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The High Graders
by Louis L'AmourThe story was that Eli Patterson had died in a gunfight, but Mike Shevlin knew it couldn't be true: the man who'd been like a father to him had been a Quaker. But when Shevlin rides back to Rafter Crossing to uncover the truth, he finds that the quiet ranching community has become a booming mining town. Newfound wealth has not made Rafter a peaceful place, however, and the smell of fear and greed is thick in the air. As Mike Shevlin tries to unravel the mystery of Patterson's death, he is led deeper and deeper into a conspiracy that controls not only the fate of Rafter Crossing but the heart of a beautiful but tormented young woman--and Shevlin's own destiny.From the Paperback edition.
High Hearts
by Rita Mae BrownFrom the celebrated author of Rubyfruit Jungle and Bingo comes a stirring novel of the Civil War, a tale of true love and mistaken identity. Brimming with colorful characters and vivid settings, High Hearts is Rita Mae Brown at her most ambitious and entertaining.April 12, 1861. Bright, gutsy and young,Geneva Chatfield marries Nash Hart in Albemarle County, Virginia, the same day Fort Sumter's guns fire the start of the Civil War. Five days later she loses him as Nash joins the Confederate Army. Geneva, who is known as the best rider since Light Horse Harry Lee, cuts her hair, dons a uniform, enlists as "Jimmy Chatfield," then rides off to be with her beloved Nash. But sensitive Nash recoils in horror from the violence of war, while Geneva is invigorated by the chase and the fight. Can she be all the man her husband isn't? She'll sure as hell try. But there is a complication, and his name is Major "Mars" Vickers. This macho major, to his own shock and amazement, finds himself inexplicably attracted to the young soldier named "Jimmy." And this is only the beginning of a novel that moves with sureness and grace from the ferocity of battle to the struggle on the homefront, and brings passion and sly humor to a story of dawning love. High Hearts is a penetrating, delightful and sweeping tale that gives fresh life to a fascinating timeFrom the Paperback edition.
High Hopes: An irresistible tale of northern life in the 1940s (Hopkins Family Saga #4)
by Billy HopkinsHow will Billy fare with a rowdy bunch of school kids? Billy Hopkins' delightful novel, High Hopes, is based on his own experiences as a young teacher in Manchester in the aftermath of the Second World War in the 1940s. A must-read for fans of Sheila Newberry and Kate Thompson.'A heart-warming follow up to Our Kid' - Books MagazineIt's September 1945 and Billy Hopkins is off to London to train as a teacher, with only ten bob in his pocket. Despite his dad's gloomy warnings that he'll pick up bad ways from the toffs down South, Billy survives two years in the Big City, and returns to take up his first teaching job in Manchester - on £300 a year!The catch is his first class, Senior Four, who bitterly resent the raising of the school leaving age, and are all set to take it out on their teacher. Luckily the kid from Collyhurst has some tricks up his sleeve.And then Billy meets the beautiful Laura. But is she, as his dad says, 'too good for the likes of us'? What readers are saying about High Hopes: 'A moving and hilarious read... one of the best books I've read in ages''This book is full of charm, old style values, old style humour and it is written with warmth''If you want to read a book with a 200% feel good factor this is it. Tears, laughter and brilliantly written'
High Hopes (The Hopkins Family Saga, Book 4): An irresistible tale of northern life in the 1940s
by Billy HopkinsHow will Billy fare with a rowdy bunch of school kids? Billy Hopkins' delightful novel, High Hopes, is based on his own experiences as a young teacher in Manchester in the aftermath of the Second World War in the 1940s. A must-read for fans of Sheila Newberry and Kate Thompson.'A heart-warming follow up to Our Kid' - Books MagazineIt's September 1945 and Billy Hopkins is off to London to train as a teacher, with only ten bob in his pocket. Despite his dad's gloomy warnings that he'll pick up bad ways from the toffs down South, Billy survives two years in the Big City, and returns to take up his first teaching job in Manchester - on £300 a year!The catch is his first class, Senior Four, who bitterly resent the raising of the school leaving age, and are all set to take it out on their teacher. Luckily the kid from Collyhurst has some tricks up his sleeve.And then Billy meets the beautiful Laura. But is she, as his dad says, 'too good for the likes of us'?What readers are saying about High Hopes: 'A moving and hilarious read... one of the best books I've read in ages''This book is full of charm, old style values, old style humour and it is written with warmth''If you want to read a book with a 200% feel good factor this is it. Tears, laughter and brilliantly written'
High Is the Eagle (Kane Legacy #3)
by Al Lacy Joanna LacyGeneral Zachary Taylor sends the Kane brothers home to rest, but it's soon evident that Mexico plans to attack. Returning to battle, the brothers come face-to-face with death and realize they need far more than mere bravery.
