The Narrative of William W. Brown, a Fugitive Slave


William Wells Brown - 1847
    I see no possible way in which you can escape with us; and now, brother, you are on a steamboat where there is some chance for you to escape to a land of liberty. I beseech you not to let us hinder you. If we cannot get our liberty, we do not wish to be the means of keeping you from a land of freedom.

The Butterscotch Bride


Parker J. Cole - 2020
    A story of love and sacrifice in the years before the War that devastated the country.A young enslaved girl, singled out and favored by her mistress, arrives to a new plantation when tragedy strikes the household.An enslaved man, recaptured twice after escaping his bondage, bides his time until he can escape again.Their paths will collide as they meet and destiny will be changed as they fight for both freedom and love.**This is the prequel to the upcoming release of A Groom for Altar, Book 7 of The Blizzard Brides series**

Winston Churchill: The Era and The Man


Virginia Cowles - 2007
     No man has aroused more heated opposition, or been more bitterly hated in his time, whilst also becoming a patriotic symbol of Britain’s wartime steadfastness. A descendant of the first Duke of Marlborough, Winston Churchill was not only an icon of British political history but a man of great contradictions: One of the great orators of the era, he actually lost more elections than any other politician … Having spent most of his life fighting its leaders, he went on to lead the Conservative party himself. And even having gone through periods of distrust with each party in turn, they still entrusted him with all their hopes in 1940. Yet behind this exterior lay another man that the public never knew existed. Churchill, ever knowledgeable of the moment, nevertheless liked to escape: he enjoyed painting, and delighted in animals and his children. Despite Churchill’s confidence that there was nothing left to plough in this field, Virginia Cowles cast an unwavering eye over the most colourful of lives. Through his many incarnations as a soldier, correspondent, author, politician and Prime Minister, Cowles illustrates just what impact the man and the era had on one another. Praise for Virginia Cowles ’The history of the Rothschilds is every bit as rich and remarkable as their wealth.’ — The Times ’Splendidly readable.’ — Sunday Times ‘One of the most delightful books I have read. Miss Cowles has given us a tour-de-force, well researched, comprehensive, frank … [it] abounds in amazing stories of extraordinary personalities.’ — Books & Bookmen ‘Recounted at great speed, and with splendid life, vigour and readability’ – Evening Standard Virginia Cowles (1910-1983) was an author and journalist. Born in Vermont, USA she became a well-known journalist in the 1930s with her columns appearing on both sides of the Atlantic. During the Second World War she covered the Italian campaign, the liberation of Paris, and the Allied invasion of Germany. In 1945 she married the politician and writer Aidan Crawley. She wrote many biographies including The Rothchilds.

W.E.B. Du Bois: The Fight for Equality and the American Century, 1919-1963


David Levering Lewis - 2000
    This monumental biography--eight years in the research and writing--treats the early and middle phases of a long and intense career: a crucial fifty-year period that demonstrates how Du Bois changed forever the way Americans think about themselves.

The Story of Wake Island


James P.S. Devereux - 1947
     Two more raid shortly followed, further reducing the defensive possibilities for the men who were left to defend this small area of American soil in the center of the Pacific Ocean. Major James P. S. Devereux was the Commanding Officer of the 1st Marine Defense Battalion who faced Japanese onslaught. The first Japanese landing attempt on the morning of 11th December was repelled by a ferocious defense put forward by Devereux and his men. Yet although the Japanese had withdrawn without landing, they continued to bombard the island by air and sea, and there was little hope of resupply for the Americans. For fifteen days the American troops suffered endless bombardments until the second major Japanese offensive was launched on 23rd December. Against overwhelming forces the Marines and other troops that were stationed on the island fought valiantly, but after forty-nine men had lost their lives in the fight, the remaining American men and civilians were captured by the Japanese. James P. S. Deveraux’s remarkable book The Story of Wake Island takes the reader to the heart of the action from the point of view of the commanding officer. It is a brilliant account of this tragic event that demonstrated the fighting spirit of the American soldier even in the face of unbeatable odds. “His special vantage point enriches his commentary not only on the ill-fated military operation but also on the state (and spirit) of the prewar preparations to defend the island.” John J. Sbrega, The War Against Japan, 1941-1945 James P. S. Devereaux was a United States Marine Corps general, Navy Cross recipient, and Republican congressman. After the ferocious fifteen-day battle of Wake Island Devereux was interned for nearly four years in Japanese prison camps. His book The Story of Wake Island was first published in 1947 and he passed away in 1988.

Lord Nelson


C.S. Forester - 1929
    The celebrated author of the Hornblower series presents the biography of Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson, the victor of the naval battle of Trafalgar.

The World Crisis, Volume I: 1911 - 1914


Winston S. Churchill - 1923
    With dramatic narrative power, Churchill reconstructs the action on the Western and Eastern Fronts, the wars at sea and in the air, and the advent of tanks and U-boats.Rich with personal insights, the first part of Churchill's magisterial book covers the years 1911-1914 and includes Ireland and the European balance, the mobilization of the Navy, the invasion of France, and Turkey and the Balkans.

The Story of Joan of Arc


Andrew Lang - 1908
    A peasant girl born in Eastern France, Joan led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, claiming divine guidance, and was indirectly responsible for the coronation of King Charles VII. She was captured by the English and tried by an ecclesiastical court led by Bishop Pierre Cauchon, an English partisan; the court convicted her of heresy and she was burned at the stake by the English when she was nineteen years old. Twenty-four years later, the Holy See reviewed the decision of the ecclesiastical court, found her innocent, and declared her a martyr. She was beatified in 1909 and later canonized in 1920.

