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Sally Ride became a household name as the first American woman in space, but scores of equally impressive women have also left their mark in space. On a Mission- The Smithsonian History of US Women Astronauts spans 45 years and 61 astronauts to share the epic journeys of women who made space for themselves in a male-dominated field.

Valerie Neal, emerita curator from the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum and expert on human spaceflight, interviewed many of the US women astronauts to bring their experiences to life. She offers a culturally insightful history of their achievements, the challenges they've faced, and their distinctive stories. Collectively, they've completed more than 100 space shuttle missions and more than 30 long-duration stays on the International Space Station and Russian Space Station Mir, and they continue to prove themselves in present-day space exploration efforts.

The book includes 50 black-and-white photographs to complement the historical account. With its sweeping look from the first women astronauts to Christina Hammock Koch, assigned to the first crewed Artemis mission around the Moon, there is no comparably thorough book on America's women astronauts. On a Mission is an inspiring tribute to unsung women's history.",{"_792":955,"_794":968,"_771":969},"audience","Trade",{"_792":955,"_794":971,"_771":972},"publisher","Smithsonian Books",{"_792":955,"_794":799,"_771":974},"Trade Cloth",{"_792":955,"_794":976,"_771":977},"onix_binding","Hardback",{"_792":955,"_794":979,"_771":980},"bic_subject","SOCIAL & CULTURAL HISTORY; GENDER STUDIES: WOMEN; AEROSPACE & AVIATION TECHNOLOGY; SPACE SCIENCE",{"_792":955,"_794":982,"_771":983},"publish_date","2025-12-09",{"_792":955,"_794":985,"_771":986},"page_count","360",{"_792":808,"_794":724,"_771":809},{"_792":808,"_794":989,"_771":815},"onorder_wellington",{"_792":808,"_794":814,"_771":815},{"_792":808,"_794":992,"_771":993},"last_received_wellington","17/03/2026",{"_792":808,"_794":995,"_771":996},"price_wellington","70.0",{"_792":808,"_794":998,"_771":999},"stock_wellington","1",{"_792":825,"_794":826,"_771":1001},"Space,History",{"_792":825,"_794":724,"_771":1003},"Space;History",{"_792":825,"_794":830,"_771":1005},"SPACE,HISTOR",{"_792":825,"_794":1007,"_771":1008},"codes_wellington","SPACE;HISTOR",{"_792":825,"_794":834,"_771":1010},"SPACE & ASTRONOMY,HISTORY",{"_792":825,"_794":1012,"_771":1013},"sub_wellington","SPACE & ASTRONOMY;HISTORY",{"_792":825,"_794":839,"_771":1015},"SCIENCE & NATURE,HISTORY",{"_792":825,"_794":1017,"_771":1018},"main_wellington","SCIENCE & NATURE;HISTORY",{"_792":825,"_794":843,"_771":844},{"_792":825,"_794":1021,"_771":1022},"web_departments_wellington","NON FICTION;NON FICTION",{"_792":825,"_794":846,"_771":1024},"SCI",{"_792":825,"_794":1026,"_771":1024},"department_wellington",{"_756":1028},[1029],{"_759":109,"_760":-5,"_123":1030,"_203":1031,"_762":1039,"_768":1040,"_17":938,"_772":1042,"_774":1043},"gid://shopify/ProductVariant/45634297856197",{"_1032":1033,"_1034":1035,"_123":1036,"_941":942,"_1037":1038},"altText","On a Mission Cover Image","height",2048,"gid://shopify/ProductImage/40791965925573","width",1358,{"_764":765,"_766":996},[1041],{"_744":745,"_771":938},"9781588347763",{"_776":1044},[1045],{"_779":1046},{"_781":109,"_126":1047},{"_744":722},{"_123":1049,"_17":1050,"_735":1051,"_753":1052,"_789":1054,"_754":1103},"gid://shopify/Product/8535905173701","Short History of the World in 50 Failures","short-history-of-the-world-in-50-failures",{"_941":1053},"https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0625/6679/3413/files/978-1-78929-708-9.jpg?v=1766017434",[1055,1056,1058,1059,1061,-5,1063,1064,-5,1066,1068,1070,1071,1073,1075,1077,-5,-5,1080,1082,-5,1084,-5,1085,-5,1086,1087,-5,1089,-5,1091,-5,1092,1093,-5,1094,1095,-5,1096,1097,-5,1098,1099,-5,1100,-5,-5,1101,1102,-5],{"_792":793,"_794":17,"_771":1050},{"_792":793,"_794":796,"_771":1057},"GAZUR BEN",{"_792":793,"_794":799,"_771":800},{"_792":793,"_794":802,"_771":1060},"HARDIE",{"_792":793,"_794":805,"_771":1062},"TDLC",{"_792":955,"_794":956,"_771":812},{"_792":955,"_794":17,"_771":1065},"A Short History of the World in 50 Failures",{"_792":955,"_794":796,"_771":1067},"Ben Gazur",{"_792":955,"_794":965,"_771":1069},"

Explore the failures, mistakes and missed opportunities that shaped history in this new entry in the bestselling series.

From the botched attempt to create a life-extending elixir that produced gunpowder, to the unsuccessful stint in medical school which led to a career in naturalism for Charles Darwin, to the missile detection system malfunction that almost sparked a nuclear war, the course of human history has so often been shaped by failures of all magnitudes.

In fifty bite-sized chapters spanning thousands of years, A Short History of the World in 50 Failures details how the world as we know it has been defined by plans gone awry, opportunities not seized upon and schemes that were always fated to end in catastrophe.

