Enos Mills , naturalist and conservationist, was instrumental in the creation of Rocky Mountain National Park. Like his mentor John Muir, Mills was an intrepid solitary high country rambler, as well as an accomplished Colorado mountain guide. There are mountain tales aplenty in "Adventures of a Nature Guide." At one point, Mills climbs Long's Peak alone in a gale with winds topping 170 mph., "carried away with the wild, elemental eloquence of the storm." Near the summit, the wind is so fierce he cannot make headway, so he concludes to "reverse ends...

“Here are boys, all sorts of boys: French, English, Italian, American… These are soldiers’ letters written home. But reading, one finds that he does not think of them as letters at all, but as boys… but the spirit of these letters cannot be defeated. The dead will rise again.” Each letter is introduced by a paragraph or two about the writer. - Summary by Author's Introduction and David Wales

Madame Germaine de Staël was the daughter of the Swiss banker and statesman, Jacques Necker. Her mother hosted a popular Paris salon where intellectuals gathered, many of whom contributed to the education of the brilliant girl. After his fall from political power in 1781, her still-wealthy father was able to marry Germaine to Baron Erik Magnus Staël von Holstein, but the couple separated in 1797. A successful novelist, Madame de Staël was a fervent defender of J.J. Rousseau and of the ideals of the French Revolution...

Louis Pasteur famously said, "In the fields of observation chance favors only the prepared mind." Pasteur brought to the study of chemistry, microbiology, and applied immunology, a mind open, innovative, and insightful. Born of peasant stock in the French Jura, he worked with dogged determination all his life and often in the face of strenuous opposition. Through an unbroken succession of rigorously designed and meticulously performed experiments, Pasteur developed veterinary vaccines and halted grievous losses in the French wine, silk, and dairy industries...

Abraham Lincoln: A History is an 1890 ten-volume account of the life and times of Abraham Lincoln, written by John Nicolay and John Hay, who were his personal secretaries during the American Civil War. Volume 5 chronicles Lincoln's life from November 1861 through August 1862.

After the Civil War, Harriet and her husband Charles bought an Orange Plantation in Mandarin, on the upper east coast of Florida, where they lived during the winter months. Over the years they expanded their cottage to accommodate many guests . They opened schools to educate and churches to care for the recently freed negros pouring into Florida seeking refuge and opportunity. These charming essays, each describing a largely undeveloped rural land, became one of the first travel guides written about Florida and stimulated the first boom of tourism and residential development to that area...

Margaret of Angoulême, Queen of Navarre , , was the sister of Francis I, King of France. She was highly-educated and was courted by the future Henry VIII of England. However, at the age of seventeen, she was married by royal decree to the untutored dolt, Charles IV of Alençon. After his death she wed Henry II of Navarre by whom she had a daughter and a son, who died in infancy. The author takes us with Margaret on her perilous journey over the Pyrenees to Spain to attempt to free her brother, Francis, held captive by the Holy Roman Emperor...

Dumas's play talks of American Naval Hero John Paul Jones's romantic entanglements and affairs of honor ashore in France. He later converted it to a novel. - Summary by ToddHW Cast list: The Marquis D'Auray: Amy Gramour The Marchioness, his wife: Sonia Count Emanuel, their child: Tomas Peter Margaret, their child: Leanne Yau Baron De Lectoure: Nemo Paul Jones: ToddHW Louis Achard: Thomas A. Copeland Mr. De La Jarry: Roger Melin Mr. De Nozay: RecordingPerson Notary: Zames Curran Laffeuille, valet to the Marchioness: Son of the Exiles Jasmin, valet to Emanuel: Eva Davis Stage Directions: Sandra Schmit Edited by: ToddHW

This volume, published in 1919 by the American Women's Baptist Home Mission Society, opens with an introduction spelling out the important work done by African American women. It speaks both to the "invisible work" of as mothers and wives, and the work done outside the homes in all sorts of industries, as well as in medicine, education, and arts. In addition, it contains short biographies of five brave, inspiring women. - Summary by kathrinee

Written by a fictitious first-person narrator, this book puts a humorous spin on encounters with several famous people of the time. "I set forth from my office in London upon my pilgrimage to the shrines of the world's illustrious. Readers everywhere are interested in the home life of men who have made themselves factors in art, science, letters, and history, and to these people I was commissioned to go." -- Summary by TriciaG and from the book.

