"A steak and kidney pie, influenza and a cablegram. There is the triple alliance that is responsible for the whole thing."
So begins Charlie Chaplin's My Trip Abroad, a travel memoir charting the actor-director's semi-spontaneous visit to Europe. Fresh off the success of 1921's The Kid, Chaplin decides to "play hookey" after his seven year stay in Hollywood. He return to his native Europe as an international superstar, beloved by fans and hounded by reporters. The "triple alliance" of the book's opening line sends Chaplin on an whirlwind tour through Great Britain, Germany, and France -- and the results are both funny and insightful. My Trip Abroad gives us an intimate and moving portrait of a Hollywood legend.
Published in the UK as My Wonderful Visit.
15 episodes
George William Foote, a British secularist, was convicted and imprisoned on the charge of blasphemy after founding "The Freethinker", a magazine that, despite the best efforts of the 19th Century British judicial system, is still going strong. "Prisoner for Blasphemy" is a memoir of his several trials and final imprisonment in Holloway Gaol. Although Foote's was the last prominent blasphemy case in England, his hope that the blasphemy law would soon be abolished was not to be realised until almost a century after his death, in 2008. (Summary by RobBoard)
18 episodes
In Bligh's own words, we hear about the lead-up to the famous mutiny and what happened afterwards with the mutineers and the castaways. This work contains two additional narratives by Bligh: Life of a Sailor Boy and The Sunken Treasure. (Summary by John Greenman)
11 episodes
Elizabeth Custer has penned an engaging portrait of 1870’s life on a U.S. cavalry post in the Dakotas, just before her husband and his troops met their tragic deaths in the Battle of the Little Big Horn. “Our life,” she writes, “was often as separate from the rest of the world as if we had been living on an island in the ocean.” Her portrait of her husband, General George Armstrong Custer is laudatory—his intellect, his love of dogs (he kept a hunting pack of 40 at the post); but, Boots and Saddles is more than just a memorial. She observes with keen insight, the varied persons, from Indian scouts, to enlisted men, to officer’s wives, who make up the army “family,” on the post. Her sympathetic story about the regimental laundress and midwife, with its sad ending, should take a place in the army’s history of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” (Summary by Sue Anderson)
29 episodes
Recollections of the Civil War records the events that took place during the American Civil war. It forms one of the most remarkable volumes of historical, political, and personal reminiscences which have been given to the public. Mr. Dana wrote these Recollections of the civil war according to a purpose which he had entertained for several years. They were completed only a few months before his death on October 17, 1897. Go to the e-book on this book's catalog page for some great illustrations and an index. (Summary by Preface and WoollyBee)
21 episodes
Wild Wales: Its People, Language and Scenery is a travel book by the English Victorian gentleman writer George Borrow (1803–1881), first published in 1862 and now a classic travel text on Wales and the Welsh. The book recounts Borrow's experiences, insights and personal encounters whilst touring Wales alone on foot after a family holiday in Llangollen in 1854. Although contemporary critics dismissed its whimsical tone, it quickly became popular with readers as a travel book and more importantly as a very lively account of the literary, social and geographical history of Wales. Borrow’s engaging character comes across especially in his meetings with various itinerants – mostly native and peasant – along the muddy Welsh path. Borrow’s keen ear for dialogue may remind us of a Dickens or Trollope, and like the latter his wit and wisdom are rarely absent. Indeed the author has been described as an "eccentric, larger-than-life, jovial man whose laughter rings all through the book". Borrow makes much of his self-taught Welsh and how surprised the natives are by his linguistic abilities – and also by his idiosyncratic pronunciation of their language. He loves to air his knowledge of Welsh culture, especially the Bardic tradition. And like his contemporary, William Wordsworth, he has a habit of quoting verses to the heavens as he walks. As the author finally reaches South Wales towards the end of his account, we meet for the first time evidences of modern industrialism, introduced to the reader in the form of a Dante’s Inferno of coal mines and iron foundries. Today, most will remember and value the book for these and other vivid nineteenth-century landscapes – along with Borrow’s gallery of fascinating, human characters. (SUMMARY BY STEVE GOUGH BASED ON WIKIPEDIA)
110 episodes
