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  Dinner of Herbs - Village Life...

  Carla Grissmann

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  Carla Grissman, an American whose cosmopolitan life had already seen her living in Morocco, Paris and Jerusalem, spent the better part of a year in the '60s living in a farming hamlet in remote Anatolia, some 250 kilometres east of Ankara. The hospitality, the friendship and the way in which the inhabitants of Uzak Köy accepted her into their community left a deep impression, and were remembered and treasured in a private memoir. Not for some forty years was it published, and yet it is one of the most honest, clear-sighted and affectionate portraits of rural Turkey, testimony to Proverbs 15:17, 'Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than feasting on a fattened ox where hatred also dwells'.

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  Wild Wales

  George Borrow

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  Wild Wales: Its People, Language and Scenery is a travel book by the English Victorian gentleman writer George Borrow (1803–1881), first published in 1862 and now a classic travel text on Wales and the Welsh. The book recounts Borrow's experiences, insights and personal encounters whilst touring Wales alone on foot after a family holiday in Llangollen in 1854. Although contemporary critics dismissed its whimsical tone, it quickly became popular with readers as a travel book and more importantly as a very lively account of the literary, social and geographical history of Wales. Borrow’s engaging character comes across especially in his meetings with various itinerants – mostly native and peasant – along the muddy Welsh path. Borrow’s keen ear for dialogue may remind us of a Dickens or Trollope, and like the latter his wit and wisdom are rarely absent. Indeed the author has been described as an "eccentric, larger-than-life, jovial man whose laughter rings all through the book". Borrow makes much of his self-taught Welsh and how surprised the natives are by his linguistic abilities – and also by his idiosyncratic pronunciation of their language. He loves to air his knowledge of Welsh culture, especially the Bardic tradition. And like his contemporary, William Wordsworth, he has a habit of quoting verses to the heavens as he walks. As the author finally reaches South Wales towards the end of his account, we meet for the first time evidences of modern industrialism, introduced to the reader in the form of a Dante’s Inferno of coal mines and iron foundries. Today, most will remember and value the book for these and other vivid nineteenth-century landscapes – along with Borrow’s gallery of fascinating, human characters. (SUMMARY BY STEVE GOUGH BASED ON WIKIPEDIA)

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  A History Lover's Guide to Florida

  James C. Clark

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  Explorers and pirates, hurricanes and shipwrecks, movie stars and presidents—a journey through Florida’s history and a guide to the places it happened. 
   
  More than any other state (except Nevada), Florida is a state of transplants—where a quarter of the population comes from outside the US, and a third comes from other states. Thanks to its famous beaches and tourist attractions, it’s often thought of as more a destination than a home…even for those who live there. In spite of this—or perhaps because of it—the Sunshine State has one of the richest histories in the nation.  
   
  Decades before the Pilgrims, the Spanish celebrated Thanksgiving in Florida. Centuries before the first St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New York, the holiday was celebrated in St. Augustine, where urban renewal was underway when Jamestown settlers arrived. In this lively guide, James Clark offers a lifetime of places to explore and facts to fascinate, tracing the state’s long and colorful history from Pensacola to the Florida Keys. You’ll find photos, illustrations, and detailed lists of 10 forts, 10 wars, 5 flags that flew over Florida, 40 historic landmarks, 50 museums, and much more.

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  Haunted Cape Girardeau - Where...

  Joel P. Rhodes

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  This “frightful compilation” of ghost stories flows from the rich history of the Missouri college town located on a bend in the Mississippi River (Southeast Missourian).   For nearly two hundred-fifty years, the mighty Mississippi has granted Cape Girardeau a legacy of prosperity and dealt it some fearsome scars. Walk through buildings cut by the shrapnel of exploding steamboats, swamped in the debris of sudden floods, and haunted by the restless spirits of those who washed ashore. Beyond the riverfront, tragedy’s indelible mark can be found in places like the back row of the Rose Theater or the ashen mists of Spook Hollow. Joel P. Rhodes keeps company with the most forlorn figures and entrenched phantoms in this history of Cape Girardeau, where the river turns a thousand chilling tales.   Includes photos!

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  Haunted Tombstone

  Cody Polston

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  The founder of the Southwest Ghost Hunter’s Association guides readers through the supernatural history of the legendary Arizona town.   Once the rowdiest town in the Old West, Tombstone still holds echoes from those wild days of thieves, outlaws and gamblers. The ghost of the Swamper is said to stalk Big Nose Kate's Saloon, afraid someone might find his stolen hoard of silver. The Brunckow Cabin played host to a string of mysterious murders in the late 1800s, and some say that a menacing specter remains. Pictures of cowboy Billy Clanton's headstone in the infamous Boot Hill Graveyard are frequently reported to have unexplainable apparitions. From the ghosts of the O.K. Corral to the feuding prostitutes lingering in the Bird Cage Theatre, eerie wraiths live again in these stories.

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  Africa Dances - A Journey...

  Geoffrey Gorer

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  In Africa Dances Gorer takes the reader on an odyssey across West Africa. He has unique access, travelling as the friend of Féral Benga, one of the great black dance stars of 1930's Paris. It is a devastating critique of colonial rule, which is shown to be destroying African society while Christian missionaries undermine indigenous morality. Africa Dances captures the rich physical and psychological detail of African village life – from food and architecture to dance and magic. Gorer witnesses witch doctors conjuring thunderstorms out of clear blue skies and chameleon fetishists whose skin changes from a dirty white to almost black. This is a place where if you believe, you can.

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