"THE primary object of this book is to furnish our children with material for becoming acquainted with the development of American life and history as found in Southern writers and their works. It may serve as a reader supplementary to American history and literature, or it may be made the ground-work for serious study of Southern life and letters; and between these extremes there are varying degrees of usefulness. To state its origin will best explain its existence. This may furthermore be of some help to teachers in using the book, though each teacher will use it as best suits his classes and methods. The study of History is rising every day in importance. Sir Walter Raleigh in his Historie of the World well said, It hath triumphed over time, which besides it nothing but eternity hath triumphed over. It is the still living word of the vanished ages. The best way of teaching history has of late years received much attention. One excellent method is to read, in connection with the text-book, good works of fiction, dramas, poetry, and historical novels, bearing upon the different epochs, and also to read the works of the authors [Pg4] themselves of these different periods. We thus make history and literature illustrate and beautify each other. The dry dates become covered with living facts, the past is peopled with real beings instead of hard names, fiction receives a solid basis for its airy architecture, and the mind of the pupil is interested and broadened. Even the difficult subjects of politics and institutions gradually assume a more pleasing aspect by being associated with individual human interests, and condescend to simplify themselves through personal relations.

To illustrate this method, which I have used with great success in teaching English History: In connection with the times of the early Britons, read Tennysons Idyls of the King. At the Norman Conquest, Bulwers Harold. At the reign of Richard I. (Coeur de Lion), Scotts Ivanhoe and Talisman, Shaksperes King John. At the reign of Elizabeth, Scotts Kenilworth, the non-historical plays of Shakspere, as he lived at that epoch, Bacons Essays, and others. I mention merely a few. The amount of reading can be increased almost indefinitely and will depend on the time of the pupil, the plan of the teacher, and the accessibility of the books. Most of the books necessary for English History are now published in cheap form and are within reach of every pupil. A great deal of reading is very desirable; it is the only way to give our pupils any broad view of literature and history, and to cultivate a taste for reading in those destitute of it. It is often the only opportunity for reading which some pupils will ever have, and it lasts them a life-time as a pleasure and a benefit.The reading may be done in the class or out of school hours. It is well to read as much as practicable in class, and to have some sketch of the outside reading given in class."

The classic irreverent look at the past -- now updated with even more appalling facts!

Fourteen billion or so years ago, the Big Bang exploded -- and it's been downhill from there. For every spectacular discovery throughout history, there have been hundreds of devastating epidemics; for every benevolent despot, a thousand like Vlad the Impaler; for every cup half-full, a larger cup half-empty. This enthralling, enlightening, and devilishly entertaining chronicle of disasters and dastardly deeds brings to light the darkest events in history and the most abysmal calamities to strike the planet . . . so far.

88 BC: Mithridates VI Eupator provides an early example of genocide by massacring 100,000 Romans.

1347: Saint Vitus' Dance Epidemic shimmies across Europe like a deadly disco fever, leaving its victims twitching, uncontrollably leaping, and foaming at the mouth.

1888: Jack the Ripper stalks through the dark alleys of Whitechapel, England, turning the world's oldest profession into the world's most dangerous one.

1939: A Swiss chemist wins a Nobel Prize for developing DDT -- and the environment gets another nail in the coffin.

2005: Hurricane Katrina devastates the Gulf Coast. In a classic double whammy, the government response also devastates the Gulf Coast.

And much, much more! ]]> http://www.ebooksabouteverything.com/ebooks/item/9780061781728/Flexner,-Doris---Flexner,-Stuart-Berg-The-Pessimist's-Guide-to-History-3e-(Mobipocket).html Fri, 21 Nov 2008 54:11:53 GMT http://www.ebooksabouteverything.com/ebooks/item/9780061781728/Flexner,-Doris---Flexner,-Stuart-Berg-The-Pessimist's-Guide-to-History-3e-(Mobipocket).html
From the authors of the bestselling In the Company of Heroes come the thrilling, never-before-heard stories of the Army's elite aviation unit, the most daring and professional helicopter crews in the world.In his first book, Michael Durant told his harrowing tale of being shot down in his Blackhawk over Mogadishu and held captive by a Somali warlord. It was a remarkable account, particularly because Special Operations pilots are notoriously reticent -- they don't talk about their missions, at least not to anyone outside their small community. But now, with the publication of The Night Stalkers, Durant and Steven Hartov shed a fascinating light on these mysterious super commandos and take readers into a world they have only imagined.From Iran to Grenada to Iraq, the 160th SOAR (A) has been at the point of the spear and in the thick of combat, delivering and supporting Delta operators, Rangers, and SEAL teams to any target, at any point on the globe, in all weather -- night or day. Simply put, they are the best of the best, and here for the first time are their hair-raising true stories of battle, capture, victory, and loss. ]]> http://www.ebooksabouteverything.com/ebooks/item/9781436279826/Durant,-Michael---Hartov,-Steve-The-Night-Stalkers-(Mobipocket).html Fri, 21 Nov 2008 54:11:53 GMT http://www.ebooksabouteverything.com/ebooks/item/9781436279826/Durant,-Michael---Hartov,-Steve-The-Night-Stalkers-(Mobipocket).html
The author of the record-breaking bestseller Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil unveils the enigmatic Venice as only he canIt was twelve years ago that Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil achieved a record-breaking four-year run on the New York Times bestseller list. John Berendt's inimitable brand of nonfiction brought the dark mystique of Savannah so startlingly to life for millions of people that tourism to Savannah increased by 46 percent. It is Berendt and only Berendt who can capture Venice -- a city of masks, a city of riddles, where the narrow, meandering passageways form a giant maze, confounding all who have not grown up wandering into its depths.Venice, a city steeped in a thousand years of history, art and architecture, teeters in precarious balance between endurance and decay. Its architectural treasures crumble -- foundations shift, marble ornaments fall -- even as efforts to preserve them are underway. The City of Falling Angels opens on the evening of January 29, 1996, when a dramatic fire destroys the historic Fenice opera house. The loss of the Fenice, where five of Verdi's operas premiered, is a catastrophe for Venetians. Arriving in Venice three days after the fire, Berendt becomes a kind of detective -- inquiring into the nature of life in this remarkable museum-city -- while gradually revealing the truth about the fire.In the course of his investigations, Berendt introduces us to a rich cast of characters: a prominent Venetian poet whose shocking "suicide" prompts his skeptical friends to pursue a murder suspect on their own; the first family of American expatriates that loses possession of the family palace after four generations of ownership; an organization of high-society, partygoing Americans who raise money to preserve the art and architecture of Venice, while quarreling in public among themselves, questioning one another's motives and drawing startled Venetians into the fray; a contemporary Venetian surrealist painter and outrageous provocateur; the master glassblower of Venice; and numerous others -- stool pigeons, scapegoats, hustlers, sleepwalkers, believers in Martians, the Plant Man, the Rat Man, and Henry James.Berendt tells a tale full of atmosphere and surprise as the stories build, one after the other, ultimately coming together to reveal a world as finely drawn as a still-life painting. The fire and its aftermath serve as a leitmotif that runs throughout, adding the elements of chaos, corruption, and crime and contributing to the ever-mounting suspense of this brilliant book. ]]> http://www.ebooksabouteverything.com/ebooks/item/9781436287357/Berendt,-John-The-City-of-Falling-Angels-(Mobipocket).html Fri, 21 Nov 2008 54:11:53 GMT http://www.ebooksabouteverything.com/ebooks/item/9781436287357/Berendt,-John-The-City-of-Falling-Angels-(Mobipocket).html
At the end of the fifteenth century, the Spanish Inquisition forced many Jews to flee the country. The most adventurous among them took to the high seas as freewheeling outlaws. In ships bearing names such as the Prophet Samuel, Queen Esther, and Shield of Abraham, they attacked and plundered the Spanish fleet while forming alliances with other European powers to ensure the safety of Jews living in hiding.

