Several times during his latter years my friend, Charles Dwight Willard, urged me to write out my recollections of the five or six decades I had already passed in Los Angeles, expressing his regret that many pioneers had carried from this world so much that might have been of interest to both the Angeleño of the present and the future historian of Southern California; but as I had always led an active life of business or travel, and had neither fitted myself for any sort of literary undert...

Harris Newmark was personally acquainted with every person and family involved in the founding of the city of Los Angeles, California. He gathers into this well-written book his reminiscences of the period from 1853 to 1913, as Los Angeles developed from a tiny village surrounded by great ranchos into a modern city. This book is a fascinating treasure trove of information for anyone who lives in Los Angeles. ***NOTE: It should be noted that there is language within this book that was commo...

Mark Twain's final and uncensored masterpiece, presented in three volumes, is a landmark publication in American literature.**“Twain will begin to seem strange again, alluring and still astonishing . . . in ways that still resonate with us.”—New York Times“His crystalline humor and expansive range are a continuous source of delight and awe.”—Los Angeles Times Book Review**"I've struck it!" Mark Twain wrote in a 1904 letter to a fri...

The essential biography of the legendary Old West outlaw as told by the man who shot him—a true classic of Western literature.Henry McCarty, popularly known as Billy the Kid, was one of the most archetypal gunslingers of the American West. Throughout the course of his short but eventful life, he terrorized large areas of the New Mexico, Arizona and northern Mexico, stealing cattle, killing law officers and repeatedly escaping from justice.In 1878 the Lincol...

This eBook features the unabridged text of ‘The Complete Letters of Mark Twain’ from the bestselling edition of ‘The Complete Works of Mark Twain’.Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. The Delphi Classics edition of Twain includes original annotations and i...

From the two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, bestselling historian, and author of Our First Civil War—the epic story of the California Gold Rush, “a fine, robust telling of one of the greatest adventure stories in history" (David McCullough, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of John Adams).The California Gold Rush inspired a new American dream—the “dream of instant wealth, won by audacity and good luck.” The discovery of gold on the American River in 18...

The first full-scale biography of John Hay since 1934: From secretary to Abraham Lincoln to secretary of state for Theodore Roosevelt, Hay was an essential American figure for more than half a century.John Taliaferro’s brilliant biography captures the extraordinary life of Hay, one of the most amazing figures in American history, and restores him to his rightful place. Private secretary to Lincoln and secretary of state to Theodore Roosevelt, Hay was both witness a...

An in-depth exploration of a momentous year in American history from the #1 New York Times –bestselling author of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee .In 1876, America was eager to celebrate its centenary but questioned what might lie ahead. The American Republic had grown to four times its original population, and was in the midst of enormous changes. Industrialization was booming, a...

A concise, "colorful, well-told" history of the City by the Bay, from the Gold Rush to the Summer of Love to the twenty-first century ( Los Angeles Times).This is the story of San Francisco, a unique and rowdy tale with a legendary cast of characters. It tells of the Indians and the Spanish missions, the arrival of thousands of gold seekers and gamblers, crackbrains and dreamers, the building of the transcontinental railroad and the cable car, labor strife...

Facts in a nude state are not liable criminally, any more than bright and beautiful children commit a felony by being born thus; but it is the solemn duty of those having these children in charge to put appropriate, healthful, and even attractive apparel upon them at the earliest possible moment. It is thus with facts. They are the frame-work of history, not the drapery. They are like the cold, hard, dishevelled, damp, and uncomfortable body under the knife of the demonstrator, not the bri...

Examining California's formative years, this innovative study seeks to discover the origins of the California dream and the social, psychological, and symbolic impact it has had not only on Californians but also on the rest of the country.