History

History

The Borgias
By: Alexander Dumas, Pere
Dumas's 'Celebrated Crimes' was not written for children. The novelist has spared no language--has minced no words--to describe the violent scenes of a violent time.
In some instances facts appear distorted out of their true perspective, and in others the author makes unwarranted charges. It is not within our province to edit the historical side of Dumas, any more than it would be to correct the obvious errors in Dickens's Child's History of England. The careful, mature reader, for whom the books are intended, will recognize, and allow for, this fact.


Jefferson and His Colleagues
By: Allen Johnson
Here is the story of Thomas Jefferson and the men with whom he worked and lived. The history of America rests partially on the sholders of Thomas Jefferson. Here is that rich history, of President Thomas Jefferson.


The Valets Tragedy
By: Andrew Lang
Andrew Lang, well known for his fairy stories and fantasy moves here into history. In this book you will find the true stories of the Man In The Iron Mask, the Mystery of Edmund Berry Godfrey and the story of the False Jeanne D'Arc, but you will also find the story of the continuing saga of whether Shakespeare was really Roiger Bacon. Read it and make up your own mind.


The Conquest of the Old Southwest
By: Archibald Henderson
The Old Southwest referred to in this title, and covered in this book is not Arizona, or New Mexico. Indeed the Southwest Henderson discusses is Virginia, Kentucky, the Carolinas, Tennessee and Kentucky! We tend to forget that there were the days when Lancaster, Pennsylvania was the western frontier. Read here the stories of Daniel Boone and all the rest in what was once the Old Southwest.


Memoirs of the Comtesse du Barry
By: Baron Etienne Leon Lamothe-Langon
The life of Jeanne, Comtesse du Barry (1743-1793), incomparably beautiful grisette and courtesan, official mistress of an elderly and besotted king of France, can be regarded as a story of glamour, luxury, ardor, and loyalty, culminating in high tragedy, or as a cautionary tale of greed, arrogance, and endless pursuit of exquisite pleasures, inevitably ending in blood-drenched dust--depending on the eye of the beholder. Born in a small town on the borders of Lorraine, the illegitimate daughter of a seamstress and a monk, Jeanne Becu rose from the demimonde to become for four years the uncrowned queen of France. The last of the French royal favorites, she was loved by Louis XV until his death in 1774. Although most courtiers and members of the royal family repudiated her, on certain occasions she was capable of great heroism and of intense loyalty to the same aristocracy who initially spurned her. Her charity to women in need was widely known. For all her humble origins she was a woman of refined taste--patroness of Greuze and Fragonard, Vernet and Vigee-Lebrun. Her jewels were among the most famous in Europe and ultimately became a cause of her tragic downfall.


The Autobiography Of Benjamin Franklin
By: Benjamin Franklin
Ben Franklin begins this book with a letter to his son, and in it he says: 'I shall indulge the inclination so natural in old men, to be talking of themselves and their own past actions; and I shall indulge it without being tiresome to others, who, through respect to age, might conceive themselves obliged to give me a hearing, since this may be read or not as any one pleases.' And, indeed, it is not tiresome.


The Age of Big Business
By: Burton J. Hendrick
'A comprehensive survey of the United States, at the end of the Civil War, would reveal a state of society which bears little resemblance to that of today. Almost all those commonplace fundamentals of existence, the things that contribute to our bodily comfort while they vex us with economic and political problems, had not yet made their appearance.'
So begins the 'Age of Big Business'. The really interesting thing is the fact that this book was written long before the computer, television or most modern conveniences were even dreamt of. Yet much of what the author writes is as true today in the tweny-first century as it was in 1919 when it was written. This goes to prove that the more that things change, the more they remain the same.


Project Trinity
By: Carl Maag and Steve Rohrer
The race was on as World War II was drawing to a close. The United States and the Germans were competing... competing to produce the first atomic bomb. In the end we came to understand that the race was not as close as we suspected, but never the less the United States did produce the first atomic weapons - and used them.
The world has not been the same since.
And now in the early days of the twenty-first century the dragon of terror raises it's ugly head. The most prosaic and common of objects were turned into lethal ballistic missiles; airliners. And the targets were buildings packed with people. Following that episode the terrorists turned to biological attacks as they attempted to instill fear into the civilized world. What weapon will be next? We know that there are those who are trying to create their own nuclear weapons. Let us pray that they never succeed.
Here in this slim volume are the unclassified documents surrounding the creation of the first atomic weapons of mass destruction. Though the reading is dry at times, it is well worth our while to read - and to understand. Because if we could do this nearly sixty years ago, it is even more possible that renegade forces can do it today.
We are the targets and this is the weapon.


Indian Heroes And Great Chieftains
By: Charles A. Eastman
Here are the stories of a number of Native American chieftains and heroes. Among them you will find the likes of Sitting bull and Chief Joseph.
Sitting Bull, whose Indian name was Tatanka Iyotake, was born in the Grand River region of present-day South Dakota in approximately 1831. His nickname was Hunkesi, meaning 'Slow' because he never hurried and did everything with care. Sitting Bull was a member of the Sioux tribe, and he joined his first war party against the Crow at age 14. The Sioux fought against hostile tribes and white intruders. Soon, Sitting Bull became known for his fearlessness in battle. He was also generous and wise, virtues admired by his tribe.
He led his people in an attempt to resist the takeover of their lands in the Oregon Territory by white settlers. In 1877, the Nez Perce were ordered to move to a reservation in Idaho. Chief Joseph agreed at first. But after members of his tribe killed a group of settlers, he tried to flee to Canada with his followers, traveling over 1500 miles through Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana. Along the way they fought several battles with the pursuing U.S. Army.
His most remembered words are 'From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever. '


The Voyage of the Beagle
By: Charles Darwin
From 1831 to 1836 Charles Darwin, then a young man in his twenties, was the official naturalist on the Royal Navy ship HMS Beagle. The Beagle spent five years completing a survey of the coasts of South America and making a series of longitude measurements around the world. This proved to be one of the most important scientific voyages of the 19th century, for it was on this voyage that Darwin made the observations that lead, twenty years later, to his formulating the theory of evolution by means of natural selection. This book is Darwin's account of his observations on this voyage. Darwin was a master of detailed observation, and he describes the things he observed -- the plants, animals, geology, and people -- in loving detail. His accounts are always lively and full of interest. Darwin was also a master of inductive reasoning, and there are several superb examples of this in this book. Perhaps the finest is Darwin's induction of the cause of the formation of the coral atolls that dot the South Pacific and the Indian Ocean (his theory was proved correct in the 20th century). Indeed, much of the value of this book for the modern reader lies in the many examples it contains of scientific, inductive thought; a powerful method of reasoning that is as neglected today as it was in Darwin's time.