Liverpool in the second half of the 19th century was burgeoning with rich merchants and swollen with poor immigrants. It was known variously as the "New York of Europe" and the "Black Spot on the Mersey." Waist-deep in this mosaic we find William Bower Forwood making a busy life for himself, making his fortune in cotton trading (including running the American blockade of the Southern States) and then delving into public affairs. We see the civic leader, dedicated to the betterment of "the good old town and the trade thereof," and we see the statesman and tourist, dining with kings and wrestling with presidents. We see the effect that social environment has on a man's view of the world, with Sir William's casual categorization of the various races' assumed work habits, from the Caribbean 'Negro' to the Indian 'Coolie,' his breezy dismissal of the Jamaican rebellion, his confidence in the steady hand of the Mexican dictator and his pride in the English superiority of business sense and management. But we also see the profound effect that a man can have on the society around him, working tirelessly to build libraries, parks and gardens, public transport, housing for the poor and a great cathedral for Liverpool. Forwood records these memoirs for his family members, and anyone they care to share them with, "to inspire them to make some effort on behalf of our great and glorious city—to elevate its social and intellectual life, to adorn and beautify its public streets and places, to brighten the lives and homes of the people, to carry forward and onward the great temple we are building to the glory of God," at a time when such things mattered to people. (Summary by DPranitis)
21 episodes
Die Autobiographie "Mein Weg als Deutscher und Jude" skizziert die Lebens- und Sinnsuche des Schriftstellers Jakob Wassermanns. Die Schilderung ist geprägt von der Alltagserfahrung des mehr oder weniger latenten Antisemitismus seiner Zeit und dem Aufbegehren gegen Grenzen und Vorurteile. - Summary by Rebecca Braunert-Plunkett
7 episodes
Sometime in the latter half of 1911, Harry A. Franck jumped out of a box-car and crossed the Rio Grande, from Laredo. Thus began a journey, often afoot, that Harry estimated would take him 8 months. It ended up occupying four years of his life. The first leg of his Latin American epic is recorded in "Tramping Through Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras; Being the Random Notes of an Incurable Vagabond" (The Century Company, 1916). He then headed south to the Canal Zone, Teddy Roosevelt's grand experiment in socialism, and applied within the Zone police force for a position as a census taker (chronicled in "Zone Policeman 88; A Close Range Study of the Panama Canal and Its Workers", The Century Company, April 1913). Since he was one of the few Americans who actually spoke Spanish, and a bevy of other languages, he was hired immediately. By June, 1912, he'd bankrolled enough money to see him through the opening phase of the work I'll be reading for you, "Vagabonding Down the Andes; Being the Narrative of a Journey, Chiefly Afoot, From Panama to Buenos Aires" (The Century Company, 1917). Leaving the Zone in June of 1912, with "objections to his reemployment", he caught a steamer and entered the South American continent at Cartagena, Colombia. Approximate 30 months later, having walked most of the length of the Inca highway, he staggered from a trek that took him over mountains and through raw jungle onto a ferry, and thence sailed into Buenos Aires, regarded as one of the most glamorous and expensive cities on earth at the time. This leg of the four volume epic (which later concludes with "Working North from Patagonia; Being the Narrative of a Journey, Earned on the Way, Through Southern and Eastern South America, The Century Company, 1921) was the longest one, and in many respects, "Vagabonding Down the Andes" was also the most detailed. As you can see, the works were not published in chronological order. Why? I don't know, other than the last volume, which was delayed by Harry's enlistment and serving in WWI.
Harry is an opinionated iconoclast with a strong American value system based upon self-reliance. He's both college-educated and what I suppose can best be called "street smart", though most of his trip took him through places where "street" was little more than an abstract concept. Before his South American journey, he'd already worked his way around the world, and had written a book about it ("A Vagabond Journey Around the World", The Century Company, 1910). Some people are going to get their Politically Correct dander up if they listen. Well, fast traveler, keep in mind that Harry was a man of his times, and thus he sees the world, as we are all people of our times, and thus we see and experience the world. Harry did his vagabonding with a pistol as his constant companion, and lived amongst the poorest classes of people. He drank water collected in the ruts of wagon wheels. Not knowing where his next meal was coming from was the norm, as opposed to the exception. In terms of travel writing he makes Paul Theroux look like an armchair dilettante. Take him as he is, and I think you'll soon become enmeshed in this extraordinary saga.
Written by Elliott Swanson, reader.