The High-Kilted Muse: Peter Buchan and His Secret Songs of Silence
by Murray ShoolbraidIn 1832 the Scottish ballad collector Peter Buchan of Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, presented an anthology of risqué‚ and convivial songs and ballads to a Highland laird. When Professor Francis James Child of Harvard was preparing his magisterial edition of The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, he made inquiries about it, but it was not made available in time to be considered for his work. On his death it was presented to the Child Memorial Library at Harvard. Because of its unseemly materials, the manuscript languished there since, unprinted, though referred to now and again, and a few items from time to time made an appearance. The manuscript has now been transcribed with full annotation and with an introduction on the compiler, his times, and the Scottish bawdy tradition. It contains the texts (without tunes) of seventy-six bawdy songs and ballads, along with a long-lost scatological poem attributed to the Edinburgh writer James “Balloon” Tytler. Appendices give details of Buchan's two published collections of ballads. Additionally, there is a list of tale types and motifs, a glossary of Scots and archaic words, a bibliography, and an index. The High-Kilted Muse brings to light a long-suppressed volume and fills in a great gap in published bawdy songs and ballads.
High Kings And Vikings
by Nigel TranterAs Christendom approached the first Millennium, conflict and war prevailed throughout a troubled Scotland. The population remained under constant threat from bloodthirsty Viking raids, and the High Kings of Scots came and went, their brief reigns usually coming to a violent end. In 995, young Cormac mac Farquhar, newly succeeding his father as Thane of Glamis, was to find himself reluctantly caught up in the misfortunes of the ruling monarch, Kenneth the Second, and the ensuing national chaos. But little did Cormac know that out of his legacy of hatred, he would find unexpected happiness.
High Kings And Vikings
by Nigel TranterAs Christendom approached the first Millennium, conflict and war prevailed throughout a troubled Scotland. The population remained under constant threat from bloodthirsty Viking raids, and the High Kings of Scots came and went, their brief reigns usually coming to a violent end. In 995, young Cormac mac Farquhar, newly succeeding his father as Thane of Glamis, was to find himself reluctantly caught up in the misfortunes of the ruling monarch, Kenneth the Second, and the ensuing national chaos. But little did Cormac know that out of his legacy of hatred, he would find unexpected happiness.
High Life: Condo Living in the Suburban Century
by Matthew LasnerThe first comprehensive architectural and cultural history of condominium and cooperative housing in twentieth-century America. Today, one in five homeowners in American cities and suburbs lives in a multifamily home rather than a single-family house. As the American dream evolves, precipitated by rising real estate prices and a renewed interest in urban living, many predict that condos will become the predominant form of housing in the twenty-first century. In this unprecedented study, Matthew Gordon Lasner explores the history of co-owned multifamily housing in the United States, from New York City’s first co-op, in 1881, to contemporary condominium and townhouse complexes coast to coast. Lasner explains the complicated social, economic, and political factors that have increased demand for this way of living, situating the trend within the larger housing market and broad shifts in residential architecture and family life. He contrasts the prevalence and popularity of condos, townhouses, and other privately governed communities with their ambiguous economic, legal, and social standing, as well as their striking absence from urban and architectural history.