The Descent of Man
By: Charles Darwin, F.R.S.
A beautiful, historical account of a great naturalist's work. It is important to keep in mind that the book was written 129 years ago, though, since the use of the language would not be considered 'politically correct' nowadays.
Darwin was someone 'who viewed life on earth in terms of an evolutionary framework grounded in science and reason' (taken from the Introduction by H. James Birx). It is difficult to believe that an educated person would misinterpret his ideas as being sexist or racist. Only the ignorant (or a creationist in disguise) would attempt to discredit the work of one of the greatest minds of all times by giving it the wrong label.


Memoirs Of Extraordinary Popular Delusions
By: Charles Mackay
In reading the history of nations, we find that, like individuals, they have their whims and their peculiarities; their seasons of excitement and recklessness, when they care not what they do. We find that whole communities suddenly fix their minds upon one object, and go mad in its pursuit; that millions of people become simultaneously impressed with one delusion, and run after it, till their attention is caught by some new folly more captivating than the first. We see one nation suddenly seized, from its highest to its lowest members, with a fierce desire of military glory; another as suddenly becoming crazed upon a religious scruple, and neither of them recovering its senses until it has shed rivers of blood and sowed a harvest of groans and tears, to be reaped by its posterity. At an early age in the annals of Europe its population lost their wits about the Sepulchre of Jesus, and crowded in frenzied multitudes to the Holy Land: another age went mad for fear of the Devil, and offered up hundreds of thousands of victims to the delusion of witchcraft. At another time, the many became crazed on the subject of the Philosopher's Stone, and committed follies till then unheard of in the pursuit. It was once thought a venial offence in very many countries of Europe to destroy an enemy by slow poison. Persons who would have revolted at the idea of stabbing a man to the heart, drugged his pottage without scruple. Ladies of gentle birth and manners caught the contagion of murder, until poisoning, under their auspices, became quite fashionable. Some delusions, though notorious to all the world, have subsisted for ages, flourishing as widely among civilized and polished nations as among the early barbarians with whom they originated, -- that of duelling, for instance, and the belief in omens and divination of the future, which seem to defy the progress of knowledge to eradicate entirely from the popular mind. Money, again, has often been a cause of the delusion of multitudes. Sober nations have all at once become desperate gamblers, and risked almost their existence upon the turn of a piece of paper. To trace the history of the most prominent of these delusions is the object of the present pages. Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.


The San Francisco Calamity
By: Charles Morris, Ll. D.
In 1906 an devastating earthquake struck San Francisco. As did the flood which destroyed much of Johnstown, Pennsylvania in May of 1889, the earthquake was followed by a fire of emmense proportions. When we think of the San Francisco earthquake we think of the more recent one because that is a part of our personal memory. But here is the story of personal memories of those who lived through the 1906 quake, told in their own words. Also in this book are stories of other natural disasters through the history of the world.


Lincoln's Yarns and Stories
By: Colonel Alexander K. McClure
We think of Abraham Lincoln as a great president, the man whose Emancipation Proclamation freed more than four million slaves, was a keen politician, profound statesman, shrewd diplomatist, a thorough judge of men and possessed of an intuitive knowledge of affairs. He was the first Chief Executive to die at the hands of an assassin.
But 'Honest Abe' was a story teller and humorist bar none. He had an innate sense of timing and understanding of when to use humor. One is reminded that perhaps Lincoln understood the story telling power that Jesus had and used, and that perhaps this man tried to emulate Jesus.


Edison His Life And Inventions
By: Dyer & Martin
Thomas Alva Edison is one of America's most famous inventors. Edison saw huge change take place in his lifetime. He was responsible for making many of those changes occur. His inventions created and contributed to modern night lights, movies, telephones, records and CDs. Edison was truly a genius.
Edison is most famous for his development of the first electric light bulb. When Edison was born, electricity had not been developed. By the time he died, entire cities were lit by electricity. Much of the credit for electricity goes to Edison.
Some of his inventions were improvements on other inventions, like the telephone. Some of his inventions he deliberately tried to invent, like the light bulb and the movie projector. But some inventions he stumbled upon, like the phonograph. Of all his inventions, Edison was most proud of the phonograph.
Edison invented and improved upon things that transformed our world. Some things he invented by himself. Some things he invented with other people. Just about all his inventions are things we still use in some form today. Throughout his life, Edison tried to invent things that everyone could use.
Edison created the world's first 'invention factory'. He and his partners invented, built and shipped the product - all in the same complex. This was a new way to do business. Today many businesses have copied Edison's invention factory design.


Sinking of the Titanic
By: Edited by Logan Marshall
This is the telling of the Titanic tragedy from the point of view as news rather than history. Though recounted a number of years after the event it was still fresh in the lives and minds of the original audience. Factual and well written The Titanic dispels some of the common myths, such as the name of the last song the band played as the ship sank. It was not 'Nearer My God To Thee' as has been widely told. Read this book to find out what song was actually played.


Looking Backward From 2000 to 1887
By: Edward Bellamy
Here is an interesting book which looks backwards from the year 2000 to the year 1887. It reports the history of the intervening time from the perspective of our present. But the book was written in the nineteenth century, and not the twentieth. Never the less the author, Bellamy, was prescient in many ways. It is told in the form of a narrative of a man who fell asleep in 1887 and woke in 2000. Similar to Rip Van Winkle, only moreso. Some of the imagry is almost chilling, and some os so far off it is humorous. All in all this book is an excellent read.


The Last Days of Pompeii
By: Edward George Bulwer-Lytton
Bulwer-Lytton's classic and definitive work on the subject of Pompeii is more a romance than a tragedy. Though the language is dated this is still a very good read. After all it was the basis for the movie.


The Red Mans Continent
By: Ellsworth Huntington
In writing this book the author has aimed first to present in readable form the main facts about the geographical environment of American history. Many important facts have been omitted or have been touched upon only lightly because they are generally familiar. On the other hand, special stress has been laid on certain broad phases of geography which are comparatively unfamiliar. One of these is the similarity of form between the Old World and the New, and between North and South America; another is the distribution of indigenous types of vegetation in North America; and a third is the relation of climate to health and energy. In addition to these subjects, the influence of geographical conditions upon the life of the primitive Indians has been emphasized. This factor is especially important because people without iron tools and beasts of burden, and without any cereal crops except corn, must respond to their environment very differently from civilized people of today. Limits of space and the desire to make this book readable have led to the omission of the detailed proof of some of the conclusions here set forth. The special student will recognize such cases and will not judge them until he has read the author's fuller statements elsewhere. The general reader, for whom this book is designed, will be thankful for the omission of such purely technical details.


