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The Life and the Adventures of a Haunted Convict
by David W. Blight Robert B. Stepto Caleb Smith Austin ReedThe earliest known prison memoir by an African American writer--recently discovered and authenticated by a team of Yale scholars--sheds light on the longstanding connection between race and incarceration in America. In 2009, scholars at Yale University came across a startling manuscript: the memoir of Austin Reed, a free black man born in the 1820s who spent most of his early life ricocheting between forced labor in prison and forced labor as an indentured servant. Lost for more than one hundred and fifty years, the handwritten document is the first known prison memoir written by an African American. Corroborated by prison records and other documentary sources, Reed's text gives a gripping first-person account of an antebellum Northern life lived outside slavery that nonetheless bore, in its day-to-day details, unsettling resemblances to that very institution. Now, for the first time, we can hear Austin Reed's story as he meant to tell it. He was born to a middle-class black family in the boomtown of Rochester, New York, but when his father died, his mother struggled to make ends meet. Still a child, Reed was placed as an indentured servant to a nearby family of white farmers near Rochester. He was caught attempting to set fire to a building and sentenced to ten years at Manhattan's brutal House of Refuge, an early juvenile reformatory that would soon become known for beatings and forced labor. Seven years later, Reed found himself at New York's infamous Auburn State Prison. It was there that he finished writing this memoir, which explores America's first reformatory and first industrial prison from an inmate's point of view, recalling the great cruelties and kindnesses he experienced in those places and excavating patterns of racial segregation, exploitation, and bondage that extended beyond the boundaries of the slaveholding South, into free New York. Accompanied by fascinating historical documents (including a series of poignant letters written by Reed near the end of his life), The Life and the Adventures of a Haunted Convict is a work of uncommon beauty that tells a story of nineteenth-century racism, violence, labor, and captivity in a proud, defiant voice. Reed's memoir illuminates his own life and times--as well as ours today.Advance praise for The Life and the Adventures of a Haunted Convict "This extraordinary first-person account, from New York's House of Refuge to the Auburn State Prison, exposes the roots of a prison culture that continues to haunt far too many black families today. We owe a great debt to Austin Reed for writing it and to Caleb Smith for unraveling the mysteries of identity and authentication after its discovery a century-and-a-half later."--Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, Harvard University "The discovery story behind this memoir by a black prisoner--written 150 years ago and hidden for generations--is a modern gumshoe plot, and the tale it tells of perennial jail for the crime of blackness reads like a case study from today's age of mass incarceration."--Edward Ball, author of the National Book Award winner Slaves in the Family"The voice of Austin Reed, a black man in early nineteenth-century America who was incarcerated at the tender age of ten, rises up and speaks to us now, in artful, picaresque tones, to tell of his own unbelievable suffering. He's a riveting figure."--Rachel Kushner, author of The Flamethrowers"A moving, significant narrative that affords both an elegantly produced glimpse of nineteenth-century prison life and a new chapter in African-American history."--Kirkus ReviewsFrom the Hardcover edition.
The Life of Alcibiades: Dangerous Ambition and the Betrayal of Athens (Cornell Studies in Classical Philology #68)
by Jacqueline de RomillyThis biography of Alcibiades, the charismatic Athenian statesman and general (c. 450–404 BC) who achieved both renown and infamy during the Peloponnesian War, is both an extraordinary adventure story and a cautionary tale that reveals the dangers that political opportunism and demagoguery pose to democracy. As Jacqueline de Romilly brilliantly documents, Alcibiades's life is one of wanderings and vicissitudes, promises and disappointments, brilliant successes and ruinous defeats. Born into a wealthy and powerful family in Athens, Alcibiades was a student of Socrates and disciple of Pericles, and he seemed destined to dominate the political life of his city—and his tumultuous age.Romilly shows, however, that he was too ambitious. Haunted by financial and sexual intrigues and political plots, Alcibiades was exiled from Athens, sentenced to death, recalled to his homeland, only to be exiled again. He defected from Athens to Sparta and from Sparta to Persia and then from Persia back to Athens, buffeted by scandal after scandal, most of them of his own making. A gifted demagogue and, according to his contemporaries, more handsome than the hero Achilles, Alcibiades is also a strikingly modern figure, whose seductive celebrity and dangerous ambition anticipated current crises of leadership.