The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, commonly referred to as the Jefferson Bible, was a book constructed by Thomas Jefferson in the later years of his life by cutting and pasting with a razor and glue numerous sections from the New Testament as extractions of the doctrine of Jesus. Jefferson's condensed composition is especially notable for its exclusion of all miracles by Jesus and most mentions of the supernatural, including sections of the four gospels that contain the Resurrection and most other miracles, and passages that portray Jesus as divine. - Summary by Wikipedia

Emily Brontë is best known for her only novel, "Wuthering Heights." She was born in Yorkshire, northern England, where her father was an Anglican curate. When Brontë was three years old her mother died of cancer. At the age of six she joined her three sisters briefly at the Clergy Daughters' School, where privations and abuse contributed to the deaths of two of them. Her elder sister, Charlotte, immortalized this terrible place in "Jane Eyre." In 1846 Emily Brontë, under the pseudonym Ellis Bell, published a selection of her poetry...

The results of a survey undertaken by Galton to learn more about individual differences and similarities between the "pre-eminent" men of his time. Brief biographical information, biometric data and extensive quotations have been compiled and presented. Summary by niobium.

Abraham Lincoln: A History is an 1890 ten-volume account of the life and times of Abraham Lincoln, written by John Nicolay and John Hay, who were his personal secretaries during the American Civil War. Volume 6 chronicles Lincoln's life in early 1862.

Lady Jane Grey was an English noblewoman, great-granddaughter of Henry VII. As her cousin, Edward VI, lay on his death-bed, he nominated her as his successor to the English crown ahead of his half-sisters Mary and Elizabeth. Jane's reign lasted a mere nine days, before she was convicted of treason and imprisoned in the Tower of London. Often considered one of the most romantic characters of royal history, Taylor gives us a full biography of the Nine Day Queen. - Summary by Lynne Thompson

Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick , wealthy and powerful peer of England, was one of the leaders of the Wars of the Roses . He joined Richard, Duke of York in opposing the ineffectual and often incapacitated Lancastrian king, Henry VI. Falling out with York's son, King Edward IV, he switched sides and joined forces with Henry's exiled queen, Margaret of Anjou, but was killed at the Battle of Barnet. In this short biography, the British military historian, Charles Oman brings to life a consummate medieval warrior, who was also a politician ahead of his time.. - Summary by Pamela Nagami

Phineas Pett was a Master Shipbuilder from one of England's greatest shipbuilding families of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and kept a journal of his experiences and thoughts at this important and turbulent time in the industry. Although some pages were damaged or lost, the diary was transcribed by Samuel Pepys and preserved in the British Library. It was edited and published in the form of an autobiography by William Gordon Perrin of The Council of the Navy Records Society in 1918. - Summary by Lynne Thompson

The Lives of the Queens of England is a multi-volumed work attributed to Agnes Strickland, though it was mostly researched and written by her sister Elisabeth. These volumes give biographies of the queens of England from the Norman Conquest in 1066. Although by today's standards, it is not seen as a very scholarly work, the Stricklands used many sources that had not been used before.Volume eight includes the biographies of Henrietta Maria and Catharine of Braganza.

These biographical essays of British subjects were written in 1907-1908 for The Daily News newspaper and reflect their subjects as seen before the great cataclysm of World War I. Gardiner was a British newspaper editor, journalist, and author. His essays were and are highly regarded. - Summary by David Wales

Written for the centenary of Jane Austen's death, W. H. Helm reflects poetically on the timelessness of her work: the must of age has not settled on her books. The lavender may lie between their pages, but it is still sweet. Helm briefly surveys Jane Austen's influences, literary contemporaries and themes. He is particularly interested in her ideas and characters, and his short book is fully of pithy quotes encapsulating "the best of Jane Austen". Summary by Beth Thomas

Memoirs of General George Brinton McClellan, commanding general of the Army of the Potomac during the early years of the American Civil War. The work covers the time that McClellan commanded the Army of the Potomac, including the Peninsula Campaign, the Seven Days' Battles, and the Battle of Antietam.

This little book by the British military historian, Charles Oman, begins with the accession of the warrior king, Edward III, to the English throne in 1327 and ends with the downfall of Richard III at Bosworth Field in 1485. By carrying the story of the Hundred Years' War through the Wars of the Roses, Oman portrays this era of battle and plague within the larger context of the dynastic struggles and civil wars which destabilized England and left France vulnerable to invasion and conquest. Summary by Pamela Nagami.

