The story of the Scots-Irish is one of the struggles and achievements of an American immigrant group that existed for only a short period, whose descendants continued to make their marks on the young country for generations. From the North of Ireland to the backwoods of the American frontier, the tale of the Scots-Irish includes a massive exodus to the New World, where they founded communities in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, and the Irish Tract of North Carolina during the Revolutionary War era. Containing nearly six thousand names of documented settlers of the primarily Scots-Irish...

Ms. Ahearne,

You are, no doubt, surprised at receiving this unexpected message.

So starts an intriguing letter promising great changes for Callie Ahearne.

Texas wasn't big enough. She's out of cash, out of work, and out on her own, but she's big on adventure and flies to Ireland on little more than a promise and a prayer to meet her Irish benefactor, who believes she is the last of her kind, descended of an ancient Irish race. She thinks he's crazy, but is willing to listen as long as he is footing the bills.

When his latest ruse to unlock her secrets goes bad, a helicopter...

The creative author may select names for characters arbitrarily, accidentally, or as a matter of deliberate planning, but the names can make all the difference. James Bond, Uriah Heep, Dirk Pitt, Silas Marner, Ebenezer Scrooge - all examples of names intimately idenfified with their characters and seemingly inherent to the type of stories they inhabit. Novel Last Names offers the author the opportunity to make appropriate choices, with thousands of alphabetically listed last names indexed by place of origin and meaning. No writer wants the hammer-wielding workman to be named Mr. Carpenter,...

Entertainment entrepreneur Nils T. Granlund (1882-1957) created the first movie preview, filmed the first commercial, was the first to broadcast a live sports event, and, as a popular radio personality, introduced the Jazz Age to America via his broadcasts from Harlem's Cotton Club. He is also acknowledged as the creator of the modern nightclub, introducing the high-kicking chorus line to the stages of Las Vegas. But though he was among the highest-grossing entertainers of the World War II era--and famous enough to star as "himself" in several Hollywood films--he died virtually penniless, and...