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Oregon Trail, The
The book is a breezy, first-person account of a 2 month summer tour of the U.S. states of Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, and Kansas when Parkman was 23. -
China and the Chinese
Herbert Allen Giles (1845-1935) spent several years as a diplomat in China and in 1897 was appointed Cambridge University’s second professor of Chinese. His published works cover Chinese language and literature, history and philosophy.
This series of lectures, published as “China and the Chinese”, was given at Columbia University in 1902, to mark the establishment of a Chinese professorship there. The lectures were not intended for the specialist, more to urge a wider and more systematic study of China and its culture, and to encourage new students into the field.
While many of the observations are just as relevant today, others will remind us how much China has changed since the period of the Manchu Qing dynasty in which he wrote. -
David Crockett: His Life and Adventures
David "Davy" Crockett (August 17, 1786 – March 6, 1836) was a celebrated 19th century American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier and politician. He is commonly referred to in popular culture by the epithet “King of the Wild Frontier.” He represented Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives, served in the Texas Revolution, and died at the Battle of the Alamo. This narrative attempts faithfully to record the influences under which David Crockett was reared and the incidents of his wild and wondrous life. It begins with his ancestors' immigration to the American wilderness, his adventures among the Indians, his political career in Tennessee and beyond, and ending with his heroic stand at the Alamo. -
Story of a Common Soldier of Army Life in the Civil War, 1861-1865, The
Leander Stillwell was an 18-year-old Illinois farm boy, living with his family in a log cabin, when the U.S. Civil War broke out. Stillwell felt a duty "to help save the Nation;" but, as with many other young men, his Patriotism was tinged with bravura: "the idea of staying at home and turning over senseless clods on the farm with the cannon thundering so close at hand . . . was simply intolerable." Stillwell volunteered for the 61st Illinois Infantry in January 1861. His youthful enthusiasm for the soldier's life was soon tempered at Shiloh, where he first "saw a gun fired in anger," and "saw a man die a violent death."
Stillwell's recounting of events is always vivid, personal, and engrossing. "I distinctly remember my first shot at Shiloh . . . The fronts of both lines were . . . shrouded in smoke. I had my gun at a ready, and was trying to peer under the smoke in order to get a sight of our enemies. Suddenly I heard someone in a highly excited tone calling to me from just in my rear, --'Stillwell! Shoot! Shoot! Why don't you shoot?' I looked around and saw that this command was being given by . . . our second lieutenant, who was wild with excitement, jumping up and down like a hen on a hot griddle. 'Why, lieutenant,' I said, 'I can't see anything to shoot at.' 'Shoot, shoot, anyhow!' 'All right,' I responded. . . And bringing my gun to my shoulder, I aimed low in the direction of the enemy, and blazed away through the smoke. But at the time the idea to me was ridiculous that one should blindly shoot into a cloud of smoke without having a bead on the object to be shot at."
