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  The Story of My Boyhood and Youth

  John Muir

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  "The only fire for the whole house was the kitchen stove, with a fire box about eighteen inches long and eight inches wide and deep,- scant space for three or four small sticks, around which in hard zero weather all the family of ten shivered, and beneath which in the morning we found our socks and coarse, soggy boots frozen solid." Thus, with perceptive eye for detail, the American naturalist, John Muir, describes life on a pioneer Wisconsin farm in the 1850's. Muir was only eleven years old when his father uprooted the family from a relatively comfortable life in Dunbar, Scotland, to settle in the backwoods of North America.The elder Muir was a religious fundamentalist. What his father taught, John Muir writes, was "grim self denial, in season and out of season, to mortify the flesh, keep our bodies in subjection to Bible laws, and mercilessly punish ourselves for every fault, imagined or committed." Muir's father believed that the Bible was "the only book human beings could possibly require," while John secretly read every volume of poetry and literature he could get his hands on. With no formal schooling after leaving Scotland, John also learned from nature--keenly observing details of the seasons, the life of the farm oxen, and wild animals and birds. John also became an amateur inventor, eking out time from farm chores by getting up at 1 a.m. to whittle intricate wooden clocks by candlelight in the unheated farm house basement.Muir finally made a break for freedom--his decision was to go to Madison, Wisconsin, and enter his clocks in the State Fair, with the hope that somebody might see them and offer him a job in a machine shop! All the baggage he carried the day he left home was a package made up of "two clocks and a small thermometer made of a piece of old washboard, all three tied together with no covering or case of any sort, the whole looking like one very complicated machine." His father's goodbye was to admonish John about the "wicked world" and to warn him sternly that if he should find himself in need of money, none would be forthcoming. John would have to depend on himself.How John Muir made his way from that Wisconsin farm to become the great American naturalist, spokesman for Yosemite and the California redwoods, is the stuff of legend: which makes Muir's autobiographical account of his early boyhood a fascinating read. (Summary by Sue Anderson)

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  Expecting the Good

  Brigitte Cutshall

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  This book is a tribute to Jean-Luc Nash, a true badass with a big heart. He was a West Point graduate, Special Forces Officer, 82nd Airborne Commander, and Defense Attache. What people like Jean-Luc Nash do is essential to protecting our country. This allows people like you and me to create, write, pursue our interests - whatever they are - and have the opportunity to make something of ourselves. Jean-Luc made a positive impact by being a great role model for our country, his community, and his family. He inspired many to improve themselves, not be afraid to try new things, explore, and have the courage to do what is right at any given moment.It's an inspiring story of military service, family, loyalty, courage, leadership, and honor. Readers take away an example of what an American patriot and loyal family man looks like, and traits they should strive for to be a better person. It's recommended people read this book to either reminisce on past military campaigns and identify traits of superior leadership to help them grow in their profession.

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  Isn't Her Grace Amazing! - The...

  Cheryl Wills

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  A unique tribute to often overlooked women who have left an indelible mark on Gospel Music—powerful talents who overcame racism and sexism to define the genre, establish its sound, and set the standard for good sangin’ for generations. 
  Nothing in the world soothes the soul better than Gospel music. From the foot-stomping, hand-clapping melodies of yesterday to the head-bobbing, bass-thumping hits of today, Gospel music ignites the spirit and delivers the inspiration that takes us from the rough side of the mountain to the peak of God’s love and grace. That feeling of joy, peace, love, and contentment is amplified when it’s ringing through the voice of a sister who can SANG, Cheryl Wills reminds us. The remedy for a tough day at work can be alleviated with Mary Mary’s uplifting jam Shackles, the answer to your heart’s desires can be found in the harmonies of The Clark Sisters Name It, Claim It, and if you need a reminder of God’s love, there is nothing more timeless that Aretha Franklin’s stirring rendition of Amazing Grace. 
  Some talented performers, like Sister Rosetta Tharpe have faded from history, while singers like Yolanda Adams are at the top of her game. During the twentieth century, Willie Mae Ford spent most of her life encouraging and uplifting Christians both in church and on stage and composed more than 100 Gospel songs, yet it was men like her co-writer, Thomas A. Dorsey, who received the accolades and fame. Many women in the Gospel music industry go unnoticed, unpaid, and under-appreciated for their contributions, yet it is these women who are often the bedrock for songwriting, arranging, directing, and developing singers.  
  Cheryl Wills, the granddaughter of a Gospel singer, at last shines a spotlight on these spectacular women of song. The only book of its kind, Isn’t Her Grace Amazing! showcase the talents, gifts, and skills of women in the Gospel music industry. It celebrates these heroines, chronicles their journeys from the choir loft to the world’s largest stages, and reveals how they revolutionized this sacred music that is beloved worldwide. From the matriarchs of this movement to today’s chart-topping divas, Wills offers in-depth portraits of twenty-five amazing women of Gospel music—based on interviews and extensive research—behind-the-scenes stories of favorite gospel hits, and illuminates what makes each of them shine. 