Whether it's the pharaoh Akhenaten's misplaced attempt to found a new religion or Napoleon's doomed invasion of Russia, discover a fascinating collection of outsized tales and historical snafus that created the world as we know it today.

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In April 1982, ethnobotanist Wade Davis arrived in Haiti to investigate two documented cases of zombis--people who had reappeared in Haitian society years after they had been officially declared dead and had been buried. Drawn into a netherworld of rituals and celebrations, Davis penetrated the vodoun mystique deeply enough to place zombification in its proper context within vodoun culture. In the course of his investigation, Davis came to realize that the story of vodoun is the history of Haiti--from the African origins of its people to the successful Haitian independence movement, down to the present day, where vodoun culture is, in effect, the government of Haiti's countryside.

The Serpent and the Rainbow combines anthropological investigation with a remarkable personal adventure to illuminate and finally explain a phenomenon that has long fascinated Americans.",{"_792":955,"_794":968,"_771":969},{"_792":955,"_794":971,"_771":1147},"Simon & Schuster",{"_792":955,"_794":799,"_771":1074},{"_792":955,"_794":976,"_771":1076},{"_792":955,"_794":1078,"_771":1079},{"_792":955,"_794":979,"_771":1152},"SOCIOLOGY: CUSTOMS & TRADITIONS; PHARMACY / DISPENSING",{"_792":955,"_794":982,"_771":1154},"1997-08-05",{"_792":955,"_794":985,"_771":1156},"304",{"_792":808,"_794":344,"_771":809},{"_792":808,"_794":811,"_771":815},{"_792":808,"_794":814,"_771":815},{"_792":808,"_794":817,"_771":1161},"09/06/2025",{"_792":808,"_794":820,"_771":1163},"50.0",{"_792":808,"_794":822,"_771":999},{"_792":825,"_794":826,"_771":827},{"_792":825,"_794":344,"_771":827},{"_792":825,"_794":830,"_771":740},{"_792":825,"_794":832,"_771":740},{"_792":825,"_794":834,"_771":835},{"_792":825,"_794":837,"_771":835},{"_792":825,"_794":839,"_771":835},{"_792":825,"_794":841,"_771":835},{"_792":825,"_794":843,"_771":844},{"_792":825,"_794":846,"_771":847},{"_792":825,"_794":849,"_771":847},{"_756":1177},[1178],{"_759":109,"_760":-5,"_123":1179,"_203":1180,"_762":1184,"_768":1185,"_17":1125,"_772":1187,"_774":1188},"gid://shopify/ProductVariant/44796445425861",{"_1032":1181,"_1034":1035,"_123":1182,"_941":1128,"_1037":1183},"The Serpent and the Rainbow Cover Image","gid://shopify/ProductImage/38301400694981",1315,{"_764":765,"_766":1163},[1186],{"_744":745,"_771":1125},"9780684839295",{"_776":1189},[1190,1193],{"_779":1191},{"_781":109,"_126":1192},{"_744":341},{"_779":1194},{"_781":36,"_126":1195},{"_744":722},{"_123":1197,"_17":1198,"_735":1199,"_753":1200,"_789":1202,"_754":1254},"gid://shopify/Product/8519121141957","Istanbul : A Tale of Three Cities","istanbul-a-tale-of-three-cities",{"_941":1201},"https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0625/6679/3413/files/978-1-78022-473-2.jpg?v=1764638463",[1203,1204,1206,1207,1209,-5,1211,1212,1214,1216,1218,1220,1221,1223,1225,1226,-5,1227,1229,1231,1233,1235,-5,1236,-5,1237,1238,-5,1240,-5,1242,-5,1243,1244,-5,1245,1246,-5,1247,1248,-5,1249,1250,-5,1251,-5,-5,1252,1253,-5],{"_792":793,"_794":17,"_771":1198},{"_792":793,"_794":796,"_771":1205},"HUGHES BETTANY",{"_792":793,"_794":799,"_771":800},{"_792":793,"_794":802,"_771":1208},"PHOENI",{"_792":793,"_794":805,"_771":1210},"ADS",{"_792":955,"_794":956,"_771":812},{"_792":955,"_794":17,"_771":1213},"Istanbul",{"_792":955,"_794":960,"_771":1215},"A Tale of Three Cities",{"_792":955,"_794":796,"_771":1217},"Bettany Hughes",{"_792":955,"_794":965,"_771":1219},"

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

'Life-filled and life-affirming history, steeped in romance and written with verve' GUARDIAN

'Richly entertaining and impeccably researched' Peter Frankopan

Istanbul has always been a place where stories and histories collide and crackle, where the idea is as potent as the historical fact. From the Qu'ran to Shakespeare, this city with three names - Byzantium, Constantinople, Istanbul - resonates as an idea and a place, and overspills its boundaries - real and imagined. Standing as the gateway between the East and West, it has served as the capital of the Roman, Byzantine, Latin and Ottoman Empires. For much of its history it was known simply as The City, but, as Bettany Hughes reveals, Istanbul is not just a city, but a story.

In this epic new biography, Hughes takes us on a dazzling historical journey through the many incarnations of one of the world's greatest cities. As the longest-lived political entity in Europe, over the last 6,000 years Istanbul has absorbed a mosaic of micro-cities and cultures all gathering around the core. At the latest count archaeologists have measured forty-two human habitation layers. Phoenicians, Genoese, Venetians, Jews, Vikings, Azeris all called a patch of this earth their home. Based on meticulous research and new archaeological evidence, this captivating portrait of the momentous life of Istanbul is visceral, immediate and scholarly narrative history at its finest.

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Scramble For Africa

by Thomas Pakenham