These descriptions of leisure-time activities for Victorian girls were designed to cultivate their curiosity and inventiveness, and to help them gain self-confidence regarding their competence and talents.

Winner of the 2006 Caroline Bancroft History Prize "Impressively researched and highly readable, Barbara Handy-Marchello's analysis of North Dakota farm women's roles will become the standard by which other works on the subject will be judged." Paula M. Nelson, author of The Prairie Winnows Out Its Own In Women of the Northern Plains, Barbara Handy-Marchello tells the stories of the unsung heroes of North Dakota's settlement era: the farm women. As the men struggled to raise and sell wheat, the women focused on barnyard labor--raising chickens and cows and selling eggs and butter--to feed and clothe their families and maintain their households through booms and busts. Handy-Marchello details the hopes and fears, the challenges and successes of these women--from the Great Dakota Boom of the 1870s and '80s to the impending depression and drought of the 1930s. Women of the frontier willingly faced drudgery and loneliness, cramped and unconventional living quarters, the threat of prairie fires and fierce blizzards, and the isolation of homesteads located miles from the nearest neighbor. Despite these daunting realities, Dakota farm women cultivated communities among their distant neighbors, shared food and shelter with travelers, developed varied income sources, and raised large families, always keeping in sight the ultimate goal: to provide the next generation with rich, workable land. Enlivened by interviews with pioneer families as well as diaries, memoirs, and other primary sources, Women of the Northern Plains uncovers the significant and changing roles of Dakota farm women who were true partners to their husbands, their efforts marking the difference between success and failure for their families. Barbara Handy-Marchello is a history professor at the University of North Dakota. She has written articles on rural women and is the co-author of A History of the NDSU Seedstocks Project. She lives near Fargo, North Dakota.

The American Girl's Handy Book was one of the earliest works written primarily for girls' amusement and enjoyment. It introduced original and novel ideas to open new routes for enterprise and entertainment for girls. The main goal was to engrave upon the girls' minds that they all have talent and the ability to achieve more than what they think is possible. During the time of this book's publication, it was unusual to promote girls to be inventive. But the writer desired to awaken this creative side in them by giving detailed methods of new tasks and amusements, to put them on the road they could travel and explore alone. Anyone curious about knowing the initiatives taken for girls' empowerment in the olden days will find this work beneficial.

"Hilarious, smart, and utterly addicting. Watch out, Nora Ephron." -Valerie Frankel Jenna McCarthy presents an uproarious but insightful peek behind the curtains at the unholy state of matrimony. With ballsy wit and bawdy humor, she explores everything from male domestic idiocy and the frustrating misfires in spousal communication to how to stay true to the peskiest of vows: forsaking all others. Part in-your-face guide, part brutal confession, this book is a must-read manifesto on surviving marriage in an age when everyone seems to live forever and getting a divorce is as easy as ordering a latte.

A complete look at every President’s who, what, when, where, why, and, how. From George Washington to Barrack Obama and John Adams to Woodrow Wilson, The Handy Presidents Answer Book offers a fascinating look at the lives of each U.S. president, along with a large array of factual, anecdotal, and historic perspectives on the American presidency. Early life and career are covered, along with important highlights from each presidency. The Handy Presidents Answer Book addresses more than 1,600 broad, fundamental questions on the presidents, vice presidents, first ladies, administration staff, families, campaigns and elections, major issues, wars, scandals, tragedies, and entertaining White House trivia such as . . . What three presidents died on the Fourth of July? Which president regularly swam naked in the Potomac River? Which president executed criminals? What president was called “His Fraudulency” because of the controversial way he was elected? Which president later became chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court? Which president was the first to appoint a woman to his cabinet? Whose campaign pledge was to bring about a “kinder, gentler nation?” The Handy Presidents Answer Book is a must-have reference in the truest sense of the word. Covering not just the individuals, but also the origins of the presidency, political parties, elections, and trivia, the book gives depth and context to the office as well as to those who have become president. With many photos, illustrations, and other graphics, this tome is richly illustrated, and its helpful bibliography and extensive index add to its usefulness.