This book gives an exciting account of Napoleon's rise to power. It opens with his humble beginning on the island of Corsica and ultimately emperor of over half of Europe. This book focuses on his victorious military campaigns, his disastrous Russian campaign, his exile to the island of Elba, his final loss at Waterloo, and his last days on the lonely island of St. Helena. Summary by pjcsaville.

In this 1916 work, Albert Payson Terhune introduces twelve immensely influential women, whose actions influenced world history. Terhune chooses well-known figures whose stories are as much myth as history, like Cleopatra and Helen of Troy, artists such as George Sand, and a number of ladies whose names are not so well-known today, because their work was not immediately visible to the uninitiated. All stories will be interested to the modern feminist, and each reader and listener should be able to find a personal heroine among these select twelve. - Summary by Carolin

Abraham Lincoln: A History is an 1890 ten-volume account of the life and times of Abraham Lincoln, written by John Nicolay and John Hay, who were his personal secretaries during the American Civil War. Volume 7 chronicles Lincoln's life from 1862, including the major battles in the American Civil War that year.

Sergeant Sullivan tells the story of his life as a Texas Ranger for 12 incredible years in the late 1800s.

This is Volume VIII of the National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoirs series. It is read as 33 sections using the memoir headings. John Wesley Powell was a leading figure in the geological explorations of the West and helped establish the federal U.S. Geological Survey in 1879. He also led the Bureau of Ethnology and advocated for better treatment and study of Native American tribes and culture. He wrote a definitive study of the arid western U.S., advocating for thoughtful irrigation and land management practices...

A biographical summary of the pre-eminent men of Britain grouped by profession. The extensive survey draws from information including college graduation, reputation during career, fellowships, and even known relatives. Includes discussions on findings and observations as well as referenced appendices. - Summary by Leon Harvey

The Meditations is divided into 12 books that chronicle different periods of Marcus' life. Each book is not in chronological order and it was written for no one but himself. The style of writing that permeates the text is one that is simplified, straightforward, and perhaps reflecting Marcus' Stoic perspective on the text. Depending on the English translation, Marcus' style is not viewed as anything regal or belonging to royalty, but rather a man among other men which allows the reader to relate to his wisdom...

Abraham Lincoln: A History is an 1890 ten-volume account of the life and times of Abraham Lincoln, written by John Nicolay and John Hay, who were his personal secretaries during the American Civil War. Volume 8 chronicles Lincoln's life from 1862 to 1863.

The life of the Confederate States of America general, Robert E. Lee, through the eyes of his youngest son, who was also a Confederate Army officer. Published in 1905. Note: in many of the letters the recipient's name is printed after General Lee's signature; the White House is not that in Washington but General Lee's elder son's house in Virginia. - Summary by david wales

After years of telling these stories to his grandchildren, Foster was prevailed on to write them down for future generations. Rather than rely on his memory, he conducted research for accuracy. He served as a colonel for the Union Army during the American Civil War and later went on to serve as U.S. Secretary of State under President Benjamin Harrison. - Summary by Lynne Thompson

Gustav Kobbe was a German/US music critic who worked at the time of Liszt and Wagner in particular, and was clearly in the Wagnerian rather than the Brahms camp. His unusual style of writing and his strongly romantic take on the loves of these seven composers makes for entertaining listening, even though his facts and opinions may differ from more academic writers and biographers of these composers. Each composer occupies a section or chapter, with Wagner getting the fuller account in terms of length...

The Life Of St. Anthony the Great.

The first of three volumes of the first scholarly biography of Ludwig van Beethoven. Covers the years 1770-1802. - Summary by Zain Solinski

A discussion about the life and works of the playwright Arthur Wing Pinero. The perfect accompaniment to the plays by Pinero available here at. - Summary by ToddHW

"Samuel Langhorne Clemens", "Mark Twain At Home", "Youth of Mark Twain" & "Mark Twain Gossip" Published in the June 16, 1888 edition of "Literature - An Illustrated Weekly Magazine" these four, early magazine articles about Mark Twain fill in and analyze areas of Twain's persona for the first time. "Mark Twain At Home" was originally published in the London, England "World".

The purpose of this book is to renew an intimate acquaintance with the women whom the American reading public regards as favorites, and to establish a like intimate acquaintance with the promising newcomers. The sketches are partly critical and partly biographical. They are the result of efforts to inform as well as to entertain.

