- Table View
- List View
A Subaltern On The Somme In 1916
by Mark Vii Pseud."The author of this memoir arrived on the Western Front to join 10th Bn. West Yorks in July 1916, shortly after the opening day of the Battle of the Somme in which his battalion had suffered the highest casualties of any battalion on that day - 710 of whom 306 were killed. His war ended in January 1917 when he was concussed by a shell exploding on the parapet in front of him.Regarded as one of the classics the book gives a vivid description of life in the trenches - the routine, the boredom , the mud and the horror. His war ended in January 1917 when he was concussed by a shell exploding on the parapet in front of him. Well recommended."-N&M Print Version
A Subaltern's Lament
by Harry TurnerVienna 1954, nine years after the end of World War II and the victorious allies occupy the whole of Austria.Newly commissioned national serviceman and Fulham boy, Rory Trenchard, joins his regiment, The Hambleshires, in Vienna at the very height of the Cold War. At nineteen he finds himself not only learning the tough art of soldiering alongside his platoon of Battle hardened Korean War veterans but is also exposed to the political machinations that exist between Britain and her Allies.Vienna in 1954 is a dangerous place and in addition to honing his skills as a warrior he is trusted to act as a go-between when a senior KGB officer plans to defect to the west. He also falls in and out of love with an American girl and faces the choice of either just completing two years national service, or becoming a regular officer.
A Subaltern’s Share In The War: Home Letters Of The Late George Weston Devenish Lieut. R.A., Attached R.F.C.
by Lieutenant George Weston DevenishLieutenant Devenish celebrated his twenty-first birthday, his last in peace-time, on the 25th of July 1914; he was by this point in his short life a soldier by profession and by choice. Having left Charterhouse with a taste for military ways after training in the O.T.C., he decided that his chosen profession should be spent in the Royal Artillery and entered into further training at Woolwich. By the time war begun in 1914 he was a fully-fledged officer. However, an indomitable spirit and a thirst for a more personal form of combat led him into the Royal Flying Corps. The R.F.C. would mourn his passing on the 6th of June 1917, after only a year of having him in their ranks. George Devenish's name is inscribed on the walls of the Arras Flying Services War Memorial, one of the many Allied fliers who lost their lives during the First World War fighting in the skies above the Western Front. A kindly, sensitive man, but filled with a great deal of passion and pride, his letters are almost always upbeat and despite the carnage around him during the war, he never changed his "sunny disposition".Author -- Lieutenant George Weston Devenish 1893-1917Text taken, whole and complete, from the edition published in London, Constable and Company Ltd., 1917.Original Page Count - xviii and 177 pages.
A Sudden Country
by Karen FisherA vivid and revelatory novel based on actual events of the 1847 Oregon migration, A Sudden Country follows two characters of remarkable complexity and strength in a journey of survival and redemption. James MacLaren, once a resourceful and ambitious Hudson’s Bay Company trader, has renounced his aspirations for a quiet family life in the Bitterroot wilderness. Yet his life is overturned in the winter of 1846, when his Nez Perce wife deserts him and his children die of smallpox. In the grip of a profound sorrow, MacLaren, whose home once spanned a continent, sets out to find his wife. But an act of secret vengeance changes his course, introducing him to a different wife and mother: Lucy Mitchell, journeying westward with her family. Lucy, a remarried widow, careful mother, and reluctant emigrant, is drawn at once to the self-possessed MacLaren. Convinced that he is the key to her family’s safe passage, she persuades her husband to employ him. As their hidden stories and obsessions unfold, and pasts and cultures collide, both Lucy and MacLaren must confront the people they have truly been, are, and may become. Alive with incident and insight, presenting with rare scope and intimacy the complex relations among nineteenth-century traders, immigrants, and Native Americans, A Sudden Country is, above all, a heroic and unforgettable story of love and loss, sacrifice and understanding. From the Hardcover edition.
