Soldiers of Light and Love is an acclaimed study of the reform-minded northerners who taught freed slaves in the war-torn Reconstruction South. Jacqueline Jones's book, first published in 1980, focuses on the nearly three hundred women who served...

Among all the biblical heroes, Jacob’s story is peculiar. In many ways, he is more like a villain. He manipulates his brother, deceives his father and father-in-law, and raises up ruthless children who murder the men of a village and sell their...