The Life of Alexander Stewart: Prisoner of Napoleon and Preacher of the Gospel (Sir Halley Stewart Trust: Publications)
by Alexander StewartOriginally published in 1948, this book is of a remarkable gentleman, Alexander Stewart, who was born in Kirkaldy, Fifeshire, in 1790, and died in 1874. In middle life he wrote for his children an account of his adventurous youth, when he ran away to sea, was captured by the French, and spent some ten years as a prisoner. On returning home, he took to teaching, but then came a compelling inner call to the Christian ministry, and for the remainder of his life he preached the gospel with characteristic vigour and courage.Sir P. Malcolm Stewart, his grandson, in his Preface speaks of his “sense of pride in Alexander Stewart’s patience, endurance, and determination, in his great physical and moral courage, and his fight for freedom whether in prison or in the ministry.”“The style of writing,” says Alexander Stewart, “which I have adopted is that of unadorned narrative,” and such a story needed no external embellishments. His early narrative is given in extenso; the later portion is taken and abridged from his diary. Altogether it is a remarkable addition to the corpus of memoirs of the Napoleonic era.This book is a re-issue originally published in 1948. The language used and views portrayed are a reflection of its era and no offence is meant by the Publishers to any reader by this re-publication.
The Life of Alexander the Great (Modern Library Classics)
by PlutarchIn 336 b.c. Philip of Macedonia was assassinated and his twenty-year-old son, Alexander, inherited his kingdom. Immediately quelling rebellion, Alexander extended his father’s empire through-out the Middle East and into parts of Asia, fulfilling the soothsayer Aristander’s prediction that the new king “should perform acts so important and glorious as would make the poets and musicians of future ages labour and sweat to describe and celebrate him.” The Life of Alexander the Great is one of the first surviving attempts to memorialize the achievements of this legendary king, remembered today as the greatest military genius of all time. This exclusive Modern Library edition, excerpted from Plutarch’s Lives, is a riveting tale of honor, power, scandal, and bravery written by the most eminent biographer of the ancient world.
The Life of Benjamin Franklin, Volume 1
by J. A. Leo LemayNamed "one of the best books of 2006" by The New York SunDescribed by Carl Van Doren as "a harmonious human multitude," Benjamin Franklin was the most famous American of his time, of perhaps any time. His life and careers were so varied and successful that he remains, even today, the epitome of the self-made man. Born into a humble tradesman's family, this adaptable genius rose to become an architect of the world's first democracy, a leading light in Enlightenment science, and a major creator of what has come to be known as the American character. Journalist, musician, politician, scientist, humorist, inventor, civic leader, printer, writer, publisher, businessman, founding father, and philosopher, Franklin is a touchstone for America's egalitarianism.The first volume traces young Franklin's life to his marriage in 1730. It traces the New England religious, political, and cultural contexts, exploring previously unknown influences on his philosophy and writing, and attributing new writings to him. After his move to Philadelphia, made famous in his Autobiography, Franklin became the Water American in London in 1725, where he was welcomed into that city's circle of freethinkers. Upon his return to the colonies, the sociable Franklin created a group of young friends, the Junto, devoted to self-improvement and philanthropy. He also started his own press and began to edit and publish the Pennsylvania Gazette, which became the most popular American paper of its day and the first to consistently feature American news.