41 episodes
This is an absorbing memoir of an inmate's experiences and impressions while in a London prison. He describes himself as "a man of education and worldly experience" and weighing "19 stone 13 lbs" (279 lbs), a stone being 14 lbs, at the beginning of his imprisonment but not upon his release. The author writes with a reporter's keen perception and a talented novelist's ability to engage and at times amuse the reader. - Summary by Lee Smalley
28 episodes
A Voice from Harper's Ferry is the abolitionist testament of Osborne Perry Anderson, the only surviving black participant in the 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry organized by John Brown. The book details the motivations and preparations for the raid, the events that unfolded over several days in October 1859, and Anderson's subsequent escape. It ends with a short selection of poems from various sources honoring Brown and the movement for abolition. (summary by JR Martin)
7 episodes
In 1911, decades before California's coast Highway 1 was built, an Englishman rode 2000 miles on horseback the length of California, from Mexico to Oregon. On the way he is courteously received at isolated ranches, has many quiet adventures, and is generally amazed by the beauty of our coast. A classic early California travelog. Chase was born in Islington (London) and but lived most of this life in the California desert.Here are Chase's major landmarks, first going south and then turning north:Chap. 1 El Monte to Laguna Beach. Chap. 2 Aliso Canyon to San Juan Capistrano. Chap. 3 San Juan hot springs (east of Mission Viejo) to Oceanside. Chap 4. Del Mar to San Diego. Chap. 5 San Fernando Valley to Malibu. Chap. 6 Boney Mountain (in the Santa Monica Mtns.) to Ventura. Chap. 7 Carpenteria to Santa Barbara. Chap 8. Refugio Pass (south of Solvang) to Lompoc. Chap. 9 Solvang to Las Cruces (south of Solvang). Chap. 10 Point Conception back to Lompoc. Chap. 11 Casmalia to Avila (on SLO Bay). Chap. 12 San Luis Obispo to Morro Bay. Chap. 13 to Jolon and Mission San Antonio de Padua (SE of Ft. Hunter Liggett). Chap. 14 to Pacific Valley (south of Limekiln State Park). Chap. 15 Limekiln, Lucia, to about Lopez Point. Chap. 16 Big Sur, Point Sur Lighthouse to Monterey. Chap. 17 Seaside through the Santa Cruz Mtns. to Pescadero (San Mateo Co.). Chap. 18 Half Moon Bay, San Francisco, to Drakes Bay. Chap. 19 Tomales Bay to Gualala. Chap. 20 Navarro to Westport. Chap. 21 King Range and the Mattole Valley to Eureka. Chap. 22 Arcata to the Klamath.(Summary by Adrian Praetzellis)
22 episodes
These Reminiscences were written and published by the Author in his fiftieth year, shortly before he started on a trip to Europe and America for his failing health in 1912. It was in the course of this trip that he wrote for the first time in the English language for publication. (from preface)
44 episodes
In a memoir marked by joy, love, and an unbending sense of adventure, Cornelia Stratton Parker reveals the heart of a unique man and their life together. As a member of California's turn-of-the-20th-century Immigration and Housing Commission, Carlton H. Parker came to understand the problems surrounding migrant camps and the labor movement in general. In this volume she recounts his undertakings in that regard and their family life. - Summary by Mary Schneider
18 episodes
This second volume of the biography of Lord Cochrane deals with his fall from grace, imprisonment for debt, loss of honours, and attempts to clear his name. It has had a marked influence on naval fiction, most obviously on some of the novels by Patrick O'Brian. - Summary by Timothy Ferguson
24 episodes
In The Soul of a People, Englishman H. Fielding explores the beliefs of the Burmese people. He offers an understandable, and yet thorough, explanation of Buddhism, and illustrates the many ways the people of Burma (Myanmar) live their faith. He also provides a glimpse into the folk-practices surrounding Nats--the spirits of individuals who have suffered traumatic deaths, who now seek peace among ancient trees. Fielding, who lived in Burma for many years, gives us an intimate, first-hand account of a people he came to admire. Although first published in 1898, it remains a pertinent and thought-provoking read. (Summary by Carol Fullerton-Samsel)
26 episodes
Ibn Battuta (1304 – ca. 1369), was a Moroccan explorer. Over a period of thirty years, Ibn Battuta visited most of the known Islamic world as well as many non-Muslim lands. His journeys included trips to North Africa, West Africa, the Horn of Africa, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and China. Battuta is generally considered one of the greatest travellers of all time. This is a journal/record of his travels, omitting the translator's note and preface. (Summary modified from Wikipedia)NOTE: The material contains racial terms and ideas that are objectionable today. The final section speaks of cannibalism with the natives as the victims, for example.