The Passing of the Frontier
By: Emerson Hough
Emerson Hough's classic history of the American Frontier. This is a book to be treasured by lovers of The Old West.
In the author's own words,
The frontier was the place and the time of the strong man, of the self-sufficient but restless individual. It was the home of the rebel, the protestant, the unreconciled, the intolerant, the ardent-and the resolute. It was not the conservative and tender man who made our history; it was the man sometimes illiterate, oftentimes uncultured, the man of coarse garb and rude weapons. But the frontiersmen were the true dreamers of the nation. They really were the possessors of a national vision. Not statesmen but riflemen and riders made America. The noblest conclusions of American history still rest upon premises which they laid.
In the times when some men needed guns and all men carried them, no pistol of less than 44-caliber was tolerated on the range, the solid framed 45-caliber being the one almost universally used. The barrel was eight inches long, and it shot a rifle cartridge of forty grains of powder and a blunt-ended bullet that made a terrible missile. This weapon depended from a belt worn loose resting upon the left hip and hanging low down on the right hip so that none of the weight came upon the abdomen. This was typical, for the cowboy was neither fancy gunman nor army officer. The latter carries the revolver on the left, the butt pointing forward.


Christopher Columbus
By: Filson Young
As children in America we all grow up knowing who Christopher Columbus was. It was he who 'discovered' America - or at least the New World. Of course he wasn't trying to prove the world was round. that was already a pretty well accepted theory at that time. Instead he was seeking a short route to the Asian continent, encompassing what we today know as China, Viet Nam, Indonesia (The Dutch East Indies and more.) But, of course we all know what happened. But after that we really don't know much about what happened to Columbus. What little history we learn in elementary school is romanticized and does not go deeply into Columbus' life beyond the basics.
Well at the turn of the century, Filson Young wrote an eight book biography of Columbus. A veryt ambitious project, and well worth the work. For example it was Young who grieved deeply at the state of the Admiral's mental health and lamented about the 'Libro de las profecias,'
Good Heavens! In what an entirely dark and sordid stupor is our Christopher now sunk--a veritable slough and quag of stupor out of which, if he does not manage to flounder himself, no human hand can pull him.
Now here in one volume is everything you ever wanted to know about christopher and a whole lot more. You may be surprised!


Against Apion
By: Flavius Josephus
Flavius Josephus writes a defense of Judaism, answering an attack by a Roman author named Apion.
We possess understandably few remnants of the ways in which subject nations respondedto Roman disdain. In most cases only the ambiguous witness of material culture givesus access to the voices of the colonised. All the more precious, therefore, is Josephus?Against Apion, where a knowledgeable spokesman for the Judaean tradition is bold enoughto answer back to his cultural critics and skilful enough to do so in terms calculated to winRoman attention. In observing how Josephus deploys Roman stereotypes of Egyptians he unearths somefacets of his rhetorical strategy and to illuminates thereby the cultural and political stance headopts in re-presenting the Judaeans to his Roman or Romanised readers.
Courtesy: John M.G. Barclay


Concerning Hades
By: Flavius Josephus
The historian Falvius Josephus discusses, in this brief work, the difference between the classical version of Hell as envisioned by the Greeks and the reality of Hell as he himself sees it. Presented in eight brief chapters Josephus clarity of thought is evident.


The Antiquities of the Jews
By: Flavius Josephus
Josephus was a priest, a soldier, and a scholar.
He was born Joseph ben Mattathias in Jerusalem in 37 CE ew years after the time of Jesus, during the time of the Roman occupation of the Jewish homeland. In his early twenties he was sent to Rome to negotiate the release of several priests held hostage by Emperor Nero. When he returned home after completing his mission he found the nation beginning a revolution against the Romans.
Living at the Flavian court in Rome, Josephus undertook to write a history of the war he had witnessed. The work, while apparently factually correct, also served to flatter his patron and to warn other provinces against the folly of opposing the Romans. He first wrote in his native language of Aramaic, then with assistance translated it into Greek (the most-used language of the Empire). It was published a few years after the end of the war, in about 78 CEe was about 40 years old.
Josephus subsequently improved his language skills and undertook a massive work in Greek explaining the history of the Jews to the general non-Jewish audience. He emphasized that the Jewish culture and Bible were older than any other then existing, hence called his work the Jewish Antiquities. Approximately half the work is a rephrasing of the Hebrew Bible, while much of the rest draws on previous historians. This work was published in 93 or 94 CE When he was about 56 years old


The Life of Flavius Josephus
By: Flavius Josephus
Josephus was a priest, a soldier, and a scholar.
He was born Joseph ben Mattathias in Jerusalem in 37 CE ew years after the time of Jesus, during the time of the Roman occupation of the Jewish homeland. In his early twenties he was sent to Rome to negotiate the release of several priests held hostage by Emperor Nero. When he returned home after completing his mission he found the nation beginning a revolution against the Romans.
Living at the Flavian court in Rome, Josephus undertook to write a history of the war he had witnessed. The work, while apparently factually correct, also served to flatter his patron and to warn other provinces against the folly of opposing the Romans. He first wrote in his native language of Aramaic, then with assistance translated it into Greek (the most-used language of the Empire). It was published a few years after the end of the war, in about 78 CEe was about 40 years old.
Josephus subsequently improved his language skills and undertook a massive work in Greek explaining the history of the Jews to the general non-Jewish audience. He emphasized that the Jewish culture and Bible were older than any other then existing, hence called his work the Jewish Antiquities. Approximately half the work is a rephrasing of the Hebrew Bible, while much of the rest draws on previous historians. This work was published in 93 or 94 CE When he was about 56 years old


The Wars of the Jews
By: Flavius Josephus
Flavius Josephus himself said in this seminal work, 'Now at the time when this great concussion of affairs happened, the affairs of the Romans were themselves in great disorder. Those Jews also who were for innovations, then arose when the times were disturbed; they were also in a flourishing condition for strength and riches, insomuch that the affairs of the East were then exceeding tumultuous, while some hoped for gain, and others were afraid of loss in such troubles; for the Jews hoped that all of their nation which were beyond Euphrates would have raised an insurrection together with them. The Gauls also, in the neighborhood of the Romans, were in motion, and the Geltin were not quiet; but all was in disorder after the death of Nero. And the opportunity now offered induced many to aim at the royal power; and the soldiery affected change, out of the hopes of getting money. I thought it therefore an absurd thing to see the truth falsified in affairs of such great consequence, and to take no notice of it; but to suffer those Greeks and Romans that were not in the wars to be ignorant of these things, and to read either flatteries or fictions, while the Parthians, and the Babylonians, and the remotest Arabians, and those of our nation beyond Euphrates, with the Adiabeni, by my means, knew accurately both whence the war begun, what miseries it brought upon us, and after what manner it ended.'


