James Buckley – författare

African American educator, author, speaker, and advisor to presidents of the United States, Booker Taliaferro Washington was the leading voice of former slaves and their descendants during the late 1800s. As part of the last generation of leaders born into slavery, Booker believed that blacks could better progress in society through education and entrepreneurship, rather than trying to directly challenge the Jim Crow segregation. After hearing the Emancipation Proclamation and realising he was free, young Booker decided to make learning his life. He taught himself to read and write, pursued a formal education, and went on to found the Tuskegee Institute - a black school in Alabama - with the goal of building the community's economic strength and pride. The institute still exists and is home to famous alumnae like scientist George Washington Carver.

Get a behind-the-scenes glimpse of what it takes to be considered one of the worst figures in history, with this brand-new nonfiction series that focuses on the most nefarious historical figures.On a list of the worst people ever, Adolf Hitler is certainly at or near the top. Born the son of a low-ranking government official, no one would have predicted that the young Adolf would grow up and become the leader of millions of Germans as well as one of the most despised figures of the twentieth century. Hitler himself wanted to be an artist, but he couldn’t get into art school. The rejection was just one more thing in a long chain of events that made him angry. Angry at the world. Angry at specific groups of people. As his anger grew, so did his hatred until eventually there was very little else left. When Hitler entered politics, he found himself surrounded by people who agreed with him. Who would listen to his rants and would happily follow his every decree and cheer his every word. But why did people let him do that? Why did they follow him? What made his policies so attractive? And what made Adolf Hitler so popular? Find out with this biography that takes a deeper look at Hitler…because history isn’t just about the heroes.

Get a behind-the-scenes glimpse of what it takes to be considered two of the worst figures in history, with the third book in this nonfiction series that focuses on the most despicable historical figures.Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow are possibly the most famous and most romanticized criminals in American history. When the police found photos of them posing with guns and goofing around, they became media darlings. However, their fame was short-lived, and their lives would end in a violent police ambush. Because the reality was very different. During their 1930s crime spree, the two young Texans and the rest of their gang lived a vicious life filled with narrow escapes, bungled robberies, injuries, and murders. And they weren’t the only gangsters operating at the time. Criminals like Al Capone, Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd, and “Ma” Barker grabbed their own share of headlines, but in the end it was Bonnie and Clyde who really captured the public’s imagination. A lot of that was because of Bonnie herself. The cute, blonde criminal was unique at the time. There is no question that their story continues to fascinate writers, musicians, visual artists, and filmmakers. But is that fascination justified? Or are we confusing the movie images with reality and ignoring the ugly truth of their story?

Jeter Publishing presents the second nonfiction biography in a brand-new series that celebrates men and women who altered the course of history often without recognition. On July 16, 1969, a Gemini rocket lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Previous launches had focused on getting astronauts into space, docking two spacecraft, and even walking in space, but this mission was different. Apollo 11 was designed to land two astronauts on the moon and then bring them back to Earth. Four days later, two astronauts, Neal Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, did walk on the moon. But did you know that there were actually three astronauts aboard the rocket on July 16? Michael Collins didn’t get to walk on the Moon, but his contribution is just as important as Armstrong and Aldrin’s. Prior to joining NASA, Collins was in the Air Force and flew fighter jets. After joining NASA, he made two trips into space, performing one of the first EVAs or Extravehicular activities (in other words, walking in space) as well as making that trip to the moon. Collins continued to contribute even after leaving the space program. He took a job in the State Department and even served as director of the National Air & Space Museum and as undersecretary of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. He may not have walked on the moon, but he’s one of only twenty-four people to travel there. In fact, without Michael Collins, that first moon landing might never have happened.

Among baseball achievements, the perfect game-one in which no runners reach base-remains the greatest. Though many have come close, only 20 pitchers have achieved such perfection in more than a century of baseball. This exhaustive compendium examines the fascinating story behind every perfect game and uncovers details both great and small, illuminating the majesty of these titanic achievements. The faithfully narrated record of all 20 games-punctuated by statistics, trivia, little-known anecdotes, and personal memories from both witnesses and the pitchers themselves-gets inside the minds of the players who made baseball history. In addition to profiling some of the game's greatest pitchers, such as Cy Young, Sandy Koufax, and Randy Johnson, or others including Charley Robertson who had otherwise unremarkable careers, this updated edition features new chapters devoted to Dallas Braden, Mark Buehrle, and Roy Halladay, the three latest pitchers to throw a perfect game, and a comprehensive appendix profiles several pitchers who almost achieved perfection.

In Unhittable, readers will relive all the greatest and most dramatic performance by pitchers in the history of baseball: the perfect games, the near-misses, the no-hitters, the 20-strikeout games and the clutch and courageous performances that were the building blocks of Hall of Fame careers.