14 episodes
Fully titled My Experiences in a Lunatic Asylum, by a Sane Patient, this memoir describes its author's, Herman Merivale's, experience in one of England's countryside asylums during the 1860's. The main subject - in this case, the author - is less than justly sentenced to a facility for the mentally disturbed. Literally crazy caricatures abound, prisoner and jailer alike. Lofty psychology experts float in and out of Merivale's stay, some more respectable than others, but mostly clueless to patients' real needs. Nurses withhold or too bountifully dispense medications. Wardens rely on inhumane tactics to illicit compliance. As our writer states, this time in British history was "when imprisonment was a form of cruelty which [needed] a new name." He highlights the horrific, hopeless conditions faced by any man, woman or child with even a mild case of depression or of schizophrenia or, for perhaps the most unfortunate souls, of ill-meaning family paying hefty sums to have them committed. (Summary by Lily Gross)
8 episodes
Famed American humorist Washington Irving published a series of short stories telling of his adventures traveling from America to England. This volume contains some of his observations about that trip, including his impressions of the English countryside, the differences between the wealthy and the poor, rural customs, and other aspects of British culture. During a visit to the library located in the depths of Westminster Abbey, Irving muses on the issue of why some examples of English literature stand the test of time, while others are lost to history. The collection concludes with Irving's memories of his visit to Stratford-on-Avon, the home of William Shakespeare, and the nearby communities that influenced some of Shakespeare's work. ( Greg Giordano)
6 episodes
A diary of a young school girl in Canandaigua, New York during the Civil War. (Summary by MaryElizabeth)
17 episodes
Hard Tack and Coffee: The Unwritten Story of Army Life (1887) is a memoir by John D. Billings, a veteran of the 10th Massachusetts Volunteer Light Artillery Battery in the American Civil War. Hard Tack and Coffee is not about battles, but rather about how the common Union soldiers of the Civil War lived in camp and on the march. It covers the details of regular soldier life, including enlisting, how soldiers were sheltered, Army rations, offenses and punishments, a day in camp, boxes from home, foraging , the army mule, hospitals and ambulances, clothing, breaking camp and marching, and other similar topics. Billings has been described as a skillful writer, both humorous and informative. The historian Henry Steele Commager called the work "one of the most entertaining of all civil war books". - Summary by Wikipedia
21 episodes
This is a compilation of the thoughts on art, science and life of Leonardo da Vinci, translated by Maurice Baring and edited by Lewis Einstein. - Summary by A. Gramour
18 episodes
"For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost; and is found."
He was lost by the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps.
He was officially dead as a result of official misinformation.
He was entombed by the French Government.
It took the better part of three months to find him and bring him back to life—with the help of powerful and willing friends on both sides of the Atlantic.
This is his story. (Summary from the introduction.)Note: This account contains a lot of French. A listener might become frustrated if they do not understand that language.
16 episodes
Am 29. Juni 1871 stach das Schiff » Polaris« von New York unter Kapitän Franz C. Hall in See zur Erforschung des Hochnordens. Der Dampfer nahm seinen Weg über Neufundland an der Westküste Grönlands entlang durch den Smith-Sund und überwinterte in einer Bucht dieser Küste, die Hall »Polaris-Bay« taufte. Dort wurde ein Observatorium errichtet, und von dort aus unternahm man Schlittenreisen nach Süden und Norden. Hall starb nach Rückkehr von einer solchen Fahrt am 8. November 1871. Im August 1872 mußte infolge Kohlenmangels und eines Lecks die Heimfahrt angetreten werden. Am 15. Oktober erlitt die »Polaris« Schiffbruch. Ein Teil der Besatzung, 14 Mann, blieb beim Wrack zurück und baute eine Hütte, »Polaris-Haus«, für den Winter; der andere Teil wurde von einem Eisfelde nach Süden getrieben, auf das man in der Voraussicht des Schiffbruches schon eine Nothütte, alle Boote, viele Geräte, Waffen und Proviant für die gesamte Mannschaft gebracht hatte. Auf der Scholle befanden sich der Meteorologe Friedrich Meyer, der Navigationsgehilfe Tyson, der Koch, der Steward, sechs Matrosen und zwei Eskimofamilien, bestehend aus zwei Männern, Hans und Joseph, zwei Frauen, drei Mädchen im Alter von drei, acht und zehn Jahren, einem sechsjährigen und einem am 12. August geborenen Knaben. - Zusammenfassung von Availle
Part of an account of the last voyage of the ship Polaris. After the shipwreck, 19 members of the crew were trapped on an ice floe, slowly moving south. They were rescued after 196 days on sea.