The Story of a Common Soldier is a compelling coming of age tale that will appeal not only to Civil War buffs but to anyone who enjoys autobiographies. Written at the urging of his youngest son, when Stillwell was a mature man--a lawyer, judge, and member of the Kansas legislature, it combines graphic detail (provided by his war diary and letters written at the time to his family) with the insights of a thoughtful man looking back on those horrific times. -
Historic Papers on the Causes of the Civil War
While claiming to be historical papers on the causes of the United States Civil War, the author indulges in some Slavery Apologetics. An interesting view from a southern lady on what caused the war and why the south was the underdog. -
Lord Kitchener
“The paradox of all this part of his life lies in this--that, destined as he was to be the greatest enemy of Mahomedanism, he was quite exceptionally a friend of Mahomedans.” -
Precipice, The
Elia Peattie was an outspoken journalist and social activist who gave her attention to such areas as orphanages, charity hospitals, the Wounded Knee massacre, capital punishment, and the like. The Precipice is partially based on the life of her close friend Katherine Ostrander, a social work pioneer, and tells of the evolution of Kate Barrington after her college years and with it the evolution of society as a whole and women in particular in pre-World War I America. Friendship, romance, betrayal, searchings of the soul, dreams, and shattered hopes -- all the stuff of life -- bring Kate to full realization of her true self. -
Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, Volume 2
"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.""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."So wrote author Charles MacKay in this landmark work, which is still in print in the twenty-first century, and is considered most important for its analysis of economic "bubbles," such as the dot com bubble of 1997-2001. To a lesser degree, it was one of the first serious attempts to examine crowd psychology and is still a touchstone in that field. The history of the twentieth century suggests that as the planet has become more populated, the workings of crowd psychology have increasingly influenced everyday life, sustaining the longevity of MacKay's observations.In this volume are eight topics, four of which MacKay would classify as "Peculiar Follies:" the Crusades, the Witch Mania, the outbreak of assassination by slow poisoning, and a belief in haunted houses. The other four: Popular Admiration for Great Thieves, Popular Follies in Great Cities, Duels & Ordeals, and Relics, he classified as national delusions. -
Southern Horrors: Lynch Law In All Its Phases
Thoroughly appalled and sickened by the rising numbers of white-on-black murders in the South since the beginning of Reconstruction, and by the unwillingness of local, state and federal governments to prosecute those who were responsible, Ida Bell Wells-Barnett wrote Southern Horrors, a pamphlet in which she exposed the horrible reality of lynchings to the rest of the nation and to the world. Wells explained, through case study, how the federal government's failure to intervene allowed Southern states the latitude to slowly but effectively disenfranchise blacks from participating as free men and women in a post-Civil War America with the rights and opportunities guaranteed to all Americans by the Constitution. -
Red Record: Tabulated Statistics and Alleged Causes of Lynching in the United States
The purpose of the pages which follow shall be to give the record which has been made, not by colored men, but that which is the result of compilations made by white men, of reports sent over the civilized world by white men in the South. Out of their own mouths shall the murderers be condemned. For a number of years the Chicago Tribune, admittedly one of the leading journals of America, has made a specialty of the compilation of statistics touching upon lynching. The data compiled by that journal and published to the world January 1, 1894, up to the present time has not been disputed. In order to be safe from the charge of exaggeration, the incidents hereinafter reported have been confined to those vouched for by the Tribune. (From Chapter 1) -
Underground Railroad, Part 3
"Never before has the working of the Underground Railroad been so thoroughly explained. Here we have in complete detail the various methods adopted for circumventing the enemies of freedom, and told, as it is, with great simplicity and natural feeling, the narrative is one which cannot but make a deep impression. Thrilling incidents, heroic adventures and noble deeds of self-sacrifice light up every page, and will enlist the heartiest sympathies of all generous souls. It was eminently just that such a record of one of the most remarkable phases of the struggle against slavery should be prepared, that the memory of the noble originators and supporters of the railroad might be kept green, and posterity enabled to form a true conception of the necessity that called it into existence, and of the difficulties under which its work was performed. The labor of compiling could not have fallen into more appropriate or better qualified hands." The Philadelphia Inquirer
William Still is often called the Father of the Underground Railroad. Over 14 years, he helped hundreds of slaves escape to freedom in Canada. Still was committed to preserving the stories of the bondmen and he kept careful records of the many escaped slaves who passed through the Philadelphia “station”. The Underground Railroad was published in 1871 from Still’s records and diaries. In bringing you these stories, Volunteers are reading from the 1878 edition. -
Underground Railroad, Part 4
"The work is intensely interesting. Many of the narratives thrill the reader through and through. Some of them awaken an indignation, a horror, or a sense of humiliation and shame that makes the blood curdle or the cheek flush, or the breathing difficult. The best and the worst sides of human nature are successfully exhibited. Here heroism and patience stand out transfigured; there selfishness and brutality hold carnival till it seems as though justice had been exiled and God had forgotten his own. The number of cases reported is very large, and the method in which the author has done his work is commendable. There is no rhetorical ambition. The narratives are embodied in plain language. The facts are left to make their own impression, without an attempt to embellish them by the aid of imagination." From the "Morning Star," Dover, New Hampshire.