Personal Memoirs of Gen. Philip Sheridan Volume I
By: Gen. Philip Sheridan
This is the personal memoir of General Philip H. Sheridan, who fought for the Union Army in the American Civil War. This, volume I of a two volume set, begins to tell the story of this famous general. An excellent companion to the memoirs of General Grant.


Personal Memoirs of Gen. Philip Sheridan Volume II
By: Gen. Philip Sheridan
This is the personal memoir of General Philip H. Sheridan, who fought for the Union Army in the American Civil War. This, volume II of a two volume set, continues to tell the story of this famous general. An excellent companion to the memoirs of General Grant.


Washington And His Comrades In Arms
By: George M. Wrong
This brief biography of George Washington, though written by a Briton for a british audience, admirably tells the story of George Washington and the struggle for independence. In the authors own words, 'If excuse is needed it is to be found in the special interest of the career of Washington to a citizen of the British Commonwealth of Nations at the present time and in the urgency with which the editor and publishers declared that such an interpretation would not be unwelcome to Americans.'


The Grand Canyon Of Arizona
By: George Wharton James
Written over one hundred years ago this book is a trravelogue of the Grand Canyon. Quaint, but interesting, it takes you through all the steps necessary for visiting this natural wonder. All in all this is a nice read. Don't try contacting the agencies metioned in the text; none of the have zip codes!


A Book Of Remarkable Criminals
By: H. B. Irving
Here is a book that will chill and thrill you. In these 'modern' days and times we think that crime is rampant but when you read of H.H. Holmes and his death house, or of the other individuals in this book, you'll quickly find that there will always be those who delight in the baser side of life - and death.


Bygone Beliefs
By: H. Stanley Redgrove
These Excursions in the Byways of Thought were undertaken at different times and on different occasions; consequently, the reader may be able to detect in them inequalities of treatment.He may feel that I have lingered too long in some byways and hurried too rapidly through others, taking, as it were, but a general view of the road in the latter case, whilst examining everything that could be seen in the former with, perhaps, undue care. As a matter of fact, how ever, all these excursions have been undertaken with one and the same object in view, that, namely, of understanding aright and appreciating at their true worth some of the more curious byways along which human thought has travelled.


The Federalist Papers
By: Hamilton, Jay and Madison
The Federalist Papers were written and published during the years 1787 and 1788 in several New York State newspapers to persuade New York voters to ratify the proposed constitution. The primary authors were Alexander Hamilton and James Madison with help from John Jay. In total, the Federalist Papers contains 85 essays outlining how this new government would operate and why this type of government was the best choice for the United States of America. All of the essays were signed 'PUBLIUS' and the actual authors of some are under dispute, but the general consensus is that Hamilton wrote 52, Madison wrote 28 and Jay contributed the remaining 5. The Federalist Papers remain today as an excellent reference for historians and constitutional scholars.


Walden and Civil Disobedience
By: Henry David Thoreau
Thoreau spent two years, two months and two days living along beside Walden Pond near Concord Massachusetts. This is the essay of that time, but it is also this philosophers view of the world. Worth reading in any generation.Civil Disobedience is a reminder that there are ways to protest, and reasons for doing so, that do not include violence. Violent disobedience is never civil.


The Age of Invention
By: Holland Thompson
This volume is not intended to be a complete record of inventive genius and mechanical progress in the United States. A bare catalogue of notable American inventions in the nineteenth century alone could not be compressed into these pages. Nor is it any part of the purpose of this book to trespass on the ground of the many mechanical works and encyclopedias which give technical descriptions and explain in detail the principle of every invention. All this book seeks to do is to outline the personalities of some of the outstanding American inventors and indicate the significance of their achievements.


The Iliad of Homer
By: Homer
Taking place in the tenth and final year of the Trojan War, the ILIAD opens with the anger of Achilles at the great king Agamemnon for taking away his favorite concubine (a spoil of war). Each man's pride is too much: Agamemnon refuses to give back the girl and Achilles refuses to continue fighting. Since Achilles is the Greeks' greatest warrior, the fortunes of the Trojans markedly improve while he famously sulks in his tent. But the Greeks fight on, and such heroes as Diomedes, Aias (Ajax) and Odysseus continue the fight to sack Troy as return the queen Helen to her husband Menelaos, King of Argos.

Sualeh Fatehi is a software engineer who contributed this book to ESSPC. He has used PDA's for many years and enjoys eBooks. Thanks to him for his work.


The Odyssey of Homer
By: Homer
The epic continues with the Odyssey of Homer. Here we meet Odysseus who was reluctant to leave his serene home island of Ithaca. He did not want to leave behind a new born son and his beautiful wife, Penelope, whom he both adored with all his heart. After some convincing Odysseus is off to the far away city of Troy. He has no idea of what is about to come of him in the next twenty years....

Sualeh Fatehi is a software engineer who contributed this book to ESSPC. He has used PDA's for many years and enjoys eBooks. Thanks to him for his work.


Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates
By: Howard Pyle
Famed illustrator Howard Pyle wrote this delightful book of fact and fiction about the life and times of famous pirates, such as Captain Kidd and Blackbeard. Though not illustrated this is still a great read.


The Complete Angler
By: Izaak Walton
One of the most popular works of the seventeenth century, The Complete Angler (1653) is an irresistible blend of practical advice on fishing, natural history, poetry, fabulous antiquity and song. Walton, nostalgic Royalist and friend of bishops, presents the modest angler's life as equal to the sport of kings.
But the book goes far beyond baiting a hook or landing a fighting trout. It is a paean to nature, to timeless days when nothing intrudes into life save for the electric twitch of a trout taking a fly. After completing this book the reader will not only be educated but relaxed and reminded of the simple joys of life.
Even if you are not interested in fishing this book is still a great joy.


