On February 23, 1778, Frederick William Baron von Steuben reported to General George Washington at the Continental Army's bleak winder encampment at Valley Forge. Speaking virtually no English and at an unexpected ebb in his professional fortunes, Steuben nevertheless brought a depth of military training and grasp of command techniques sorely needed by the bedraggled, ragtag army. With his lofty military reputation, forceful bearing, and colorful personality, the Prussian commander had an immediate galvanizing effect on the disorganized insurgents. He soon became one of Washington's most...
On February 23, 1778, Frederick William Baron von Steuben reported to General George Washington at the Continental Army's bleak winder encampment at V...
For his fifteenth birthday in 1805, young Noah Blake's parents gave him a little leatherbound diary in which he recorded the various activities on his father's farm. This reprint of an actual early nineteenth-century book provides today's readers with a delightful rarity -- a view of bygone days through the eyes of a young boy. Eric Sloane has taken the notebook with its brief comments and expanded the daily entries with explanatory narrative and 72 of his own remarkable drawings. Verbal and graphic sketches detail the construction of an entire backwoods farm as well as such common tasks...
For his fifteenth birthday in 1805, young Noah Blake's parents gave him a little leatherbound diary in which he recorded the various activities on his...
In the summer of 1869, John Muir, a young Scottish immigrant, joined a crew of shepherds in the foothills of California's Sierra Nevada Mountains. The diary he kept while tending sheep formed the heart of this book and eventually lured thousands of Americans to visit Yosemite country. First published in 1911, My First Summer in the Sierra incorporates the lyrical accounts and sketches he produced during his four-month stay in the Yosemite River Valley and the High Sierra. His record tracks that memorable experience, describing in picturesque terms the majestic vistas, flora and...
In the summer of 1869, John Muir, a young Scottish immigrant, joined a crew of shepherds in the foothills of California's Sierra Nevada Mountains. The...
Handsome in appearance, simple in construction, and remarkably efficient, early American tools were true marvels of ingenuity. In the hands of skilled workers, they were used to create everything from simple shelters, wagons, and fences to intricately carved chairs, fireplace mantels, and door moldings. In this richly illustrated book, author and master craftsman Alex Bealer tells the fascinating story of early American woodworking, enthusiastically describing and clearly depicting a wide array of devices from axes wielded by frontiersmen to clear the land and build log cabins, to...
Handsome in appearance, simple in construction, and remarkably efficient, early American tools were true marvels of ingenuity. In the hands of skilled...
This simple, unvarnished account recalls the courageous life of Harriet Tubman, one of the best-known conductors on the Underground Railroad. First published in 1869 and privately printed to raise funds for the Moses of her people, Sarah Bradford s memorable biography recalls the former slave s grim childhood; her perilous experiences leading slaves into Canada; her efforts as a Civil War nurse, cook, and scout for the Union Army; and her post-conflict endeavors to aid and educate former slaves. An inspiring story of bravery, perseverance, and self-sacrifice, this accurate, reliable...
This simple, unvarnished account recalls the courageous life of Harriet Tubman, one of the best-known conductors on the Underground Railroad. First pu...
Read by presidents, scientists, and national heroes, the Boy Scouts Handbook has been used by generations of American youths. Filled with practical advice for everyone, the book contains everything from safety tips on swimming and instructions for putting up a tent to directions for making an aquarium and pointers on how to identify common North American trees. More than 200 figures and illustrations accompany valuable information on woodcrafting, camping, sailing, hiking, health and endurance, and providing first aid. But more than just a guide to outdoor life, the handbook also...
Read by presidents, scientists, and national heroes, the Boy Scouts Handbook has been used by generations of American youths. Filled with pract...
This collection of enthralling personal narratives vivifies life during and just after the era of slavery in the United States. First published 25 years after the Civil War ended, the volume was the work of an educated African-American woman who became the voice of many former slaves. The interviews she recorded tell of cruel punishments, divided families, and debilitating labor, but they also include information about religious beliefs and practices, as well as the condition and progress of former slaves.
This collection of enthralling personal narratives vivifies life during and just after the era of slavery in the United States. First published 25 yea...
The wife of a minister in a small frontier town west of Boston, Mary Rowlandson was forced to leave her house in the late winter of 1676 after marauding Indians set the building on fire. "I had often before this said," she later wrote, "that if the Indians should come, I should chuse rather to be killed by them than taken alive but when it came to the tryal my mind changed; their glittering weapons so daunted my spirit, that I chose rather to go along . . . than to end my days." Thus began Mary Rowlandson's account of her arduous journey as a servant to her captors, the Narragansett...
The wife of a minister in a small frontier town west of Boston, Mary Rowlandson was forced to leave her house in the late winter of 1676 after maraudi...
As a young widow with a small child, Elinore Pruitt left Denver in 1909 and set out for Wyoming, where she hoped to buy a ranch. Determined to prove that a lone woman could survive the hardships of homesteading, she initially worked as a housekeeper and hired hand for a neighbor a kind but taciturn Scottish bachelor whom she eventually married. Spring and summers were hard, she concedes, and were taken up with branding, farming, doctoring cattle, and other chores. But with the arrival of fall, Pruitt found time to take her young daughter on camping trips and serve her neighbors as midwife,...
As a young widow with a small child, Elinore Pruitt left Denver in 1909 and set out for Wyoming, where she hoped to buy a ranch. Determined to prove t...
A wide-eyed teenager during most of the Revolutionary War, Joseph Plumb Martin left his grandfather's farm in Connecticut in 1775 and spent much of the next eight years with the Continental Army, crisscrossing the mid-Atlantic states and returning north after the British surrender at Yorktown. His notes, penned when he was seventy, recount in grim detail his harrowing experiences during the conflict -- the staggering losses in human life, the agony of long marches, constant gnawing hunger, bitter cold, and the fear of battle, as well as a warts-and-all view of military leaders. Balancing...
A wide-eyed teenager during most of the Revolutionary War, Joseph Plumb Martin left his grandfather's farm in Connecticut in 1775 and spent much of th...