Books like Engineers of Dreams by Henry Petroski

In 1893 Chicago, Erik Larson weaves the story of visionary architect Daniel Burnham and the cunning serial killer H.H. Holmes, whose crimes unfolded against the backdrop of the World’s Columbian Exposition.

Walter Isaacson chronicles the minds that forged the digital age, from Ada Lovelace to Larry Page, showing how vision, collaboration, and engineering transformed abstract ideas into the computers, Internet, and technology we use today.

A chilling memoir detailing Solomon Northup's harrowing experience as a captive on a Louisiana plantation for twelve years, from 1841 to 1853.

This book explores the nature of engineering and technology through case studies of familiar objects, from paper clips and aluminum cans to airplanes and modern high-rise buildings. These real-world artifacts (some of which I have written about before) are approached here from a perspective designed to illuminate different facets of the engineering enterprise -- design, analysis, failure, economics, aesthetics, communications, politics, and quality control, to name but a few. The case studies also touch on a variety of engineering fields, including aeronautical, civil, computer, electrical, environmental, manufacturing, mechanical, and structural engineering. - Preface.

A hard‑pressed teen from a working‑class background in a borstal discovers long‑distance running as an escape, only to use his talent to confront the system that seeks to profane his dignity.

The last "Indian war" was fought against Native American children in the dormitories and classrooms of government boarding schools. Only by removing Indian children from their homes for extended periods of time, policymakers reasoned, could white "civilization" take root while childhood memories of "savagism" gradually faded to the point of extinction. In the words of one official, "Kill the Indian and save the man.". Education for Extinction offers the first comprehensive account of this dispiriting effort. Much more than a study of federal Indian policy, this book vividly details the day-to-day experiences of Indian youths living in a "total institution" designed to reconstruct them both psychologically and culturally. Based upon extensive use of government archives, Indian and teacher autobiographies, and school newspapers, it is essential reading for anyone interested in Western history, Native American studies, American race relations, educational history, or multi-culturalism.