William Still is often called the Father of the Underground Railroad. Over 14 years, he helped hundreds of slaves escape to freedom in Canada. Still was committed to preserving the stories of the bondmen and he kept careful records of the many escaped slaves who passed through the Philadelphia “station”. The Underground Railroad was published in 1871 from Still’s records and diaries. In bringing you these stories, Volunteers are reading from the 1878 edition. -
Underground Railroad, Part 1
”It was my good fortune to lend a helping hand to the weary travelers flying from the land of bondage.” William Still.
"Dear Sir:—For most of the years I have lived, the escape of fugitives from slavery, and their efforts to baffle the human and other bloodhounds who tracked them, formed the romance of American History. That romance is now ended, and our grandchildren will hardly believe its leading incidents except on irresistible testimony. I rejoice that you are collecting and presenting that testimony, and heartily wish you a great success." Horace Greeley.
William Still is often called the Father of the Underground Railroad. Over 14 years, he helped hundreds of slaves escape to freedom in Canada. Still was committed to preserving the stories of the bondmen and he kept careful records of the many escaped slaves who passed through the Philadelphia “station”. The Underground Railroad was published in 1871 from Still’s records and diaries. In bringing you these stories, Volunteers are reading from the 1878 edition. -
Underground Railroad, Part 2
"This is one of the most remarkable volumes of the century. Its publication has only been made possible by a combination of circumstances which seldom attend the birth of a book. Before emancipation, and while the bane of slavery was on the country, the thrilling facts of this volume could not have been made public. Peace and the blessing of freedom permit their publication, free circulation and unmolested reading.
Of all the thousands who favored freedom for the slaves, who gloried in the odium attached to anti-slaveryism, who witnessed the frequent efforts of the bondsmen to escape, who aided them in their quest for liberty, few dared to take notes of what they witnessed, and fewer still dared to preserve them, lest they should be turned into witnesses against them.
But one man, and that the author of this book, is known to have succeeded in preserving anything like a full account of the workings of the UNDERGROUND RAILROAD, as it was called before emancipation. These records grew on his hands during the years he acted as Chairman of the Philadelphia Branch of that celebrated corporation, until they reached the extent of the present volume. They are made up of letters received, of interviews held, of narratives taken down at the time, of real reminiscence and authentic biography. Nothing imaginative enters into the composition of the volume. It is simply succinct history, always startling, sometimes bloody. The annals of no time since the Inquisition are so full of daring ventures for life and liberty or heroic endurance under most trying circumstances." (from the Publisher)
William Still is often called the Father of the Underground Railroad. Over 14 years, he helped hundreds of slaves escape to freedom in Canada. Still was committed to preserving the stories of the bondmen and he kept careful records of the many escaped slaves who passed through the Philadelphia “station”. The Underground Railroad was published in 1871 from Still’s records and diaries. In bringing you these stories, Volunteers are reading from the 1878 edition. -
Theodore Roosevelt: an Autobiography
In his vital, illustrative and dynamic autobiography, Theodore Roosevelt let us into the life that formed one of the greatest and outspoken presidents in American history. Not only are we privy to the formation of his political ideals, but also to his love of the frontier and the great outdoors. -
Illustrated Key to the Tarot
L.W. de Laurence, an occult and spiritual author and publisher, not only provides a history of the Tarot for fortune-telling purposes, but writes "a harmony of the meanings which have been attached to the various cards." De Laurence also offers a simple method for divinatory work with the cards, as opposed to the "cumbrous and involved" handbooks of the day. -
Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, Volume 1b
The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government (1881) is written by Jefferson Davis, former President of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. Davis wrote the book as a straightforward history of the Confederate States of America and as an apologia for the causes that he believed led to and justified the American Civil War.