5 episodes
Volume 2 of Aubrey's sparkling gossipy biographical pieces on his contemporaries, including Bacon, Jonson and Shakespeare, Brief Lives' glimpses into the unofficial side of these towering figures has won it an undying popularity, with Ruth Scurr's recent reimagined "autobiography" of Aubrey, breathing new life into this classic for the next generation of readers - Summary by Nicole Lee
11 episodes
For many people, the name Caroline Herschel will be unfamiliar, but she was one of the most significant women on the English scientific scene during the late 18th and early 19th century. Sister of the well known William Herschel (he of the discovery of Uranus and its moons and many other significant scientific discoveries), she first worked as his assistant in his astronomical works, and then went on to become a noted astronomer in her own right. She discovered eight new comets in her lifetime, and was the first woman to be paid for her contribution to science, and was awarded a Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, made an Honorary Member of the Royal Astronomical Society, an Honorary Member of the Royal Irish Academy of Science and was presented with a Gold Medal for Science by the King of Prussia on her 96th birthday. This book tells the fascinating story of her life through her letters, and commentary by her nephew's wife. Caroline Herschel was an important woman whose contributions to science should be more widely known. (Summary by Kevin Green)
23 episodes
In 1892, anarchist and Russian émigré Alexander Berkman was apprehended for the failed assassination of industrialist Henry Clay Frick. This was a retaliatory act meant to incite revolution against those who had violently suppressed the Homestead Steel Strike — but for Berkman, it was a crime that ultimately led to his 14 year incarceration in Pennsylvania’s notorious Western Penitentiary. First published by Emma Goldman’s Mother Earth Press, Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist is a classic of autobiographical literature that recounts his experiences in the brutal, dehumanizing world of America's prison system. (ChuckW)
58 episodes
In 1915 Oscar Hornung, son of the famous author E W Hornung, was killed at Ypres after less than a year as a soldier in Flanders. He was only 20. Two years later E W Hornung volunteered to help run one of the YMCA canteens close behind the front line.
This book is Hornung’s own account of the time he spent in Northern France: first helping in a canteen, then running a library for the enlisted men. He wanted to be near the place where his son died, to meet the young soldiers who were fighting the war, and to make their lives a little better. More than anything, Hornung wanted to believe there was a greater purpose to he war: in his descriptions soldiers are always heroes, the struggles just, and leaders wise and kind.
But whatever his motivations and blind-spots, Hornung brought all his skills as a highly experienced novelist to the task of telling his story. We feel we are there with him while he talks to the soldiers, travels to the front line to serve cocoa and biscuits under fire, and finally sets up a lending library only a couple of miles from No Man’s Land. Even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (a former friend who reported Hornung to the authorities for promoting pacifism) grudgingly admitted that this book contains some of the best descriptions of life on the Western Front.
(The cover shows the western front as it passed trough the town of Arras in 1918 at the time the author would have known it)
(Summary by Clive Catterall)
13 episodes
A lively picture of the origin and completion of the Suez Canal (built between 1859 and 1869) and his architect, Vicomte de Lesseps. This is the translation of a lecture given before the Societe de Gens Lettres in Paris, in April 1870 by de Lesseps himself. (Summary by Availle)
3 episodes
Arguably one of America's greatest writers, Washington Irving is the author of such classics as "Legend of Sleepy Hollow," "Bracebridge Hall," and "Knickerbocker's History of New York." This book is a concise and extremely entertaining biography of this unique author.
