"Sevastopol Sketches (Sebastopol Sketches)" is a collection of three works of historical fiction in which Tolstoy draws upon his real life experiences during the Siege of Sevastopol. The titular location draws its name from that of a city in Crimea and takes place during the Crimean war. The three tales in this collection are respectively titled «Sevastopol in December», «Sevastopol in May», and «Sevastopol in August». In the December tale ...
Considered to be one of the most famous stories of man-eating lions in modern times, «The Man-Eaters of Tsavo» is the first-hand account of Lieutanant-Colonel John Henry Patterson's encounter with several man-eating lions during the building of the Uganda railway through British East Africa in 1898. Contained within this volume is the original 1907 book with over a hundred photographs and illustrations. ...
An epic endeavor by a man genuinely enamored of his native Rome, Livy's «The History of Rome» was originally written in 142 books spanning the entire history of the Roman people up to Livy's day in the time of Augustus in the first century BC. While this Roman historian's monumental undertaking took most of his life, only 35 books still survive today. Livy begins with Aeneas' landing on Italy and the myth of Romulus and Remus ...
"A Child's History of England", which first appeared serially in «Household Words» between January 25, 1851 and December 10, 1853, is a history of England written for school-aged children. The works originally consisted of three volumes that covered the history of England from between 50 BC to 1689, beginning with ancient history and ending with a summarization of the events of the accession of Queen Victoria. The three volumes of the ...
Charles Alexander Eastman (Born Ohiyesa 1858-1939) wrote «The Soul of the Indian» to examine the spiritual history of Native American's before European settlement in America. Born of Minnesota Sioux parents in South Dakota, Charles Eastman spent his life working with Natives and Europeans to bridge cultural divides. Born into and raised by a traditional Sioux family, Eastman developed a deep connection to the life of American Indians. Yet a ...
Alexander Exquemelin, whose probable French origins remain unclear, was most certainly on board the ship of the infamous pirate captain, Henry Morgan, during his raid on Panama City in 1671. His association with the buccaneers began around 1669, when he was sold from his indentured servitude with the French West India Company to a barber-surgeon, who taught him the trade. His subsequent years as a surgeon on board various pirate ships led to the ...
Originally serialized in “Knickerbocker's Magazine” between 1847 and 1849, “The Oregon Trail” is a fascinating chronicle of Francis Parkman's travels on the Oregon Trail during the summer of 1846 through the western states of Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Colorado. Living and hunting with a tribe of Native Americans for a period of time, Francis Parkman captures the spirit of the old west in this gripping 19th century narrative. Fans ...
Thomas Babington Macaulay was a child prodigy who, by the age of 8, had written a history of the world and a poem in three cantos modeled after the poetry of Sir Walter Scott. He studied law at Trinity College, Cambridge, but drew great attention for several literary essays he contributed to the Edinburgh Review. In 1849, he published the first two volumes of «The History of England, From the Accession of James II», which were immediately well-r ...
"Ten Days That Shook the World" is American journalist and socialist John Reed's first-hand account of the Russian October Revolution of 1917. While it is intended as an impartial and unbiased historical account, by Reed's own admission, «in the struggle [his] sympathies were not neutral». An important historical document of an event that would shape the political landscape for most of the 20th century, «Ten Days That Shook the Wo ...