David "Davy" Crockett (August 17, 1786 – March 6, 1836) was a celebrated 19th century American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier and politician. He is commonly referred to in popular culture by the epithet “King of the Wild Frontier.” He represented Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives, served in the Texas Revolution, and died at the Battle of the Alamo. This narrative attempts faithfully to record the influences under which David Crockett was reared and the incidents of his wild and wondrous life...

A history of Russia from 500 B.C. to 1855 A.D., written by John Stevens Cabot Abbott, the brother of Jacob Abbott.

The Monadology (La Monadologie, 1714) is one of Gottfried Leibniz’s best known works representing his later philosophy. It is a short text which sketches in some 90 paragraphs a metaphysics of simple substances, or monads. What he proposed can be seen as a modification of occasionalism developed by latter-day Cartesians. Leibniz surmised that there are indefinitely many substances individually ‘programmed’ to act in a predetermined way, each program being coordinated with all the others. This is the pre-established harmony which solved the mind body problem at the cost of declaring any interaction between substances a mere appearance, something which Leibniz accepted...

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 Elizabeth. 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 one includes the biographies of Matilda of Flanders, Matilda of Scotland, Adelicia of Louvaine, Matilda of Boulogne and Eleanora of Aquitaine.(Introduction by Ann Boulais)

Mr. Clark and Donald spend a year out west to the Crescent Ranch in Idaho learning about raising sheep.

Published posthumously in 1919, this collection of diary entries presents a scathing picture of army life and is said to be one of the most vivid accounts of daily life in the trenches. It chronicles West's increasing disillusion with war and his move toward pacifist and atheist beliefs. The final part consists of his powerful war poems, including God, How I Hate You, You Young Cheerful Men, and Night Patrol. West was killed by a sniper in 1917. In view of some of his poems, one wonders if death was not unwelcome. (Introduction adapted from Wikipedia by Ruth Golding)

The poetry of childhood is full of attractiveness to the artist, and many and varied are the forms in which he interprets it. The Christ-child has been his highest ideal. All that human imagination could conceive of innocence and purity and divine loveliness has been shown forth in the delineation of the Babe of Bethlehem. The influence of such art has made itself felt upon all child pictures. It matters not whether the subject be a prince or a street-waif; the true artist sees in him something which is lovable and winning, and transfers it to his canvas for our lasting pleasure.

This is a letter to the Toronto Board of Trade regarding Canadian copyrights. Morang requested an appearance before the Toronto Board of Trade but was denied. This is his letter in response. He wished to make clear his position.

Imagine a young, twenty-something woman in 1860, reared “in the indolent life of the ordinary Southern girl” (which means she has never learned to cook); married to a professional man who knows “nothing of manual labor;” who is mother to a young son; and who has just found out she is pregnant with their second child. Imagine that this couple has become “embarrassed financially” by “imprudent speculations,” and that they are discussing what to do. They decide to buy a wagon and three yoke of unbroke oxen and head overland to California...

Mrs. Mary Jemison was taken by the Indians, in the year 1755, when only about twelve years of age, and has continued to reside amongst them to the present time. Containing an account of the murder of her father and his family; her sufferings; her marriage to two Indians; her troubles with her children; barbarities of the Indians in the French and Revolutionary Wars; the life of her last husband, and many historical facts never before published.

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.

Vizetelly, writing under the pseudonym J. Tyrwhitt Brooks, recalls an expedition to California he took between 1847-1848 . Originally, he planned to enlist as a surgeon for the US Army during the Mexican war, but conflicts had ended by the time he applied. In a quick change of plans, he joined a group of prospectors on their way to the newly found gold fields of California. While he might not find service in the military, his training as a physician made him a valuable addition to the ragtag team of explorers...

A look at some of the famous women in European history. Includes biographies on Cleopatra; Isabella of Castile; Joan of Arc; Maria Theresa; Josephine; Elizabeth of England; Mary of Scotland; Catherine of Russia; Marie Antoinette; and Madame Roland. Mr. Jenkins, whose name remains on the title-page of this volume, was prevented from finishing the work for a long time by sickness, and finally by death. The first chapter is from his pen, and the rest has been written according to his instructions by one whom he selected, and who has had access to works rare in this country, such as Monstrelet's Chronicles, Tooke's Life of Catherine II...