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  Eminent Victorians

  Giles Lytton Strachey

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  On Modern Library's list of 100 Best Non-Fiction books, "Eminent Victorians" marked an epoch in the art of biography; it also helped to crack the old myths of high Victorianism and to usher in a new spirit by which chauvinism, hypocrisy and the stiff upper lip were debunked. In it, Strachey cleverly exposes the self-seeking ambitions of Cardinal Manning and the manipulative, neurotic Florence Nightingale; and in his essays on Dr Arnold and General Gordon, his quarries are not only his subjects but also the public-school system and the whole structure of nineteenth-century liberal values.

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  Poe!

  Edgar Allan Poe

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  Poe! is a deliciously gripping sampling of the mad imagination of 19th century gothic master of horror and suspense, murder and mayhem, Edgar Allan Poe. The creepy, breathtaking, and soulful classic tales include: “The Masque of the Red Death,” the terrifying and ironic story of a nobleman who attempts to seal himself and his friends away from a terrible plague raging outside, performed by Fionnula Flanagan (Transamerica); “The Pit and the Pendulum,” a hair-raising first-person account of a man in a torture chamber during the Spanish Inquisition, performed to a fare-thee-well by Stephen Lang (Avatar); “The Black Cat,” in which a man’s dead pet comes back to haunt him, performed by Tony winner Rene Auberjonois (Boston Legal). Plus there are dreamy, mesmerizing and haunting readings of Poe’s wonderfully-atmospheric best-loved poems, “The Bells,” “The Raven” and “Annabel Lee.”

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  Travellers Gazette Box Set - A...

  Mr Punch

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  We follow in the footsteps of the intrepid British traveller and explore the world both At Home and Abroad, told entirely in the words of those who were there. 
    
  The TRAVELLER at HOME Gazette 
  A fascinating ramble through the towns and villages of the British Isles during the last 400 years in the company of Jane Austen, William Cobbett, Daniel Defoe, James Lees Milne, Sir Walter Scott, Virginia Woolf and many more. 
    
  The TRAVELLER ABROAD Gazette 
  We explore the far-flung shores of the world alongside some of Britain’s finest Chroniclers. Join Charles Darwin, Kenneth Williams, Fanny Trollope, Sir Ernest Shackleton, Mungo Park, Horace Walpole, Wilfred Thesiger, James Boswell, Nancy Mitford and many others on your journey. 
    
  Performed by an outstanding company of award-winning actors including Dame Eileen Atkins, Cheryl Campbell, Nigel Davenport, Alex Jennings, Richard Johnson OBE, Hugh Laurie CBE, Michael Maloney, Geoffrey Palmer OBE, Michael Pennington, Prunella Scales CBE, Samuel West & John Wood CBE with a full supporting cast. 
      
  Also available as part of The Gazettes Box Set, a six-volume edition (Military, Sport & Travel) creating a vivid portrait of British life through the centuries. 
    
  It is a highly enjoyable collection. Some pieces are just dazzling. Independent on Sunday 
    
  An extraordinary series... deserves a medal. The readers are all excellent and many of them distinguished. The Spectator 
    
  From the same stable that produced The Chronicle, my favourite audio this year, I've just listened equally spellbound to a compilation of travellers' tales at home. The Guardian

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