High Life of Oswald Watt: Australia's First Military Pilot
by Chris Clark‘Father of the Flying Corps’ and ‘Father of Australian Aviation’ were two of the unofficial titles conferred on Oswald (“Toby”) Watt when he died in tragic circumstances shortly after the end of the First World War. He had become the Australian Army’s first qualified pilot in 1911, but spent the first 18 months of the war with the French Air Service, the Aéronautique Militaire , before arranging a rare transfer to the Australian Imperial Force. Already an experienced combat pilot, he rose quickly through the ranks of the Australian Flying Corps, becoming a squadron leader and leading his unit at the battle of Cambrai, then commander of No 1 Training Wing with the senior AFC rank of lieutenant colonel. These were elements in a colourful and at times romantic career long exciting interest and attention—not just during Wat’s lifetime but in the interval since his death nearly a century ago. His name had been rarely out of Australian newspapers for more than a decade before the war, reflecting his wealthy lifestyle and extensive and influential social and political connections. But this focus has enveloped Watt’s story with an array of false and misleading elements verging on mythology. For the first time, this book attempts to establish the true story of Watt’s life and achievements, and provide a proper basis for evaluating his place in Australian history.
High Lonesome
by Louis L'AmourConsidine and Pete Runyon had once been friends, back in the days when both were cowhands. But when Runyon married the woman Considine loved, the two parted ways. Runyon settled down and became a sheriff. Considine took up robbing banks. Now Considine is planning a raid on the bank at Obaro, a plan that will pit him against Runyon...and lead to riches or suicide. The one thing he never counted on was meeting a strong, beautiful woman and her stubborn father, hell-bent on traveling alone through Apache territory to a new life. Suddenly Considine must choose between revenge and redemption--and either choice could be the last one he makes.From the Paperback edition.
High, Low and Wide Open
by James R. FrancisHigh, Low and Wide Open, first published in 1935, is an early noir novel of the rough and tumble life in a western mining camp. As the dustjacket states: “Murder and violence are in it, but it is no mere thriller; it will puzzle and keep the reader in suspense, but it is not a mystery-story; it contains profane love and language, yet is not a shocker. Basically, it is a terse, swift, and grim chronicle of how love, hate, lust and greed drive all too human men and women to desperate and devious ways. The descriptions of that colorful and unique town, Perch, the greatest mining camp in the world, of its homes, brothels, saloons, and gambling joints; of its strange ways of justice, all are fascinating. The speech, the customs, the very thoughts of the minor characters, the casually heroic miners who toil in the back depths of the richest hill on earth, are authentic. The author was born in a mining camp, and mucked ore 3,600 feet underground. From the unforgettable opening scene to the exciting and unexpected climax, the story leaps forward with the speed and remorselessness of the spring of a puma.”
High Mas: Carnival and the Poetics of Caribbean Culture
by Kevin Adonis BrowneOverall Winner of the 2019 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean LiteratureHigh Mas: Carnival and the Poetics of Caribbean Culture explores Caribbean identity through photography, criticism, and personal narrative. Taking a sophisticated and unapologetically subjective Caribbean point of view, the author delves into Mas—a key feature of Trinidad performance—as an emancipatory practice. The photographs and essays here immerse the viewer in carnival experience as never before. Kevin Adonis Browne divulges how performers are or wish to be perceived, along with how, as the photographer, he is implicated in that dynamic. The resulting interplay encourages an informed, nuanced approach to the imaging of contemporary Caribbeanness. The first series, “Seeing Blue,” features Blue Devils from the village of Paramin, whose performances signify an important revision of the post-emancipation tradition of Jab Molassie (Molasses Devil) in Trinidad. The second series, “La Femme des Revenants,” chronicles the debut performance of Tracey Sankar’s La Diablesse, which reintroduced the “Caribbean femme fatale” to a new audience. The third series, “Moko Jumbies of the South,” looks at Stephanie Kanhai and Jonadiah Gonzales, a pair of stilt-walkers from the performance group Touch de Sky from San Fernando in southern Trinidad. “Jouvay Reprised,” the fourth series, follows the political activist group Jouvay Ayiti performing a Mas in the streets of Port of Spain on Emancipation Day in 2015. Troubling the borders that persist between performer and audience, embodiment and spirituality, culture and self-consciousness, the book interrogates what audiences understand about the role of the participant-observer in public contexts. Representing the uneasy embrace of tradition in Trinidad and the Caribbean at large, the book probes the multiple dimensions of vernacular experience and their complementary cultural expressions. For Browne, Mas performance is an exquisite refusal to fully submit to the lingering traumas of slavery, the tyrannies of colonialism, and the myths of independence.
