On May 3, 1861, Illinois Governor Richard Yates appointed a Mexican War veteran with Democratic sympathies and southern ties to be chief mustering officer at Camp Yates in Springfield. By March 1864, Grant had risen to lieutenant general, a rank last held by George Washington. This biography details the three years which saw Ulysses S. Grant's extraordinary rise from mediocre shop clerk to general-in-chief of the U.S. Army. Beginning with Grant's work at his family's leather shop in Galena, Illinois, it records his re-entry into a military life as a volunteer from Illinois. Grant's most...

Exploring the French roots of the Arthurian legends and the source material of the individual characters, this critical text pays special attention to the role played by de Troyes, whose contribution to the saga continues to shape the modern imagination.

Over the millennia, many great writers, from Pliny and Plutarch to C.S. Lewis and John Steinbeck, have addressed diverse canine themes in their work, usually in a broader, human context. Late in the 20th century it was conclusively established by modern science that all dogs, without exception, are descended from wolves. Viewed within the dynamic lens of this new model, the constantly evolving relationship between humankind and canines, both wild and domesticated, appears more complex and intertwined than ever before. This survey reviews what 20 selected authors from the Western tradition...