On the evening of October 8, 1871, a fire broke out in a barn in Illinois, sparking the legendary Great Chicago Fire. That same night, just a few hundred miles north, a vastly more terrifying and deadly inferno was born. Yet, because of the media's obsession with the destruction of a major metropolis, the deadliest wildfire in American history was completely erased from the national memory. Ashes of Peshtigo resurrects the horrific true story of the firestorm that annihilated the booming l...

A survey of the last 100 years of science fiction, with representative stories and illuminating essays by the top writers, poets, and scholars, from Edgar Rice Burroughs and Samuel Butler to Robert A. Heinlein and and Jack Vance, from E.E. "Doc" Smith and Clifford D. Simak to Ted Chiang and Charles Stross-- and everyone in between. More than one million words of classic fiction and essays!

A different perspective of life has humans the author of their own destiny with life's organic evolution instead of having been born with unchangeable construct but with a clean slate with the ability and freedom at the creation of one's own engagement in the evolution of living. Instead of qualifying a human being with concept such as faults and qualities which he or she inherited at birth a human being is born with potentiality at becoming a person he or she chooses to be. I am not refer...

Although the commission government movement is often treated by historians as an element of the reform surge of the Progressive Era, this is the first full-scale study of the origins, spread, and decline of the commission idea.Commission government originated in Galveston, Texas, where business leaders conceived the plan as a temporary measure to speed recovery from the great hurricane of 1900. Other cities in Texas and across the nation soon followed; by 1920, about 500 municipali...

As a high school dropout who wanted to better his life by joining the army, Robert L. Rice got a rude awakening when he was shipped off to Vietnam, a place and war he admits he knew little about before arriving there. He was wounded in combat and nearly died but was encouraged by an angel he saw on the battlefield. Going AWOL several times, doing time in the stockade, getting a Dear John letter, Rices tour of duty was like a laundry list of nearly everything bad that could happen to a man ...

Between 1940 and 1980, the Sunbelt region of the United States grew in population by 112 percent, while the older, graying Northeast and Midwest together grew by only 42 percent. Phoenix expanded by an astonishing 1,138 percent. San Diego, Houston, Dallas–Fort Worth, Tampa, Miami, and Atlanta quadrupled in size. Even a Sunbelt laggard such as New Orleans more than doubled its population.Sunbelt Cities brings together a collection of outstanding original essays on the growt...

This book was published in 1923. From the author's own Introduction: "I would not have this book considered too seriously. It is not an attempt to untangle one thread in the Balkan snarl; it is not a study of primitive peoples; it is not a contribution to the world’s knowledge, and I hope no one will read it to improve the mind. It should be read as the adventures in it were lived, with a gayly inquiring mind, a taste for strange peoples and unknown trails, and a delight in the unexpected....

Richard Ellis-Roberts was born in 1879. In his literary career he was primarily a writer and translator and for short spells the literary editor of the New Statesman and Time and Tide. His short stories frequently investigate dark and malevolent forces.He died in 1953.

You may think you’re too old to run fast, but you’re not too old to run well.When the lead runner starts his final lap in a long-distance race, the starter fires his pistol for the second time. This signals the start of the gun lap - the last chance to leave it all out on the track. Gun Lap is for men who are running their last lap. Or maybe younger men who are looking ahead to their gun lap, but want to live the rest of their lives with purpose and strength. This is no sm...

John Galsworthy was born on the 14th August 1867 on the family estate, Parkfield, in Kingston-upon-Thames. His family’s wealth came from the shipping industryAt age nine he began his education at Saugeen, a Bournemouth preparatory school, before moving to Harrow school in 1881, distinguishing himself as an athlete.Galsworthy attended New College, Oxford to read law and left with a second-class degree with honours in 1889. The bar called him in 1890 but Galsworthy decided he...

There is something about the number 3.The Ancient Greeks believed 3 was the perfect number, and in China 3 has always been a lucky number, and they know a thing or two.Most religions also have 3 this and 3 that and, of course, in these more modern times, three’s a crowd may be too many, except when it’s a ménage à trois. It seems good things usually come in threes.Whatever history and culture says WE think 3, a hat-trick of stories, is a great number to explore them...

A collection of eclectic poetry penned by three kings of Pulp fiction from the 1930s.“Songs of Giants: The Poetry of Pulp” is a collection of 26 poems by writers H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and Robert E. Howard. Inspired by the illustrated book of the same name by artist Mark Wheatley. The poetry is read by Mark Redfield with a full orchestrated score and sound design by Jennifer Rouse to compliment the theme and dramatic feel of each poem.CREDITS:Original m...