in this book happened to real people. And YOU CHOOSE what you do next. The choices you make could lead you to opportunity, to wealth, to poverty, or even to death.

World War I has just exploded in Europe. The peace of the entire world is in danger. How will you help? Will you: Join the Belgian resistance movement? Fight as a British Army soldier? Serve as a volunteer with the American Field Service? YOU CHOOSE what to do next. The path you choose can lead to heroism, success, or death. The path you take is up to you.

Its 1950 and the Communist country of North Korea has invaded its neighboring country of South Korea. The United Nations has stepped in to help South Korea by providing weapons and soldiers. Nearly all of these soldiers come from the United States. Will you: Serve as a pilot in Korea with the U.S. Marine Corps? Lie about your age to enlist as a 16 year old member of the U.S. military reserves? Join in the fight for your country as a young South Korean man? Everything in this book happened to real people. And YOU CHOOSE what you do next. The choices you make could lead you to survival or to death.

It’s 1863, and the Civil War has torn apart the United States. For two years, the Confederacy and the Union have battled over slavery and states’ rights. Will you: Fight for the Union at the Battle of Gettysburg? OR Serve with Stonewall Jackson as a Confederate soldier at the Battle of Chancellorsville? OR Try to survive the siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi, as a civilian?

It’s the 1960s, and the Vietnam War is raging. You find yourself in the midst of the turmoil. Will you: Enlist in the Marines and volunteer to go to war? Join your fellow young Americans eager to protest the war? Be a young Vietnamese man forced to choose between the communist North and the capitalist South? Everything in this book happened to real people. And YOU CHOOSE what you do next. The choices you make could lead you to jail, to the jungles of Vietnam, or even to death.

Starting in colonial times, thousands of African people were kidnapped and brought to the United States, where they were enslaved. Those who escaped were often caught, and, if so, treated harshly, or even killed, as were those who tried to help them escape. But that didn’t stop brave people from trying. By the 1850s an escape method dubbed the Underground Railroad was in full swing. Though it wasn’t a railroad, but a network of people helping enslaved people escape to the northern United States and Canada, it used railroad terms such as conductor and station. Imagine you were an enslaved person in the 1850s, desperate to escape to freedom, or a helper on the railroad, taking great risks so others could escape to freedom. The Underground Railroad lets you choose a path … to freedom or capture and, perhaps, death.

After World War II Germany splits into two countries the Communist German Democratic Republic in the east and the Federal Republic of Germany in the west. Its capital of Berlin is divided as well, but many people are leaving East Berlin for the freedom of the West. In 1961 East German leaders build a wall through the city to keep its people from escaping. Will you: Consider escaping from East Berlin soon after the wall is built? Serve as an East German guard at the wall? Join in the protests against the wall? Everything in this book happened to real people. And YOU CHOOSE what you do next. The choices you make could lead you to escape, imprisonment, or even death.

You are a New Englander with a bad case of gold fever. Gold has been discovered in California, and you want to go claim some for yourself. Here's a chance to set off on your own quest for gold. Everything in this book happened to real people, but you are in control now and YOU CHOOSE what you do next. The choices you make could lead you to treasure or trouble. Will you strike it rich?