A Sudden Country
by Karen FisherA vivid and revelatory novel based on actual events of the 1847 Oregon migration, A Sudden Country follows two characters of remarkable complexity and strength in a journey of survival and redemption.James MacLaren, once a resourceful and ambitious Hudson's Bay Company trader, has renounced his aspirations for a quiet family life in the Bitterroot wilderness. Yet his life is overturned in the winter of 1846, when his Nez Perce wife deserts him and his children die of smallpox. In the grip of a profound sorrow, MacLaren, whose home once spanned a continent, sets out to find his wife. But an act of secret vengeance changes his course, introducing him to a different wife and mother: Lucy Mitchell, journeying westward with her family.Lucy, a remarried widow, careful mother, and reluctant emigrant, is drawn at once to the self-possessed MacLaren. Convinced that he is the key to her family's safe passage, she persuades her husband to employ him. As their hidden stories and obsessions unfold, and pasts and cultures collide, both Lucy and MacLaren must confront the people they have truly been, are, and may become.Alive with incident and insight, presenting with rare scope and intimacy the complex relations among nineteenth-century traders, immigrants, and Native Americans, A Sudden Country is, above all, a heroic and unforgettable story of love and loss, sacrifice and understanding.From the Hardcover edition.
A Sudden Fearful Death: A shocking murder from the depths of Victorian London (William Monk Mystery #4)
by Anne PerryNo one is beyond suspicion... William Monk once again pits himself against a deadly enemy in the fourth novel featuring the enigmatic detective from New York Times bestselling author Anne Perry. Perfect for fans of C. J. Sansom and Arthur Conan Doyle. 'Absorbing... Perry continues her excellent renderings of Victorian manners and mayhem' - Chicago Sun-TimesDeath might be commonplace in 1857 in the Royal Free Hospital in London's Gray's Inn Road, but murder certainly isn't. When the body of Prudence Barrymore, a gently bred, dedicated and passionate nurse, is discovered stuffed into a laundry chute no one - high born or low - can be beyond suspicion. But the police seem determined to concentrate their efforts on proving Dr Kristian Beck the culprit - because he is foreign. Concerned and unhappy with this state of affairs, Lady Callandra Daviot of the Board of Governors asks Investigator William Monk to pursue the case.Monk, frustrated by the lingering traces of amnesia caused by an accident, agrees, and calls upon his old colleagues to aid him. Hester Latterly, an independent young woman who served with Florence Nightingale in the Crimean War, knew the dead woman there; Hester's profession provides the perfect cover for her to obtain work at the Royal Free. And Oliver Rathbone, a brilliant barrister, who is brought in as counsel for the defence. But under the ever-present shadow of the gallows, and inching towards the appalling solution, the three begin to despair of justice ever prevailing. What readers are saying about A Sudden Fearful Death: 'Intriguing murder mystery in a bygone era, which captivates the reader''Was enthralled from beginning to end''I've got quite addicted to these stories'
A Sudden Frenzy: Improvisation, Orality, and Power in Renaissance Italy (Toronto Italian Studies)
by James K. ColemanIn Renaissance Italy there existed a rich interplay between two cultural practices frequently regarded as entirely separate and mutually antagonistic: the humanistic study of the ancient world and ancient literature, and the oral and improvisational performance of poetry, which constituted one of the most popular forms of entertainment. A Sudden Frenzy explores the development and impact of these Renaissance practices of improvisation and oral poetry. James K. Coleman shows how the confluence of humanist culture and the art of oral poetry resulted in an extraordinary turn toward improvisation and spontaneity that profoundly influenced poetry, music, and politics. By examining the culture of improvisation, this book reveals the ways in which Renaissance thinkers transcended cultural dichotomies, both in theory and in practice. Drawing on a wide range of sources, including letters, poetry, visual art, and philosophical texts, A Sudden Frenzy reveals the far-reaching and sometimes surprising ways that these phenomena shaped cultural developments in the Italian Renaissance and beyond.
A Sudden Terror: The Plot to Murder the Pope in Renaissance Rome
by Anthony F. D'EliaIn 1468, on the final night of Carnival in Rome, Pope Paul II sat enthroned above the boisterous crowd, when a scuffle caught his eye. His guards had intercepted a mysterious stranger trying urgently to convey a warning conspirators were lying in wait to slay the pontiff. Twenty humanist intellectuals were quickly arrested, tortured on the rack, and imprisoned in separate cells in the damp dungeon of Castel Sant Angelo. Anthony D Elia offers a compelling, surprising story that reveals a Renaissance world that witnessed the rebirth of interest in the classics, a thriving homoerotic culture, the clash of Christian and pagan values, the contest between republicanism and a papal monarchy, and tensions separating Christian Europeans and Muslim Turks. Using newly discovered sources, he shows why the pope targeted the humanists, who were seen as dangerously pagan in their Epicurean morals and their Platonic beliefs about the soul and insurrectionist in their support of a more democratic Church. Their fascination with Sultan Mehmed II connected them to the Ottoman Turks, enemies of Christendom, and the love of the classical world tied them to recent rebellious attempts to replace papal rule with a republic harking back to the glorious days of Roman antiquity. From the cosmetic-wearing, parrot-loving pontiff to the Turkish sultan, savage in war but obsessed with Italian culture, D Elia brings to life a Renaissance world full of pageantry, mayhem, and conspiracy and offers a fresh interpretation of humanism as a dynamic communal movement.
