In the distance an immense cliff loomed, apparently to the summit of the mountains. Written by the medical officer of the Mariposa Battalion (the first group of Euro-Americans to enter the valley), Discovery of the Yosemite, and the Indian war of 1851 is perhaps the single most important original source we have that focuses on the early history of Yosemite Valley. Out of print for many years, this wonderful source chronicles key historical events surrounding the discovery of Yosemite, including the 1851 conflict with the Yosemite native population, and the naming of various landmarks. What makes this source particularly valuable and rich is the first person perspective provided by Dr Bunnel’s narrative. Lafayette Houghton Bunnell, born in 1824 in Rochester, New York, was an American author, explorer, and physician. Inspired by the males in his family, Bunnell desired adventure in ‘the West’ from a young age. He is perhaps most well-known for his involvement in the Mariposa Battalion, and is often credited as the person who named Yosemite. He was also a soldier and surgeon I the American Civil War. Albion Press is an imprint of Endeavour Press, the UK's leading independent digital publisher. For more information on our titles please sign up to our newsletter at www.endeavourpress.com. Each week you will receive updates on free and discounted ebooks. Follow us on Twitter: @EndeavourPress and on Facebook via http://on.fb.me/1HweQV7. We are always interested in hearing from our readers. Endeavour Press believes that the future is now.

    Here and There is an engaging collection of travel tales by acclaimed writer A.A. Gill. Short, sharp, and to the point, Gill’s perspective is always unique. He is controversial and charming, cynical and humorous, and each story bursts with his quick wit and colorful prose. Take a trip with A.A. Gill as he ponders why croissants and cappuccinos just aren’t what they used to be, reveals the appealing nature of slowness, and comes to understand why Freud came up with psychoanalysis. He’ll keep you entranced as he discovers the strong, beautiful rhythm of Budapest, learns about the new trend of "glamping" (glamorous camping), experiences the murderous cold of Svalbard, and stumbles upon lobster-shaped coffins in Ghana. With his unique voice, A.A. Gill delivers a collection of stories that highlights the very best of his travel writing. Here and There, complete with introduction and an extra piece written exclusively for this collection, is a must-read for anyone with a curiosity for travel that can’t be sated.

    So He sent us His very strongest men and women." So begins the heartwarming story of Verna Mae and her father, Isom B. "Kitteneye" Slone, an extraordinary personal family history set in the hills around Caney Creek in Knott County, Kentucky.

     He would go on to travel to some of the most unexplored regions, meeting men and women who had never seen westerners before. Along the journey the crew meet Patagonians, Fijians, Tahitians, Aborigines, and many other peoples. Although the Wilkes expedition was largely scientific mission, the ships were not always peaceful, indeed there were a number of armed conflicts with Pacific Islanders as the United States began to assert its authority across the globe. The ships and their crews had to withstand some of the most appalling conditions as they continued their expedition, from the heat-driven mirages of the South Atlantic to the brutal cold of the Antarctic seas. What makes Erskine’s narrative so remarkable is that he is not writing from the perspective of an admiral or a scientific explorer, but instead from the viewpoint of a common sailor. Interspersed throughout the narrative are short ditties and sailor’s songs that provide a vivid picture of the mentality of nineteenth century seamen. After the Wilkes expedition landed back in the United States Erskine spent only brief moments on dry land as he frequently registered under new ships and continued his journeys. Erskine’s book is a fascinating first-hand account of exploration and maritime life aboard a tall ship. Twenty Years Before the Mast was published in 1896 towards the end of Erskine’s life.

