PICKLEBALL! The Curious History of Pickleball From its Origins as Picklepong 1959 - 1963 is for ALL to enjoy! This fascinating account of Pickleball's earliest iterations, from someone who was there to witness its birth, exposes the true beginnings of Pickleball as told by an eyewitness, albeit a young one.Patrick Smith's eloquently shared descriptions of the life and times and the people involved as the game was f...

"The Case Against Spirit Photographs" by C. Vincent Patrick and W. Whately Smith critically examines the phenomenon of spirit photography, a practice that gained popularity in the late 19th century. The authors delve into the historical context of these photographs, which purportedly captured the spirits of the deceased alongside the living. Through meticulous analysis, they reveal the techniques and deceptions employed by photographers to create these haunting images, challenging the auth...

Good evening,You hold in your hands, a collection of short stories of the most unfortunate verity. Bound within this volume are tales of revenge, mystery, kidnapping and unimaginable horror. Perhaps it is our duty to warn you of the sheer madness that you will find, if you choose to read further. In each story, you will find heroes, villains and monsters that defy the laws of sanity. Of course, these stories are meant to entertain… but they may, in fact, chill you.If you are ...

The Mind-Body Interface in Somatization: When Symptom Becomes Disease represents a unique contribution to the clinician's tool chest for diagnosing and treating psychosomatic illness. This book breaks new ground by asking and answering many of the key questions that trouble every practicing clinician: Why do patients use somatization? Can we predict who will be a somatizer? Is there an underlying process involved? Why are these patients so difficult to treat?Beginning with...

Preacher is on the move, joining a trail drive led by freewheeling adventurer Wiley Courtland. Wiley has good horses to deliver to the American Fur Company at Fort Gifford. An Indian war party, led by the cunning and ruthless Red Knife, has other plans.Furiously fighting their way to safety, the horse traders make it to Fort Gifford, where the beautiful wife of the fort's commander makes a raid of her own, with the help of Preacher's newfound buddy Wiley. While jealousy erupts, Red...

John Henry Cole's life has quieted down from what it had always been, and he can now settle down and make improvements on his small ranch. But everything changes when an old rancher named Wilson rides in with his two sons. Wilson is willing to pay Cole $5,000 to help get back his wife Lenora who has been taken hostage by Lucky Jack Dancer, an outlaw who had robbed the train on which she was a passenger. She is being held prisoner in Gun Town, a safe haven for outlaws. Cole had sided Lucky ...

Preparing the Next Generation of Oral Historians is an invaluable resource to educators seeking to bring history alive for students at all levels. The anthology opens with chapters on the fundamentals of oral history and its place in the classroom, but its heart lies in nearly two dozen insightful personal essays by educators who have successfully incorporated oral history into their own teaching. Filled with step by step descriptions and positive student feedback, these chapters ...

In this best-selling novel, Patrick D. Smith tels the story of three generations of the MacIveys, a Florida family who battle the hardships of the frontier to rise from a dirt-poor Cracker life to the wealth and standing of real estate tycoons. The story opens in 1858, when Tobias MacIvey arrives in the Florida wilderness to start a new life, and ends in 1968 with Solomon MacIvey, who realizes that the land has been exploited far beyond human need. Between is a sweeping story rich in Flori...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERA fascinating fear of flying book from a commercial airline pilot and author of the popular website askthepilot.com.For millions of people, travel by air is a confounding, uncomfortable, and even frightening experience. When you go behind the scenes, however, you can see that the grand theater of air travel is actually fascinating. From the intricate design of airport architecture to the logistics of inflig...

A young woman is brutally murdered on an island near Stockholm – a haunt of wealthy retirees and arty weekenders. Suspicion falls first on a family of Iraqi refugees, initially welcomed into the community but gradually feared and shunned. But then, as the victim's story unfolds, suspicion begins inexorably to fall elsewhere.Lena Sundman was rude, dysfunctional, and very young. Everything a fastidious man like Dan Byrne disliked. Taking refuge on the island after the sudden death of...

A classic and heartbreaking tale of one man's fight to protect nature, and a treasured way of life, against the forces of greed.In a corner of the Big Cypress Swamp, to the north of the Florida Everglades, lives Charlie Jumper, and eighty-six-year-old Seminole man. Unlike the younger American Indians who have adopted white civilization, Charlie and his wife cling to the old ways, hunting and fishing in the great swamp and farming a tiny plot of higher ground. Charl...

Americans cherish their national myths, some of which predate the country's founding. But the time for illusions, nostalgia, and grand ambition abroad has gone by, Patrick Smith observes in this original book. Americans are now faced with a choice between a mythical idea of themselves, their nation, and their global "mission," on the one hand, and on the other an idea of America that is rooted in historical consciousness. To cling to old myths will ensure America's decline, Smith warns. He...