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Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross, recalls growing up in early 19th Century Massachusetts. (Introduction by Veronica Jenkins)

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Biography

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In 1887 Nellie Bly, one of the first female newspaper writers, and a young reporter who would soon go on to make a career for herself as an investigative journalist and “stunt” reporter, had herself committed to the Blackwell’s Island Insane Asylum in New York. Her purpose was to discover what life was like for those who had been deemed insane. She was surprised to discover the depth of mistreatement of the patients. Partially as a result of her reporting, more money was allocated to the asylum and reforms were put into place. (Summary by Alice)...

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Biography

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Audubon's life naturally divides itself into three periods: his youth, which was on the whole a gay and happy one, and which lasted till the time of his marriage at the age of twenty-eight; his business career which followed, lasting ten or more years, and consisting mainly in getting rid of the fortune his father had left him; and his career as an ornithologist which, though attended with great hardships and privations, brought him much happiness and, long before the end, substantial pecuniary rewards. (Summary from the Preface of John James Audubon )...

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Biography

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The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, written in 1789, is the autobiography of Olaudah Equiano. It discusses his time spent in slavery, serving primarily on galleys, documents his attempts at becoming an independent man through his study of the Bible, and his eventual success in gaining his own freedom and in business thereafter. The book contains an interesting discussion of slavery in West Africa and illustrates how the experience differs from the dehumanising slavery of the Americas. The Intereresting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano is also one of the first widely read slave narratives. It was generally reviewed favorably. (Wikipedia)...

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Biography

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Phineas Taylor Barnum (July 5, 1810 – April 7, 1891) was an American showman, businessman, and entertainer, remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and for founding the circus that became the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. His successes may have made him the first show business millionaire. Although Barnum was also an author, publisher, philanthropist, and for some time a politician, he said of himself, I am a showman by profession...and all the gilding shall make nothing else of me, and his personal aims were to put money in his own coffers. (Reference: Wikipedia.org)...

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Biography

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Geronimo’s Story of His Life is the oral life history of a legendary Apache warrior. Composed in 1905, while Geronimo was being held as a U.S. prisoner of war at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, Geronimo’s story found audience and publication through the efforts of S. M. Barrett--Lawton, Oklahoma, Superintendent of Education, who wrote in his preface that “the initial idea of the compilation of this work was . . . to extend to Geronimo as a prisoner of war the courtesy due any captive, i.e. the right to state the causes which impelled him in his opposition to our civilization and laws.” Barrett, with the assistance of Asa Deklugie, son of Nedni chief Whoa as Apache translator, wrote down the story as Geronimo told it --beginning with an Apache creation myth. Geronimo recounted bloody battles with Mexican troopers, against whom he had vowed vengeance in 1858 after they murdered his mother, his wife, and his three small children. He told of treaties made between Apaches and the U.S. Army--and treaties broken. There were periods of confinement on the reservations, and escapes. And there were his final days on the run, when the U.S. Army put 5000 m...

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Biography, History

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Early in the summer of 1860, I had an attack of gold fever. In Chicago, the conditions for such a malady were all favorable. Since the panic of 1857 there had been three years of general depression, money was scarce, there was little activity in business, the outlook was discouraging, and I, like hundreds of others, felt blue. Thus Chalkley J. Hambleton begins his pithy and engrossing tale of participation in the Pike's Peak gold rush. Four men in partnership hauled 24 tons of mining equipment by ox cart across the Great Plains from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Denver, Colorado. Hambleton vividly recounts their encounters with buffalo herds, Indians, andthe returning army of disappointed gold seekers. Setting up camp near Mountain City, Colorado, Hambleton watched one man wash several nice nuggets of shining gold from the dirt and gravel, only to learn afterwards that these same nuggets had been washed out several times before, whenever a 'tenderfoot' would come along, who it was thought might want to buy a rich claim. Two years later, tired and disgusted with the whole business, Hambleton returned to Chicago, where he arrived a wiser i...

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Biography, Memoirs, Westerns

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What is it that makes Kate Nicolaisen's life history so interesting? One of the answers is the way she tells it. Despite often having lived a hard life, particularly during her childhood, Kate Nicolaisen has never lost her optimism. Despite being wounded deeply by her nearest and dearest, she has herself been able to heal the wounds. Kate Nicolaisen's flair for storytelling rests on a solid foundation of socio-political understanding, great humanity, and a sharp sense for detail. Her joy of storytelling is almost musical, the dimensions are psychological, the contents earthy and realistic. The book contains aspects of the history of the social conditions of the 1910s, 20s, and 30s, including the relations between parents and children. The book also deals with the psychological aspects of the relations between father and daughter, and stepmother and daughter. And it touches on the use of art as therapy and release from the traumas of childhood. Its literary aspects include the use of the autobiography as a tool for self-development and the use of the folk story to find avenues into the past....

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Over the "canal" was a bridge. When I sat on the bridge, I could reach the water with my feet. It felt like soft caressing when the water glided past. Here I could sit with my own thoughts . . . melancholy thoughts. I could see my own mirror image. My tattered dress, my thin fair hair, my eyes, by skinny arms - at the bottom of the stream. It all seemed to move in the rushing water. If I lay down at the bottom! Then I would feel the water caressing my entire body. Then father would come and find me. He would stand over the stream and see me like I saw my mirror image. He would become enraged! Maybe he would pick me up and start beating me. But I would no longer be able to feel the blows - his power over me would be broken!...