Note to the listener: There are a couple of typos in this text. Chapter 33 should have been numbered as chapter 32, and there are two chapter 35's. The readers have keep the typos in the reading, therefore, there is no chapter 32, and the two chapter 35's are designated at "the first" and "the second." - Summary by Greg Giordano
39 episodes
This is the first volume of Chateaubriand's Memoires d'Outre Tombe, in a Victorian translation. It covers the period from his birth, including the extraordinarily evocative childhood years and his travels in America, the source of some of his later writing, up to his return to France in 1800. Writer, politician and the father of French Romanticism, Chateaubriand lived close to the heart of the France's travails in the nineteenth century and engaged with them passionately. His frankness, fluency and the tumultuous times in which he lived make his Memoirs one of the enduring monuments of the art of autobiography. - Summary by Nicole Lee
112 episodes
Up from Slavery is the 1901 autobiography of Booker T. Washington sharing his personal experience of having to work to rise up from the position of a slave child during the Civil War, to the difficulties and obstacles he overcame to get an education at the new Hampton Institute, to his work establishing the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama to help black people learn useful, marketable skills and work to pull themselves up by the bootstraps. He reflects on the generosity of both teachers and philanthropists who helped in educating blacks and Native Americans. He describes his efforts to instill manners, breeding, health and a feeling of dignity to students. (Mark Nelson)
18 episodes
A true tale of the wartime resilience of six Frenchwomen whose country town was invaded by the Germans during World War I. - Summary by Jael Baldwin
18 episodes
Early in his life Samuel Butler began to carry a note-book and to write down in it anything he wanted to remember; it might be something he heard some one say, more commonly it was something he said himself. In one of these notes he gives a reason for making them:“One’s thoughts fly so fast that one must shoot them; it is no use trying to put salt on their tails.”So he bagged as many as he could hit and preserved them, re-written on loose sheets of paper which constituted a sort of museum stored with the wise, beautiful, and strange creatures that were continually winging their way across the field of his vision. As he became a more expert marksman his collection increased and his museum grew so crowded that he wanted a catalogue. In 1874 he started an index, and this led to his reconsidering the notes, destroying those that he remembered having used in his published books and re-writing the remainder. The re-writing shortened some but it lengthened others and suggested so many new ones that the index was soon of little use and there seemed to be no finality about it. In 1891 he attached the problem afresh and made it a rule to spend an hour every morning re-editing his notes and keeping his index up to date. At his death, in 1902, he left five bound volumes, with the contents dated and indexed, about 225 pages of closely written sermon paper to each volume, and more than enough unbound and unindexed sheets to made a sixth volume of equal size. - Summary by Henry Festing Jones
33 episodes
“I had a friend who loved me;” but he has gone, and the “great gulf” is between us. After his death, I received a packet of manuscript with these few words:—“What I have written may appeal to you because of our friendship, and because, when you come to read them, you will seek to grasp, in these apparent confidences, an inner meaning that to the end will elude you. If you think others, not the many but the few, might find here any answer to their unuttered questionings, any fellowship of sympathy in those experiences which are the milestones of our lives, then use the letters as you will, but without my name. I shall have gone, and the knowledge of my name would make no one either wiser or happier.”
The writer was, by trade, a diplomatist; by inclination, a sportsman with literary and artistic tastes; by force of circumstances he was a student of many characters, and in some sense a cynic. He was also a traveler—not a great traveler, but he knew a good deal of Europe, a little of America, much of India and the further East. He spent some time in this neighborhood, and was much interested in the country and its people. There is an Eastern atmosphere about many of the letters, and he made no secret of the fact that he was fascinated by the glamour of the lands of sunshine. He died very suddenly by misadventure, and, even to me, his packet of letters came rather as a revelation.
- Summary by Frank Athelstane Swettenham
38 episodes
"Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada" is a memoir by Clarence King of his adventures and work with the California Geological Survey. King later led a major survey along the 40th Parallel in the American West and then was appointed the first director of the new U.S. Geological Survey.King's 1872 "Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada" exhibits a modern sense of timing and insight, and his accounts of hand-and-foot rock climbing seem as fresh as last week's blog post. He was part of the Victorian wave of mountain-climbing that first scaled the highest world peaks in the mid-19th century and, as a scientist, was part of a similar wave of new theories and discoveries: Darwinian evolution, glaciers, volcanism, erosion, earthquakes, topographical techniques, and human ecology. California had just passed through the Gold Rush years, and further survey of the Sierra Nevada was desired to extend knowledge of California economic geography.While listening to this historic book, please consult a supplemental web