Davis spared little detail in describing every aspect of the Confederate constitution and government, in addition to which he retold in detail numerous military campaigns. Far more compelling in the views of Davis' contemporaries and to modern scholars were Davis' thoughtfully constructed arguments as to the constitutional and moral justification of the formation of the Confederacy and of the Civil War. Davis cited numerous constitutional passages, constitutional scholars, and American political leaders to prove his thesis that secession was justified.
This project contains the second half of Volume 1 (of 2). (Intro modified from Wikipedia)
Proof-listening done by Nadya Gaganova and Lucretia B. -
Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, Volume 1a
The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government (1881) is written by Jefferson Davis, former President of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. Davis wrote the book as a straightforward history of the Confederate States of America and as an apologia for the causes that he believed led to and justified the American Civil War.
Davis spared little detail in describing every aspect of the Confederate constitution and government, in addition to which he retold in detail numerous military campaigns. Far more compelling in the views of Davis' contemporaries and to modern scholars were Davis' thoughtfully constructed arguments as to the constitutional and moral justification of the formation of the Confederacy and of the Civil War. Davis cited numerous constitutional passages, constitutional scholars, and American political leaders to prove his thesis that secession was justified.
This project contains the first half of Volume 1 (of 2). (Intro modified from Wikipedia) -
Mark Twain: A Biography - Volume 1
Until recently, this work has been considered the "go-to" bio of Mark Twain. Albert Bigelow Paine (July 10, 1861 – April 9, 1937) was an American author and biographer best known for his work with Mark Twain. This recording of Paine's exhaustive biography covers Twain's personal and literary life in detail, heretofore unapproached. -
History of Mary Prince
Mary Prince was born into slavery in the West Indies. As a free woman in England she wrote her memoirs, which sold well and supported and publicised the anti-slavery movement.
NB This book contains racial vocabulary and refers to physical and sexual abuse that some listeners may find offensive or distressing. (Newgatenovelist) -
Suppression of the African Slave Trade to the United States of America, Volume 1
The question of the suppression of the slave-trade is so intimately connected with the questions as to its rise, the system of American slavery, and the whole colonial policy of the eighteenth century, that it is difficult to isolate it, and at the same time to avoid superficiality on the one hand, and unscientific narrowness of view on the other. While I could not hope entirely to overcome such a difficulty, I nevertheless trust that I have succeeded in rendering this monograph a small contribution to the scientific study of slavery and the American Negro. -
Queen Victoria
Lytton Strachey’s first great success, and his most famous achievement, was "Eminent Victorians" (1918), a collection of four short biographies of Victorian heroes. With a dry wit, he exposed the human failings of his subjects and what he saw as the hypocrisy at the centre of Victorian morality. This work was followed in the same style by "Queen Victoria" (1921). -
Naval War of 1812
Somewhat detailed history of naval engagements between the United States and England during the War of 1812, from a decidedly American perspective. Completed by the author as a young man at age 24. After 120 years, it remains a standard study of the war. -
Book of Buried Treasure
Described by the author as: BEING A TRUE HISTORY OF THE GOLD, JEWELS, AND PLATE OF PIRATES, GALLEONS, ETC., WHICH ARE SOUGHT FOR TO THIS DAY. Ralph Delahaye Paine (August 28, 1871 – April 29, 1925) was an American journalist and author popular in the early 20th century. Paine's book tells of pirates, heroes, scoundrels, and treasure seekers creating, stealing, seeking, and sometimes finding great wealth. It also tells of treasures yet undiscovered (as of 1911, but perhaps to this day). It remains the stuff of dreams for countless kids growing up, and those of us who never grew up. -
Kentucky's Famous Feuds and Tragedies
As this book will show, there have been a variety of clashes and feuds which have taken place in and near Kentucky over the years, primarily in the 19th century. The most renowned of these was that between the Hatfield and McCoy clans, which is delved into with great detail herein. This is not to downplay some of the other family feuds which occurred however, most of which have not attained the notoriety of the aforementioned. Take a ride through some of Kentucky's Famous Feuds and Tragedies, and begin with the Hatfields and the McCoys. -
Abraham Lincoln: A History (Volume 1)
This is the biography of Abraham Lincoln, written by two of his private secretaries. -
