This is not a who's who. Instead, each entry provides an in-depth essay on the life and career of the individual concerned. Essays commence with a quick reference section that provides basic facts on the individual's life and achievements.

The biological mingling of the Old and New Worlds began with the first voyage of Columbus.

More than 200 million years ago, geological forces split apart the continents.

The first book to document the origins and early history of environmentalism, especially its colonial and global aspects.

No gamble in history has been more momentous than the landfall of Columbus's ship the Santa Maria in the Americas in 1492 - an event that paved the way for the conquest of a 'New World'.

Six months after the Declaration of Independence, the American Revolution was all but lost.

An acclaimed book and widely acknowledged classic, The Middle Ground steps outside the simple stories of Indian-white relations - stories of conquest and assimilation and stories of cultural persistence.

The now-classic tale of a sixteenth-century miller facing the Roman Inquisition.

Humanists and Reformers portrays in a single, expansive volume two great traditions in human history: the Italian Renaissance and the age of the Reformation. / Bard Thompson provides a fascinating survey of these important historical ...

Both the text and the accompanying notes and commentaries help to accomplish this purpose.