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John Muir
by Thomas LockerLaced with richly painted landscapes, this book brings readers the world and words of John Muir. This is the second book in a series of illustrated books by Thomas Locker that introduces readers to notable people who loved and wrote about the American land, especially about the value of wilderness.
John Muir Wrestles a Waterfall
by Julie DannebergThe now iconic figure John Muir, while living at the base of Yosemite Falls in California, ventures up the trail from his cabin one night and has a harrowing waterfall adventure. Back matter roots the story in Muir’s life’s work as a conservationist and naturalist.
John Muir: America's First Environmentalist (Candlewick Biographies)
by Kathryn Lasky Stan FellowsFrom the meadows of Scotland to the farms of Wisconsin, from the swamps of Florida to the Alaskan tundra, John Muir loved the land. Born in 1838, he was a writer, a scholar, an inventor, a shepherd, a farmer, and an explorer, but above all, he was a naturalist. John Muir was particularly devoted to the high cliffs, waterfalls, and ancient giant sequoia trees that, through his careful influence, were set aside as one of the first national parks in America - Yosemite. Here is the life story of the man who, moved by a commitment to wilderness everywhere, founded the Sierra Club in 1892, a conservation group that carries on his crucial work to this day.
John Muir: My Life With Nature (A Sharing Nature With Children Book)
by Joseph CornellA biography of the man known as "father of America's national parks" and an influential conservationist, told in the first person, using Muir's own words.
John Muir: Nature's Visionary
by Gretel EhrlichIn this definitive photobiography, Ehrlich brings her award-winning grace and insight to the life of one of our nation's most prized environmental heroes--John Muir, a founder of the Sierra Club.
John Muir: Young Naturalist
by Montrew DunhamA founding father of the conservation movement in the United States, John Muir was born in Scotland and emigrated to Wisconsin when he was eleven. His boyhood passion for the wilderness of North America matured into a pathbreaking career, which included such triumphs as working with President Theodore Roosevelt to establish the National Parks Service, creating the first ever national park, Yosemite, and founding the Sierra Club. For today's eco-conscious kids, John Muir has become a hero.
John Muir: Young Naturalist (Childhood of Famous Americans Series)
by Montrew DunhamA founding father of the conservation movement in the United States, John Muir was born in Scotland and emigrated to Wisconsin when he was eleven. This easy-to-read fictionalized biography takes a look at Muir's life as young naturalist, destined to become one of America's first eco-heroes.
John Napier: Life, Logarithms, and Legacy
by Julian HavilThe most comprehensive account of the mathematician's life and workJohn Napier (1550–1617) is celebrated today as the man who invented logarithms—an enormous intellectual achievement that would soon lead to the development of their mechanical equivalent in the slide rule: the two would serve humanity as the principal means of calculation until the mid-1970s. Yet, despite Napier's pioneering efforts, his life and work have not attracted detailed modern scrutiny. John Napier is the first contemporary biography to take an in-depth look at the multiple facets of Napier’s story: his privileged position as the eighth Laird of Merchiston and the son of influential Scottish landowners; his reputation as a magician who dabbled in alchemy; his interest in agriculture; his involvement with a notorious outlaw; his staunch anti-Catholic beliefs; his interactions with such peers as Henry Briggs, Johannes Kepler, and Tycho Brahe; and, most notably, his estimable mathematical legacy.Julian Havil explores Napier’s original development of logarithms, the motivations for his approach, and the reasons behind certain adjustments to them. Napier’s inventive mathematical ideas also include formulas for solving spherical triangles, "Napier’s Bones" (a more basic but extremely popular alternative device for calculation), and the use of decimal notation for fractions and binary arithmetic. Havil also considers Napier’s study of the Book of Revelation, which led to his prediction of the Apocalypse in his first book, A Plaine Discovery of the Whole Revelation of St. John—the work for which Napier believed he would be most remembered.John Napier assesses one man’s life and the lasting influence of his advancements on the mathematical sciences and beyond.
John Osborne: The Many Lives of the Angry Young Man
by John HeilpernJohn Osborne, the original Angry Young Man, shocked and transformed British theater in the 1950s with his play Look Back in Anger. This startling biography-the first to draw on the secret notebooks in which he recorded his anguish and depression-reveals the notorious rebel in all his heartrending complexity. Through a working-class childhood and five marriages, Osborne led a tumultuous life. An impossible father, he threw his teenage daughter out of the house and never spoke to her again. His last written words were "I have sinned." Theater critic John Heilpern's detailed portrait, including interviews with Osborne's daughter, scores of friends and enemies, and his alleged male lover, shows us a contradictory genius--an ogre with charm, a radical who hated change, and above all, a defiant individualist.
John Owen
by Ryan M. Mcgraw"The Foundation of Communion with God" introduces readers to the Trinitarian piety of John Owen (1616-1683).
