In the early 1900s, Pumphrey, a primary school teacher, compiled stories from a number of original sources, including William Bradford's diary "Of Plimouth Plantation" and Edward Winslow's journal "Good Newes from New England"--stories of faith, courage, and joy that became the seeds of a great nation.

Any history of California is incomplete without the story of this dynamic woman who was one of the state's first notable pioneer figures. Jessie Benton Fremont was witty, intelligent, gracious, and beautiful. Along with her husband, John C. Fremont, Jessie was passionate about abolition and together their efforts assured California's admission to the Union as a free state. She authored all her husband's exploratory journals of the West and was intimately involved in his political endeavors as well. Jessie was presented at court in both England and France, lived in pioneer tents during the Gold Rush, had audiences with Lincoln, and acted as army nurse during the Civil War. Her story is written for young people by another dynamic woman, Marguerite Higgins, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author who covered WWII, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.

The Year of the Horseless Carriage: 1801, presents the dawn of the 19th century with all its brilliant advancements in transportation, communication, and technology. While the world of technology is progressing rapidly, human rights and liberty are variously being trampled or rising. The megalomaniac Napoleon is proclaiming "liberty, equality, and fraternity" to a war-weary Europe, Jefferson is contemplating the largest land purchase in the history of the world, and Toussaint L'Ouverture is fighting for liberty in Haiti. Robert Livingston, Robert Fulton, Richard Trevithick, Beethoven, Lewis and Clark, Sacajawea, and Dolley Madison are all playing their parts. In this memorable retelling, youthful readers will come to appreciate why Foster was convinced that "history is drama."