    From his first days on the island he came to know and love fishing and the sea. For the next twelve years the famed author called the island his home. His years in Key West became the most crucial and prolific years of his life. During that period he wrote Death in the Afternoon, Green Hills of Africa, numerous important short stories, To Have and Have Not, and began For Whom the Bell Tolls. He also created and became his own living legend, self-consciously constructing the swaggering image known to the world as Papa.In the early 1970s journalist James McLendon seized the opportunity to interview Ernest Hemingway’s Key West friends who remained alive. A Key West resident himself, McLendon wrote this book by combining his knowledge of the island with his conversations and with the extensive Hemingway-related material held by the Monroe County Public Library. McLendon recreates the slow-paced, sub-tropical setting, the island’s Depression years, and the people and places that infused and inspired Hemingway. These were the years that saw his love affair with Martha Gellhorn and the crumbling of his marriage to Pauline Pfeiffer. Beyond letters and legal documents, too little of the Hemingway era in Key West is found in biographical studies. Because this book was first published in 1974, much of what exists in those studies today is derived from this manuscript. This book gives us a penetrating look at the significance of the Key West era in Hemingway’s career. James McLendon was a columnist for the Key West Citizen, a creative writing instructor and a freelance writer. His dispatches and articles appeared in various U.S. newspapers and magazines, including UPI wire services, the Christian Science Monitor and Writers Digest.

    And yes, there are lots of books about living in France out there already. But a lot of these are the short-term adventures of single people or retired couples or tourists. Moving abroad for good with a family, and without a pension, is a whole new ball game. That’s what makes Heads Above Water different. It’s about us, a family with three children, who stick the hardships out and make things start to work. It’s about actually making a living in a new country. It’s realistic, honest and gritty – but also fun, lively and very entertaining, and, I hope, ultimately inspiring.

    Interviewed and hired by what seemed like a bona fide recruitment agency, Timea left her home on the promise she would earn good money to send home to her family. She had no idea that she'd been lured by a ring of international human traffickers. Upon her arrival in Toronto, she was forced into sex labour in some of the city's seediest nightclubs and kept by her "agents" for three months until she escaped.This is her captivating, heartbreaking but ultimately redemptive story. It will take readers from the early years of Timea's life in Communist Hungary, offering a look inside an austere but complicated world ruled by community, restriction and struggle; then, to the dark, abusive three months working as a sex slave in a country that Timea once believed would offer her freedom and opportunity; and, finally, in riveting detail, through the heart-pounding escape Timea plots.Compelling and sweeping, balancing a tragic and unbelievable experience with a powerful story of grace, Timea Nagy's journey is one that will stay with you long after you read the last page.

    The truth is, I've lived three very different lives: the one before prison; the one in prison; and my life since then. It has taken years to make sense of it all, but now I've found a voice to speak about it.Paddy Armstrong was one of four people falsely convicted of The Guildford Bombing in 1975. He spent fifteen years in prison for a crime he did not commit.Today, as a husband and father, life is wonderfully ordinary, but the memory of his ordeal lives on. Here, for the first time and with unflinching candour, he lays bare the experiences of those years and their aftermath.Life after Life is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the power of forgiveness. It reminds us of the privilege of freedom, and how the balm of love, family and everyday life can restore us and mend the scars of even the most savage injustice.'This book captures the sweet soul of Paddy. Beautifully written. For lovers of freedom everywhere.' Jim Sheridan

    You get to hit the reset button on your life. Dancing in the Fountain takes its title from one blazing hot night when the author and her husband found themselves sitting on the edge of a big stone fountain. Dabbling their feet in the cool water, pretty soon they were wading, then dancing in the fountain. It's technically legal to do this on hot nights in Seville, but an old man passing by growled, "Hey you two, is that any way to behave? You wouldn't do that back where you come from." And that's the whole point. Living overseas, you get to try things you'd never do back home.