John P. Slough: The Forgotten Civil War General
by Richard L. MillerJohn Potts Slough, the Union commander at the Battle of Glorieta Pass, lived a life of relentless pursuit for success that entangled him in the turbulent events of mid-nineteenth-century America. As a politician, Slough fought abolitionists in the Ohio legislature and during Kansas Territory&’s fourth and final constitutional convention. He organized the 1st Colorado Volunteer Infantry after the Civil War broke out, eventually leading his men against Confederate forces at the pivotal engagement at Glorieta Pass. After the war, as chief justice of the New Mexico Territorial Supreme Court, he struggled to reform corrupt courts amid the territory&’s corrosive Reconstruction politics.Slough was known to possess a volcanic temper and an easily wounded pride. These traits not only undermined a promising career but ultimately led to his death at the hands of an aggrieved political enemy who gunned him down in a Santa Fe saloon. Recounting Slough&’s timeless story of rise and fall during America&’s most tumultuous decades, historian Richard L. Miller brings to life this extraordinary figure.
John Paul II
by Robin Moore Ray Flynn Jim VrabelUnlike any other pope, John Paul II has reached out, creating dialogue or creating uproar, but always striving to unite the human community. Drawing on years of personal interaction with the Pope, and on his unique understanding of the intersection of religion and politics, Flynn, with co-authors Robin Moore and Jim Vrabel, shows how John Paul II changed the papacy, perhaps forever.
John Paul Jones: Sailor, Hero, Father of the American Navy
by Evan ThomasRelive the American Revolution in this gripping biography of sailor John Paul Jones, remembered as the father of the American Navy.
John Paul Jones: The Pirate Patriot
by Armstrong SperryNewbery Medalist Armstrong Sperry tells the exciting story of the man who led a rag-tag continental navy to victory at sea.
John Peel
by Mick WallA tribute biography of the hugely popular DJ and broadcaster John PeelJohn Peel was born in Cheshire in 1939 and, after National Service, he eventually went into broadcasting while travelling in America, where his Liverpool accent convinced them he must know the Beatles, and he was even present when Lee Harvey Oswald was shot. In 1967 he returned to the UK and joined Radio One at its start. His late-night radio shows were cult listening for music fans of all ages, and many bands admit that without his support, they would never have made it.While Radio One changed, he remained a constant factor in its schedules, and in 1998 he was awarded the OBE for his services to broadcasting. It was in that year that he also began his multi-award-winning show Home Truths on Radio Four. Mick Wall tells the story of arguably the most influential man in the history of British rock music, speaking to those who knew him well to build up a complete portrait of this hugely popular figure.
John Peel
by Mick Wall'Excellent ... paints an affectionate portrait of this unpretentious, humorous presenter who seems to have been loved by everyone who met him' SUNDAY TIMES'A leisurely stroll through the life of an "irreplaceable man" - [a] thoughtful, well-paced portrait' OBSERVERA tribute biography of the hugely popular DJ and broadcaster John PeelJohn Peel was born in Cheshire in 1939 and, after National Service, he eventually went into broadcasting while travelling in America, where his Liverpool accent convinced them he must know the Beatles, and he was even present when Lee Harvey Oswald was shot. In 1967 he returned to the UK and joined Radio One at its start. His late-night radio shows were cult listening for music fans of all ages, and many bands admit that without his support, they would never have made it.While Radio One changed, he remained a constant factor in its schedules, and in 1998 he was awarded the OBE for his services to broadcasting. It was in that year that he also began his multi-award-winning show Home Truths on Radio Four. Mick Wall tells the story of arguably the most influential man in the history of British rock music, speaking to those who knew him well to build up a complete portrait of this hugely popular figure.
John Pendleton Kennedy: Early American Novelist, Whig Statesman, and Ardent Nationalist (Southern Biography Series)
by Andrew R. BlackJohn Pendleton Kennedy (1795--1870) achieved a multidimensional career as a successful novelist, historian, and politician. He published widely and represented his district in the Maryland legislature before being elected to Congress several times and serving as secretary of the navy during the Fillmore administration. He devoted much of his life to the American Whig party and campaigned zealously for Henry Clay during his multiple runs for president. His friends in literary circles included Charles Dickens, Washington Irving and Edgar Allan Poe. According to biographer Andrew Black, scholars from various fields have never completely captured this broadly talented antebellum figure, with literary critics ignoring Kennedy's political work, historians overlooking his literary achievements, and neither exploring their close interrelationship. In fact, Black argues, literature and politics were inseparable for Kennedy, as his literary productions were infused with the principles and beliefs that coalesced into the Whig party in the 1830s and led to its victory over Jacksonian Democrats the following decade. Black's comprehensive biography amends this fractured scholarship, employing Kennedy's published work and other writing to investigate the culture of the Whig party itself.Using Kennedy's best-known novel, the enigmatic Swallow Barn, or, A Sojourn in the Old Dominion (1832), Black illustrates how the author grappled unsuccessfully with race and slavery. The novel's unstable narrative and dissonant content reflect the fatal indecisiveness both of its author and his party in dealing with these volatile issues. Black further argues that it was precisely this failure that caused the political collapse of the Whigs and paved the way for the Civil War.