A Suffragist's Guide to the Antarctic
by Yi Shun LaiA teen&’s fight for suffrage turns into one of survival when her crew&’s Antarctic expedition ship gets stuck in the ice in this historical novel told in journal entries perfect for fans of Gary Paulsen and The Downstairs Girl.November 1914. Clara Ketterling-Dunbar is one of twenty-eight crew members of The Resolute—a ship meant for an Antarctic expedition now marooned on ice one hundred miles from the shore of the continent. An eighteen-year-old American, Clara has told the crew she&’s a twenty-one-year-old Canadian. Since the war broke out, sentiment toward Americans has not been the most favorable, and Clara will be underestimated enough simply for being a woman without also giving away just how young she is. Two members of the crew know her nationality, but no one knows the truth of her activities in England before The Resolute set sail. She and her suffragist sisters in the Women&’s Social & Political Union were waging war of a different kind in London. They taught Clara to fight. And now, even marooned on the ice, she won&’t stop fighting for women&’s rights…or for survival. In the wilderness of Antarctica, Clara is determined to demonstrate what a woman is truly capable of—if the crew will let her.
A Sufi-Jewish Dialogue
by Diana LobelWritten in Judeo-Arabic in eleventh-century Muslim Spain but quickly translated into Hebrew, Bahya Ibn Paquda's Duties of the Heart is a profound guidebook of Jewish spirituality that has enjoyed tremendous popularity and influence to the present day. Readers who know the book primarily in its Hebrew version have likely lost sight of the work's original Arabic context and its immersion in Islamic mystical literature. In A Sufi-Jewish Dialogue, Diana Lobel explores the full extent to which Duties of the Heart marks the flowering of the "Jewish-Arab symbiosis," the interpenetration of Islamic and Jewish civilizations.Lobel reveals Bahya as a maverick who integrates abstract negative theology, devotion to the inner life, and an intimate relationship with a personal God. Bahya emerges from her analysis as a figure so steeped in Islamic traditions that an Arabic reader could easily think he was a Muslim, yet the traditional Jewish seeker has always looked to him as a fountainhead of Jewish devotion. Indeed, Bahya represents a genuine bridge between religious cultures. He brings together, as well, a rationalist, philosophical approach and a strain of Sufi mysticism, paving the way for the integration of philosophy and spirituality in the thought of Moses Maimonides.A Sufi-Jewish Dialogue is the first scholarly book in English about a tremendously influential work of medieval Jewish thought and will be of interest to readers working in comparative literature, philosophy, and religious studies, particularly as reflected in the interplay of the civilizations of the Middle East. Readers will discover an extraordinary time when Jewish, Christian, and Islamic thinkers participated in a common spiritual quest, across traditions and cultural boundaries.
A Suitable Boy: THE CLASSIC BESTSELLER AND MAJOR BBC DRAMA (Statutory Instruments Ser. #2014 623)
by Vikram SethTHE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER AND MODERN CLASSIC: NOW A MAJOR TV SERIES 'A phenomenon, a prodigy, a marvel' Evening Standard ONE OF THE BBC'S 100 NOVELS THAT SHAPED OUR WORLD A modern classic, this epic tale of families, romance and political intrigue, set in India, never loses its power to delight and enchant readers.At its core, A Suitable Boy is a love story: the tale of Lata - and her mother's - attempts to find her a suitable husband, through love or through exacting maternal appraisal. At the same time, it is the story of India, newly independent and struggling through a time of crisis as a sixth of the world's population faces its first great general election and the chance to map its own destiny.'Seth is the best writer of his generation' The Times'Fiction on a grand scale. By the time you reach the last page you will have absorbed a splendid story, full of the tangle and perfume of India' Sunday Telegraph 'The greatness of the novel, its unassailable truthfulness, owes less to research than to imagination, an instinctive knowledge of the human heart' Observer'You should make time for it. It will keep you company for the rest of your life' The Times
A Suitable Marriage
by Muriel BolgerThe youngest daughter of Lord Kensley-Balfe, a wealthy landowner from the West of Ireland, Delia is privileged and beautiful. Cossetted by her parents, her older sister Mona and her brother Clement, she lives a sheltered life, her days punctuated by lessons with her governess and horse rides through the wild Irish countryside. But then an enigmatic American arrives in Ireland searching for his ancestral roots and all of a sudden, the path Delia once took as certain, seems less clear to her. As the family prepare for Mona's debut into London society and Clement returns from India with his fiancée Lady Elizabeth Stokes to prepare for his upcoming wedding, Delia has some decisions to make. Will she choose the love of a man she barely knows, risking disgrace and exclusion from her family? Only Delia can decide if she has the courage to become the woman she was meant to be.Moving from Mayo to London to New York and Newport, A Suitable Marriage is a sweeping tale of love, desire and family loyalty.
