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  Arctic Homestead - The True...

  Charles W. Sasser, Norma Cobb

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  In 1973, Norma Cobb, her husband Lester, and their five children pulled up stakes in the Lower Forty-Eight and headed north to Alaska to follow a pioneer dream of claiming land under the Homestead Act. The only land available lay north of Fairbanks near the Arctic Circle where grizzlies outnumbered humans twenty to one. In addition to fierce winters and predatory animals, the Alaskan frontier drew the more unsavory elements of society's fringes. From the beginning, the Cobbs found themselves pitted in a life or death feud with unscrupulous neighbors who would rob from new settlers, attempt to burn them out, shoot them, and jump their claim. 
   
   
   
  The Cobbs were chechakos, tenderfeet, in a lost land that consumed even toughened settlers. Everything, including their "civilized" past, conspired to defeat them. They constructed a cabin and the first snow collapsed the roof. They built too close to the creek and spring breakup threatened to flood them out. Bears prowled the nearby woods, stalking the children, and Lester Cobb would leave for months at a time in search of work. 
   
   
   
  But through it all, they survived on the strength of Norma Cobb—a woman whose love for her family knew no bounds and whose courage in the face of mortal danger is an inspiration to us all. Arctic Homestead is her story.

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  Italy’s Most Powerful Mafias:...

  Charles River Editors

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  The word “mafia,” Sicilian in origin, is synonymous with Italy, but Italy is home to several different mafias, with three being particularly notorious. While the Cosa Nostra of western Sicily is the most infamous, other powerful groups include the ferocious ‘Ndrangheta of Calabria and the Camorra, the third-largest mafia, which is active in Naples and the Campania region. A “mafia” is loosely defined as a criminal organization that is interested in social, economic and political power, combining elements of a traditional secret society with those of a business, but further levels of nuance are necessary in order to understand these groups. In a general sense, this is because each mafia creates a myth about the development of the organization, which becomes like an unquestionable truth. In essence, part of what makes its members so completely loyal to it is also what makes outsiders so utterly afraid of it. 
  While all three mafias have initiation rituals dating to the 19th century, the oldest of the three belongs to the Camorra. The rituals date back to 1850, as the Camorra was taking shape in the prisons of southern Italy. In this simple but profound ritual, the new member was told to take an oath over crossed knives and then made to have a dagger fight with another man (either another possible initiate or a current member). However, the blades would be wrapped leaving just the point exposed, so that the only objective would be to draw a faint trace of blood, after which the fight would end. This ritual ceased in 1912, around the time that the Neapolitan Honored Society dissolved itself, and as it reconstituted itself in various formations over the course of the century, it never again returned to those more antiquated rituals. Instead, the group began to exist more as a loose network of criminals, all working for their own enrichment.

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  Parisians - An Adventure History...

  Graham Robb

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  This is the Paris you never knew. From the Revolution to the present, Graham Robb has distilled a series of astonishing true narratives, all stranger than fiction.A young artillery lieutenant, strolling through the Palais-Royal, observes disapprovingly the courtesans plying their trade. A particular woman catches his eye; nature takes its course. Later that night, Napoleon Bonaparte writes a meticulous account of his first sexual encounter. An aristocratic woman, fleeing the Louvre, takes a wrong turn and loses her way in the nameless streets of the Left Bank. For want of a map—there were no reliable ones at the time—Marie-Antoinette will go to the guillotine. Baudelaire, Baron Haussmann, the real-life Mimi of La Bohème, Proust, Charles de Gaulle (who is suspected of having faked an assassination attempt on himself in Notre Dame)—these and many more make up Robb's cast of characters. The result is a resonant, intimate history with the power of a great novel.

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  Here on Gilligan’s Isle

  Russell Johnson, Steve Cox

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  Sit right back and take a nostalgic, first-hand look into the world of Gilligan's Island—             everything you ever wanted to know about the show from the Professor himself, Russell Johnson. Directly from the ship's log, Johnson takes you to the day when Sherwood Schwartz shipwrecked seven strangers on a tiny desert isle—             and America hasn't been the same since. Here on Gilligan's Isle is a treasure trove for true fans, featuring original interviews with all the cast, behind-the-scenes gossip, and trivia. Don't be fooled by imitations: this is the audiobook for anyone who ever loved—             or even watched—             Gilligan's Island!

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  My Secret Life Vol 6 Chapter 9

  Dominic Crawford Collins

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  My Secret Life is the longest erotic autobiography ever written. Penned anonymously during the 1800s by a wealthy English gentleman called Walter, it offers an eye and thigh opening account of life behind closed doors in the Victorian era. Banned from publication for its extreme and explicit content for nearly a century, My Secret Life has now come to life in the 21st century as an immersive audio book, narrated and scored by film composer Dominic Crawford Collins.Volume 6 Chapter 9Fornication on a prospect tower. • At a Restaurant. • Two sisters, shop-women. • The drive to the tower. • A randy quartette. • On the tower stairs. • Legs felt and prick produced. • Fucking near the sky. • The second ascent. • The half-way landing. • Adultery at night. • A woman's intentions. • At Paris. • A creole for variety. • Tobacco versus fucking. • A negress for a change. • Amusements with a comb. • A recusant prick. • A determined entry. • Black on white, and white on black. • Fucked at last. • A sudden summons. • Free! Hurrah!

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  Five Short Stories by Women

  Sandra Cisneros, Nadine...

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  L.A. Theatre Works presents Five Short Stories by Women:  A quintet of tales from some of America’s most distinguished female authors.Life after High School, by Joyce Carol Oates, Read by Sarah DrewOates takes us to a time in the late 1950s, to South Lebanon High School, and shows us the lives of three people at a time of self-discovery.The Banks of the Vistula, by Rebecca Lee, Read by Emily BerglAn ambitious student wants desperately to make her mark in a linguistics class. Published by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill ©2013.Never Marry a Mexican, by Sandra Cisneros, Read by Rita MorenoThe story of a woman named Clemencia who remembers her family, her parent’s culture, and her affair with a married man.* In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson Is Buried, by Amy Hempel, Read by Lynn CollinsWhat do you say to someone on their deathbed? Amy Hempel addresses this question head-on, as a young woman describes her visit to a dying friend.Once Upon a Time, by Nadine Gordimer, Read by Alex KingstonThis is anything but a fairy tale. It’s more of a dystopian fantasy - with overtones of the racial inequality in Gordimer’s native South Africa.*From WOMAN HOLLERING CREEK. Copyright © 1991 by Sandra Cisneros. Published by Alfred A. Knopf, Vintage Books and by Vintage Español as EL ARROYO DE LA LLORONA, translation, © 1996 by Liliana Valenzuela. Available on Random House Audiobook read by the author. By permission of Susan Bergholz Literary Services, New York City and Lamy, N.M. All rights reserved.Mixing Engineer: Mark Holden for The Invisible Studios, West Hollywood.

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