John Prince 1796-1870: A Collection of Documents
by R. Alan DouglasJohn Prince was a lawyer, farmer, military officer, politician, judge, and entrepreneur. Born at Hereford, England, in 1796, he emigrated to Upper Canada in 1833 because he was ashamed of his ne'er-do-well father. His interest in farming took him to Sandwich where he became involved in the many careers open to him. An unhappy and volatile man, he was constantly at odds with himself, his family, and his associates. As colonel of the Third Essex Regiment, he was sometimes unpredictable in his actions and on one occasion, during the Upper Canada Rebellion, unjustifiably violent – ordering the summary execution of five prisoners after the Battle of Windsor. As a politician, despite his haughty and melancholic nature and his erratic individualism, he held the loyalty of his constituents, representing Essex in the House of Assembly from 1836 to 1854 and the Western Districts in the Legislative Council from 1856 to 1860. In 1860, after a lifetime spent in politics, farming, railroading and mining speculations, and canal schemes, he obtained a long-sought judgeship in the new District of Algoma. Leaving his wife and children behind, he went off to his 'New Siberia,' where he continued his restless struggle to escape 'the importunities of mankind,' and where his long, tragic life ended in 1870. Entries from Prince's diary, excerpts from newspaper accounts, and letters give a vivid picture of the politics and life of his time. In his Introduction, R. Alan Douglas emphasizes the contribution made by the discovery of the diary to our perception of the people, places, and events of mid-nineteenth century North America. (Ontario Series of the Champlain Society, 11)
John Prine: In Spite of Himself
by Eddie HuffmanWith a range that spans the lyrical, heartfelt songs "Angel from Montgomery," "Sam Stone," and "Paradise" to the classic country music parody "You Never Even Called Me by My Name," John Prine is a songwriter's songwriter. Across five decades, Prine has created critically acclaimed albums--John Prine (one of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time), Bruised Orange, and The Missing Years--and earned many honors, including two Grammy Awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting from the Americana Music Association, and induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. His songs have been covered by scores of artists, from Johnny Cash and Miranda Lambert to Bette Midler and 10,000 Maniacs, and have influenced everyone from Roger McGuinn to Kacey Musgraves. Hailed in his early years as the "new Dylan," Prine still counts Bob Dylan among his most enthusiastic fans. In John Prine, Eddie Huffman traces the long arc of Prine's musical career, beginning with his early, seemingly effortless successes, which led paradoxically not to stardom but to a rich and varied career writing songs that other people have made famous. He recounts the stories, many of them humorous, behind Prine's best-known songs and discusses all of Prine's albums as he explores the brilliant records and the ill-advised side trips, the underappreciated gems and the hard-earned comebacks that led Prine to found his own successful record label, Oh Boy Records. This thorough, entertaining treatment gives John Prine his due as one of the most influential songwriters of his generation.
John Prine: In Spite of Himself (American Music Series)
by Eddie Huffman&“An excellent new biography&” of the influential songwriter that showcases his renowned humor and musical genius (The Telegraph). With a range that spans the lyrical, heartfelt songs &“Angel from Montgomery,&” &“Sam Stone,&” and &“Paradise&” to the classic country music parody &“You Never Even Called Me by My Name,&” John Prine is a songwriter&’s songwriter. Across five decades, he&’s created critically acclaimed albums—John Prine (one of Rolling Stone&’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time), Bruised Orange, The Missing Years—and earned two Grammy Awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting from the Americana Music Association, and induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. His songs have been covered by scores of artists, from Johnny Cash and Miranda Lambert to Bette Midler and 10,000 Maniacs, and influenced everyone from Roger McGuinn to Kacey Musgraves. Hailed in his early years as the &“new Dylan,&” Prine still counts Bob Dylan among his most enthusiastic fans. In John Prine, Eddie Huffman traces the long arc of Prine&’s musical career, beginning with his early, seemingly effortless successes, which led paradoxically not to stardom but to a rich and varied career writing songs that other people have made famous. He recounts the stories, many of them humorous, behind Prine&’s best-known songs and discusses all of Prine&’s albums as he explores the brilliant records and the ill-advised side trips, the underappreciated gems and the hard-earned comebacks that led Prine to found his own successful record label, Oh Boy Records. This thorough, entertaining treatment gives John Prine his due as one of the most influential songwriters of his generation.