As far as anyone has been able to establish, Will Clemens was NOT related to Sam Clemens , though they did become acquaintances. The 200-page biography Will Clemens wrote and published himself may have been the earliest full-length study of MT. It was published July 1,1892 as "No. 1" in a paperback series called "The Pacific Library," price 25¢, and did well enough to be republished in 1894 by a publisher in Chicago. Throughout the book Clemens relies mainly on other writers' previously published work.

Abraham Lincoln: A History is an 1890 ten-volume account of the life and times of Abraham Lincoln, written by John Nicolay and John Hay, who were his personal secretaries during the American Civil War. Volume 6 chronicles Lincoln's life in 1864, including the battles of that summer and Lincoln's reelection.

Abraham Lincoln: A History is an 1890 ten-volume account of the life and times of Abraham Lincoln, written by John Nicolay and John Hay, who were his personal secretaries during the American Civil War. Volume 10 chronicles Lincoln's life in early 1865, including his assassination and the events following.

In the spring of 1850, while the United States was polarized over the slavery debate and Daniel Webster was negotiating the compromise of that year, the outspoken abolitionist, feminist, and journalist, Jane Grey Swisshelm unleashed a congressional sex scandal. Frustrated by what she saw as the Massachusetts senator's surrender to the Southern Slave Power, she published an article alleging Webster's marital infidelities with women of color. As a result of the media storm that followed, Swisshelm lost her job at the New York Tribune...

In 1869, the Atlantic published Stowe's article, The True Story Of Lady Byron's Life, a brief exposé of the famous poet Lord Byron's sordid private life which had led to a separation from his wife and drove him out of England, as told to her by Lady Byron herself before her death. Stowe wrote this article long after Lady Byron's death, when Lady Byron‘s impeccable reputation was being smeared across Europe by Byron's influential literary friends, and her trustees were doing nothing to defend her...

"It is many years since Dr. Samuel Johnson advised me to get a little book, and write in it all the Anecdotes which might come to my knowledge, all the Observations which I might make or hear, all the verses never likely to be published and in fine everything which struck me at the time. Mr. Thrale has now treated me with a Repository, and provided it with the pompous title "Thraliana." I must endeavour to fill it with nonsense, new and old." Selections from the intimate record of her life from 1776 to 1809 by the hostess and friend of Dr Johnson selected and edited with commentary by Charles Hughes. - Summary by barbara2

"There are many interesting and characteristic incidents in the domestic life of Luther which are not found in biographies of the great Reformer. The character of his wife has not been portrayed in full, and who does not wish to become better acquainted with a woman who mingled many a drop of balsam in those numerous cups of sorrow which her celebrated husband was compelled to drink? This little book is the result of extensive research, and exhibits facts attested by the most reliable authorities, many of which will be new to those of my readers who have not investigated this particular subject...

An authorized biography of Lillian Gish, the renowned silent film star known in her heyday as the First Lady of American Cinema. Albert Bigelow Paine chronicles Gish's early life, her close relationship with her sister Dorothy, her rise in film as an actor with Biograph Studios and muse of D. W. Griffith, her short time as a contract actor with MGM, and her return to the stage in the advent of the talkies. Peppered throughout with intimate and amusing anecdotes, this is a must-read for film historians, silent film enthusiasts, and admirers of one of cinema's legendary talents.

This brief sketch of the holy life and marvelous achievements of a great inheritor of the spirit of Saint Francis of Sales, Saint Don Bosco is intended only to stimulate souls to a wider study of this loving Apostle of Youth, and so to a knowledge and reverence and appreciation, we dare to hope, which will urge them onward in the ways of holiness, and make them ardent and practical co-operators in the divine work of saving the young — the most pressing need of our times — initiated by the Founder of the Salesian Society, and brought to wonderful issues through the miraculous power of God and the loving intervention of Mary, Help of Christians...

April, 1865. The country was in turmoil. The U.S. Civil War had come to an end, thousands of Union prisoners of war had recently been released, and President Lincoln had just been assassinated. The steamship 'Sultana' left New Orleans on April 21st, traveled to Vicksburg, Mississippi where it took on 1,965 federal soldiers and 35 officers, all recently released prisoners of war, most of them held at the prison camps of Cahaba and Andersonville , and now finally headed for their homes. The 'Sultana' arrived in Memphis, Tennessee on April 26th and headed north toward Cairo, Illinois carrying over 2,100 passengers, but designed for a capacity of only 376...