The Last Wild Men of Borneo: A True Story of Death and Treasure


Carl Hoffman - 2018
    The other vanished forever into an endless jungle. Had he shed civilization—or lost his mind? Global headlines suspected murder. Lured by these mysteries, New York Times bestselling author Carl Hoffman journeyed to find the truth, discovering that nothing is as it seems in the world’s last Eden, where the lines between sinner and saint blur into one.In 1984, Swiss traveler Bruno Manser joined an expedition to the Mulu caves on Borneo, the planet’s third largest island. There he slipped into the forest interior to make contact with the Penan, an indigenous tribe of peace-loving nomads living among the Dayak people, the fabled “Headhunters of Borneo.” Bruno lived for years with the Penan, gaining acceptance as a member of the tribe. However, when commercial logging began devouring the Penan’s homeland, Bruno led the tribe against these outside forces, earning him status as an enemy of the state, but also worldwide fame as an environmental hero. He escaped captivity under gunfire twice, but the strain took a psychological toll. Then, in 2000, Bruno disappeared without a trace. Had he become a madman, a hermit, or a martyr?American Michael Palmieri is, in many ways, Bruno’s opposite. Evading the Vietnam War, the Californian wandered the world, finally settling in Bali in the 1970s. From there, he staged expeditions into the Bornean jungle to acquire astonishing art and artifacts from the Dayaks. He would become one of the world’s most successful tribal-art field collectors, supplying sacred works to prestigious museums and wealthy private collectors. And yet suspicion shadowed this self-styled buccaneer who made his living extracting the treasure of the Dayak: Was he preserving or exploiting native culture?As Carl Hoffman unravels the deepening riddle of Bruno’s disappearance and seeks answers to the questions surrounding both men, it becomes clear saint and sinner are not so easily defined and Michael and Bruno are, in a sense, two parts of one whole: each spent his life in pursuit of the sacred fire of indigenous people. The Last Wild Men of Borneo is the product of Hoffman’s extensive travels to the region, guided by Penan through jungle paths traveled by Bruno and by Palmieri himself up rivers to remote villages. Hoffman also draws on exclusive interviews with Manser’s family and colleagues, and rare access to his letters and journals. Here is a peerless adventure propelled by the entwined lives of two singular, enigmatic men whose stories reveal both the grandeur and the precarious fate of the wildest place on earth.

Eleanor, The Secret Queen: The Woman Who Put Richard III on the Throne


John Ashdown-Hill - 2009
    The author proves that Eleanor was married to Edward IV and therefore the marriage to Elizabeth Woodville was bigamous, and that the princes in the Tower were illegitimate.

The Vineyard of Liberty (The American Experiment)


James MacGregor Burns - 1982
    The first of a three-volume history of the United States of America, The Vineyard of Liberty covers the period from the framing of the Constitutions in 1787 to Lincoln's signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 & offers a brilliant interpretation of the American attempt to preserve liberty.

Edward I


Michael Prestwich - 1972
    A major player in European diplomacy and war, he acted as peacemaker during the 1280s but became involved in a bitter war with Philip IV a decade later. This book is the definitive account of a remarkable king and his long and significant reign. Widely praised when it was first published in 1988, it is now reissued with a new introduction and updated bibliographic guide.Praise for the earlier edition:"A masterly achievement. . . . A work of enduring value and one certain to remain the standard life for many years."—Times Literary Supplement"A fine book: learned, judicious, carefully thought out and skillfully presented. It is as near comprehensive as any single volume could be."—History Today"To have died more revered than any other English monarch was an outstanding achievement; and it is worthily commemorated by this outstanding addition to the . . . corpus of royal biographies."—Times Education Supplement

Survival in the Shadows: Seven Jews Hidden in Hitler's Berlin


Barbara Lovenheim - 2002
    Ellen Lewinsky and her mother, Charlotte, joined them; a year later, Bruno Gumpel arrived. Hiding in a small factory near Hitler’s bunker, without identification cards or food-ration stamps, they were dependent on German strangers for survival.   When Russian soldiers finally rescued the group in April 1945, the families were near death from starvation. But their will to live triumphed and two months later, four of the survivors—Erich Arndt and Ellen Lewinsky, and Ruth Arndt and Bruno Gumpel—reunited in a double wedding ceremony.  Survival in the Shadows chronicles the previously untold story of the largest group of German Jews to have survived hiding in Berlin through the final and most deadly years of the Holocaust.   Relayed to Barbara Lovenheim by three survivors from the group, the riveting story is a touching portrayal of the bravery of these seven Jews, and a heartfelt acknowledgment of the fortitude and humanity of the compassionate Germans who kept them alive.

Reconstruction after the Civil War


John Hope Franklin - 1961
    New are Franklin’s references to important, later texts that enrich the original narrative. In addition, the extensive bibliography has been thoroughly revised.What has not changed, however, is the foundation Franklin has laid. Still compelling are his arguments concerning the brevity of the North’s military occupation of the South, the limited amount of power wielded by former slaves, the influence of moderate southerners, the flaws of the constitutions drawn up by the Radical state governments, and the reasons for the downfall of Reconstruction.

The Waverly Novels: The Betrothed


Walter Scott - 1825
    The action takes place in the Welsh Marches during the latter part of the reign of Henry II, after 1187. Eveline, the 16-year-old daughter of Sir Raymond Berenger, is rescued from a Welsh siege by the forces of Damian Lacy. She is betrothed to his uncle, Sir Hugo, who leaves on a crusade. Rebels led by Ranald Lacy attempt to kidnap her, and Damian fights them off, but a confused sequence of events convinces the King that she and her beloved are in league against him.