Watkin Tench was an officer of the British Marines in the First Fleet to settle NSW. This is an interesting and entertaining account of his experiences during that time (Introduction by Tabithat)

The Chemical History of a Candle is a series of 6 lectures on chemistry presented to a juvenile audience in 1848. Taught by Michael Faraday - a chemist and physist, and regarded as the best experimentalist in the history of science - it is probably the most famous of the Christmas Lectures of the Royal Society. Taking the everyday burning of a candle as a starting point, Faraday spans the arc from combustion and its products, via the components of water and air (oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon), back to the type of combustion that happens in the human body when we breathe...

A sketch of the second regiment of Connecticut volunteer heavy artillery, originally the Nineteenth Volunteer Infantry, in the Civil War.

The National Gambling Impact Study Commission was given the task of conducting a comprehensive legal and factual study on the social and economic implications of gambling in the United States. This report presents the principal findings of that work and recommendations for action.

Constitución vigente en España actualmente, fruto de la Transición a la democracia tras la muerte de Francisco Franco. (Introducción por AGV)

Phineas Taylor Barnum (July 5, 1810 – April 7, 1891) was an American showman, businessman, and entertainer, remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and for founding the circus that became the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.(br />His successes may have made him the first "show business" millionaire. Although Barnum was also an author, publisher, philanthropist, and for some time a politician, he said of himself, "I am a showman by profession...and all the gilding shall make nothing else of me," and his personal aims were "to put money in his own coffers". (Reference: Wikipedia.org)

Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821 – 1890) was an English explorer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, ethnologist, linguist, poet, hypnotist, fencer and diplomat. He was known for his travels and explorations within Asia and Africa as well as his extraordinary knowledge of languages and cultures. According to one count, he spoke 29 European, Asian, and African languages.Burton's best-known achievements include traveling in disguise to Mecca, The Book of One Thousand Nights and A Night, an...

Although the origin of this book is much debated it remains, perhaps, one of the earliest recorded histories of Britain. It was believed that Nennius wrote the book around 796AD. If indeed he wrote this record, Nennius is recognised as being a teller, and embellisher, of historic characters and events.This book remains notable however, as one of the earliest that mention Arthur (The King of Arthurian legend).

Donald Alexander Mackenzie was a Scottish journalist and prolific writer on religion, mythology and anthropology in the early 20th century. His works included Indian Myth and Legend, Celtic Folklore and Myths of China and Japan.As well as writing books, articles and poems, he often gave lectures, and also broadcast talks on Celtic mythology.This volume deals with the myths and legends of Babylonia and Assyria, and as these reflect the civilization in which they developed, a historical narrative has been provided, beginning with the early Sumerian Age and concluding with the periods of the Persian and Grecian Empires...

Few stories of shipwreck and survival can equal that of the 16th century Spaniard Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca who, cast ashore near present day (USA) Tampa Bay, Florida, in 1528, survived eight years of hand-to-mouth existence among the Indians of the South and Southwest, and who walked on foot across the plains to the Pacific Coast, arriving in Mexico in 1536. In 1542 he published an account of his adventures, and the present reading is based on Fanny Bandelier’s English translation of that text...

In 1770, Baron D'Holbach published his masterpiece, "Systeme de la Nature", which for a long time passed as the posthumous work of M. de Mirabaud. That text-book of "Atheistical Philosophy" caused a great sensation, and two years later, 1772, the Baron published this excellent abridgment of it, freed from arbitrary ideas; and by its clearness of expression, facility, and precision of style, rendered it most suitable for the average student. This text is based on an undated English translation of "Le Bon Sens" published c. 1900. The name of the translator was not stated.

The Story of the Pony Express offers an in depth account behind the need for a mail route to connect the eastern U.S. with the rapidly populating west coast following the gold rush of California, the springing up of lumber camps, and all incidental needs arising from the settling of the western frontier. Here we learn of the inception of the Pony Express, its formation, successes, failures, facts, statistics, combined with many anecdotes and names of the people who were an integral part of this incredible entity which lasted but less than two years, yet was instrumental in the successful settlement of two thirds of the land mass comprising the expanding country...