resource at http://melanie.mccalmont.org which provides 19th century references, photographs of Clarence King and the Sierras, geologic definitions, and links.The book is arranged in 14 chapters, each with a distinct purpose. Chapter 1 'The Range' starts slowly as a geologic history and description of the Sierra Nevada, then switches midway to an adventure across the desert. Chapter 2 'The Forest' likewise starts at a slower pace as King describes in detail the pine and sequoia forest through which the corps of discovery moves, then switches to a human interest story of the Maidu Indians. Chapters 3, 4, 11, 12, and 13 are mountaineering stories at their finest, from a time when technical gear consisted of ropes and hob-nailed shoes only. Chapters 7 and 8 describes King's participation in the boundary survey of the new Yosemite National Park. Chapters 5, 6, 9, 10, and 14 are centered on human interest stories in the Sierra Nevada. (Melanie Schleeter McCalmont)
14 episodes
As one of the first two bishops of the Methodist church in America and one of the most well-known circuit riders during the spread of Methodism, Francis Asbury kept a journal of his travels and activities. His journal begins with his prayerful decision to come to America in 1771 and continues to December of 1815, a few months before his death. In the meantime, we travel with Rev. Asbury across the ocean, over mountains, through rivers, and up and down the whole length of the fledgling United States of America. - Summary by Devorah Allen
53 episodes
These are the letters of John Keats, as written to family, close friends and others during his brief, eventful years as an artist. (However, the editor chose to exclude love letters to Fanny Brawne, respecting their private nature.) The celebrated Keats letters were written between 1816–1820, and include those colorful entries penned during his 44-day tour with Charles Brown as they rambled through England, Ireland and Scotland. Also included are the famous, lengthy "journal letters," written to his brother George and sister-in-law in America. Not only a poetic genius, Keats shines in epistolary form. His letters brim with the emotion, wit and intelligence he routinely shared with intimates. - Summary by NemoR
171 episodes
This work details personal memories of Mary Emily Donelson Wilcox, adopted granddaughter (acutally grand niece) of Rachel Donelson Jackson, wife of President Andrew Jackson, and assumed to be the first baby born in the White House. The book focuses on three Christmas memories--the first of a Christmas in the White House during the 1830's and Jackson's Presidency; the second, a Christmas in Prussia at the home of the Crown Prince, to which she was invited because her father was US minister to Berlin; the last story, a Christmas in Texas in the 1830s. Unlike the first two stories, the third one does appear to be a personal memory, but a recounting of a story, possibly told to her as she lived in Texas while her father served as US Commissioner to the Texas Republic. Summary by Dr. P. Gould.
3 episodes
Volume II of Chateaubriand's Memoirs from Beyond the Tomb, translated by Teixeira de Mattos. This volume covers the period from his return to France to fight, reluctantly, for the King, his early literary successes with many portraits of the great and the good, including Napoleon, through to his travels in the Near East in the first decade of the 19th century, all through with his characteristic blend of mordant wit and melancholy. - Summary by Nicole Lee
11 episodes
"The sending of a Women’s Convoy Corps to the Balkans was the result of Mrs. Stobart’s keen desire to demonstrate the ability of women to render signal service under war conditions and without the direction and assistance of men. This record of their achievements, therefore, provides a strong vindication of the claims of women to inclusion in the Territorial Defence Scheme". (summary from book advertisement, G. Bell & Sons, Ltd, 1913)
15 episodes
The third volume of Teixeira de Mattos' translation of Chateaubriand's Memoirs from Beyond the Tomb covers the spectacular fall, exile, and death of Napoleon, and is replete with the author's trenchant views on the some of the most significant figures of his era, tinged with his signature melancholy. - Summary by Nicole Lee
11 episodes
Bartolomé de las Casas fue un fraile dominico español que fue coetáneo cuya vida transcurrió paralela a la llegada de Cristóbal Colón a lo que se denominó "Nuevo Mundo", llegando a desempeñar algunos de los primeros puestos administrativos y eclesiásticos en las recién creadas colonias de América. Ha pasado a la Historia por sus crónicas de la colonización así como por su defensa de los pueblos indígenas. Gracias a sus esfuerzos continuados , y al de otros importantes autores como Francisco de Vitoria, en 1542 se publicaron las Leyes Nuevas, en las que se prohibía la esclavitud de los indios en territorio español, y ése mismo año, se publica por primera vez esta obra para libre circulación y general conocimiento.
La obra "Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias" fue escrita por De las Casas con un claro propósito de denuncia, al exponer y dar a conocer las injusticias y malos tratos con que los primeros conquistadores trataron a los indígenas americanos. Su objetivo era apelar al principe Felipe (encargado en aquella época de los asuntos de Indias y futuro Emperador) para que favoreciese la promulgación de leyes que los defendiesen y protegiesen. En sus páginas no sólo se encuentran relatos de las atrocidades que se cometieron en los primeros años de la colonización de las américas, sino que también se pueden encontrar reflexiones acerca de las costumbres de los distintos pueblos americanos, sobre la bondad y la maldad del ser humano, así como el papel de las leyes y el buen gobierno. - Summary by Epachuko.