The Anti-Slavery Crusade
By: Jesse Macy
The Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln marks the beginning of the end of a long chapter in human history. Among the earliest forms of private property was the ownership of slaves. Slavery as an institution had persisted throughout the ages, always under protest, always provoking opposition, insurrection, social and civil war, and ever bearing within itself the seeds of its own destruction. Among the historic powers of the world the United States was the last to uphold slavery, and when, a few years after Lincoln's proclamation, Brazil emancipated her slaves, property in man as a legally recognized institution came to an end in all civilized countries.
Emancipation in the United States marked the conclusion of a century of continuous debate, in which the entire history of western civilization was traversed. The literature of American slavery is, indeed, a summary of the literature of the world on the subject. The Bible was made a standard text-book both for and against slavery. Hebrew and Christian experiences were exploited in the interest of the contending parties in this crucial controversy. Churches of the same name and order were divided among themselves and became half pro-slavery and half anti-slavery.


Life Of Hon. Phineas T. Barnum
By: Joel Benton
There is no proof that Phineas Taylor Barnum ever said 'there's a sucker born every minute.' He did, however, say that 'every crowd has a silver lining,' and acknowledged that 'the public is wiser than many imagine.'
In his 80 years, Barnum gave the wise public of the 19th century shameless hucksterism, peerless spectacle, and everything in between -- enough entertainment to earn the title 'master showman' a dozen times over. In choosing Barnum as one of the 100 most important people of the millenium, Life magazine recently dubbed him 'the patron saint of promoters.'
Here is the story of the greatest showman ever, P.T. Barnum.


The Discovery of The Source of the Nile
By: John Hanning Speke
In 1858 the author, Speake, discovered Lake Victoria. In this journal he recounts his adventure, discusses the natural history and tells of his daily living. This is a little bit of everything wrapped up into an adventure tale.


Andersonville
By: John McElroy
Andersonville tells the story of the horror prisoners of war experienced in the Andersonville prison during the American Civil War. Prisoners of War during the Civil War were never intended to be held for the duration. At the beginning, both the Confederacy and the Union participated in a system of prisoner exchange, which set the guidelines for establishing prisons as 'holding pins.' The prisoners were well fed and able to support themselves. Andersonville and Johnson Island are two notorious prisons of the Civil War. They were survivable prisons until politics interfered with the operation of the prisoner exchange and forced each side to retain their prisoners of war. Both Johnson Island and Andersonville suffered from similar problems such as mal-nutrition and overcrowding. Andersonville was a prison of a makeshift quality that probably contributed to its notoriety. Life within Andersonville was full of suffering and death, and it resulted in the complete breakdown of humanity. Johnson Island military prison was constructed in a manner more befitting of a prison. Life within Johnson Island was difficult, but the suffering did not result in the complete devolution of society. Comparing the facilities and the life of the prisoners of Andersonville and Johnson Island, prison life in Andersonville was far worse than life in Johnson Island. The Confederacy could not handle the number of prisoners that they had captured, and these prisoners struggled for their lives as the Confederate war effort became incapable of sustaining itself and it's soldiers. The prisoners in Union prison ate better food and lived in provided shelters. While in Andersonville soldiers did not even receive enough food to live, and they also were not provided with supplies. However, it is not possible to ignore the fact that on both sides prisoners suffered.


The Railroad Builders
By: John Moody
Of the major modes of transportation in America in the early 1800s the railroad was the least appreciated and at times the most dangerous. But no other means of transportation could unite this vast land into one nation. The building of the railroads in America was an undertaking which was farught with danger, both from nature and from man. In fact the greatest threat to the railroads was politicians protecting their own interests. And that includes those who were in favor of the railroads. Here then is the story of the building of the American railroads.


The Black Death
By: Justus Friedrich Karl Hecke
The thought of the Black Death plague fascinates us all. Here is an account of the Black Death as well as St. Vitus Dance. Very interesting reading, if a little off beat.


Beethoven the Man and the Artist
By: Kerst & Krehbiel
Here, taken from his diaries, notes, letters and conversations is the story of Ludwig van Beethoven as told by himself. The edittors, Kerst and Krehbie have woven a fabric from many patches and the result is a whole and not a patchwork. It takes a little getting used to at first but as you read you will get into the flow. You will know Beethoven as you never imagined.


Legends Of Babylon And Egypt
By: Leonard W. King
Leonard W. King does a remarkable job in comparing the legends from the middle east (Sumeria, Babylon, Egypt and Mesopotamia) with the scriptures in the Judaio/Christian Bible. The parallels are remarkable, from the story of the creation through the flood and beyond. As a comparative history this is well worth reading, and just as well worth reading for the educational value.


London's Underworld
By: London's Underworld
The more civilized we become the more complex and serious will be our problems--unless sensible and merciful yet thorough methods are adopted for dealing with the evils. I think that my pages will show that the methods now in use for coping with some of our great evils do not lessen, but considerably increase the evils they seek to cure. -- Thomas Holmes


Life on the Mississippi
By: Mark Twain
Sam Clemens, Mark Twain's real name, was indeed a riverboat pilot. In Life on the Mississippi he details his life as he worked his way up from apprentice riverboat pilot. Here is Mark Twain in all his humor and yet he educates the reader with his stories as we learn a little history, in this case it is truly his story.


The War Prayer
By: Mark Twain
My friends, this week I am only publishing one eBook. The events of the past week have been such that I have not been able to go through the trvialities of eBook preparation. I have been glued to the television, sick at heart and afraid of what is to come. The one eBook that im publishing is the only one that I know of that is worthy of being published here this week.
When Mark Twain wrote 'The War Prayer' and showed it to a friend, the friend said that it was a most important writing and that it should be published immediately as far and wide as possible. But Twain disagreed and said that it indeed was powerful but not to publish it until after he had died. And it was not published until after the death of the writer.
Please take this slim volume and read it. Then think about what is to come...
September 15, 2001


The Fathers of the Constitution
By: Max Farrand
Here is a look at John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Ben Franklin and all the other men who forged the new nation of America. This is their story, their vision and their work. Without them and their work this world would be a different place today.