A Suitable Marriage
by Muriel BolgerThe youngest daughter of Lord Kensley-Balfe, a wealthy landowner from the West of Ireland, Delia is privileged and beautiful. Cossetted by her parents, her older sister Mona and her brother Clement, she lives a sheltered life, her days punctuated by lessons with her governess and horse rides through the wild Irish countryside. But then an enigmatic American arrives in Ireland searching for his ancestral roots and all of a sudden, the path Delia once took as certain, seems less clear to her. As the family prepare for Mona's debut into London society and Clement returns from India with his fiancée Lady Elizabeth Stokes to prepare for his upcoming wedding, Delia has some decisions to make. Will she choose the love of a man she barely knows, risking disgrace and exclusion from her family? Only Delia can decide if she has the courage to become the woman she was meant to be.Moving from Mayo to London to New York and Newport, A Suitable Marriage is a sweeping tale of love, desire and family loyalty.
A Suitable Marriage
by Muriel BolgerThe youngest daughter of Lord Kensley-Balfe, a wealthy landowner from the West of Ireland, Delia is privileged and beautiful. Cossetted by her parents, her older sister Mona and her brother Clement, she lives a sheltered life, her days punctuated by lessons with her governess and horse rides through the wild Irish countryside. But then an enigmatic American arrives in Ireland searching for his ancestral roots and all of a sudden, the path Delia once took as certain, seems less clear to her. As the family prepare for Mona's debut into London society and Clement returns from India with his fiancée Lady Elizabeth Stokes to prepare for his upcoming wedding, Delia has some decisions to make. Will she choose the love of a man she barely knows, risking disgrace and exclusion from her family? Only Delia can decide if she has the courage to become the woman she was meant to be.Moving from Mayo to London to New York and Newport, A Suitable Marriage is a sweeping tale of love, desire and family loyalty.
A Suitable Wife
by Louise M. GougeLady Beatrice Gregory has beauty, brains-and a wastrel brother. With her family fortune squandered, her only chance of a Season is as a lowly companion. London's glittering balls and parties are bittersweet when Beatrice has no hope of a match. Still, helping Lord Greystone with his charitable work brings her genuine pleasure...perhaps more than she dares to admit.Even when every marriageable miss in London is paraded before him, the only woman to capture Lord Greystone's attention is the one he shouldn't pursue. Attaching himself to a ruined family would jeopardize his ambitions. Yet Lady Beatrice may be the only wife to suit his lord's heart.
A Sultan in Palermo: A Novel (The Islam Quintet #4)
by Tariq AliGreed and strife simmer in a riven land held together by an ailing king<P> Amid the chaos and misery of the Middle Ages, Sicily proved to be an island in more ways than one. Even after Christians reconquered the island, the citizens retained their Muslim culture. One ruler became a bridge between worlds, speaking Arabic fluently, maintaining a harem, and even taking on the dual titles of King Roger of Sicily and Sultan Rujari of Siqilliya. Aiding Rujari is the Muslim cartographer Muhammad al-Idrisi. <P> As the Sicilian leader descends into old age and the island is pulled toward European values, al-Idrisi is caught between his friendship with Rujari and the plots of resistance brewing among his fellow Muslims. <P> Pride and friendship collide with greed and lust in Tariq Ali's rich novel of medieval Sicily.
A Summa of the Summa: The Essential Philosophical Passages of St. Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica, Edited and Explained for Beginners
by Peter Kreeft Thomas AquinasThis book differs from all other books on St. Thomas because it is more of the primary source itself.
