Showing results by narrator "Roscoe Orman" in All Categories

Before Teddy Roosevelt earned his reputation as a strong, masculine hunter, explorer, and Rough Rider, he actually endured a sickly childhood. That's just one aspect of his life covered in this biography, which follows his transformation into a disciplined athlete and one of the world's best-known public servants and politicians.

"First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen" - and first in the minds of schoolchildren, who learn about George Washington as soon as they begin studying American history. From Washington's Virginia childhood, through his days as a soldier and general, to his inauguration as the first President of the brand-new United States, and into retirement, this biography captures the full breadth and achievements of his life.

George Washington Carver began life as a slave in the tumultuous world of pre - Civil War Missouri. After the war, the orphaned Carver worked as a farmer, a hotel cook, and a laundryman while pursuing an education. As a professor at the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, Carver spearheaded the initiative to cultivate peanuts, soybeans, and sweet potatoes to revive the South's dismal agricultural economy. He is most remembered for the invention of peanut butter.

Frederick Douglass was the foremost American abolitionist of the 19th century. From his 1847 founding of the North Star, the first African-American newspaper, to his term as U.S. minister to Haiti, the story of Douglass's life makes for inspirational reading. This compelling biography will give students a deeper understanding of how slavery shaped American history.

Peter Stuyvesant: legends abound about the character, temperament, and wooden leg of the last director-general of New Amsterdam, fueled primarily by Washington Irving's satirical A History of New York. Krizner and Sita set the record straight here and address other misconceptions about the early days of the colony. Indeed, historical evidence does not support the legend of the 24-dollar purchase of Manhattan Island. Stuyvesant did, however, rule with an "iron fist", but he loved New Amsterdam.

Based on a true story originally written by one of the survivors, Neta Lohnes Frazier's account of seven children traveling westward still has the power to astonish. In the 1840s, the Sager family set off on the Oregon Trail, a dangerous and adventure-filled journey. Tragedy struck when both the mother and father succumbed to fever, orphaning the youngsters - one just a newborn. The entire wagon train adopted them, until they arrived at the Whitman Mission in Oregon.