The Civilization of Illiteracy
By: Mihai Nadin
The spectacular but unsettling reality of faster cycles of change, breakdown of traditional values and institutions, and many other symptoms of technological innovation-what makes these necessary is the subject of this thought-provoking book. All the good intentions of educators, scholars, politicians, and policymakers will fail if they do not recognize why literacy as a dominant framework of human activity is no longer adequate. The current dynamics of human activity is without precedent. It is not the result of technology, but of deeper forces of change. The answer to the failure of many seemingly eternal institutions-government, family, education-is not improvement in the traditional sense, but a fundamentally new perspective. The digital paradigm underlying the new civilization provides a basis for this perspective. But it will be misapplied unless understood within the broader framework of the driving forces behind human activity.
From the AuthorThis book is as much about language and literacy as it is about everything pertaining to it: family, politics, the market, war, sports, old and new media. It is about the process of cutting the umbilical cord that binds people to literacy. We live in a world of a dynamic never before experienced in history. In this world, many new literacies, of shorter duration, override the need and possibility of one encompassing literacy. The sense of permanence and eternity that this literacy instilled prevents us from making the best of technological progress. It is no wonder that it is disintegrating. The new literacies provide means for human interaction appropriate to achieving probably the most radical forms of individualism and the most intriguing means of social interaction. We are in for a ride that can only get more exciting. Those who insist on bringing along the baggage of their literate prejudices will get sick at each curve in the road. And they'll miss the many rainbows along the way.
This book Copyright ? 1997 by Mihai Nadin


In the Beginning was the Command Line
By: Neal Stephenson
I don't know where this work came from, but it is well worth presenting and reading. Here is a great story about the history of computing in the age of the birth of the personal coMputer. it is a great read, interesting, informative and downright fun. It brings back memories of the 'early days' - or for some the 'golden age' of computing. But it also digs down deep intot he foundations and brings for th nuggets worth treasuring. From Jobs to Gates, this is a book to read.



The Prince
By: Nicolo Machiavelli
'The Prince' is splendid reading on several levels. First, one appreciates Machiavelli as a problem solver. For divided Italy the question had to be asked; what is the most practical and efficient means for a wise prince to consolidate his power and unify it? But one also appreciates Machiavelli as a person. A florentine intellectual banished to the countryside -- to him it must have been torture.
Once asked whether Machiavelli was a cynic, a realist, or a patriot, the answer revealed the belief that the correct answer is all three. Much of Machiavelli's advice contains an under current of cynicism and ruthlessness, and this has undoubtedly come to be the dominant portion of his reputation. One of the terms for devil, 'Old Nick' is derived from Machiavelli. When one speaks of destroying an enemy or performing a ruthless, sneaky act, that person is likely to be called 'machiavellian'. But Machiavelli's advice was as realistic as one could get in those times. This was an era when despots and mercenaries ruled by force and assasination. It was a time when popes fathered children and carved out little principalities for themselves. One was not going to remain in power, much less get ahead of one's enemies by being virtuous. It isn't that Machiavelli despised virtue so much as he realized how useless it was in the political context of the times. But in the end Machiavelli was also an idealist. He dreamed of a united Italy under a strong (and practical) prince. When he dedicated his treatise to Rodorigo Borgia, he did so in the hopes that he might be the man to perform such a task.
This book provides timeless practical advice for anyone who wishes to succeed in a hostile, divisive environment. It also illuminates the peculiar political circumstances of Renaissance Italy.


The Black Experience In America
By: Norman Coombs
'This volume depicts the immigrants from Africa as one among the many elements which created present-day America. On the one hand, they differ from the other minorities because they came involuntarily, suffered the cruelties of slavery, and were of another color. All of this made their experience unique. On the other hand, they shared much in common with the other minorities, many of whom also felt like aliens in their new land.' From the Preface of The Black Experience in America.


The Common Law
By: Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
The Common Law, published in 1881, was based on a series of lectures addressed to a lay audience in Boston by the most respected of all American jurists, Oliver Wendell Holmes. Avoiding specialized language of his own or any other era, Holmes explains with scintillating clarity the fundamental concepts of law.
For its clarification of basic legal principles that continue to underlie even the most current and controversial issues, The Common Law belongs on every lawyer's bookshelf.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841-1935) is generally considered one of the greatest justices of the United States Supreme Court. In more than 2,000 opinions, Holmes delineated an impressive legal philosophy that profoundly influenced American jurisprudence, particularly in the area of civil liberties and judicial restraint. In THE COMMON LAW, the ideas and judicial theory of Holmes can be studied and appreciated.


The Canadian Dominion
By: Oscar D. Skelton
The history of Canada since the close of the French regime falls into three clearly marked half centuries. The first fifty years after the Peace of Paris determined that Canada was to maintain a separate existence under the British flag and was not to become a fourteenth colony or be merged with the United States. The second fifty years brought the winning of self-government and the achievement of Confederation. The third fifty years witnessed the expansion of the Dominion from sea to sea and the endeavor to make the unity of the political map a living reality--the endeavor to weld the far-flung provinces into one country, to give Canada a distinctive place in the Empire and in the world, and eventually in the alliance of peoples banded together in mankind's greatest task of enforcing peace and justice among nations


Now It Can Be Told
By: Philip Gibbs
Here is Gibbs first hand account of the World War I on the western front, He speaks of the tragidy of war and of this war in particular. As Mr Gibbs says, ' The purpose of this book is to get deeper into the truth of this war and of all war--not by a more detailed narrative of events, but rather as the truth was revealed to the minds of men, in many aspects, out of their experience; and by a plain statement of realities, however painful, to add something to the world's knowledge out of which men of good-will may try to shape some new system of relationship between one people and another, some new code of international morality, preventing or at least postponing another massacre of youth like that five years' sacrifice of boys of which I was a witness.'


Notes of a War Correspondent
By: R. H. Davis
Richard Harding Davis was a war correspondent during the Spanish Anmerican war. In this short book he details the things that he witnessed personally making a history that comes alive.


The Historical Nights' Entertainment
By: Rafael Sabatini
In approaching 'The Historical Nights' Entertainment' I set myself the task of reconstructing, in the fullest possible detail and with all the colour available from surviving records, a group of more or less famous events. I would select for my purpose those which were in themselves bizarre and resulting from the interplay of human passions, and whilst relating each of these events in the form of a story, I would compel that story scrupulously to follow the actual, recorded facts without owing anything to fiction, and I would draw upon my imagination, if at all, merely as one might employ colour to fill in the outlines which history leaves grey, taking care that my colour should be as true to nature as possible. For dialogue I would depend upon such scraps of actual speech as were chronicled in each case, amplifying it by translating into terms of speech the paraphrases of contemporary chroniclers.


