The Illinois frontier offered abundant opportunity, noted English traveler William Oliver after his journey to America in 1841-42, but life there was hard. Accordingly, Oliver advised the wealthy and comfortable to remain in England and counseled the unprosperous to seek their fortunes in America. Written for the poor who would migrate and published in 1843, his Eight Months in Illinois: With Information to Immigrants sought only to provide pertinent, valid, and practical information about what people might encounter in the frontier state. What Oliver actually accomplished, however,...

An unidentified virus is decimating the world. A highly ranked government scientist who had previously warned against such a potential peril is quick to recognize its virulence and the devastation it could cause. He convinces the president of the US to isolate all units of the Navy currently at sea and urgently trasfer equipment and scientists to these vessels to commence development of a cure. The world is rapidly succumbing to the pandemic except for one city, the most isolated capital city in the world, where early advice enabled the government to close down all trasport links (rail, road,...