The High Middle Ages: 1200-1550 (Routledge Library Editions: The Medieval World #43)
by Trevor RowleyOriginally published in 1986, The High Middle Ages begins in the late twelfth century and ends, not with the arrival of the Tudor monarchs in 1485, but with the destruction of the wealth and power of the Church in the 1530s. The book looks at how the passing of the monasteries marked the transition from an economic and social system based on a balance – however shifting and uneasy – between the church and state, to a supreme reign of the church. The book discusses how the later middle ages were a period not of decay but of rapid change. It examines how social and economic convulsion emerged in a society marked by restless energy and creativity. The three centuries covered in the book mark a key period of extensive change to the landscape and environment of England between 1200 to 1550.
High Minds: The Victorians and the Birth of Modern Britain
by Simon HefferAn ambitious exploration of the making of the Victorian Age—and the Victorian mind—by a master historian.Britain in the 1840s was a country wracked by poverty, unrest, and uncertainty; there were attempts to assassinate the queen and her prime minister; and the ruling class lived in fear of riot and revolution. By the 1880s it was a confident nation of progress and prosperity, transformed not just by industrialization but by new attitudes to politics, education, women, and the working class. That it should have changed so radically was very largely the work of an astonishingly dynamic and high-minded group of people—politicians and philanthropists, writers and thinkers—who in a matter of decades fundamentally remade the country, its institutions and its mindset, and laid the foundations for modern society. High Minds explores this process of transformation as it traces the evolution of British democracy and shows how early laissez-faire attitudes to the fate of the less fortunate turned into campaigns to improve their lives and prospects. The narrative analyzes the birth of new attitudes in education, religion, and science. And High Minds shows how even such aesthetic issues as taste in architecture collided with broader debates about the direction that the country should take. In the process, Simon Heffer looks at the lives and deeds of major politicians; at the intellectual arguments that raged among writers and thinkers such as Matthew Arnold, Thomas Carlyle, and Samuel Butler; and at the "great projects&” of the age, from the Great Exhibition to the Albert Memorial. Drawing heavily on previously unpublished documents, he offers a superbly nuanced portrait into life in an extraordinary era, populated by extraordinary people—and show how the Victorians&’ pursuit of perfection gave birth to the modern Britain we know today.
The High Missouri
by Win BlevinsA spiritual quest turns into a frontier adventure in this gripping installment in Western Writers Hall of Fame author Win Blevins's breathtaking series about the discovery of America's Northern rivers and mountains They came from civilization to wilderness, from the way of the Cross to the Path of the Sacred Pipe, from the wisdom of Europe to the experience of raw, dangerous, exhilarating life in the American wilderness. Among them is an innocent named Dylan Campbell. A would-be priest, Dylan signs up with the Nor'West Company to bring God to the Indians. But as he travels across the awesome plains of the West and up the mighty rivers hurtling down from the mountains, Dylan discovers worlds beyond all expectation. He encounters a mystical wanderer called the Druid and witnesses frightening acts of violence and carnality as well as paths of beauty and enlightenment beyond all imagining. At Fort Augustus, a beautiful woman teaches Dylan about love, lust, and betrayal. Among the fierce and bloody Piegan Indians, a strange, white-bearded enemy instructs him about fate. And in his quest toward the legendary High Missouri River, Dylan learns what it means to brawl and scratch and struggle--not only for his life, but for his soul.
