Showing results by publisher "Audioliterature" in Biographies & Memoirs

I had long been looking from the wildwoods and gardens of the Northern States to those of the warm South, and at last, all draw-backs overcome, I set forth [from Indianapolis] on the first day of September, 1867, joyful and free, on a thousand-mile walk to the Gulf of Mexico. Crossing the Ohio at Louisville, I steered through the big city by compass without speaking a word to any one.

This great work by St. Ignatius Loyola begins abruptly in 1521 at the turning point in the saint's life - his injury in the battle of Pamplona when the French occupied that town and attacked its citadel. It then spans the next seventeen years up to the arrival of Ignatius and his early companions in Rome. These years are the central years of Ignatius's life. They are the years that open with his religious conversion and that witness his spiritual growth.

"Life on the Mississippi" (1883) is a memoir by Mark Twain of his days as a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River before the American Civil War, and also a travel book, recounting his trip along the Mississippi River from St. Louis to New Orleans many years after the War.

"The People of the Abyss" (1903) is a work by Jack London about life in the East End of London in 1902. He wrote this first-hand account after living in the East End (including the Whitechapel District) for several months, sometimes staying in workhouses or sleeping on the streets. The conditions he experienced and wrote about, were the same as those endured by an estimated 500,000 of the contemporary London poor.

This is the original diary of the wife of Confederate General James Chesnut, Jr., who was an aide to President Jefferson Davis. It is a fascinating narrative of all the years of the American Civil War. It focuses on the daily lives and hardships of all who suffered through the war, from ordinary people to the Confederacy's generals and political elite. Mary Chesnut's prose has lost none of its provocative bite through the ages.

Dr. Albert Shaw of the "Review of Reviews", after reading the manuscript, characterized the author as "The Robinson Crusoe of the Twentieth Century". I desire, therefore, to assure the reader at the outset that Dr. Ossendowski is a man of long and diverse experience as a scientist and writer with a training for careful observation which should put the stamp of accuracy and reliability on his chronicle.

The atrocious but true story of slavery in the United States until the Civil War. It is the personal history of Harriet Jacobs and her enslavement and subsequent escape to the North, after spending seven years hidden in a crawlspace. The stunned listener also gets to know of the mistreatment of the other slaves. We hear how slavery as practiced by the South was degrading to both blacks and whites.

From the beginning, MacLane's writing was characterized by a direct, fiery, highly individualistic style. At the age of 19 in 1901, MacLane wrote her first book, titled by its author "I Await the Devil's Coming" but changed by its publishers to "The Story of Mary MacLane". It sold 100,000 copies in the first month and was powerfully influential on young women. Some critics have suggested that even by today's standards, MacLane's writing is raw, honest, unflinching, self-aware, sensual, and extreme.

An absolutely fascinating study of the period 1609-1780 of the Mohawk Valley (upper New York State). Get ready to learn about a multitude of interesting cultures such as the Mohawks, the Hurons, the Mohicans and the Iriquois and Dutch and French as well, as all parties are involved in conflict. (By W. Max Reid, published in 1901).

"Success for a woman means absolute surrender, in whatever direction. Whether she paints a picture, or loves a man, there is no division of labor possible in her economy. To the attainment of any end worth living for, a symmetrical sacrifice of her nature is compulsory upon her." That is the dilemma this powerful and beautifully observed work centers around.

"The Ascent of Denali" (1918) by Hudson Stuck recounts the 1913 expedition that first conquered Mt. McKinley. Stuck recruited Harry Karstens, a respected guide, to join his expedition. Other members were Walter Harper and Robert G. Tatum, both 21, and two student volunteers from the mission school, John Fredson, and Esaias George. Fredson, then 14, acted as their base camp manager, hunting caribou and Dall sheep to keep them supplied with food.

A fascinating piece of work by Charles A. Siringo, put together with stories from eye witnesses, and written by someone who actually met and knew "Billy the Kid". The listener gets an earful of intriguing and riveting historical information about the short and violent life of the famous gunslinger as well as a whiff of another legendary Western figure - the Sheriff that captured the Kid, Pat Garrett.

"A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany-Bay" (1789) is a memoir by Watkin Tench. From the Introduction: "An unpractised writer is generally anxious to bespeak public attention, and to solicit public indulgence. Except on professional subjects, military men are, perhaps, too fearful of critical censure. For the present narrative no other apology is attempted, than the intentions of its author, who has endeavoured not only to satisfy present curiosity, but to point out to future adventurers, the favourable, as well as adverse circumstances which will attend their settling here.

This gripping and powerful work by A. P. Herbert draws on the author's own experiences participating in WWI, first at Gallipoli, then in the Somme. It is a shattering study in how the effects of war physically and mentally changes the soul of a young and well-educated officer of the infantry, as he tries to save himself and the men under his command amidst the brutality and ruthlessness of the war and the deep cynicism of his superior officers as well.

"The Prince" (written in the beginning of the 1500s) is a political treatise, sometimes claimed to be one of the first works of modern political philosophy, in which the effective truth is taken to be more important than any abstract ideal. It was also in direct conflict with the dominant Catholic and scholastic doctrines of the time concerning how to consider politics and ethics. Machiavelli dedicated "The Prince" to the ruling Medici of the time, leading some today to still speculate whether the book was a satire.

With "East by West" we are immersed into long lost world of the Victorian era, we are introduced with the hardships and the incredible diversities while traveling in this period. Henry Lucy describes in a witty and vivid way his travels across the United States and the Far East during the parliamentary recess in 1883. First Volume covers his journeys in America and Japan, including the incredible trip across the Atlantic and the Pacific by a steamer. Second Volume includes his travels in Japan, India and other countries of south-east Asia.

"The Ghosts of Piccadilly" (1907) is a "gossip book" about the famous inhabitants of Piccadilly, by G. S. Street. "If any part of any city deserves a book to itself, it is Piccadilly. We shall stand before some house in the hours when the traffic is stilled, and I shall tell of its history, of the men and women who dwelt there, and talked and loved and gambled and lived and died.

"The Sword of Deborah" contains first hand impressions of the British Women's Army in France by F. Tennyson Jesse. Foreword: This little book was written at the request of the Ministry of Information in March of 1918; it was only released for publication - in spite of the need for haste in its compiling which had been impressed on me, and with which I had complied - shortly before Christmas. Hence it may seem somewhat after the fair.