"Many dark and sleepless nights have I been a companion for owls, separated from the cheerful society of men, scorched by the summer's sun and pinched by the winter's cold — an instrument ordained to settle the wilderness." Motivated by a powerful sense of purpose, Daniel Boone blazed the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap. Thousands followed, settling in Boonesborough, Kentucky, to form one of the first English- ...
"Of all the tyrannies that affect mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst," declared Thomas Paine, adding, «every other species of tyranny is limited to the world we live in; but this attempts to stride beyond the grave, and seeks to pursue us into eternity.» Paine's years of study and reflection on the role of religion in society culminated with his final work, <I>The Age of Reason.</I> This coolly reasoned pole ...
The first military conflict to use iron-clad gunboats, metallic cartridges, and submarines, the Civil War also introduced such inventions as the telegraph and military balloon, utilized by the Signal Corps. This comprehensive reference brings a fresh perspective to wartime victories and defeats, with vivid descriptions of how the war was fought and what material was available to armies and navies of the Union and the Confederacy. Profus ...
Generations of children have thrilled to Howard Pyle's skillful retelling of the legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. This book is one of the best of the series — a rich chronicle that includes the stirring adventures of Sir Galahad and the pursuit of the Holy Grail as well as the last chapter in the life of King Arthur.The book begins with the exciting story of Sir Geraint — how he fought with the ...
Soils and national characteristics differ, but fairy tales are the same in plot and incidents the world over. So proved the leading British folklorist Joseph Jacobs (1854–1916) with this now classic volume of 29 traditional tales from India, including some of the oldest recorded tales known."The Lion and the Crane," «How the Raja's Son Won the Princess Labam,» «The Broken Pot,» «The Tiger, the Brahman, and the Jackal,» «The Talkat ...
A rising tide of witchcraft hysteria overwhelmed the sober Puritan communities of 17th-century New England, culminating in the notorious Salem witch trials of 1692. Rooted in religious zealotry as well as political friction and property disputes, the witch-hunts ranged beyond the gallows to ruin countless innocent lives. Voices from both sides of the controversy can be heard within this compilation of revealing documents from one of American his ...
Much of the history of the great American Northwest begins with the story of the 1800s Lewis and Clark expedition. This concise narrative, based on authentic records, follows the group through Indian territory, the valleys of the Upper Missouri, the Yellowstone, and the Columbia rivers, the Great Divide, and the Pacific slope. ...
A young lord undertakes the restoration of his family's fortunes and honor in this gripping retelling of a 15th-century Japanese epic. Gripping and evocative, it recounts the rebellions, plots, and battles that culminate in a vendetta's thrilling resolution. James S. de Benneville's Western-style narrative offers an exceptionally faithful retelling. 44 black-and-white illustrations. ...
Author Israel Zangwill best typifed the comic spirit of London's Jewish ghetto by immortalizing the <I>schnorrer </I>(beggar) — in particular, the character of Manasseh Bueno Barzillai Azevedo da Costa, a Sephardic panhandler who developed begging into a fine art. The robust and often hilarious tale tells how Manasseh combines insolence with resourcefulness to reduce London's best-known philanthropist to a fish ha ...