A High Mortality of Doves (Albert Lincoln #1)
by Kate Ellis'Haunting' Independent'A powerful story of loss, malice and deception' Ann CleevesThe first gripping historical thriller in the Albert Lincoln series by bestselling crime writer Kate Ellis.1919. The Derbyshire village of Wenfield is still reeling from four years of war. Just when the village has begun to regain its tranquillity, a young girl, Myrtle Bligh, is found stabbed and left in woodland, her mouth slit to accommodate a dead dove - a bird of peace.When two more women are found murdered in identical circumstances, Wenfield is thrown into a panic.With rumours of a ghostly soldier with a painted face being spotted near the scene of the murders, Inspector Albert Lincoln is sent up from London to crack the terrible case - but with the killer still on the loose, who will be the next to die at the hands of this vicious angel of death?What readers are saying about A High Mortality of Doves:'An utterly stunning mystery . . . Outstanding' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars'Deliciously brilliant' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars'Gripping' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars'An amazing mixture of great plotting, well developed characters and interesting historical detail' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars'Fabulously atmospheric' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars'A satisfyingly shocking ending' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars'A terrific mystery' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars
A High Mortality of Doves
by Kate Ellis1919. The Derbyshire village of Wenfield is still reeling from four terrible years of war, and now, just when the village is coming to terms with the loss of so many of its sons, the brutal murder of a young girl shatters its hard-won tranquillity.Myrtle Bligh is found stabbed and left in woodland, her mouth slit to accommodate a dead dove, a bird of peace. During the war Myrtle worked as a volunteer nurse with Flora Winsmore, the local doctor's daughter, caring for badly wounded soldiers at the nearby big house, Tarnhey Court.When two more women are found murdered in identical circumstances, Inspector Albert Lincoln is sent up from London, a man not only wounded in war but damaged in peace by the death of his young son and his cold, loveless marriage. Once in Wenfield, Albert begins to investigate the three recent murders and the Cartwright family of Tarnhey Court and their staff fall under suspicion as their hidden lives and secrets are uncovered. With rumours of a ghostly soldier with a painted face being spotted near the scene of the murders, the village is thrown into a state of panic - and with the killer still on the loose, who will be the next to die at the hands of this vicious angel of death?
The High Mountains of Portugal
by Yann MartelWith this highly anticipated new novel, the author of the bestselling Life of Pi returns to the storytelling power and luminous wisdom of his master novel.The High Mountains of Portugal is a suspenseful, mesmerizing story of a great quest for meaning, told in three intersecting narratives touching the lives of three different people and their families, and taking us on an extraordinary journey through the last century. We begin in the early 1900s, when Tomás discovers an ancient journal and sets out from Lisbon in one of the very first motor cars in Portugal in search of the strange treasure the journal describes. Thirty-five years later, a pathologist devoted to the novels of Agatha Christie, whose wife has possibly been murdered, finds himself drawn into the consequences of Tomás's quest. Fifty years later, Senator Peter Tovy of Ottawa, grieving the death of his own beloved wife, rescues a chimpanzee from an Oklahoma research facility and takes it to live with him in his ancestral village in northern Portugal, where the strands of all three stories miraculously mesh together. Beautiful, witty and engaging, Yann Martel's new novel offers us the same tender exploration of the impact and significance of great love and great loss, belief and unbelief, that has marked all his brilliant, unexpected novels.From the Hardcover edition.
The High Mountains of Portugal: A Novel
by Yann MartelNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * "Fifteen years after The Life of Pi, Yann Martel is taking us on another long journey. Fans of his Man Booker Prize-winning novel will recognize familiar themes from that seafaring phenomenon, but the itinerary in this imaginative new book is entirely fresh. . . . Martel's writing has never been more charming."--Ron Charles, The Washington PostIn Lisbon in 1904, a young man named Tomás discovers an old journal. It hints at the existence of an extraordinary artifact that--if he can find it--would redefine history. Traveling in one of Europe's earliest automobiles, he sets out in search of this strange treasure. Thirty-five years later, a Portuguese pathologist devoted to the murder mysteries of Agatha Christie finds himself at the center of a mystery of his own and drawn into the consequences of Tomás's quest. Fifty years on, a Canadian senator takes refuge in his ancestral village in northern Portugal, grieving the loss of his beloved wife. But he arrives with an unusual companion: a chimpanzee. And there the century-old quest will come to an unexpected conclusion.The High Mountains of Portugal--part quest, part ghost story, part contemporary fable--offers a haunting exploration of great love and great loss. Filled with tenderness, humor, and endless surprise, it takes the reader on a road trip through Portugal in the last century--and through the human soul.Praise for The High Mountains of Portugal "Just as ambitious, just as clever, just as existential and spiritual [as Life of Pi] . . . a book that rewards your attention . . . an excellent book club choice."--San Francisco Chronicle "There's no denying the simple pleasures to be had in The High Mountains of Portugal."--Chicago Tribune"Charming . . . Most Martellian is the boundless capacity for parable. . . . Martel knows his strengths: passages about the chimpanzee and his owner brim irresistibly with affection and attentiveness."--The New Yorker "A rich and rewarding experience . . . [Martel] spins his magic thread of hope and despair, comedy and pathos."--USA Today "I took away indelible images from High Mountains, enchanting and disturbing at the same time. . . . As whimsical as Martel's magic realism can be, grief informs every step of the book's three journeys. In the course of the novel we burrow ever further into the heart of an ape, pure and threatening at once, our precursor, ourselves."--NPR "Refreshing, surprising and filled with sparkling moments of humor and insight."--The Dallas Morning News"We're fortunate to have brilliant writers using their fiction to meditate on a paradox we need urgently to consider--the unbridgeable gap and the unbreakable bond between human and animal, our impossible self-alienation from our world. . . . [Martel's] semi-surreal, semi-absurdist mode is well suited to exploring the paradox. The moral and spiritual implications of his tale have, in the end, a quality of haunting tenderness."--Ursula K. Le Guin, The Guardian"[Martel packs] his inventive novel with beguiling ideas. What connects an inept curator to a haunted pathologist to a smitten politician across more than seventy-five years is the author's ability to conjure up something uncanny at the end."--The Boston Globe "A fine home, and story, in which to find oneself."--Minneapolis Star TribuneFrom the Hardcover edition.