John Prine: In Spite of Himself (American Music Series)
by Eddie Huffman&“An excellent new biography&” of the influential songwriter that showcases his renowned humor and musical genius (The Telegraph). With a range that spans the lyrical, heartfelt songs &“Angel from Montgomery,&” &“Sam Stone,&” and &“Paradise&” to the classic country music parody &“You Never Even Called Me by My Name,&” John Prine is a songwriter&’s songwriter. Across five decades, he&’s created critically acclaimed albums—John Prine (one of Rolling Stone&’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time), Bruised Orange, The Missing Years—and earned two Grammy Awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting from the Americana Music Association, and induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. His songs have been covered by scores of artists, from Johnny Cash and Miranda Lambert to Bette Midler and 10,000 Maniacs, and influenced everyone from Roger McGuinn to Kacey Musgraves. Hailed in his early years as the &“new Dylan,&” Prine still counts Bob Dylan among his most enthusiastic fans. In John Prine, Eddie Huffman traces the long arc of Prine&’s musical career, beginning with his early, seemingly effortless successes, which led paradoxically not to stardom but to a rich and varied career writing songs that other people have made famous. He recounts the stories, many of them humorous, behind Prine&’s best-known songs and discusses all of Prine&’s albums as he explores the brilliant records and the ill-advised side trips, the underappreciated gems and the hard-earned comebacks that led Prine to found his own successful record label, Oh Boy Records. This thorough, entertaining treatment gives John Prine his due as one of the most influential songwriters of his generation.
John Quincy Adams
by Harlow UngerHe fought for Washington, served with Lincoln, witnessed Bunker Hill, and sounded the clarion against slavery on the eve of the Civil War. He negotiated an end to the War of 1812, engineered the annexation of Florida, and won the Supreme Court decision that freed the African captives of "The Amistad. " He served his nation as minister to six countries, secretary of state, senator, congressman, and president. John Quincy Adams was all of these things and more. In this masterful biography, award winning author Harlow Giles Unger reveals Quincy Adams as a towering figure in the nationOCOs formative years and one of the most courageous figures in American history, which is why he ranked first in John F. KennedyOCOs Pulitzer Prizeuwinning "Profiles in Courage. " A magisterial biography and a sweeping panorama of American history from the Washington to Lincoln eras, UngerOCOs "John Quincy Adams" follows one of AmericaOCOs most important yet least-known figures.
John Quincy Adams
by Paul C. NagelFebruary 21, 1848, the House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.: Congressman John Quincy Adams, rising to speak, suddenly collapses at his desk; two days later, he dies in the Speaker's chamber. The public mourning that followed, writes Paul C. Nagel, "exceeded anything previously seen in America." Forgotten was his failed presidency and his often cold demeanor. It was the memory of an extraordinary human being--one who in his last years had fought heroically for the right of petition and against a war to expand slavery--that drew a grateful people to salute his coffin in the Capitol and to stand by the railroad tracks as his bier was transported from Washington to Boston. Nagel probes deeply into the psyche of this cantankerous, misanthropic, erudite, hardworking son of a former president whose remarkable career spanned many offices: minister to Holland, Russia, and England, U.S. senator, secretary of state, president of the United States (1825-1829), and, finally, U.S. representative (the only ex-president to serve in the House). On the basis of a thorough study of Adams' seventy-year diary, among a host of other documents, the author gives us a richer account than we have yet had of JQA's life--his passionate marriage to Louisa Johnson, his personal tragedies (two sons lost to alcoholism), his brilliant diplomacy, his recurring depression, his exasperating behavior--and shows us why, in the end, only Abraham Lincoln's death evoked a greater outpouring of national sorrow in nineteenth-century America. We come to see how much Adams disliked politics and hoped for more from life than high office; how he sought distinction in literary and scientific endeavors, and drew his greatest pleasure from being a poet, critic, translator, essayist, botanist, and professor of oratory at Harvard; how tension between the public and private Adams vexed his life; and how his frustrations kept him masked and aloof (and unpopular). Nagel's great achievement, in this first biography of America's sixth president in a quarter century, is finally to portray Adams in all his talent and complexity.
John Quincy Adams (The American Presidents Series)
by Arthur M. Schlesinger Robert V. ReminiA vivid portrait of a man whose pre- and post-presidential careers overshadowed his presidency. Chosen by the House of Representatives after an inconclusive election against Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams often failed to mesh with the ethos of his era, pushing unsuccessfully for a strong, consolidated national government. Historian Robert V. Remini recounts how in the years before his presidency Adams was a shrewd, influential diplomat, and later, as a dynamic secretary of state under President James Monroe, he solidified many basic aspects of American foreign policy, including the Monroe Doctrine. Undoubtedly his greatest triumph was the negotiation of the Transcontinental Treaty, through which Spain acknowledged Florida to be part of the United States. After his term in office, he earned the nickname "Old Man Eloquent" for his passionate antislavery speeches.