The Life of Benjamin Franklin, Volume 2
by J. A. Leo LemayNamed "one of the best books of 2006" by The New York SunDescribed by Carl Van Doren as "a harmonious human multitude," Benjamin Franklin was the most famous American of his time, of perhaps any time. His life and careers were so varied and successful that he remains, even today, the epitome of the self-made man. Born into a humble tradesman's family, this adaptable genius rose to become an architect of the world's first democracy, a leading light in Enlightenment science, and a major creator of what has come to be known as the American character. Journalist, musician, politician, scientist, humorist, inventor, civic leader, printer, writer, publisher, businessman, founding father, philosopher, Franklin is a touchstone for America's egalitarianism.Volume 2 takes Franklin from his marriage in 1730 to his retirement as a printer at the beginning of 1748, examining the mysteries of the illegitimate William Franklin's birth and mother and Franklin's increasing civic activities--starting the Library Company in Philadelphia in 1731, forming Pennsylvania's first volunteer fire company, and becoming an advocate for a clean Philadelphia environment. J. A. Leo Lemay assesses Franklin's numerous writings, attributing to him for the first time a deistic Indian speech, remarking on his use of the second African American persona in journalism, and analyzing his publishing sensation of 1747, The Speech of Miss Polly Baker. These belletristic works are complemented by Franklin's religious, political, and scientific writings, which he produced prodigiously.
The Life of Benjamin Franklin, Volume 3
by J. A. LemayDescribed as "a harmonious human multitude," Ben Franklin's life and careers were so varied and successful that he remains, even today, the epitome of the self-made man. Born into a humble tradesman's family, this adaptable genius rose to become an architect of the world's first democracy, a leading light in Enlightenment science, and a major creator of what has come to be known as the American character. Journalist, musician, politician, scientist, humorist, inventor, civic leader, printer, writer, publisher, businessman, founding father, philosopher--a genius in all fields and a bit of a magician in some.Volume 3 begins in the year 1748, when Franklin was known in Pennsylvania as clerk of the Pennsylvania Assembly and in the Middle Colonies as the printer and editor of Poor Richard's Almanac and the Pennsylvania Gazette, the best-known colonial publications. By the middle of 1757, where this volume leaves off, he had become famous in Pennsylvania as a public-spirited citizen and soldier in the conflicts of the Seven Years' War; well known throughout America as a writer, politician, and the most important theorist and patriot of the American empire; and renowned in the western world as a natural philosopher. This volume tells the story of that transformation.
The Life of Billy Kim: From Houseboy to World Evangelist
by Billy KimWhen a man meets a man, history happens.When a man meets God, miracles happen.Billy Kim was plucked out of poverty and obscurity during wartime in Korea by what could only have been chance—or a miracle. Picked seemingly at random by an American GI to be the houseboy for their barracks in Korea, sixteen-year-old Billy began the path that would bring him to school in America. Later he would go on to be the translator for Billy Graham&’s 1973 crusade, a preacher to millions, and an influential global leader for the spread of the gospel. He has been aptly described as the Billy Graham of Asia. The Life of Billy Kim is the story of how God&’s work has been revealed in this one man&’s life. For anyone looking for guidance as they serve the Lord, Billy Kim&’s life will be a powerful inspiration of providence in a surrendered life. This is the story of what God can do through the life of a person extraordinarily surrendered to His will.
The Life of Billy Kim: From Houseboy to World Evangelist
by Billy KimWhen a man meets a man, history happens.When a man meets God, miracles happen.Billy Kim was plucked out of poverty and obscurity during wartime in Korea by what could only have been chance—or a miracle. Picked seemingly at random by an American GI to be the houseboy for their barracks in Korea, sixteen-year-old Billy began the path that would bring him to school in America. Later he would go on to be the translator for Billy Graham&’s 1973 crusade, a preacher to millions, and an influential global leader for the spread of the gospel. He has been aptly described as the Billy Graham of Asia. The Life of Billy Kim is the story of how God&’s work has been revealed in this one man&’s life. For anyone looking for guidance as they serve the Lord, Billy Kim&’s life will be a powerful inspiration of providence in a surrendered life. This is the story of what God can do through the life of a person extraordinarily surrendered to His will.
The Life of Billy Yank: The Common Soldier of the Union
by Bell Irvin WileyIn this companion to The Life of Johnny Reb, Bell Irvin Wiley explores the daily lives of the men in blue who fought to save the Union. With the help of many soldiers' letters and diaries, Wiley explains who these men were and why they fought, how they reacted to combat and the strain of prolonged conflict, and what they thought about the land and the people of Dixie. This fascinating social history reveals that while the Yanks and the Rebs fought for very different causes, the men on both sides were very much the same.