24 episodes
This memoirs chronicles Madame Vigée Lebrun's childhood and the early discovery of her talent, the fortuitous break that introduced her to the world of "portraiture of the stars," her expeditious flight from France at the height of the French Revolution, her continued success as a portraitist for the various royal houses of Europe, and her ultimate return to France. In this memoirs, Lebrun illustrates how she overcame the prejudices of the art world that prescribed how women painters could practice their art form, as well as the subject matter they could paint. (James K. White)
18 episodes
After the extinction of Napoleon's comet on St Helena, Chateaubriand covers the Bourbon Restoration in this volume, meeting a dazzling array of literary and political figures, as his diplomatic career advances. - Summary by Nicole Lee
11 episodes
Esta obra de trata de 09 cartas literarias escritas por el autor durante su estadía en el monasterio de Veruela en el invierno de 1864 y parte de la primavera. Se sabe que estas cartas fueron publicadas en el diario "El contemporáneo" de aquella época durante el año indicado. - Resumen por KendalRigans
9 episodes
Botanical Piracy! A French botanist plots to steal red dye cochineal insects from Spanish Mexico and transplant them and their cacti hosts to the French Caribbean. The year is 1776. Nicolas-Joseph Thiéry de Menonville is a fast talker and a quick thinker. Botanist and physician by training, he insinuates his way from Port-au-Prince, first to Havana and then to the Mexican mainland on the ruse that he is searching for a botanical cure for gout. In Vera Cruz, however, his passport is confiscated, and the Viceroy orders him to leave Mexico on the first available ship. There are three weeks to wait before the ship sails. Thiéry de Menonville concocts a daring plan. Circulating the story that he is spending the interval before his departure at the country estate of an alluring widow, he instead climbs over the city wall of Vera Cruz in the dead of night and sets out on foot for Oaxaca and its cochineal plantations, no matter that he is ignorant of the exact route to take. Not daunted, he stops at a monastery and tells the monks he has made a vow to walk on foot to Nuestra Señora de la Soledad in Oaxaca, and the monks point him on the right road. How Thiéry de Menonville succeeds in bringing living cactus and cochineal insects to the French colony of Saint-Domingue is a non-stop adventure tale. - Summary by Sue Anderson
22 episodes
Throughout the First World War, members of the Royal Army Medical Corps provided constant support for British and Allied military troops whether they were fighting on the frontline or engaged in other operations within all areas of the conflict.
With the Great War continuing unabated and the battlefront extending through Europe into the Middle East and beyond, a rapid increase in military medical support facilities and infrastructure was urgently implemented to handle the ever increasing number of wounded, maimed and sick troops evacuated from the combat zone that needed to receive urgent medical and life-saving care.
Commandeering and requisitioning suitable buildings and facilities for the purpose, the British and Allied forces increased the number of hospital beds available from just a few hundred to many thousands. But these were barely sufficient to cope, when you consider that within a few days of the first fateful landings on the Gallipoli Peninsula in April 1915, the wounded began to pour into Egypt. In the first ten days alone no fewer than 16,000 cases were landed and distributed among the hospitals ashore.
Published in 1918, this book is the personal memoir of Tickner Edwardes who was an operating theatre orderly based in Egypt during the First World War. In it, he brings his uniquely perceptive and eloquent writing style to document the roles and responsibilities undertaken by the R.A.M.C. in Egypt to maintain the health, welfare and well-being of all personnel in whatever field of operations they were engaged in. - Summary by Steve C
21 episodes
The memoirs of Chateaubriand continue in Volume 5, with the author, now a grand hommes des lettres, still in the thick of political events, telling his story with his trademark acerbity and melancholy, interspersed with extracts from his voluminous correspondence with the literary, intellectual and political stars of his age.
19 episodes
On 26 November 1922, after eight years of work in the Valley of the Kings, archeologist Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Tut-Ankh-Amen, a pharaoh of the 18th dynasty (around 1300 BCE). Different than all the tombs hitherto excavated, this was the first to be virtually undisturbed, and Carters words on a first look inside "Yes, wonderful things!" have gone down in history. Excavating the tomb in full took eight years, and most of the 5,398 items that were found there are now on display in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, with the exception of the mummy of Tut-Ankh-Amen that remained in the tomb where it was laid to rest. This first volume of Howard Carter's memoirs, written in late 1923, recounts the finding and opening of the tomb, the clearing of the antechamber, and the opening of the sealed door leading to the burial chamber. - Summary by Availle
15 episodes