High Mountains Rising: APPALACHIA IN TIME AND PLACE
by H. Tyler Blethen Richard A. StrawThis collection is the first comprehensive, cohesive volume to unite Appalachian history with its culture. Richard A. Straw and H. Tyler Blethen's High Mountains Rising provides a clear, systematic, and engaging overview of the Appalachian timeline, its people, and the most significant aspects of life in the region. The first half of the fourteen essays deal with historical issues including Native Americans, pioneer settlement, slavery, the Civil War and Reconstruction, industrialization, the Great Depression, migration, and finally, modernization. The remaining essays take a more cultural focus, addressing stereotypes, music, folklife, language, literature, and religion. Bringing together many of the most prestigious scholars in Appalachian studies, this volume has been designed for general and classroom use, and includes suggestions for further reading.
High Noon: The Inside Story of Scott McNealy and the Rise of Sun Microsystems
by Karen SouthwickThe story of Sun Microsystems, the famous IT company, that grew from scratch and became a leader in the computer industry. It also reveals the strategies they adopted to become leaders.
High Noon in the Cold War
by Max FrankelOne of the giants of American journalism now re-creates an unforgettable time–in which the whole world feared extinction. High Noon in the Cold Warcaptures the Cuban Missile Crisis in a new light, from inside the hearts and minds of the famous men who provoked and, in the nick of time, resolved the confrontation. Using his personal memories of covering the conflict, and gathering evidence from recent records and new scholarship and testimony, Max Frankel corrects widely held misconceptions about the game of “nuclear chicken” played by John Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev in October 1962, when Soviet missiles were secretly planted in Cuba and aimed at the United States. High Noon in the Cold Warportrays an embattled young American presidentnot jaunty and callow as widely believed, but increasingly calm and statesmanlikeand a Russian ruler who was not only a “wily old peasant” but an insecure belligerent desperate to achieve credibility. Here, too, are forgotten heroes like John McCone, the conservative Republican CIA head whose intuition made him a crucial figure in White House debates. In detailing the disastrous miscalculations of the two superpowers (the U. S. thought the Soviets would never deploy missiles to Cuba; the Soviets thought the U. S. would have to acquiesce) and how Kennedy and Khrushchev beat back hotheads in their own councils, this fascinating book re-creates thewholestory of the scariest encounter of the Cold War, as told by a master reporter.
High Noon of Empire: The Diary of Lieutenant Colonel Henry Tyndall, 1895–1915
by B A James"Henry Tyndall was a typical product of the Victorian age—an intensely patriotic army officer who served in India, on the North-West Frontier, on the Western Front and in East Africa at the height of the British empire. For 20 years, from 1895 to 1915, he kept a detailed diary that gives a vivid insight into his daily life and concerns, his fellow officers and men, and the British army of his day. He also left a graphic account of his experiences on campaign in the First World War and in the Third Afghan War. B.A. 'Jimmy' James has edited and annotated Tyndall's diary in order to make it fully accessible to the modern reader. As he notes in his introduction, 'this marching soldier of the queen was a gallant officer who conscientiously served his sovereign wherever duty called ... his diary deserves attention as it reflects the manners, customs and attitudes of this vanished age.' "