Revolution and Counter-Revolution, or: Germany in 1848
Revolution and Counter-Revolution is an account of what happened in Prussia, Austria and other German states during 1848, describing the impact on both middle-class and working-class aspirations and on the idea of German unification. Events in Austria and Prussia are discussed, along with the role of the Poles and Czechs and Panslavism, which Engels was against. -
True Detective Stories from the Archives of the Pinkertons
In his true crime collection, True Detective Stories: From the Archives of the Pinkertons, Cleveland Moffett details some of the more fascinating stories pulled from the archives of the Pinkertons Detective Agency. The Pinkertons were one of the most famed detective agencies in America during the late 19th century. Jump into another era and follow along as the detectives investigate train robberies, bank robberies and more! -
Famous Adventures And Prison Escapes Of The Civil War
Seven narratives published in the late nineteenth century and assembled in this 1913 collection. -
Expedition of the Donner Party and its Tragic Fate, The
The Donner Party was a group of California-bound American settlers caught up in the "westering fever" of the 1840s. After becoming snowbound in the Sierra Nevada in the winter of 1846–1847, some of the emigrants resorted to cannibalism. Although this aspect of the tragedy has become synonymous with the Donner Party in the popular imagination, it actually was a minor part of the episode.
The author was about 4 at the time. The first part of the book accounts the tragic journey and rescue attempts; the last half are reminiscences of the child orphan, passed from family to family while growing up. -
Story of the Thirteen Colonies
These short vignettes of American history are written for the young reader. Each one is a little capsule of a person or event. They run from the pre-Columbian era through the end of the American War of Independence. Some of the expressions and language reflect attitudes of the 18th century that seem out of place from the vantage of the 21st century, but these nuggets of history give a glimpse into that era. -
Poems of American History, Volume 4, The Civil War
This volume is a fascinating reflection on the Civil War years from a perspective in 1908, when many Civil War veterans were still alive, when the wounds to North and South were still fresh, and when no event more cataclysmic had struck the Republic than a Civil War that began less than 100 years after the Revolution for Independence. Poets in this volume include: John Greenleaf Whittier, William Cullen Bryant, Herman Melville, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Bret Harte, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Walt Whitman, and Julia Ward Howe. -
Poems of American History, Volume 5, The Period of Expansion
The final section of Poems of American History covers The Reconstruction after the Civil War, the First Centennial, the continued expansion westward, the assasination of Garfield, The Spanish American War, and World War I. Poets in this volume include: John Greenleaf Whittier, Bret Harte, Oliver Wendell Holmes, William Cullen Bryant, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Wallace Rice, Vachel Lindsay, Joyce Kilmer, and many more. -
Lives of the Presidents Told in Words of One Syllable
Lives of the Presidents Told in Words of One Syllable is a halting account in presidential history - quite literally! From Washington to Jackson to Cleveland to McKinley, Jean S. Remy details the lives of the presidents in as few syllables as possible. -
Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, Volume 2
The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government (1881) is written by Jefferson Davis, former President of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. Davis wrote the book as a straightforward history of the Confederate States of America and as an apologia for the causes that he believed led to and justified the American Civil War. (Intro modified from Wikipedia)
"The most painful pages of this work are those which . . . present the subjugation of the State governments by the Government of the United States. The patriot, the lover of his country and of the liberties of mankind, can not contemplate these facts without a feeling of grief which will not be comforted. That the work of the fathers of the republic, that the most magnificent system of constitutional government which the wisdom of man has devised, should be turned from its object, changed from its order, rendered powerless to protect the unalienable rights and sovereignty of the people, and made the instrument by which to establish and maintain imperialism, is a revolution unlike any other that may be found in the history of mankind. The result established the truthfulness of the assertion . . . that the Northern people, by their unconstitutional warfare to gain the freedom of certain negro slaves, would lose their own liberties." (from chapter 42)
This project contains Volume 2 (of 2).