JEWISH PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN is the entertaining saga of a hidden chapter in Jewish history and of the cruelty, terror, and greed that flourished during the Age of Discovery. Readers will meet such daring figures as “the Great Jewish Pirate” Sinan, Barbarossa’s second-in-command; the pirate rabbi Samuel Palache, who founded Holland's Jewish community; Abraham Cohen Henriques, an arms dealer who used his cunning and economic muscle to find safe havens for other Jews; and his pirate brother Moses, who is credited with the capture of the Spanish silver fleet in 1628--the largest heist in pirate history.

Filled with high-sea adventures—including encounters with Captain Morgan and other legendary pirates—and detailed portraits of cities stacked high with plunder, such as Port Royal, Jamaica, JEWISH PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN captures a gritty and glorious era of history from an unusual and eye-opening perspective.


From the Hardcover edition. ]]> http://www.ebooksabouteverything.com/ebooks/item/9780385528368/Kritzler,-Edward-Jewish-Pirates-of-the-Caribbean:-How-a-Generation-of-Swashbuckling-Jews-Carved-Out-an-Empire-in-the-New-World-in-Their-Quest-for-Treasure,-Religious-F.html Fri, 21 Nov 2008 54:11:53 GMT http://www.ebooksabouteverything.com/ebooks/item/9780385528368/Kritzler,-Edward-Jewish-Pirates-of-the-Caribbean:-How-a-Generation-of-Swashbuckling-Jews-Carved-Out-an-Empire-in-the-New-World-in-Their-Quest-for-Treasure,-Religious-F.html
]]> http://www.ebooksabouteverything.com/ebooks/item/parent-9780743260800/Kennedy,-Maxwell-Taylor-Danger's-Hour-.html Fri, 21 Nov 2008 54:11:53 GMT http://www.ebooksabouteverything.com/ebooks/item/parent-9780743260800/Kennedy,-Maxwell-Taylor-Danger's-Hour-.html
]]> http://www.ebooksabouteverything.com/ebooks/item/parent-9780553381481/Hornfischer,-James-The-Last-Stand-of-the-Tin-Can-Sailors-.html Fri, 21 Nov 2008 54:11:53 GMT http://www.ebooksabouteverything.com/ebooks/item/parent-9780553381481/Hornfischer,-James-The-Last-Stand-of-the-Tin-Can-Sailors-.html

Quarrel with the King tells the story of the first four earls of Pembroke, their wives, children, estates, tenants, and allies, following their high and glamorous trajectory from the 1520s through 1650—the most turbulent and dramatic years of English history—across three generations of change, ambition, resistance, and war. The Pembrokes were at the heart of it all: the richest family in England, with old blood and new drive, led as much by a succession of extraordinary women as by their husbands and sons.

It is also the story of a power struggle, over a long century, between the family and the growing strength of the English Crown. For decades, questions of loyalty simmered: Was government about agreement and respect, or authority and compulsion? What status did traditional rights have in a changing world? Did a national emergency mean those rights could be ignored or overturned? These were the issues that in 1642 would lead to a brutal civil war, the bloodiest conflict England has ever experienced, in which the earl of Pembroke—who had been loyal till then—had no choice but to rebel against a king who he felt had betrayed both him and his country.

At other times, the Pembrokes both threatened the Crown and acted as its bruisingly efficient and violent agents. They were ambivalent figures: flag bearers for an ancient England and time servers in some of the most corrupt courts England has ever known; fawning courtiers and indulgent landlords; puritanical aristocrats and rebel grandees. Nicolson's book amounts to a study in all the ambiguities involved in the exercise and maintenance of power and status.