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The River and I is a memoir written by John G. Neihardt, an American poet and writer, best known for his epic poem "Black Elk Speaks." "The River and I" was first published in 1910. It is an autobiographical work that captures Neihardt's experiences and reflections during a canoe trip down the Missouri River.
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Consider by scholars as the single most influential book in naval strategy, Alfred Thayer Mahan's "The Influence of Sea Power Upon History: 1660-1783," is a history of naval warfare and sea power during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that would have a profound influence on the world in the early part of the twentieth century. After the publication of this work the policies outlined in it would soon be adopted by the major military powers...
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Excerpt: "If the average student of Western American History in our schools were asked to recall those names which loom large for him during the four decades from the purchase of the Louisiana Territory to the coming of the settlers, he would doubtless think of Lewis and Clark, Lieutenant Pike, Major Long, and General Frémont, with perhaps one or two others. That is to say, the average student of Western History is familiar with the names of official...
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Excerpt: "A one-room log cabin, with an indolently smoking chimney, squatted in sullen destitution a hundred yards away. Before the door a ramshackle wagon stood waiting for nothing with its load of snow. Down yonder in the brushy draw an all-but-roofless shed stared listlessly upon the dull February sky. With a man-denying look, the empty reservation landscape round about lay hushed and bluing in the cold. Raising the flap of the tepee, with its...
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Excerpt: "In ransacking old court records, newspapers, diaries and letters for the historic foundation of the books which I have written on colonial history, I have found and noted much of interest that has not been used or referred to in any of those books. An accumulation of notes on old-time laws, punishments and penalties has evoked this volume. The subject is not a pleasant one, though it often has a humorous element; but a punishment that is...
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Excerpt: "When the rule limiting speeches to an hour was adopted by Congress, which was before most of you were born, an eminent but somewhat discursive person spent more than that measure of time in convincing me that whoever really had anything to say could say it in less. I then and there acquired a conviction of this truth, which has only strengthened with years. Yet whoever undertakes to lecture must adapt his discourse to the law which requires...
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Excerpt: "This book should perhaps have been "intituled" Colonial Days in New Netherland, for much of the life described herein was in the days of Dutch rule. But it was New Netherland for scarce half a century, and the name is half-forgotten, though it remained, both in outer life and in heart, a Dutch colonie, even when the province was New York and an English governor had control. In New Netherland, as in every place where the Dutch plant a colony,...
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Excerpt: "Through the quiet night, crystalline with the pervading spirit of the frost, under prairie skies of mystic purple pierced with the glass-like glinting of the stars, fled Antoine. Huge and hollow-sounding with the clatter of the pinto's hoofs hung the night above and about-lonesome, empty, bitter as the soul of him who fled. A weary age of flight since sunset; and now the midnight saw the thin-limbed, long-haired pony slowly losing his nerve,...
10) Life in Mexico
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Life in Mexico is a travel narrative written by Frances Erskine Inglis, who used the pen name Madame Calderón de la Barca. Originally published in 1843, the book offers a vivid and insightful portrayal of Mexico during the mid-19th century. Madame Calderón de la Barca, the Scottish-born wife of a Spanish diplomat, provides observations on Mexican society, culture, and politics.
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The Retreat of the Ten Thousand refers to the historical event documented in Xenophon's "Anabasis." The Anabasis is an ancient Greek work that recounts the journey of a Greek mercenary army, led by Cyrus the Younger, into the Persian Empire and their subsequent harrowing retreat.
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Excerpt: "Some of the flowers described are found along every country highway. It is interesting to note that these wayside flowers may usually be classed among the foreign population. They have been brought to us from Europe in ballast and in loads of grain, and invariably follow in the wake of civilization. Many of our most beautiful native flowers have been crowded out of the hospitable roadside by these aggressive, irresistible, and mischievous...
14) Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, His Early Life as a Slave, His Escape From Bondage, and Histor
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The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass is a compelling autobiography that chronicles the remarkable journey of Frederick Douglass from his early life as a slave to his eventual escape from bondage and his significant contributions to the abolitionist movement. In summary, Frederick Douglass's life is a testament to resilience, determination, and the pursuit of justice. His journey from slavery to freedom, coupled with his impactful advocacy, has...
16) The Pioneer West
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Excerpt: "The history of America is the story of trail-makers, pioneers in every sense of the word. Our forefathers had trails to make in new fields of government, of invention and in city building, but before all, smoothing the way for all, came the men and women who explored and ploughed and planted the wilderness. Their story will grow in interest as the years pass. Their deeds have already taken on something of the dim quality of heroic myths....
17) Electricity
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Excerpt: "Although the science of electricity is of comparatively recent date, electricity itself has existed from the beginning of the world. There can be no doubt that man's introduction to electricity was brought about through the medium of the thunderstorm, and from very early times come down to us records of the terror inspired by thunder and lightning, and of the ways in which the ancients tried to account for the phenomena. Even to-day, although...
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Excerpt: "For that matter the whole west coast of Africa is called by the natives The White Man's Grave; and everywhere the fever stalks along the beach like a grim sentinel warning the stranger to stay away and ready to beat him into delirium and death if he lands. But the name, The White Man's Grave, is especially attached to several of the oldest of the coast settlements. Notable among these is Gaboon, in the French Congo, almost exactly at the...
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Excerpt: ""We were a jolly pair, we two, and ladies at that; and we had decided to go, amid the protestations of the towns-people and the remarks of Madam Grundy that it was not proper, and that there were so many tramps it was not prudent for two ladies to take a trip with their horse and carriage along the North Shore. Nevertheless, we take our lives in our hands, and 'do the trip' in a large comfortable, roomy buggy," etc. A letter in the Boston...