The lens he invented was a brilliant feat of engineering that made lighthouses blaze many times brighter, farther, and more efficiently. Battling the establishment, his own poor health, and the limited technology of the time, Fresnel was able to achieve his goal of illuminating the entire French coast. At first, the British sought to outdo the new Fresnel-equipped lighthouses as a matter of national pride. Americans, too, resisted abandoning their primitive lamps, but the superiority of the Fresnel lens could not be denied for long. Soon, from Dunkirk to Saigon, shores were brightened with it.  The Fresnel legacy played an important role in geopolitical events, including the American Civil War. No sooner were Fresnel lenses finally installed along U.S. shores than they were drafted: the Union blockaded the Confederate coast; the Confederacy set about thwarting it by dismantling and hiding or destroying the powerful new lights.Levitt’s scientific and historical account, rich in anecdote and personality, brings to life the fascinating untold story of Augustin Fresnel and his powerful invention.

     Geneva Snow commits the unforgivable Southern sin. No longer the apple of her father’s eye, she is a pariah, defying her society's most sacrosanct rule. To protect her—and hoping for a change of heart—her shattered yet steadfast father hides her at Cairnaerie, his mountain estate. But his iron-willed daughter is unrepentant. After years of solitude, an older and wiser Geneva is finally mellowing, and she is desperate to leave a legacy worthy of the father she loved and lost. To that end, she engages an unwitting young history professor for help to escape Cairnaerie long enough to attend the wedding of her granddaughter—a girl dangerously unaware of her lineage. But when a postman’s malevolence and a colleague’s revenge converge, Geneva's long-kept secret is exposed. For a second time, she faces a calamity of her own making. Only this time, there is no place to hide.

    What did they have to do with the rise of industrial power in Europe? Read Kim's story and find out! A novel set in Eric Flint's 1632 Universe.This story was previously serialized in the Grantville Gazette.

    Who were these 15 to 17 year-old Hitler Youth soldiers, why were they so fanatical, and how could they be cleanly defeated? The Allied mood turned to bitterness and hatred as the brutal cunning and sheer ruthlessness of the boy soldiers and their adult leaders became clear. This book assembles a range of astonishing eyewitness testimony to the ferocious combat between Hitler Youth panzer troops, snipers and infantry against British and Canadian forces after D-Day. There are the disturbing combat experiences of surviving 12th SS Panzer fighters themselves, recorded after the war; eyewitness accounts from Allied soldiers who fought tank-to-tank and hand-to-hand against these opponents in the hedgerows, fields and streets of Normandy; and accounts too from terrified French civilians caught up in the firefights. The accounts featured are: The Tank Destroyer (Jagdpanzer IV) The Bocage Ambush (British Sergeant) The Battle for the Bunkers (12th SS Panthers) The Flail Tanks (French Civilian) The Panzerfaust Fighters (Hitlerjugend Panzergrenadiers) The Sniper (Canadian Captain) The War Crimes (12th SS Panzer Radio Operator) Panthers in the Smoke (British Cromwell Commander) Thunderbolts, Typhoons and Flak (12th Panzer Flak Unit) These are graphic and often shocking accounts of one of the strangest phases of the second world war in the west, and one that left a dreadful mark on so many who were involved in it. Sprech Media is an independent researcher and publisher of eyewitness testimonies to armed conflict in the 20th century.

    It was fought at a place thousands of miles from land, by hundreds of planes over distances of hundreds of miles. It saw four massive Japanese aircraft carriers pitted against three similarly huge American carriers in a battle for domination of the Pacific. The battle is the story of the young Japanese empire seeking to challenge the established industrial power of America. Japan had smashed America at Pearl Harbour, shaken her at Coral Sea. Now she was ready to risk all in one mighty attempt to drive the United States Navy from the Pacific Ocean. Japan’s admirals put to sea confident that they could take the Americans by surprise, take the Midway atoll and destroy the American carriers. American espionage ensured that Admiral Nimitz had full knowledge of the planned attack, so turning a Japanese trap into an American ambush. The battle that followed raged over three days, full of set backs and disaster for each side. But Admirals Yamamoto and Nagumo had over-reached themselves and suffered the greatest naval defeat in history. America entered Midway on the defensive, still a hesitant participant in the war. She left the battle as the world’s first super power. Richard Freeman graduated in mathematics before following a career in distance education. He now writes on naval history. His other books include 'The Great Edwardian Naval Feud'. Endeavour Press is the UK's leading publisher of digital books.