The Life of Buddha
by Paul C. Blum A. Ferdinand HeroldTHE LIFE OF BUDDHA Based on prolonged study of Indian legends, poems,history) and literature, The Life of Buddha not only adds to the actual knowledge of the facts surrounding the life of the Lord Buddha, but it also renders intelligible much that has hitherto mystified the Western student of the Orient. With great clarity, the author brings out the modes of life the sense of values, the technique of meditation, and the daily life of the Lord Buddha. This book should have appeal to a great variety of readers; packed with stimulating information, it is of interest to the student of Eastern religion and mysticism and the lover of Asiatic art, as well as to those concerned with philosophy, with the psychology of religion, and also to the general reader who hopes to gain an insight into the Orient. This vivid account of Buddha's life shows clearly how the values and manners set down by this man swept through India, Burma, Indo-China, and Ceylon, across China and Korea, and into Japan; and howthe daily life of a man who lived over two thousand five hundred years ago has become an inspiration, not only to millions of Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese,but also to increasing numbers of Westerners as well.
The Life of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu: Sri Chaitanya Lilamrita
by Swami B. BodhayanThe Life of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu offers a brief history of the 15th century Vedic spiritual revolutionary, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who expounded Bhakti yoga, popularized the chanting of Hare Krishna, and is an incarnation of Lord Krishna.In this abridged biography of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Swami B. B. Bodhayan informs how Sri Krsna appeared in the form of Lord Chaitanya to deliver all fallen souls by distributing His love without discrimination. He taught his devotees how to surrender by His own example and how surrender is the soul of devotional practice. Many scriptures describe Lord Chaitanya as non-different from Lord Krsna; although Lord Chaitanya is Krsna Himself, He took the role of being His own devotee to deliver the people of the world. To spread the chanting of the holy name of the Supreme Lord, which will ultimately give us the taste of divine love, Lord Chaitanya took the renounced order (sannyasa). Thus, He gave the order to everyone to spread His name: Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. We have seen Lord Chaitanya, Himself, preach and inspire people to chant the Hare Krsna mahamantra. But personally, He did not give initiation. He also did not establish any temples. He taught us to spread sankirtana without having any ulterior motives. Our spiritual lineage all follow in the footsteps of Lord Chaitanya. If anyone follows the principle of &“first preserve then propagate,&” then one shall definitely be delivered from this material world.
The Life of Charlotte Bronte
by Elizabeth GaskellElizabeth Gaskell's biography of her close friend Charlotte Brontë was published in 1857 to immediate popular acclaim, and remains the most significant study of the enigmatic author who gave Jane Eyre the subtitle An Autobiography. It recounts Charlotte Brontë's life from her isolated childhood, through her years as a writer who had 'foreseen the single life' for herself, to her marriage at thirty-eight and death less than a year later. The resulting work - the first full-length biography of a woman novelist by a woman novelist - explored the nature of Charlotte's genius and almost single-handedly created the Brontë myth.
The Life of Christ: Combined and Abridged From the Four Gospels
by Dr. Dennis CravensRead the entire story of Christ&’s life in one flowing easy to read narrative based solely on the verses in four gospels and with references to those biblical verses.
The Life of Christina of Hane
by Christina of HaneThe first English translation of The Life of Christina of Hane, a gripping account of a largely unknown medieval female mystic&“Who was Christina of Hane? History knows little about her, but Racha Kirakosian here presents a fascinating enigma—a mystical compendium disguised as a saint&’s Life. Students of medieval religion will eagerly probe its mysteries.&”—Barbara Newman, Northwestern University The thirteenth-century mystic Christina of Hane led an extraordinary life, but her recently unearthed case remains to be discovered in the English-speaking world. Her disturbing account of vaginal mutilation, her competition with the Virgin Mary, and her potentially heretical statements about the union with Christ are but a few peculiarities worth highlighting. This remarkable work sheds new light on convent life, spiritual practices, and physical and mental suffering in the life of medieval women and the communities they inhabited.