In this interesting autobiography we get a very candid look into the life of Rose Cohen, a Russian Jewish girl who immigrates from Russia to the Lower East Side of New York city with her family. From the deplorable conditions in the garment sweatshops, life in the tenements, the setbacks due to poor health and the slow weakening of the family's faith she provides us with a vivid insight into the hopes and frustrations of an immigrant Jewish family adapting to American life.

William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody is one of the legends of the American western frontier. As a teen he rode for the pony expressed and then drove for the Union Army during the U.S. Civil War. He later rejoined the army as a scout and was awarded the medal of honor for his valor during the Indian Wars. His fame became worldwide, however, through his flamboyant Wild West shows which toured not only across the American West but through England and Europe. John M. Burke served as Cody’s publicist and promoter for the Wild West shows, propelling him into celebrity status...

In this trim volume the British historian, Osmund Airy writes of the period between 1648 and 1679 when Cardinal Mazarin, having concluded the masterly Peace of Westphalia for France, confronts the rebellions of the nobility known as the Fronde. By the time of his death in 1661, Mazarin has completed the work of Richelieu and made Louis XIV an absolute monarch, ready to extend his borders by conquest. But in Holland, the young Stadtholder, William III of Orange, resolutely opposes Louis's military...

While there are many general histories of the decline and fall of the Roman Republic, the Oxford historian, Charles Oman, writes that his little book is rather "a series of studies of the leading men of the century, intended to show the importance of the personal element in those miserable days of storm and stress." We hear of the tragic struggle of the brothers Gracchi to make farm ownership possible again for ordinary Romans, of Marius's reform of the army, and of the ruthless proscriptions of Sulla...

This is this story of William Duncan, an English missionary, who established a colony among the Tsimshian people of the Pacific Northwest. He worked there from 1856 until his death in 1918 at the age of 86. - Summary by Fritz

This biography of Abraham Lincoln focuses on his practice as a lawyer.

Henry Martyn , a brilliant and ambitious young student in Cambridge, England, was led by God to be a missionary to India and Persia. While pastoring, starting schools, and teaching the locals as well as Europeans through his role as chaplain for the East India Company, he worked on several far-reaching Bible translations. All this despite much weakness and illness due to harsh climates and difficult travels. This short life of 31 years is a testament to the power of God to work through one life fully dedicated to Him.

James Cook , British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the Royal Navy was the son of a farm laborer. Apprenticed to a grocer, he ran away to sea. He saw hard service in the Baltic as a merchant seaman, while applying himself to the study of mathematics, navigation, and astronomy. In 1755 he volunteered for the Royal Navy, working his way up to captain. This little biography by Walter Besant, chronicles Cook's three voyages of discovery and his violent death in Hawaii. Cook replaced vague mythology with accurate observations of people and places, animals and plants...

W.R.W. Stephens, the Anglican Dean of Winchester, writes a short, lively biography of the great church reformer, Hildebrand of Sovana , afterwards Pope Gregory VII, setting his life within the larger context of the struggle for dominance between the Holy Roman Empire and the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The roots of the conflict can be traced to the alliance made between Pope Stephen II and his successors and the Frankish King Pippin and his son Charlemagne to break the power of the Lombard Kingdom in Italy...

Josephine Brown's Biography of an American Bondsman faithfully follows the trajectory of her father's life as previously explored in his own narratives. She distills and summarizes the major revelatory moments of his autobiography while she also incorporates new anecdotal information and offers her own perspective on Brown's life. Whereas her biography draws frequently from previously published autobiographical accounts, the narrative style and comic flourishes add interest and value to the text...

A collection of short biographies of six Catholic Queens who became saints. Saint Margaret of Scotland - Saint Elisabeth of Portugal - Saint Clotildus, Saint Ragedund, and Saint Bathildis, all Queens of the Franks - and Saint Elizabeth of Hungary.

William Wolfe Capes was an Anglican cleric, a classicist, and a historian. This is his short chronicle of the early Roman Empire, from the aftermath of the murder of Julius Caesar in 44 B.C.E. to the assassination of the tyrannical Domitian in 96 C.E.. Capes writes about the intervening emperors, including the notorious Caligula and Nero, and then devotes chapters to Roman citizenship, life in the provinces, trade, religion, the frontiers, and the army.