A Summer Amish Courtship and Amish Reckoning: A 2-in-1 Collection
by Emma Miller Jocelyn McClayWill the past tear them apart?A Summer Amish Courtship by Emma MillerAfter a sudden heartbreaking loss, young widow Abigail Stolz must somehow help her troubled son adjust—even if it means working with Jamie’s stern schoolmaster, Ethan Miller. Much to her surprise, Ethan is actually a sensitive man who is also grieving—and lonely. But will family duty and the past keep them from a chance at happiness together?Amish Reckoning by Jocelyn McClayA new client is just what Gail Lapp’s horse transportation business needs to survive. But as the single mom works with Amish horse trader Samuel Schrock, she’s pulled back into the world she left behind. And even though returning to her Amish life is enticing, it isn’t possible if she wants to keep the truth about her past hidden…
A Summer Of Discontent: The Eighth Matthew Bartholomew Chronicle (Chronicle of Matthew Bartholomew #8)
by Susanna GregoryIt's August, 1354, and physician-monk Matthew Bartholomew jumps at the chance to travel to Ely with his friend and colleague Brother Michael, as it will give him a unique opportunity to study in the richly stocked library of the Benedictine priory. Michael has been summoned to the city by his bishop, but it isn't until they arrive that they discover the reason - the bishop has been accused of murder. The charge seems ludicrous, but Michael takes the investigation seriously and energetically sets about his task. At the same time Bartholomew comes across an underground movement of rebellion against the church and the tithes they demand from the laity, and the two men also learn that there has been a spate of burglaries which are being blamed on a band of travellers. Then a fellow of the priory is murdered almost under their noses. Can this death be connected to the others? Are all the killings linked to the burgeoning rebellion in the city?
A Summer Of Discontent: The Eighth Matthew Bartholomew Chronicle (Chronicles of Matthew Bartholomew #8)
by Susanna GregoryFor the twentieth anniversary of the start of the Matthew Bartholomew series, Sphere is delighted to reissue all of the medieval monk's cases with beautiful new series-style covers.------------------------------------The winter of 1353 has been appallingly wet, there is a fever outbreak amongst the poorer townspeople and the country is not yet fully recovered from the aftermath of the plague. The increasing reputation and wealth of the Cambridge colleges are causing dangerous tensions between the town, Church and University. Matthew Bartholomew is called to look into the deaths of three members of the University of who died from drinking poisoned wine, and soon he stumbles upon criminal activities that implicate his relatives, friends and colleagues - so he must solve the case before matters in the town get out of hand...It's August, 1354, and physician-monk Matthew Bartholomew jumps at the chance to travel to Ely with his friend and colleague Brother Michael, as it will give him a unique opportunity to study in the richly stocked library of the Benedictine priory. Michael has been summoned to the city by his bishop, but it isn't until they arrive that they discover the reason - the bishop has been accused of murder. The charge seems ludicrous, but Michael takes the investigation seriously and energetically sets about his task. At the same time Bartholomew comes across an underground movement of rebellion against the church and the tithes they demand from the laity, and the two men also learn that there has been a spate of burglaries which are being blamed on a band of travellers. Then a fellow of the priory is murdered almost under their noses. Can this death be connected to the others? Are all the killings linked to the burgeoning rebellion in the city?
A Summer Of Discontent: The Eighth Matthew Bartholomew Chronicle (Chronicles of Matthew Bartholomew #8)
by Susanna GregoryMatthew Bartholomew jumps at the chance to travel to Ely with Brother Michael, as it will give him a unique opportunity to study in the richly stocked library of the Benedictine priory. Michael has been summoned to the city by his bishop, but it isn't until they arrive that they discover the reason - the bishop has been accused of murder. The charge seems ludicrous, but Michael takes the investigation seriously and energetically sets about his task. Almost immediately he discovers that there appears to have been a series of unexplained deaths in the area. At the same time Bartholomew comes across an underground movement of rebellion against the church and the tithes they demand from the laity, and the two men also learn that there has been a spate of burglaries which are being blamed on a band of travellers. Then a fellow of the priory is murdered almost under their noses. Can this death be connected to the others? Are all the killings linked to the burgeoning rebellion in the city? Once again Susanna Gregory has created a superbly crafted mystery narrated with wit and style against a perfectly realised period background.
A Summer Seduction (Legend of St. Dwynwen #2)
by Candace CampAfter A Winter Scandal comes a new season for unexpected love in this sparkling second novel in New York Times bestselling author Candace Camp&’s Legend of St. Dwynwen trilogy.No one in tiny Chesley knows the truth about Damaris Howard; a woman of wealth and beauty, she rarely allows anyone to get close. Her past was marked by scandal and abandonment—better to stay aloof and reinvent herself. Then Damaris meets Alec Stafford, the Earl of Rowden. The tall, handsome border lord is a man of quiet but deep passion, raised to show no weakness and burned once before by a woman&’s love. But when he and Damaris cross paths inside London society, they set sparks of attraction blazing—and rumors flying. And when someone abducts Damaris from the city streets, Alec must stake more than his reputation to rescue her. Finding out who&’s behind a dangerous plot plunges Alec and Damaris together in an intimacy that melts their well-guarded reserve, proving that true love&’s rich rewards may just be worth the risks.