The Life of Cesare Borgia
By: Rafael Sabatini
Rafael Sabatini wrote not only the wonderful adventure and romantic historical novels where the hero and the heroine always fall in love and into each other's arms in the last paragraph of the bok, but was also a historian who wrote detailed histories of his subjects. Here is his history of Cesare Borgia, son of Alexander VI. And with it the storu of his sister Lucrezia. Their names conjure up unrivaled evil, for one was a murderer and adventure and the other a poisoner.
Here is the tale as can be only told by Rafael Sabatini.


The South Pole Volume 1
By: Roald Amundsen
In 1910 Roald Amundsen set out to find both the fabled Northwest Passage but also to travel to the South Pole. He and his crew set out on the ship 'Fram' on this ill fated voyage. Never the less they did travel to Antarctica through much toil and pain. Here is the story of that heroic adventure.


A Forgotten Empire: Vijayanagar
By: Robert Sewell
The two Portuguese chronicles, a translation of which into English is now for the first time offered to the public, are contained in a vellum-bound folio volume in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, amongst the manuscripts of which institution it bears the designation 'Port. No. 65.' The volume in question consists of copies of four original documents; the first two, written by Fernao Nuniz and Domingo Paes, being those translated below, the last two (at the end of the MS.) letters written from China about the year 1520 A.D. These will probably be published in translation by Mr. Donald Ferguson in the pages of the Indian Antiquary.
The first pair of original papers was sent with a covering letter by some one at Goa to some one in Europe. The names are not given, but there is every reason for believing that the recipient was the historian Barros in Lisbon.
Both these papers are in the same handwriting, which fact -- since they were written by separate Portuguese merchants or travellers at Vijayanagar in different years, one, I believe, shortly subsequent to 1520 A.D., the latter not later than about 1536 or 1537 -- conclusively proves them to be copies of the originals, and not the originals themselves.[2] I have inserted a facsimile of two pages of the text, so that no doubt may remain on this point. The first portion consists of the conclusion of the text of Fernao Nuniz; the second of the covering letter written by the person who sent the originals to Europe; the third of the beginning of the text of Domingo Paes.
Paes being the earlier in date (about 1520) I have given his account of personal experiences first, and afterwards the historical summary composed by Nuniz about the year 1536 or 1537.


The Boss and the Machine
By: Samuel P. Orth
With politics so fresh in the minds of Americans here is a book that reminds us all that even in the good old days all was not sweetness and light. And those good old days go back a long way. Here is the history of politics, so to speak, in America. Interesting reading.


Iron Workers and Tool Makers
By: Samuel Smiles
The Author offers the following book as a continuation, in a more generally accessible form, of the Series of Memoirs of Industrial Men introduced in his Lives of the Engineers. While preparing that work he frequently came across the tracks of celebrated inventors, mechanics, and iron-workers— the founders, in a great measure, of the modern industry of Britain— whose labours seemed to him well worthy of being traced out and placed on record, and the more so as their lives presented many points of curious and original interest. Having been encouraged to prosecute the subject by offers of assistance from some of the most eminent living mechanical engineers, he is now enabled to present the following further series of memoirs to the public.


Random House vs Rosetta Books
By: Sidney H. Stein, U. S. District Judge
In the year 2000 and the beginning of 2001, Rosetta Books contracted with several authors to publish certain of their works - including The Confessions of Nat Turner and Sophie's Choice by William Styron; Slaughterhouse- Five, Breakfast of Champions, The Sirens of Titan, Cat's Cradle, and Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut; and Promised Land by Robert B. Parker - in digital format over the internet. (Def. Ex. 21- 23; http:// www. rosettabooks. com/ pages/ about_ us. html.) On February 26, 2001 Rosetta Books launched its ebook business, offering those titles and others for sale in digital format. (Cantos Aff. ? 2, Ex. A; http:// www. rosettabooks. com). The next day, Random House filed this complaint accusing Rosetta Books of committing copyright infringement and tortiously interfering with the contracts Random House had with Messrs. Parker, Styron and Vonnegut by selling its ebooks. It simultaneously moved for a preliminary injunction prohibiting Rosetta from infringing plaintiff's copyrights.


The Fifteen Decisive Battles Of The World
By: Sir Edward Creasy, M.A.
A 150-year-old classic account of famous battles of the past 2,300 years that fundamentally changed the course of world history. Battles under discussion include the battle of Marathon, the victory of Arminius over the Roman legions under Varus, the battle of Hastings, the defeat of the Spanish Armada, and the battle of Waterloo.
Depending on your point of view this book is either biased to the British way of military thinking, or is the place to start your collection. Either way it is a definitive book.


Under the Carpet
By: Steven Hager and Jim Garrison
Conspiracy theories abound when it comes to the assassination of John Kennedy. Some of them have even been made into movies. Some say we will never know the truth and others say that there is nothing to hide. The real mystery of JFK is that the appearance of cover-up, intrigue, CIA conspiracies and all the rest may never be proved. And maybe there is nothing to prove.Under the Carpet is presented to you the reader simply because it is.
I just publish them, I don't endorse them.


On the Art Of War
By: Sun Tzu
Written in China over two thousand years ago, Sun Tzu's The Art of War provides the first known attempt to formulate a rational basis for the planning and conduct of military operations. These wise, aphoristic essays contain principles acted upon by such twentieth-century Chinese generals as Mao Tse Tung. Samuel Griffith offers a much-needed translation of this classic which makes it even more relevant to the modern world. Including an explanatory introduction and selected commentaries on the work, this edition makes Sun Tzu's timeless classic extremely accessible to students of Chinese history and culture, as well as to anyone interested in the highly volatile military and political issues in present-day China.
The writings of the ancient warrior Sun Tzu have provided tremendous wisdom to generations through the ages. Now these philosophies are available with anecdotal extracts by the author of Shogun and Noble House.


The Atomic Bombing of Japan
By: The Manhattan District
Here in all of its clinical detail is the official report from the Manhattan Project to the U.S. Government on the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. At times chilling and always provocative this books details it all.


Presidential Inaugural Addresses
By: The Presidents of the United States
Here in one volume are the inaugural address of the presidents of the United States. Presented in chronological order they are a living reminder of those men who have lead this nation in times of peace and war. In times of prosperity and want. In good times and bad. Their words reflect the spirit of the nation over the past two centuries and the beginnings of the third. This is a reissue on January 20, 2001, Inauguration Day, with the inclusion of the Inaugural Address of George Walker Bush.