Table of Contents Details
Birth, Father, Strussliden (1910-16), Klara, To Gammalstorp (1916), Life and death (1917), Mother going to hospital, Mother's coffin, The funeral, "Miss", "Miss" becomes Mrs., To Ballingslöv (1918), To Eslöv (autumn 1918), To Bjärnum (winter 1918), Clogs, Puppy love, To Duvemölla (1919), The river, Tunes, Everyday life in Duvemölla (1919-24), Domestic animals and pets, Downhill, Berries and flowers, Fish, The tailor, Uncle Persson, Potatoes (autumn 1923), At Ingrid and Jon's (1924), The surroundings, School days (1919-26), Our Lord, Father went berserk, Summer visitors, Playing, Mirror images, Hard times, Jane is born, New little sister, Salted herring and potatoes (1922), Uncle Erik, Spring 1923, The forest, The sow, The marksman, The blue suit, The Spanish flu, Tuberculosis, Canada, Father leaves, No father - no money, From Duvemölla to Lindborg's house, Summer job (1924), Making soup on a nail, Another move (autumn 1924), Gypsies, The birch grove, Income, Notice of home coming, Father returns, The America trunk, Dancing with father, Winding up, A bitter taste, Concert for two, The school, Auntie Emma, Father and Mary leaves, At E...

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A disaffected German comes of age and sets out on a lifelong journey to discover himself through sex, drugs and, ultimately, spirituality in Mitze’s novel. Walter Herzog was born in a small town outside of Frankfurt to an emotionally detached mother and a Nazi-sympathizing stepfather at the tail end of World War II. Teenage Walter and his pals come to school drunk and oversexed; eventually, they skip classes altogether to make out with girls and earn drinking money. Over the years, restless Walter finds himself loving numerous women. He gets drafted into the German military and relinquishes his service by claiming pacifism. Later, he discovers marijuana and finally settles with a beautiful girl, Hilde. But a stable relationship isn’t enough to stave off Walter’s mounting depression and intense desire to find meaning. When he and a friend visit the United States in the late 1960s, he falls in love with an unlikely place—Oklahoma City—where he encounters psychedelic drugs. He moves there with Hilde to open a restaurant, before returning to Frankfurt, addicted to psychedelics. One summer, while living with Hilde at his parents’ home i...

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Walter Herzog was born in a small town near Marburg, in the state of Hessen, about fifty miles north of Frankfurt. Looking back at his life, one can only say that it was and is like a dream—a dream filled with the spectrum of all colors imaginable; a life full of love, drama, and fear, with inner richness but disenfranchised. It was a life and existence of courage on the verge of desperation, as if madness tried to find guidance through him. He experienced deep depression, loneliness, and indescribably awesome bliss. From when he was born in the forties of the last century until the year 2000 may not seem like a long time, but to remember standing at the crossroads of a small town in the middle of Western Germany when John F. Kennedy was assassinated seems like the brink of eternity. Walter had been locked up; had survived stabbing; was spit on, yelled at, and cursed; and had stuff thrown at him. One Sunday morning, however, he was fortunate enough to ask a true question at the proper moment. *** Tree leaves had already fallen to the ground after turning red and yellow. It was a melancholy season in Germany, with a certain smell...

Table of Contents Details
C O N T E N T S Acknowledgment Eternal Hula Directory of Individuals Pink Lotus Lisa Herzog and "Father" First Changes Challenges Life at Home First Love Madeleine Summer Holidays Military Important Decision Andreas, Ombudsman Hilde and Frankfurt Following Sardinia USA No. 1 More Changes Darkness USA Encore Homecoming A New Chapter Arrangements The East Greece Turkey Mehmed Persia Afghanistan India Going North Roof of The World Journey through the interior of India Dravida Approaching Territory Transition Alternative Course New Life Perception Internal Affairs The Becoming of an Author Cyclic Devastation The Road to Dead End Resurrection Margaretha Part Two Life Goes On Homeland Far East and back The Beloved Repeat Red Zone Chandra Getting Acquainted Contemplation Mêlée Small, Red Family Celebrations Chicago Another Community in Hamburg Poona Life without Center Curtain Call Edmonton, Alberta...

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Peter Kropotkin was a Russian anarcho-communist and scientist. This is his autobiography, and he writes not only about his own life, but also about 19th century Russian society and politics. He was born into the nobility and had a military education, but he gradually abandoned the values of his social class and became an anti-authoritarian socialist, opposed to both the rule of the Tsars and to the seizing of power by the authoritarian Bolsheviks. He was also interested in literature, biology, economics and geographical exploration. This second and last volume of his memoirs covers his time in St Petersburg, his time in prison, and his journeys in Western Europe. ( Summary by Elin )...

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Biography, History

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This biography is actually a series of essays by prominent personalities of the time that shed light on John Stuart Mill's life and areas of endeavor. Those areas include his experiences in India House, his moral character, certain botanical explorations, how effective he was as a critic, studies in morals and the law, and discoveries concerning political economy. They also explore ideas concerning his influence on institutions of higher learning, accomplishments as a politician, and fame as a philosopher. (Summary by Bill Boerst)...

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Biography, Economics/Political Economy, History, Philosophy, Nature, Politics

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This investigation of Bacon the scholar and man of letters begins with a look at the early days ang progresses to his relationships with Queen Elizabeth and James I. It includes accounts of his positions as solicitor general, attorney-general, and chancellor. The book concludes with Bacon's failure, his overall philosophy, and summaries of his writings. ( Summary by Bill Boerst )...

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Biography, Economics/Political Economy, History, Literature, Philosophy, Politics, Religion, Science