A Summer To Remember: Number 2 in series (Bedwyn Series #2)
by Mary BaloghKit Butler, cool and dangerous, is one of London's most infamous bachelors and marriage is the last thing on his mind. Desperate to thwart his father's matchmaking, Kit needs a bride . . . fast. Enter Miss Lauren Edgeworth . . .A year after being abandoned at the altar, Lauren has determined that marriage is not for her. When these two fiercely independent souls meet, sparks fly - and a deal is hatched. Lauren will masquerade as Kit's intended if he agrees to provide a passionate, adventurous, unforgettable summer. When summer ends, she will break off the engagement, rendering herself unmarriageable and leaving them both free. Everything is going perfectly - until Kit does the unthinkable: he begins to fall in love. A summer to remember is not enough for him. But how can he convince Lauren to be his . . . for better, for worse, for the rest of their lives?
A Summer in the Twenties
by Peter Dickinson"A lovely smooth read."--The Washington Post"A witty, affectionately nostalgic masterpiece."--The Columbus Dispatch"As absorbingly readable, as well-written as anything Peter Dickinson has written."--The Times Literary SupplementPraise for Peter Dickinson's mysteries:"The works of British Mystery Writer Peter Dickinson are like caviar--an acquired taste that can easily lead to addiction. Dickinson . . . does not make much of the process of detection, nor does he specialize in suspense. Instead, he neatly packs his books with such old-fashioned virtues as mood, character, and research."--Time"Dickinson (author of engagingly offbeat thrillers and children's books) does splendidly here with atmosphere, with the eccentric supporting characters, with the occasionally bizarre comic touches."--Kirkus ReviewsIn 1926 the British government was worried about revolution. Two million people are about to go on strike and class warfare is about to erupt. Tom Hankey is caught between his love for Judy, a bright young thing, and Kate, a fireball agitator. Brought home from Oxford by his father, Tom volunteers to drive a train in the General Strike. When the train is ambushed, Tom is thrust into the darkest and most threatening regions of English politics. Gritty yet sparkling and full of unexpected turnarounds, A Summer in the Twenties resonates and captivates.Peter Dickinson has twice received the Crime Writers' Association's Gold Dagger. His novels include Death of a Unicorn, The Poison Oracle, and many more. He lives in England and is married to the novelist Robin McKinley.
A Summer of Birds: John James Audubon at Oakley House (The Hill Collection: Holdings of the LSU Libraries)
by Danny HeitmanAs the summer of 1821 began, John James Audubon's ambition to create a comprehensive pictorial record of American birds was still largely a dream. Then, out of economic necessity, Audubon came to Oakley Plantation, a sprawling estate in Louisiana's West Feliciana Parish. Teeming with an abundance of birds, the woods of Oakley galvanized Audubon's sense of possibility for one of the most audacious undertakings in the annals of art. In A Summer of Birds, journalist and essayist Danny Heitman sorts through the facts and romance of Audubon's summer at Oakley, a season that clearly shaped the destiny of the world's most famous bird artist. Heitman draws from a rich variety of sources -- including Audubon's own extensive journals, more recent Audubon scholarship, and Robert Penn Warren's poetry -- to create a stimulating excursion across time, linking the historical man Audubon to the present-day civic and cultural icon. He considers the financial straits that led to Audubon's employment at Oakley as a private tutor to fifteen-year-old Eliza Pirrie, Audubon's family history, his flamboyance as a master of self-invention, his naturalist and artistic techniques, and the possible reasons for his dismissal. Illustrations include photographs of Oakley House -- now a state historic site -- Audubon's paintings from his Oakley period, and portraits of the Pirrie family members. A favorable combination of climate and geography made Oakley a birding haven, and Audubon completed or began at least twenty-three bird paintings -- among his finest work -- while staying there. A Summer of Birds will inform and delight readers in its exploration of this eventful but unsung 1821 interlude, a fascinating chapter in the life of America's foremost bird artist. It is an indispensable pleasure for birders, Audubon enthusiasts, and visitors to Oakley House.