Theodore Roosevelt an Autobiography
By: Theodore Roosevelt
Outstanding! This book is a tome of philosophy, adventure, intrigue, and above all, inspiration. Notwithstanding these encomia however, the reader should beware before making a hegira into its noble pages that this autobiography does not follow the traditional structure of a 'biography.' Rather it can be described as being a compendium of T.R.'s philosophy on life. The true strength of its pages being found in how T.R.'s experiences and actions staunchly uphold and support his 'vigor of life' and probity which he so often addressed as being fundamental to all good Americans. Accordingly, I suggest a first-time reader of T.R. would be best served by initially reading a more 'objective' biography of T.R. (I suggest Nathan Miller's Theodore Roosevelt, A Life) in order to become familiar with the events and time frames involved. This will allow the reader to more appreciate the nature, values and beliefs of the great man as told in this book by the ultimate authority, himself.
Along with being completely inspired by a man of such high moral values, the factual anecdotes related in this book comfort you in the knowledge that this hero practiced what he preached. In a speech by his own hand, T.R. embodied his own life; 'The credit belongs to the man in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood;...who strives valiantly...who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who have never known neither victory nor defeat.'
T.R. was a naturalist, legislator, cowboy, businessman, soldier, author, conservationist, U.S. President, world explorer, and above all an inspirational 'doer of deeds.' This book eloquently tells the reader why he felt he needed to perform these deeds and what was going through his mind all the while.
Courtesy: : Richard J. Larrabee


United States Constitution
By: Thomas Jefferson et. al.
The Constitution of the United States is the document upon which the freedom of all Americans is founded. This simple document has withstood the test of time and is the model for many other nations. This is a reference which all people should have.


Worldwide Effects of Nuclear War
By: U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency
Now, in January 2001, with the showing of the movie Thirteen Days the world is once again reminded of the threat of nuclear war. But what are the effects of such a war? Here is a detailed look at the effects of nuclear war to the entire world. It is a sobering reminder of what nuclear war is really capable of.


Personal Memoir of U.S. Grant Vol. I
By: Ulysses S. Grant
Volume I of the two volume autobiography of Ulysses S. Grant, General and President of the United States.


Personal Memoir of U.S. Grant Vol. II
By: Ulysses S. Grant
Volume II of the two volume autobiography of Ulysses S. Grant, General and President of the United States.


The Grey Men
By: unknown
'You must know that there are certain families (literally) that control the hard currency. The countries wherein these families abide are known as hard currency countries. These thirteen families have control of the policy making and the decision making of the central banks of those countries.'
This is a quote from this short book. If there is a conspiracy here it is a powerful one.
I just publish them, I don't endorse them.


The History of Cleopatra
By: Unknown
The story of Cleopatra is a story of crime. It is a narrative of the course and the consequences of unlawful love. In her strange and romantic history we see this passion portrayed with the most complete and graphic fidelity in all its influences and effects; its uncontrollable impulses, its intoxicating joys, its reckless and mad career, and the dreadful remorse and ultimate despair and ruin in which it always and inevitably ends.


Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Issue
By: Various
This anthology was created for the 1995 Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration. In this book you will find writings from many sources, from today and yesterday. Excellent reading and an excellent reminder of just who Martin Luther King Jr. was and what he means to all people everywhere.


Roswell and Other UFO Mysteries
By: Various
Was it a UFO, or a balloon? We may never know, but the whole world changed with Roswell. Here are a number of articles from well known and not so well known individuals on the subject of UFOs. You can take it or leave it, but you certainly can't ignore it.
Most portions of this book are copyright by the authors and not by myself.
I just publish the se books, I do not endorse them.


The Riddle Of The Rhine Chemical Strategy In Peace And War
By: Victor Lefebure
An account of the critical struggle for power and for the decisive war initiative. The campaign fostered by the great Rhine factories, and the pressing problems which they represent. A matter of pre-eminent public interest concerning the sincerity of disarmament, the future of warfare, and the stability of peace
This book was written shortly after the First World War when the horrors oc chemical warfare became to be known.


The Adventures of Captain Bonneville
By: Washington Irving
'While engaged in writing an account of the grand enterprise of Astoria, it was my practice to seek all kinds of oral information connected with the subject. Nowhere did I pick up more interesting particulars than at the table of Mr. John Jacob Astor; who, being the patriarch of the fur trade in the United States, was accustomed to have at his board various persons of adventurous turn, some of whom had been engaged in his own great undertaking; others, on their own account, had made expeditions to the Rocky Mountains and the waters of the Columbia.
     Among these personages, one who peculiarly took my fancy was Captain Bonneville, of the United States army; who, in a rambling kind of enterprise, had strangely ingrafted the trapper and hunter upon the soldier. As his expeditions and adventures will form the leading theme of the following pages, a few biographical particulars concerning him may not be unacceptable.'
     So writes Washington Irving as he begins this great tale of the adventures of Captain Bonneville while in the west.


Port Jackson
By: Watkin Tench
Port Jackson tells of the settling of this area of Australia when it was a penal colony. This is an interesting history and is enlightening in a number of ways. Learn about how the penal system worked and of the history of Australia.


The City That Was
By: Will Irwin
At the turn of the twentieth century San Francisco was a vibrant city. Then in 1906 a devistating earthquake and fire destroyed much of the city. This short book tells of the city that was, San Francisco, before the earthquake.


Captains of the Civil War
By: William Wood
Sixty years ago today the guns that thundered round Fort Sumter began the third and greatest modern civil war fought by English-speaking people. This war was quite as full of politics as were the other two--the War of the American Revolution and that of Puritan and Cavalier. But, though the present Chronicle never ignores the vital correlation's between statesmen and commanders, it is a book of warriors, through and through. -- William Wood


To The Last Man
By: Zane Grey
This story is outstanding. Lots of suspense and gunplay, with a hopeless romance injected to keep your mind engaged. This story is especially good as it is loosely based on a true blood feud which happened in Pleasant Valley, a town in the Tonto Basin area of Arizona. Therefore, you can visit the site, see where Zane set his novel, and know that while Grey's may have been a fictional account, a feud did happen, right where you are standing. The town is now called Young, by the way, to get rid of the stigma associated with the Pleasant Valley War. The account of the actual feud (available at the Tonto Basin Historical Center), and several key elements in Grey's novel are true. There was only one active participant who survived the feud, and the bit about the battle pausing so the ladies could bury their dead husbands to keep hogs from eating the corpses actually happened.
Many thanks to an unknown reviewer