The second in our special series focuses on “An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce. The story is a Civil War, Twilight Zone-esque piece that has been a popular piece since its publication. Ambrose Gwinett Bierce - often referred to as "Bitter Bierce" - was an American newspaper columnist, satirist, essayist, short-story writer, and novelist and an enigmatic figure who disappeared in the Mexican Revolution. His end is still a mystery, but he is presumed to have died in the siege of Ojinega on 11 January 1914. Bierce is best-known for his numerous short stories, which show the influence of Edgar Allan Poe. However, Bierce himself was annoyed by comparisons, and as a literary critic he was against realism. Our Reading List celebrates his work, and various other ebooks of the Civil War, bridges and creeks. |
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Formulas For Structural Dynamics: Tables, Graphs And Solutions
Igor Karnovsky and Olga Lebed
This information-rich reference book provides solutions to the architectural problem of vibrations in beams, arches and frames in bridges, highways, buildings and tunnels. It's a must-have for structural designers and civil engineers, especially those involved in the seismic design of buildings. It's well-organized into problem-specific chapters, and loaded with detailed charts, graphs, and necessary formulas.
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The Cat Who Went Up A Creek
Lillian Jackson Braun
Jim Qwilleran is enjoying his stay at the Nutcracker Inn in Black Creek. His two Siamese, Koko and Yum Yum, don't seem quite as pleased with the accommodations, though Koko does enjoy keeping a keen eye on the squirrels and other local wildlife. Then, while Koko's eagerly watching some jumping trout, he spots something else: a body, floating downstream. When it's revealed that the victim was a guest at the inn-and had nuggets of gold hidden in his shoes-Qwill dives into the case. And if he and the cats don't solve it soon, they're going to be up the creek without a paddle.
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Battlefields Of The Civil War: A Guide For Travellers Volume 1
Blair Howard
An exciting revision of this combination travel/field guide to important Civil War battlefields in Virginia, Tennessee, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Mississippi and Georgia. Acclaimed for its full coverage and thoughtful organization, this is a guideBook you can carry with you as you tour the sites, and relive the action through Howard's vivid battle descriptions. He tells the story of each battle--who fought, who died, blow-by-blow accounts of the action, and what the outcome meant for each side. Battlefields covered: 1st and 2nd Manassas, Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Stones River, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Vicksburg, Chimauga and Lookout Mountain. Current photos, maps, Civil War-era photos and diagrams of the battlefield action. Fascinating new sections detail battle re-enactments--where and when they take place, plus how you can join in.
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The Metaphysical Club: A Story Of Ideas In America
Louis Menand
The Civil War made America a modern nation, unleashing forces of industrialism and expansion that had been kept in check for decades by the quarrel over slavery. But the war also discredited the ideas and beliefs of the era that preceded it. The Civil War swept away the slave civilization of the South, but almost the whole intellectual culture of the North went with it. It took nearly half a century for Americans to develop a set of ideas, a way of thinking, that would help them cope with the conditions of modern life. That struggle is the subject of this book. The story told in The Metaphysical Club runs through the lives of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., a Civil War hero who became the dominant legal thinker of his time; his best friend as a young man, William James, son of an eccentric moral philosopher, brother of a great novelist, and the father of modern psychology in America; and the brilliant and troubled logician, scientist, and founder of semiotics, Charles Sanders Peirce. Together they belonged to an informal discussion group that met in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1872 and called itself the Metaphysical Club. The club was probably in existence for only nine months, and no records were kept. The one thing we know that came out of it was an idea an idea about ideas, about the role beliefs play in people's lives. This idea informs the writings of these three thinkers, and the work of the fourth figure in the book, John Dewey--student of Peirce, friend and ally of James, admirer of Holmes. The Metaphysical Club begins with the Civil War and ends in 1919 with the Supreme Court decision in Abrams v. U.S., the basis for the modern law of free speech. It tells the story of the creation of ideas and values that changed the way Americans think and the way they live.
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Lee's Lieutenants: A Study In Command
Douglas Southall Freeman
A sweeping narrative that presents a multiple biography against the flame-shot background of the American Civil War, it is the story of the great figures of the Army of Northern Virginia who fought under Robert E. Lee. The Confederacy won resounding victories throughout the war, but seldom easily or without tremendous casualties. Death was always on the heels of fame, but the men who commanded--among them Jackson, Longstreet, and Ewell--developed as leaders and men. Lee's Lieutenants follows these men to the costly battle at Gettysburg, through the deepening twilight of the South's declining military might, and finally to the collapse of Lee's command and his formal surrender in 1865. To his unparalleled descriptions of men and operations, Dr. Freeman adds an insightful analysis of the lessons learned and their bearing upon the future military development of the nation. Accessible at last in a one-volume edition abridged by noted Civil War historian Stephen W. Sears, Lee's Lieutenants is essential reading for all Civil War buffs, students of war, and admirers of the historian's art as practiced at its very highest level.