Proof-Listened by TriciaG & denisedee -
Eventful History of the Mutiny and Piratical Seizure of H.M.S. Bounty: Its Cause and Consequences, The
The mutiny on the Bounty occurred aboard a British Royal Navy ship on 28 April 1789. The mutiny was led by Fletcher Christian against the commanding officer, William Bligh.
On 4 April 1789, after five months in Tahiti, the Bounty set sail with its breadfruit cargo. On 28 April 1789, some 1,300 miles west of Tahiti, near Tonga, mutiny broke out. From all accounts, Fletcher Christian and several of his followers entered Bligh's cabin, which he always left unlocked, awakened him, and pushed him on deck wearing only his nightshirt, where he was guarded by Christian holding a bayonet. When Bligh entreated with Christian to be reasonable, Christian would only reply, "I am in hell, I am in hell!"
The mutineers ordered Bligh, the ship's master, two midshipmen, the surgeon's mate, and the ship's clerk into Bounty's launch. Several more men voluntarily joined Bligh rather than remaining aboard, as they knew that those who remained on board would be considered de facto mutineers under the Articles of War. -
Women of the American Revolution Volume 1
Excerpt from Preface: Their patriotic sacrifices were made with an enthusiasm that showed the earnest spirit ready on every occasion to appear in generous acts. Some gave their own property, and went from house to house to solicit contributions for the army. Colors were embroidered by fair hands, and presented with the charge never to desert them; and arms and ammunition were provided by the same liberal zeal. They formed themselves into associations renouncing the use of teas, and other imported luxuries, and engaging to card, spin, and weave their own clothing. -
Future of the American Negro
The history of African American enslavement, freedom from slavery, and the need for education as a prerequisite for success. -
South African Memories
Lady Sarah Isabella Augusta Wilson was the aunt of Winston Spencer Churchill. In 1899 she became the first woman war correspondent when she was recruited to cover the Siege of Mafeking for the Daily Mail during the Boer War. She moved to Mafeking with her husband at the start of the war, where he was aide-de-camp to Colonel Robert Baden-Powell. Baden-Powell asked her to leave Mafeking for her own safety after the Boers threatened to storm the British garrison. This she duly did, and set off on a madcap adventure in the company of her maid, travelling through the South African countryside until she was finally captured by the enemy and returned to the town in exchange for a horse thief being held there. Dwindling food supplies became a constant theme in the stories she sent back to the Mail and the situation seemed hopeless when the garrison was hit by an outbreak of malarial typhoid. In this weakened state the Boers managed to penetrate the outskirts of the town but the British stood firm and repelled the assault. -
Sixty Years in Southern California 1853-1913
Harris Newmark was personally acquainted with every person and family involved in the founding of the city of Los Angeles, California. He gathers into this well-written book his reminiscences of the period from 1853 to 1913, as Los Angeles developed from a tiny village surrounded by great ranchos into a modern city. This book is a fascinating treasure trove of information for anyone who lives in Los Angeles. ***NOTE: It should be noted that there is language within this book that was commonplace during the time this book was written that is often considered offensive today.*** -
Drugging a Nation
Drugging a Nation is a journalistic reveal of the extent to which the British Empire was culpable in the dissemination and subsequent near total addiction to opium of the Chinese people in the nineteenth century. So weak did it make China, that is was invaded multiple times, often by the British Empire itself looking to make its treaty ports stronger, but by other world powers too. In the end, this resulted in the complete collapse of the empire. The book describes in detail the extent to which opium had taken over the lives of the ordinary Chinese person and how it worked. -
Life, Crime, and Capture of John Wilkes Booth
A series of articles by the New York World newspaper's special correspondent covering the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, its background and subsequent events. It should be noted that some statements in this contemporaneous account have since been shown to be inaccurate -
Life and Adventures of Frank and Jesse James
Biographies of Frank and Jesse James, detailed accounts of all their significant escapades, and the final outcomes. -
Lord Clive