The Life of Christina of Markyate (Oxford World's Classics)
by C. H. Talbot"I wish to remain single, for I have made a vow of virginity." This is the remarkable story of the twelfth-century recluse Christina, who became prioress of Markyate, near St Albans in Hertfordshire. <p><p>Determined to devote her life to God and to remain a virgin, Christina repulses the sexual advances of the bishop of Durham. In revenge, he arranges her betrothal to a young nobleman but Christina steadfastly refuses to consummate the marriage and defies her parents' cruel coercion. <p><p>Sustained by visions, she finds refuge with the hermit Roger, and lives concealed at Markyate for four years, enduring terrible physical and emotional torment. Although Christina is supported by the abbot of St Albans, she never achieves the recognition that he intended for her. <p><p>Written with striking candor by Christina's anonymous biographer, the vividness and compelling detail of this account make it a social document as much as a religious one. Christina's trials of the flesh and spirit exist against a backdrop of scheming corruption and all-too-human greed.
The Life of Cicero: Lessons for Today from the Greatest Orator of the Roman Republic
by Philip Kay-BujakFresh new look at the life of Cicero, Rome’s greatest orator and one of the key figures of the 1st century. Cicero was Rome's greatest orator and one of the key statesmen of the late Roman Republic. He championed traditional Republican values against populist demagogues like Julius Caesar during a tumultuous period of civil war and unrest. During his term as consul (63 BCE), his decisive actions thwarted a plot to overthrow the Senate, controversially having the ringleaders executed. He outlived Caesar but then mounted a virulent opposition to Mark Antony, which led to Cicero's proscription and execution as an enemy of the state. The legacy of his speeches, letters and treatises on politics, law, oratory and other subjects endured, however, and was massively influential on Latin literature and, when rediscovered in the Middle Ages, formed one of the cornerstones of the Renaissance. The period in which Cicero flourished and died was one in which democracy was under attack from radical demagoguery and Philip Kay-Bujak believes his career holds important parallels and lessons for our own times. Written in a clear and accessible style, this fresh look at Cicero's life demonstrates his relevance to a modern audience.
The Life of Cicero: Volume I
by Anthony TrollopeAnthony Trollope (1815-1882) was one of the most successful, prolific and respected English novelists of the Victorian era. He wrote penetrating novels on political, social, and gender issues and conflicts of his day. In 1867 Trollope left his position in the British Post Office to run for Parliament as a Liberal candidate in 1868. After he lost, he concentrated entirely on his literary career. While continuing to produce novels rapidly, he also edited the St Paul's Magazine, which published several of his novels in serial form. His first major success came with The Warden (1855) - the first of six novels set in the fictional county of Barsetshire. The comic masterpiece Barchester Towers (1857) has probably become the best-known of these. Trollope's popularity and critical success diminished in his later years, but he continued to write prolifically, and some of his later novels have acquired a good reputation. In particular, critics generally acknowledge the sweeping satire The Way We Live Now (1875) as his masterpiece. In all, Trollope wrote forty-seven novels, as well as dozens of short stories and a few books on travel.
The Life of Cicero: Volume II
by Anthony Trollope>Anthony Trollope (1815-1882) was one of the most successful, prolific and respected English novelists of the Victorian era. He wrote penetrating novels on political, social, and gender issues and conflicts of his day. In 1867 Trollope left his position in the British Post Office to run for Parliament as a Liberal candidate in 1868. After he lost, he concentrated entirely on his literary career. While continuing to produce novels rapidly, he also edited the St Paul's Magazine, which published several of his novels in serial form. His first major success came with The Warden (1855) - the first of six novels set in the fictional county of Barsetshire. The comic masterpiece Barchester Towers (1857) has probably become the best-known of these. Trollope's popularity and critical success diminished in his later years, but he continued to write prolifically, and some of his later novels have acquired a good reputation. In particular, critics generally acknowledge the sweeping satire The Way We Live Now (1875) as his masterpiece. In all, Trollope wrote forty-seven novels, as well as dozens of short stories and a few books on travel.