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Beaudry's Ghost
Carolan Ivey
ared Beaudry's enraged spirit has been roaming the Outer Banks of North Carolina for over 130 years, hungering for the one thing he cannot have--revenge against the mad Confederate officer who took his limbs, his life, and worst of all, his honor. During a reenactment of the Civil War battle in which he died, Jared takes a desperate leap of faith--setting in motion a deadly chain of events nothing can stop. Taylor Brannon can only stand by, helpless, as her entire reenacting unit is taken over by spirits of long-dead Civil War soldiers. Terrified, she has two choices. She can run, or she can stand her ground and try to ensure the safety of her friends, and somehow help Jared's restless spirit find peace. Taylor finds herself fighting for the life--and love--of a ghost. The cost could be her soul. Independent Publisher Award Winner.
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Gods And Generals
Jeff Shaara
In a prequel of sorts to his father Michael Shaara's 1974 epic novel The Killer Angels, Jeff Shaara explores the lives of Generals Lee, Hancock, Jackson and Chamberlain as the pivotal Battle of Gettysburg approaches. Shaara captures the disillusionment of both Lee and Hancock early in their careers, Lee's conflict with loyalty, Jackson's overwhelming Christian ethic and Chamberlain's total lack of experience, while illustrating how each compensated for shortcomings and failures when put to the test. The perspectives of the four men, particularly concerning the battles at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, make vivid the realities of war.
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Present At A Hanging And Other Ghost Stories
Ambrose Bierce
A series of classic eerie short stories from Ambrose Bierce. Free download.
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An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge
Ambrose Bierce
Is Peyton Fahrquhar saved from the gallows to be reunited with his wife...or is something more sinister afoot? Free download.
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Sins Of The Father
Trace Edward Zaber
Jebediah Simpson Ellsworth, a young brigadier general from Vicksburg, Mississippi, arrives in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, seeking not only victory for his army and freedom from Northern tyranny, but also to prove his worthiness to his father's ghost. Instead, his army suffers defeat, he is wounded, and while recovering in enemy territory, is falsely accused of plotting a heinous crime. With the aid of Faith Bradshaw, a young Yankee woman, and Isaiah Walker, an ex-slave, Jeb embarks on a perilous quest to clear his good name. Along the way, however, he is forced to reassess the teachings of his much-loved father, reexamine the world around him, and reevaluate his own convictions once their foundation starts to crumble. EPPIE Award Finalist, Spectrum Award Finalist, WordWeaving Award of Excellence Winner.
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When This Cruel War Is Over
Thomas Fleming
The time is the summer of 1864, the third year of the savage Civil War that has already killed a half million Americans. The place is Indiana and Kentucky, divided by the beautiful Ohio River but joined by a growing fury at the Federal government's ruthless censorship and intolerance of dissent.
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The Bridges Of Madison County
Robert Waller
If you've ever experienced the one true love of your life, a love that for some reason could never be, you will understand why readers all over the world were so moved by this small, unknown first novel that they made it a publishing phenomenon and #1 bestseller. The story of Robert Kincaid, the photographer and free spirit searching for the covered bridges of Madison County, and Francesca Johnson, the farm wife waiting for the fulfillment of a girlhood dream, The Bridges of Madison County gives voice to the longings of men and women everywhere--and shows us what it is to love and be loved so intensely that life is never the same again.
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I'll Take My Stand
Lawrence Barker
When the Civil War began, Abraham Lincoln declared he would deal with Hell if it were necessary to save the Union. He thought he was being rhetorical. Three years after Appomatox, demons and zombies wander the war-ravaged land, and Lincoln is among them having risen up after Booth shot him down. In this Hell on Earth, an ex-Reb and expert fiddler, Rile Fouts, searches for his mission in life and waits for the next battle with the most formidable of musicians, Old Horny-Foot himself.
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Bear River Spirit
Payton Lee
Owen Woulfe, a recent widower and Reilly Stewart Madison meet head on over Owen's son, Rory. An agreement of marriage for the sake of Rory leads the two souls to realize they were destined to be together. They discover they were both born of mixed Irish and Shoshone blood. Reilly and Owen learn just who is Reilly's seventeen year absentee mother. They face tragedy and joy as kindred spirits with a love of people and nature's land. Owen and Reilly's love for each other grows beond their wildest dreams. Together they conquer their sorrows and survive one of the bloodiest massacres of indigenous history. Set in the time and era of the Civil War, Shoshone, Mormon, and White Settler troubles, they are witnesses to the Bear River Massacre. Free download.
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The Burnt District
Ellen Gray Massey
During the Civil War in western Missouri, Hannah and her three small daughters are moved as military prisoners to a detention camp because they did not obey Order # 11. The order demanded everyone in four counties along the Kansas border evacuate within fifteen days. With ingenuity and bravery, the four of them evade the former Redleg Kansas Union captain, outwit the Bushwhackers who take over the deserted, burnt area, and, with the help of an Osage scout, find Hannah's severely wounded, Union army husband and secretly bring him home.
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