Experts said such a ship couldn't be built and that the voyage was tantamount to suicide. This brilliant first-person account, originally published in 1897, marks the beginning of the modern age of exploration. Nansen vividly describes the dangerous voyage and his 15-month-long dash to the North Pole by sledge. An unforgettable tale and a must-read for any armchair explorer.

    Grant as Grant commenced the campaign that would break the Confederate siege at Chattanooga. After a brief stint in Washington, Porter rejoined Grant, who was now in command of all Union forces, and served with him as a staff aide until the end of the war. Porter was at Appomattox as a brevet brigadier general, and this work, written from notes taken in the field, is his eyewitness account of the great struggle between Lee and Grant that led to the defeat of the Confederacy.As a close-up observer of Grant in the field, Porter was also able to draw a finely detailed, fully realized portrait of this American military hero—his daily acts, his personal traits and habits, and the motives that inspired him in important crises—rendered in the language that Grant used at the time. Porter intended to bring readers into such intimate contact with the Union commander that they could know him as well as those who served by his side. He acquits himself admirably in this undertaking, giving us a moving human document and a remarkable perspective on a crucial chapter of American history.

    After a few interim owners, he was sold to a wealthy slaveowner who had a home near Memphis and plantation nearby in Mississippi. Hughes lived there as a house servant until near the end of the Civil War, when he escaped to the Union lines and then, in a daring adventure with the paid help of two Union soldiers, returned to the plantation for his wife. The couple made their way to Canada and after the war to Chicago and Detroit, eventually settling in Milwaukee. There Hughes became relatively comfortable as a hotel attendant and as an entrepreneur laundry operator. Self-educated and eloquent, Hughes wrote and privately published this memoir in 1897. It is a compelling account, by turns searing and compassionate about slavery, slaves, and slaveowners. No reader can be unmoved as Hughes tells about his five attempts to escape, about having to stand by helplessly while watching his wife whipped, of the joy of finally meeting again the brother whom he had not seen since they were little children in Virginia. Yet he also writes knowingly about the economics of slavery and the day-to-day business of the plantation, and the glass-house relationships between slaves and masters. Hughes died in Milwaukee in 1913.This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

    Ibn Shaddad (1144-1234) was clearly a great admirer of Saladin and was a close associate of his, serving as his qadi al-'askar (judge of the army), from 1188 until Saladin's death in 1193. His position and his access to information make this an authoritative and essential source for Saladin's career, while his personal relationship with the sultan adds a sympathetic and moving element to the account of his final years.

    Georges de Layens, inventor of the world's most popular horizontal hive, shares a lifetime of experience on how to: get started in simplified beekeeping; choose the best hive model for you and your bees; manage your hives with just two visits per year; take advantage of horizontal hives and deep frames; avoid unnecessary complications and procedures; increase an apiary with natural or artificial swarms; transfer bees from one hive model to another; enhance bees' health drug-free; do without requeening, feeding, and other chores; understand honey plants and honeyflows; make award-winning mead (foolproof formula); use foundationless frames, make wax foundation; handle traditional hives (skeps, log hives, etc.); keep bees sustainably using local strains; and MUCH more. Layens' simple beekeeping boasts over 100 years of successful use, with 1 million hives in use today. Bee-friendly, productive, and fun, keeping bees can be easier than you ever imagined! "This is a delightful book full of wonderfully audacious ideas for U.S. beekeepers. I certainly look forward to building and trying out a horizontal movable-frame hive, inspired and guided by reading this fascinating book." - Dr. Tom Seeley, author of Honeybee Democracy

    This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

    Begun immediately after his death in 1892 and published five years later, this two-volume work was produced in order to 'preclude the chance of further and unauthentic biographies', and is formed largely of a wealth of documentary evidence: the letters, journals, and personal reminiscences of the poet and those close to him. Adhering to Tennyson's wishes, on his death his son and wife destroyed over three-quarters of the 40,000 letters he left behind, but those selected and reprinted here nonetheless give a fascinating insight into the personal life of the poet; guarded and respectful in its commemorative tone, but avoiding overzealous eulogy or critical review. Volume 1 covers the period up to 1864; Volume 2 continues to the poet's death, and includes short memoirs by many eminent Victorians.

    

    

    The main question explored here is "How did we arrive at our knowledge of God?" Rather than trying to prove or disprove any claims about the divine, Allen's method simply traces the psychological processes that led humans to religious belief, and further, from a belief in polytheism to monotheism. Students of religion, mythology, and human psychology will find this an intriguing work. Canadian writer GRANT ALLEN (1848-1899) attended university in the United Kingdom and taught at Queen's College in Jamaica. His many published books include mainly scientific books and popular novels, and in 1895 he published one of the first Canadian science fiction books, The British Barbarians.

    We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

    Nearly all of Africa had been devoured by the European powers. The notable exception in East Africa was Ethiopia: a proud, fiercely independent land surrounded by the Italian colonies of Eritrea to the north, and Italian Somaliland to the east. Italy invaded Ethiopia from Eritrea in 1895 and initially penetrated deep into northern Ethiopia. Soon, however, the vastly outnumbered Italian and colonial troops suffered several setbacks, leading up to the definitive battle of the war, Adwa. These are the memoirs of an Italian major, captured at Adwa, brought to Shewa province, and held until the end of the war. Major Gamerra describes in detail the events leading up to and following his capture, the sufferings of the prisoners, especially the wounded, and the personalities and customs of the various people he encountered. It is a window into the colonialism and militarism of the time, as well as a portrait of East Africa at the turn of the 20th century.