A series of essays for music lovers, covering many topics. From music appreciation, to violin and symphony, music education, to piano and, in fact, the very origins of music, there is sure to be something for everyone.

THREE great names stand forth conspicuous in the annals of America, those of Washington, Bolívar, San Martin. Of Washington, the great leader of the Democracy of the North; of Bolívar and of San Martin, who were the emancipators of the southern half of the continent. The story of the life-work of the latter of these two is the Argument of this book.The scene of action passes on a vast theatre, a territory extending for more than fifty degrees of latitude, from Cape Horn to the Tropic of Cancer, and occupies twenty years of strife...

Brother Stephen has the heart of an artist and wishes to leave the abbey to travel and see the world. However, King Louis has decreed that an "hour book" be made for his bride, Lady Anne, which in turn causes the Abbott to refuse Brother Stephen's request to leave the brotherhood as his illuminations are the most beautiful, and as such, he desires that Brother Stephen should be the one to make the hour book. This decision angers Brother Stephen. Will Brother Stephen stay at the abbey and carry out his task or will he refuse and bring about a ban against him, a serious matter indeed...

This detailed biography covers the places in Lincoln's life: Indiana, Illinois, Washington. It also traces his various roles as storekeeper, serviceman, state legislator, lawyer, politician, Republican Party leader, and of course President. Along the way we learn about his days of hardship as a beginning lawyer, his love for Anne Rutledge, such myths as "Honest Abe," and his deep concerns over the issue of slavery. The author uses Lincoln's correspondence with others to show his personality traits and opinions about topics of his world.

These two articles were reproduced as an e-book by Project Gutenberg in 2008 to supplement "...several articles by Frederick Douglass, whose larger work was presented in book form as a January, 1993 Project Gutenberg Etext to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day...." The articles narrated here are "My Escape From Slavery" (1881) and "Reconstruction" (1866).

The life of Frederick Douglass, recorded in the pages which follow, is not merely an example of self elevation under the most adverse circumstances; it is, moreover, a noble vindication of the highest aims of the American anti-slavery movement.

Paris in 1792 is no longer what it was in 1789. In 1789, the old French society was still brilliant. The past endured beside the present. Neither names nor escutcheons, neither liveries nor places at court, had been suppressed. The aristocracy and the Revolution lived face to face. In 1792, the scene has changed."France was now on the verge of the Reign of Terror (la Terreur), the violent years following the Revolution, and this book chronicles the terrible period of French history which culminated in the proclamation: "Royalty is abolished in France...

The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government (1881) is written by Jefferson Davis, former President of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. Davis wrote the book as a straightforward history of the Confederate States of America and as an apologia for the causes that he believed led to and justified the American Civil War. Davis spared little detail in describing every aspect of the Confederate constitution and government, in addition to which he retold in detail numerous military campaigns...

This biography contains three main sections. the first covers Adams's early years and his time as a diplomat--both in America and overseas. The second tells of his two careers as Secretary of State and President. The last involves his years in the House of Representatives.

Josephine Elizabeth Butler was a Victorian era British feminist who was strongly committed to liberal reforms. As a result of her efforts, international organisations including the International Abolitionist Federation were set up to campaign against state regulation of prostitution and the trafficking in women and children. This book reflects her abhorrence of slavery in all its forms and is particularly pertinent in our world of today.

Published in 1897, this book describes the advent of Christianity in the United States from the landing of the first explorers with their mission to convert the natives to the time immediately following the Civil War. Bacon discusses the church's response to the social, political and religious issues of the day, and provides an introduction to the beginnings of such para-church organizations as the YMCA and American Bible Society.

This, volume 21 of the Chronicles of Canada series, describes the settlement of the Red River Colony by Lord Selkirk, and the struggles it had against the North-West Company. The fledgling settlement eventually became the city of Manitoba.

Southern Arabia recounts a threatening four-month journey into North Eastern Ethiopia by the Bents. These brave travelers were the first to travel without disguise in a region where Westerners had formerly been fortunate to escape with their lives.

Station Life in New Zealand is a collection of cheerful and interesting letters written by Lady Mary Anne Barker (nee Mary Anne Stewart) that is a New Zealand "classic". These letters are described in the Preface as "the exact account of a lady's experience of the brighter and less practical side of colonisation". The letters were written between 1865 and 1868 and cover the time of her travel with her husband (Frederick Broomie) to New Zealand and life on a colonial sheep-station at their homestead "Broomielaw", located in the Province of Canterbury, South Island of New Zealand...

A charming collection of 14 short American history plays for the very young - ranging from Christopher Columbus to George Washington to Susan B Anthony.

Commissioned by the US War Department and written in 1859 by a decorated US Army captain, The Prairie Traveler is a complete how-to travel guide for the westward-bound pioneer. Covering topics from first aid for rattlesnake bites to how to travel 70 miles across the desert without water for one's livestock, the guide includes 28 travel itineraries with mileage and firewood availability.

This first volume of a two volume set traces the trials and triumphs of the Catholic Church during the period before the reformation up to the 19th century. The origins, causes and developments of the various protestant sects that were the fruit of the reformation are studied in depth, as well as the men, schools of thought and movements within and without the Church that influenced this important time period in Church history.

From a cabin back in the mountains of Tennessee, forty-eight miles from the railroad, a young man went to the World War. He was untutored in the ways of the world. Caught by the enemy in the cove of a hill in the Forest of Argonne, he did not run; but sank into the bushes and single-handed fought a battalion of German machine gunners until he made them come down that hill to him with their hands in air. There were one hundred and thirty-two of them left, and he marched them, prisoners, into the American line...

This book tells the story of exploration in America in the words of the explorers themselves. It consists of extracts from narratives of the early discoverers and explorers of the American continent from the Northmen in 10th century to 17th century Massachusets Bay Colony. - Summary by Kikisaulite

The Ordeal of Mark Twain analyzes the literary progression of Samuel L. Clemens and attributes shortcomings to Clemens' mother and wife. The Encyclopaedia Britannica says, Brooks' work "was a psychological study attempting to show that Twain had crippled himself emotionally and curtailed his genius by repressing his natural artistic bent for the sake of his Calvinist upbringing." Also, Brooks says, his literary spirit was sidelined as "...Mark Twain was inducted into the Gilded Age, launched, in defiance of that instinct which only for a few years was to allow him inner peace, upon the vast welter of a society blind like himself, like him committed to the pursuit of worldly success...

This is not merely a book about the Russian Jews. It is a marvellous revelation of the Russian soul. It shows not only that the overwhelming majority of the Russian intellectuals, including nearly all of her brilliant literary geniuses, are opposed to the persecution of the Jews or any other race, but that they have a capacity for sympathy and understanding of humanity unequalled in any other land. I do not know of any book where the genius and heart of Russia is better displayed. Not only her leading litterateurs but also her leading statesmen and economists are represented—and all of them speak as with a single voice.

This is the first book in the bibliography of Walter Lippmann, written three years after emerging from Harvard where he studied under the pragmatists Santayana and James. Although the work is a century old, the reader of today may still find in it, with its focus on practical human needs, a refreshing view towards the fundamental purpose (and persistent flaws) of politics, and indeed government itself, just as relevant and meaningful today as when it was written.

No exhaustive Canadian 'water history' can possibly be attempted here. That would require a series of its own. But at least a first attempt will be made to give some general idea of what such a history would contain in fuller detail: of the kayaks and canoes the Eskimos and Indians used before the white man came, and use today; of the small craft moved by oar and sail that slowly displaced those moved only by the paddle; of the sailing vessels proper, and how they plied along Canadian waterways,...