Other books that might interest you

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  A Short History of San Francisco

  Tom Cole

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  A concise, “colorful, well-told” history of the City by the Bay, from the Gold Rush to the Summer of Love to the twenty-first century (Los Angeles Times).   This is the story of San Francisco, a unique and rowdy tale with a legendary cast of characters. It tells of the Indians and the Spanish missions, the arrival of thousands of gold seekers and gamblers, crackbrains and dreamers, the building of the transcontinental railroad and the cable car, labor strife and political shenanigans, the 1906 earthquake and fire, two World Wars, two World's Fairs, two great bridges, the beatniks and hippies and New Left—a story that is so marvelous and wild that it must be true.   A new afterword from the author in this updated third edition brings The City into the twenty-first century—a time just as hectic, experimental, and opportunistic as its rambunctious past.

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  John Singer Sargent and artworks

  Donald Wigal

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  Sargent was born in Florence, in 1856, the son of cultivated parents. When Sargent entered the school of Carolus-Duran he attained much more than the average pupils. His father was a retired Massachusetts gentleman, having practised medicine in Philadelphia. Sargent’s home life was penetrated with refinement, and outside it were the beautiful influences of Florence, combining the charms of sky and hills with the wonders of art in the galleries and the opportunities of an intellectual and artistic society. Accordingly, when Sargent arrived in Paris, he was not only a skilful draughtsman and painter as a result of his study of the Italian masters, but he also had a refined and cultivated taste, which perhaps had an even greater influence upon his career. Later in Spain, it was chiefly upon the lessons learned from Velázquez that he found his own brilliant method.
  Sargent belongs to America, but is claimed by others as a citizen of the world, or a cosmopolitan. Sargent, with the exception of a few months at distant intervals, spent his life abroad. The artistic influences which affected him were those of Europe. Yet his Americanism may be detected in his extraordinary facility to absorb impressions, in the individuality he evolved, and in the subtlety and reserve of his methods – qualities that are characteristic of the best American art.

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  Yachting Monthly's Expert...

  Tom Cunliffe

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  Become a better yachtsman with the help of Tom Cunliffe and Yachting Monthly. There are plenty of sailing and seamanship skills that don't feature on the syllabus of even the most advanced official sailing course - and a wealth of wisdom can be found in these pages. There's advice on everything from fixing an engine to recovering a casualty from the water - and all of it is delivered with lively prose and hundreds of easy to follow photographs and diagrams. Sailing guru Tom Cunliffe teaches sailors how to improve a vast range of sailing skills - from dropping anchor to planning a passage and from sailing harmoniously with your partner to using onboard electronics. Each chapter deasls with a specific skill and is highly illustrated with step-by-step photos.

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  Searching for George Gordon...

  Tom Huntington

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  A historian chronicles the life of the Union Civil War general while recounting his own unusual journey during his investigation into the past. Who was George Gordon Meade? He should be remembered as one of the Civil War’s most important generals. Instead, history has pushed him aside. The hot-tempered Meade received command of the Union’s dysfunctional Army of the Potomac only three days before he defeated Robert E. Lee’s Confederates at Gettysburg. After that, Meade watched his reputation decline, thanks in part to the escape of Lee’s army, hostility from politicians and the press, the machinations of Gen. Daniel Sickles, and the rise of Ulysses S. Grant. “I suppose after a while,” Meade once grumbled, “it will be discovered I was not at Gettysburg at all.”  The Rodney Dangerfield of Civil War generals, Meade gets no respect—and author Tom Huntington wanted to find out why. In Searching for George Gordon Meade, he tells the story of the general’s life and his participation in the Civil War’s great engagements, from George McClellan’s Richmond Campaign to Appomattox. Huntington also provides accounts of his own investigations of Meade’s legacy. Along the way he hikes across battlefields, recites the names of fallen soldiers at a candlelit ceremony at Gettysburg, drinks a champagne toast at Meade’s grave on New Year’s Eve, and visits a severed leg, a buried arm, and a horse’s head. The result is a quirky and compelling mash-up of history, biography, travel, and journalism that casts new light on an overlooked figure from the past. Praise for Searching for George Gordon Meade“Unique and irresistible.” —Harold Holzer, chairman of Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation“Huntington’s wry, boisterous biography-within-a-travel journal . . . strives to remake the reputation of Meade and offers a compelling new way to approach biography.” —John G. Shelby, Meade: The Price of Command, 1863–1865 “It’s the rare reader who will not enjoy accompanying Huntington on his search for Meade.” —America’s Civil War "A refreshingly readable and well-researched book. . . . Searching for George Gordon Meade should be required reading for all those interested in Civil War history.” —Civil War News

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  How to Fight a Bear    and Win -...

  Institute Bathroom Readers'

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  A humorous guide to surviving in the wilderness, that also might make you want to avoid the wilderness forever.For more than twenty-five years, Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader has helped you learn amazing things you didn’t know. Now, Uncle John will show you how to do things you didn’t know how to do . . . and probably should never, never, never actually do, unless you’re in a survival situation and really, really, really need to do. It’s How to Fight a Bear . . . and Win. A new approach to survival guides and how-to books, this book provides step-by-step instructions for how to make do in any rugged terrain. But if you’re expecting “how to start a fire,” think again. This isn’t the kind of book that will tell you how to make a fire by rubbing two sticks together—it will tell you how to make a fire using a car battery. It will also tell you:·       How to swing from a vine like Tarzan·       How to land an airplane in an emergency·       How to fight a bear . . . and win·       How to perform emergency surgery in the woods·       How to identify what insects you can—and cannot—eat And lots, lots more

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  Pure Silver Metal Clay Beads

  Linda Kaye-Moses

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  Precious metal clay (PMC) is an innovative material that combines the workability of clay with the beautiful finish and durability of precious metals. The material is easy to manipulate and shape by hand to make beads for bracelets, necklaces, and other jewelry. This book contains fifteen projects for creating fine silver beads and a design gallery of 25 additional jewelry pieces. Intro chapters include information about tools and techniques. Projects are organized workshop-style, to build skills cumulatively.

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