Robert Clive was, in Macaulay’s view, the real founder of British power in India. Macaulay himself served on the Governor’s Council in India from 1834 to 1838, working on legal and educational changes in that country. In his view, the establishment of British control and influence in India was part of a great civilizing mission, helping to rid India of its backwardness, superstitions, and corruption by replacing them with an advanced English culture, scientific and literary. That view comes through very clearly both in this essay and that of his on Warren Hastings as well. Needless to say many Indians have and have had a rather different outlook. ( Nicholas Clifford) -
Daring Deeds of Famous Pirates
Edward Chatterton, a prolific British author of maritime adventures, presents fascinating stories of pirates and their exploits from earliest times through the 19th century. Chapters include the history of piracy in Tudor and Elizabethan times and stories of legendary pirates such as Black Beard, Henry Morgan, and Captain Kidd. -
Ox-Team Days on the Oregon Trail
This is a memoir by an early 19th Century American settler in the Pacific Northwest. (Description by BellonaTimes)
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Reminiscences of Captain Gronow
A collection of memoirs about the Peninsular War, the Battle of Waterloo, and society and personalities of Regency London and 19th century Paris, by a sometime Grenadier Guards officer, unsuccessful parliamentarian, and dandy. Gronow displays some social attitudes of the day which would now be regarded as unacceptable, but is a clever raconteur who brings to life both the horrors of war and the gaiety of high society. -
Secret Service
Albert Richardson was a reporter for Horace Greeley’s New York Tribune when he volunteered to hazard an undercover journey through the American south, reporting incognito on the growing secession crisis in that region. With the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861, he attached himself to the Union armies as a war correspondent, sending dispatches from the fields of battle for the next two years. Then, in May 1863, while attempting to pass a Confederate battery outside Vicksburg, Richardson found himself thrown from a burning barge into the Mississippi River, swimming for his life with a squad of Union soldiers and several other reporters. Captured as a prisoner, he was at first confident that as a civilian newspaperman he would be quickly exchanged. Instead, he was to spend the next 18 months in various prisoner of war camps. Seizing at last an opportunity for escape, he set out to cross the snowy Appalachians in the dead of winter, heading for Union lines in Tennessee, assisted by a secret network of slaves, Unionists, and bushwhackers. Albert Richardson’s own personal memoir of his wartime adventures, published in 1865, offers readers a rousing historical narrative presented with a journalist’s eye for detail. -
Life in the Clearings Versus the Bush
As a middle class Englishwoman Moodie did not particularly enjoy "the bush", as she called it. She and her husband moved to Belleville in 1840, which she referred to as "the clearings". Here she described urban life, including religion, art, and education, especially as compared to relative lack of these things in "the bush". She studied the Family Compact and became sympathetic to the moderate reformers led by Robert Baldwin, while remaining critical of radical reformers such as William Lyon Mackenzie. This caused problems for her husband, who shared her views, but, as sheriff of Belleville, had to work with members and supporters of the Family Compact. -
Tales Of The Trail; Short Stories Of Western Life
This 1898 collection of thirteen previously published articles exhibits the acute perception of one of the most popular writers of the late 19th-early 20th centuries. “These "Tales of the Trail" are based upon actual facts which came under the personal observation of the author… and will form another interesting series of stories of that era of great adventures, when the country west of the Missouri was unknown except to the trappers, hunters, and army officers.” Henry Inman (1837 – 1899) was an American soldier, frontiersman, and author. He served in the military during the Indian campaigns and the American Civil War, having earned distinction for gallantry on the battlefield. He was commissioned lieutenant general during the Indian wars. He settled in Kansas and worked as a journalist and author of short stories and books of the plains and western frontier. -
Bilingual Versions - Alice's in Wonderland (English – Spanish)
This book tells of a girl named Alice falling through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures.