On the Plain of Snakes

Legendary travel writer Paul Theroux drives the entire length of the US–Mexico border, then goes deep into the hinterland, on the back roads of Chiapas and Oaxaca, to uncover the rich, layered world behind today's brutal headlines.Paul Theroux has spent his life crisscrossing the globe in search of the histories and peoples that give life to the places they call home. Now, as immigration debates boil around the world, Theroux has set out to explore a country key to understanding our current discourse: Mexico. Just south of the Arizona border, in the desert region of Sonora, he finds a place brimming with charm, yet visibly marked by both the US Border Patrol looming to the north and mounting discord from within. With the same humanizing sensibility he employed in Deep South, Theroux stops to talk with residents, visits Zapotec mill workers in the highlands, and attends a Zapatista party meeting, communing with people of all stripes who remain south of...
Views: 267

Peter Parley's Visit to London, During the Coronation of Queen Victoria

Leopold Classic Library is delighted to publish this classic book as part of our extensive collection. As part of our on-going commitment to delivering value to the reader, we have also provided you with a link to a website, where you may download a digital version of this work for free. Many of the books in our collection have been out of print for decades, and therefore have not been accessible to the general public. Whilst the books in this collection have not been hand curated, an aim of our publishing program is to facilitate rapid access to this vast reservoir of literature. As a result of this book being first published many decades ago, it may have occasional imperfections. These imperfections may include poor picture quality, blurred or missing text. While some of these imperfections may have appeared in the original work, others may have resulted from the scanning process that has been applied. However, our view is that this is a significant literary work, which deserves to be brought back into print after many decades. While some publishers have applied optical character recognition (OCR), this approach has its own drawbacks, which include formatting errors, misspelt words, or the presence of inappropriate characters. Our philosophy has been guided by a desire to provide the reader with an experience that is as close as possible to ownership of the original work. We hope that you will enjoy this wonderful classic book, and that the occasional imperfection that it might contain will not detract from the experience.
Views: 267

Of a Fire on the Moon

For many, the moon landing was the defining event of the twentieth century. So it seems only fitting that Norman Mailer—the literary provocateur who altered the landscape of American nonfiction—wrote the most wide-ranging, far-seeing chronicle of the Apollo 11 mission. A classic chronicle of America’s reach for greatness in the midst of the Cold War, Of a Fire on the Moon compiles the reportage Mailer published between 1969 and 1970 in Life magazine: gripping firsthand dispatches from inside NASA’s clandestine operations in Houston and Cape Kennedy; technical insights into the magnitude of their awe-inspiring feat; and prescient meditations that place the event in human context as only Mailer could. Praise for Of a Fire on the Moon   “The gift of a genius . . . a twentieth-century American epic—a Moby Dick *of space.”—New York  * “Mailer’s account of Apollo 11 stands as a stunning image of human energy and purposefulness. . . . It is an act of revelation—the only verbal deed to be worthy of the dream and the reality it celebrates.”—Saturday Review “A wild and dazzling book.”—The New York Times Book Review   “Still the most challenging and stimulating account of [the] mission to appear in print.”—The Washington Post  * Praise for Norman Mailer   “[Norman Mailer] loomed over American letters longer and larger than any other writer of his generation.”—The New York Times “A writer of the greatest and most reckless talent.”—The New Yorker “Mailer is indispensable, an American treasure.”—The Washington Post “A devastatingly alive and original creative mind.”—Life “Mailer is fierce, courageous, and reckless and nearly everything he writes has sections of headlong brilliance.”—The New York Review of Books “The largest mind and imagination [in modern] American literature . . . Unlike just about every American writer since Henry James, Mailer has managed to grow and become richer in wisdom with each new book.”—Chicago Tribune “Mailer is a master of his craft. His language carries you through the story like a leaf on a stream.”—The Cincinnati Post***
Views: 266

Light & Darkness, vol. 11

The last volume of my series about light and darkness; no more songs left to be published. Thanks for reading. I will (hopefully) be back next year with stories.The Jones and Wochowski clans were early adopters of Replicator technology, a technology that both precipitated the destruction of the world and allowed a few to survive. The patriarchs of the two clans helped develop the technology but a dispute has their progenitors precariously existing in a real-life situation of "people living glass houses needing to not throw stones". This dispute between the two neighbors is especially poignant for the respective children of the clans, Steve and Sally, who find themselves in love. Under the noses of their restrictive and vindictive parents they communicate via discrete means such as texting using Replicator-made cell phones, stolen binocular glances across the blasted earth between their two homes, and even tapping in Morse-code on the steel door that connected their two homes in pre-feud days. Ultimately the young couple's love demands they try and find a way out.
Views: 265

Help the Witch

Inspired by our native landscapes, saturated by the shadows beneath trees and behind doors, listening to the run of water and half-heard voices, Tom Cox's first collection of short stories is a series of evocative and unsettling trips into worlds previously visited by the likes of M. R. James and E. F. Benson. Railway tunnels, the lanes and hills of the Peak District, family homes, old stones, shreds fluttering on barbed wire, night drawing in, something that might be an animal shifting on the other side of a hedge: Tom has drawn on his life-long love of weird fiction, folklore and nature's unregarded corners to write a collection of stories that will delight fans old and new, and leave them very uneasy about turning the reading lamp off.
Views: 265

"Rejoice Dear Hearts"

"Rejoice Dear Hearts" is a follow-up to 2012's "No Irish Need Apply" by Peter Cavanaugh. It is a compilation of Mr. Cavanaugh's columns as published in The Sierra Star, a McClatchy publication, and other essays and scribbled notations from 2013, primarily cultural and progressively political."Kelly Biggs went to bed at seven every night. She slept with all her toys around, but never stayed until it was light." Little Kelly keeps waking up during the night and wanting to get up. But maybe her toys can help stop her waking up the whole house?This short, sweet rhyming story is designed to teach children to stay in bed all night, no matter what might wake them up, by listening to what others say. Will Kelly's toys persuade her to sleep all through the night? Read on to find out...
Views: 265

His Perilous Throne

A young man is wrongly imprisoned for the manslaughter of his kindly employer. Michael has mild learning difficulties and was raised in a children's home. Unable to explain to the court that the death was an accident, he is incarcerated with a sadistic killer, who forces him to become his butler and becomes progressively deluded that he is a member of the aristocracy. Revenge lurks in the shaddowsMichael is imprisoned at a young age for the manslaughter of his employer, a lonely gentleman who enjoyed Michael's childlike view of life. Michael has mild learning difficulties and was raised in a children's home. Unable to explain to the court that Mr Tim's death was the result of a tragic accident, he finds himself in prison, where he is taunted, humiliated and forced to act as a butler to Monk, his deluded older cellmate. Desperate and reclusive, Michael plots his revenge as Monk, grows evermore brazen in his belief that he has joined the hallowed ranks of the English aristocracy.
Views: 265

Obsidian Fire: The Cave of the Sleeping Sword

"The hilt that stuck out of the crevice in the cave wall looked a lot smaller than what I would have expected for such a legendary sword." Mark Allen had been preparing his whole life for this, but when the mystic sword chooses the last person anyone would ever expect instead of him, Mark must swallow his pride, and become the most maligned of all superhero clichés: the sidekick.“The Cave of the Sleeping Sword” is the first part of the twelve-part “Obsidian Fire” serial, a superhero style adventure that is heavily inspired (admittedly on the verge of plagiarism at times) by the Arthurian legend of the Sword in the Stone. The saga is told almost entirely from the point of view of a reluctant sidekick, who must watch as somebody else gets thrust into the role of the hero. Together, the two join forces with the members of an ancient Brotherhood to battle a threat the likes of which the world hasn’t seen since medieval times.This first episode introduces us to a world where the mystical Flaming Sword, having last chosen a worthy Knight to wield it in the 1930s, has inspired generations of regular folk to stand up against injustice, leading to the modern day legalization of vigilantes like Mark Allen.When a long-forgotten prophecy comes to light foretelling that the Flaming Sword is finally about to select another Knight, Mark decides to travel to Scotland to fulfill what he believes to be his lifelong destiny. Although Mark is clearly the most qualified for this awesome responsibility, the Sword has other ideas, and chooses instead the last person anyone would ever expect to play the hero.As Mark struggles to come to grips with the consequences of the Sword’s choice, he quickly learns that nothing in his new life is ever as it seems.
Views: 264

Teething Ring

This collection of literature attempts to compile many of the classic works that have stood the test of time and offer them at a reduced, affordable price, in an attractive volume so that everyone can enjoy them.This collection of literature attempts to compile many of the classic works that have stood the test of time and offer them at a reduced, affordable price, in an attractive volume so that everyone can enjoy them.
Views: 264

Exploiter's End

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.
Views: 264

Mumbo Jumbo

A diverse collection of dark stories and travel journals. If you enjoy reading about weird experiences and eccentric perceptions, then Mumbo Jumbo is for you!A diverse collection of dark stories and travel journals.If you enjoy reading about weird experiences and eccentric perceptions, then Mumbo Jumbo is for you!"Cold crystal particles beautifully shaped and delicately formed into the soft snow or harsh ice of hiking and climbing. This is what the word crystal conjures for me.For others it may be a cure in crystal healing, the devil calling in crystal meth, an expensive cut glass thing or just a pretty stone. Once I even knew a girl called Crystal who had the magic of a piece of crystal rock.Berlin. November 9th 2014.The bar was dimly lit, in fact from the outside it barely looked open...." Crystal Night."The ceremony was repeated the next night, but this time Miguel bypassed the ritual and clothing and went straight to the point. There were only about six people in the tipi besides Miguel and Fish, and Miguel seemed animated, immediately dishing out the ayahuasca after the tobacco splutter.For some reason he gave me a glass, like a whisky glass but without the shot or two. It was a full glass, I heard him tell Fish in Spanish that it was really strong and Fish physically tried to stop him from giving it to me. Miguel shrugged him off.I ended up drinking the lot.Nothing could have prepared me for what happened next..." Mumbo Jumbo
Views: 264

The Mind's Storm

A collection of poems about the uncertainties of life.Every day, thousands of people board an airplane without a second thought. Their minds are full of where they’ve been and their destination. However, sometimes, life has different plans.Flight 437 is such a story. On a flight from Paris, France to New York City, the crew and passengers find themselves trapped on a flight none of them expected. As events unfold, they soon realize they are no longer on the planned flight, but are now, in fact, headed to an unknown destination.
Views: 263

Kathie's Soldiers

"Hurrah!" exclaimed Robert Alston, swinging his hat in the air, as he came up the path; "hurrah! there\'s going to be a draft at Brookside! Won\'t it be jolly?" The group assembled glanced up at him,—a fair, fresh, rosy boy, without any cowardly blood in his veins, as you could easily tell, but given, as such natures often are, to underrating the silent bravery of others. "What will there be so jolly about it, Rob?" asked his uncle, with a peculiar light in his eye.
Views: 263