    The Great Ideas of Classical Physics 2. Describing MotionA Break from Aristotle 3. Describing Ever More Complex Motion 4. Astronomy as a Bridge to Modern Physics 5. Isaac NewtonThe Dawn of Classical Physics 6. Newton QuantifiedForce and Acceleration 7. Newton and the Connections to Astronomy 8. Universal Gravitation 9. Newton's Third Law 10. Conservation of Momentum 11. Beyond NewtonWork and Energy 12. Power and the Newtonian Synthesis 13. Further DevelopmentsStatic Electricity 14. Electricity, Magnetism, and Force Fields 15. Electrical Currents and Voltage 16. The Origin of Electric and Magnetic Fields 17. Unification IMaxwell's Equations 18. Unification IIElectromagnetism and Light 19. Vibrations and Waves 20. Sound Waves and Light Waves 21. The Atomic Hypothesis 22. Energy in SystemsHeat and Thermodynamics 23. Heat and the Second Law of Thermodynamics 24. The Grand Picture of Classical Physics

    Driven by an unfettered appetite for personal challenge and a yen for the path of most resistance, Willis mounted a single-handed and wholly unlikely rescue in the jungles of French Guiana and then twice crossed the broad Pacific on rafts of his own design, with only housecats and a parrot for companionship. His first voyage, atop a ten-ton balsa monstrosity, was undertaken in 1954 when Willis was sixty. His second raft, having crossed eleven thousand miles from Peru, found the north shore of Australia shortly after Willis's seventieth birthday. A marvel of vigor and fitness, William Willis was a connoisseur of ordeal, all but orchestrating short rations, ship-wreck conditions, and crushing solitude on his trans-Pacific voyages. He'd been inspired by Kon-Tiki, Thor Heyerdahl's bid to prove that a primitive raft could negotiate the open ocean. Willis's trips confirmed that a primitive man could as well. Willis survived on rye flour and seawater, sang to keep his spirits up, communicated with his wife via telepathy, suffered from bouts of temporary blindness, and eased the intermittent pain of a double hernia by looping a halyard around his ankles and dangling upside-down from his mast. Rich with vivid detail and wry humor, Seaworthy is the story of a sailor you've probably never heard of but need to know. In an age when countless rafts were adrift on the waters of the world, their crews out to shore up one theory of ethno-migration or tear down another, Willis's challenges remained refreshingly personal. His methods were eccentric, his accomplishments little short of remarkable. Don't miss the chance to meet this singular monk of the sea.

    If there is one thing they’ve learned to do over the years, it’s how to stick together. Maura is called to her hardest task yet, having to take over the raising of Tarin’s newborn baby, Brigid. Gordon’s faith in life and love is put to the test. Arianna attempts to close the gap of mistrust with Caleb while pressing to bring the dream of her own salon to life. Caleb wrestles with a bad feeling that haunts him like a ghost. Claire and Aryl come to terms with the decision they’ve made not have any more children and surgery day isn’t as easy for Claire as she thought. When an epidemic strikes and the town is all but shut down, Muzzy and Peter become Rockport’s saving grace while a Texas newcomer brings unexpected hope and friendship, just when the group needs it the most. Jonathan and Ava are tested with a devastating loss, leaving the others to wonder if Jonathan will sink down into the depths of depression again, or rise to meet an uncertain future with determination and hope.

    The Ancestors Saga will continue with Book 3, Enemy Tribe, launching in early 2021. A hunter, a protector, a Raknari warrior. He is Forbidden.Raised his entire life for the sole purpose of defending his clan, Khalvir serves the chief who saved him from certain death. A death at the hands of the hated elves; a people who see him only as an abomination to be destroyed.Now a captive in his enemy’s clutches, Khalvir must find a way to escape the mysterious elf witch who holds him. An elf whose motives remain shrouded but whose very presence calls to his soul, threatening to turn every truth he has ever known into a lie…

    She never overcame her humble beginnings and when Willie Eubanks rescued her from the orphanage by marrying her, she ended up right back where she started. Living in the same cabin, she was born in twelve and a half years earlier. However, she grew to love Willie and was determined that she and Willie were not going to end up as her parents had. In addition, she wanted to make sure her children were not going to have to suffer through the same experiences she had.