    Lorne Campbell was an officer and enforcer for the outlaw biker club Satan's Choice for over thirty years, before patching over to the Hells Angels. The product of a violent childhood, with a hair-trigger temper and fearless nature, he just wanted a place to belong. He found brotherhood with his fellow one per centers, and a code he has lived his life by. In his time he's seen club life slip further into the criminal underworld and be transformed by cocaine dealing. He killed a rival biker to save his brothers and has been imprisoned for assault and drug trafficking. He's faced off police out to get him, taken revenge on men who betrayed him, and gone to extreme lengths to protect his honour and his club. Written with dark humour and raw honesty, and filled with unforgettable characters living life on their own terms, Satan's Choice is a unique insight into an outlaw world seen through the eyes of one proud and unrepentant biker.

    He was able to make contact in dream states with his intuitive father within days and verbal contact by the end of the first month. Two years later he requested his father write down communication from Galen about his new circumstances. Dr. Stoller’s only comments in this revelatory account appear in Editor’s Notes at the end of each chapter. While there are many accounts of near-death experiences, never has an account been written documenting a personal encounter with such detail and clarity. The story of this gifted boy intent on getting through to earth the knowledge of what lies beyond is both comforting and sobering with a message relevant for all of us still living in this dimension.

    Boss of the Richardson Gang and rival of the Krays, to cross him would result in brutal repercussions. Famously arrested on the day England won the World Cup in 1966, his trial heard he allegedly used iron bars, bolt cutters and electric shocks on his enemies.The Last Gangster is Richardson’s frank account of his largely untold life story, finished just before his death in September 2012. He shares the truth behind the rumours and tells of his feuds with the Krays for supremacy, undercover missions involving politicians, many lost years banged up in prison and reveals shocking secrets about royalty, phone hacking, bent coppers and the infamous black box.Straight up, shocking and downright gripping, this is the ultimate exposé on this legendary gangster and his extraordinary life.

    From his childhood, rebellion at school, the early death of his father and conflict with his step-father, on to his exploits in the army in Korea, Egypt, Malaya, Oman, Borneo, the Sudan, the Falklands, and the Gulf War, this book chronicles the SAS General's life.

    What time is the 3:00 parade? Why does a child need to be 40 inches tall to ride a roller coaster? What happens when the president of France gets lost inside Pirates of the Caribbean? A former employee, or "cast member", at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom answers these and other questions while sharing humorous stories about working inside the world's most popular theme park."Stories from a Theme Park Insider" takes you inside the park's famous tunnels and backstage for a look at how theme parks really work, and the funny moments and embarrassments that can happen when your work is someone else's vacation.

     Given that there was only seventy-five minutes of daylight left, they had little fuel, and they were flying into the middle of the world’s biggest ocean to attack the damaged but still dangerous Japanese fleet, it is little wonder that many of them were pessimistic about their chances. Yet this is exactly what sixty-four men did in the twilight hours of June 19th, 1944. Not one of the pilots or their crew hesitated as they got into their planes. “They did what their commanders and their country told them to do. They carried out a ‘mission beyond darkness.’” Robert M. Citino, Navy Times Mission Beyond Darkness by Lt. Commander J. Bryan III records in fascinating detail one of the most remarkable missions that place during the war in the Pacific. Rather relying on second-hand accounts Byran explains this his work is completely authentic as it “is derived wholly from narratives by the survivors, from statements by officers and men of the Lexington’s company”. “A story of tight going and tricky work that provided aerial miracles in a landing stampede of planes and pilots; the responsibilities of those aboard the carriers; the rescue work of destroyers and escort ships; foul ups and rogue ships; obstacles of dwindling fuel, misunderstood signals … Top among aviation books.” Kirkus Reviews “The thrilling story of the closing phase of the First Battle of the Philippines, in which Air Group 16 from the Lexington successfully attacked a number of fleeing Japanese battleships and carriers.” Foreign Affairs Lieutenant Commander J. Bryan III, USNR, served as a lieutenant commander assigned to naval air combat intelligence in the Pacific during World War Two. In civilian life he was a journalist and writer who was born into the influential Bryan family of newspaper publishers and industrialists. He passed away in 1993. Mission Beyond Darkness was first published in 1945.