    She's newly orphaned and ruined, wanting only the peace and quiet that a governess position for Edwin's stoic daughter allows. She never expected though her new employer to be so handsome that she can barely resist the temptation. She soon discovers that she is not the only one who is hiding secrets, but that doesn't stop her lascivious longing. There is a dreadful scandal that has tarnished Edwin's name and left him broken-hearted... Can a governess full of secrets find a place in Edwin's house and most importantly in his wounded heart?Edwin Huntington moved with his jaw-droppingly gorgeous blonde, Cecily, and their young daughter, Jane, across the country, so he could work as a high-ranking military officer. Little did he know that he and his daughter would be abandoned by Cecily for his cousin, the next in line to Edwin's wealthy uncle's estate. Since Jane doesn't seem to take kindly to her mother's disappearance, Edwin soon realizes the urgent need of a governess. But when the new magnetic governess appears to be more than he ever wished for, he finds himself trying to tame his growing feelings. After all he's been through, could she really be the one to set his body and soul on fire?Emilia and Edwin know they are playing dangerously close with fire, but their intriguing lust is too overwhelming to resist. As the story of Cecily and Edwin's wealthy cousin, Marcus, is not over yet, whatever joy and passion Edwin and Emilia might have found together is at high risk. Can they defy everyone and turn this promising desire into an everlasting love? Or will their passionate affair go down in flames before it fills them with sparks?

    

     Pioneer Days is written by the rank and file who were the true heroes and heroines, who suffered and gave their lives and the lives of those near and dear to them, in order to lay the foundation for future happy homes, peace and prosperity. The writers of this book were the small remnant yet left who were the actual participators in these early struggles, and they give their experiences, unadorned, without any claim to literary merit; for the writers were by then old. When you read their simple statements of facts of Indian conflicts, of terrible suffering and privations, so unassumingly told by them, it is only fitting that those who have had the advantage of schools and Christianity, and refinement, of which they were almost entirely deprived, to cover their rough and often ungrammatical sentences with the cloak of Christian charity, and interline them with garlands of flowers and chivalry which truly belongs to them. With contributions from Charles Goodnight (1836-1929), Emanuel Dubbs (1843–1932), and John A. Hart (1790–1840), the 1909 book "Pioneer Days in the Southwest" gives unadorned truths and conditions that fortunately have passed out forever. A great portion is devoted to the life of Charles Goodnight the first pioneer of the Texas Panhandle. No history of pioneer days would be complete without the name of Charles Goodnight. While Mr. Goodnight has a state and national reputation, the people of the Panhandle of Texas feel that they are especially honored in owning him as a citizen, and he and his estimable wife had, and now hold a place in the hearts of old timers as well as later settlers, that would cause the people to condemn any writer who failed to give to them that mete of praise which they so richly deserve, and place their name at the head of the highly honored galaxy of heroes who contended with and finally overcame every obstacle and danger of a country entirely given over to lawlessness at the time of their advent. These histories generally took place in the present-day states of Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, and New Mexico.

    On the high seas they are destined to meet on a voyage that spans continents. A captivating novel of quest, adventure and love.

    Tomes have been devoted to this subject. I choose instead to tell of my life as a Private, a grunt if you will, and how this life impacted on me.As a telephone lineman for the United States Marine Corps, I had the greatest opportunity to see more of the combat area than most participants. We traveled to the right flank, left flank, up front and to the rear areas to keep our telephone lines functioning and all our artillery and infantry in constant communications.A Japanese general stated "the American troops' ability to concentrate artillery fire on a given point was a tremendous advantage." As an artilleryman, I am proud we provided this edge. Our front line troops on numerous occasions told me our artillery barrage had "stopped the Japs cold." Our constant goal.I have often been asked, "How did you cope with death as an everyday fact?" I tell of losing eight buddies on one day on Guam. We acknowledged the loss then moved on. "What is past is past." We did not dwell on one or multiple losses. We simply moved on. Yesterday was an age away, this is today, we hope to see tomorrow. Perhaps cruel, but it retained our sanity. Those who stand and wait have not shared this burden.Lest you think I am portraying myself as some kind of hero -- let me remind you, they never asked me if I wanted to go on these combat landings to Bougainville, Guam, and Iwo Jima.I was not a hero, but I walked among heroes.