Western Biography

I feared for their lives and their ears. Our local weekly newspaper showed pictures of them dangling from ropes hanging in woven baskets off the embankment of a mountain in order to tap sticks of dynamite into the holes they drilled in the granite cliff faces they blasted away. One could hear that awful, loud dynamite blasting all the way in town. But the booming had been even worse for the ears of the railroad workers who detonated the charges for the grading and tunneling, especially the Chinese who were given these most dangerous jobs.

The dream of capturing and organizing knowledge is as old as history. From the archives of ancient Sumeria and the Library of Alexandria to the Library of Congress and Wikipedia, humanity has wrestled with the problem of harnessing its intellectual output. The timeless quest for wisdom has been as much about information storage and retrieval as creative genius. In Cataloging the World, Alex Wright introduces us to a figure who stands out in the long line of thinkers and idealists who devoted themselves to the task.

Sir Walter Ralegh was a favorite of Queen Elizabeth. She showered him with estates and political appointments. He envisioned her becoming empress of a universal empire. She gave him the opportunity to lead the way. In Walter Ralegh, Alan Gallay shows that, while Ralegh may be best known for founding the failed Roanoke colony, his historical importance vastly exceeds that enterprise. Inspired by the mystical religious philosophy of hermeticism, Ralegh led English attempts to colonize in North America, South America, and Ireland.

"هيوم" واحد من أشهر فلاسفة الغرب في القرن الثامن عشر وعلى مر العصور. الفيلسوف الأسكتلندي يُعد الأب الروحي للمدرسة "التجريبية العلمية" التي ينتمي إليها العديد من الفلاسفة مثل الفيلسوف الإنجليزي "جون لوك" وغيره.

جون لوك فيلسوف وطبيب بريطاني. يعد واحدًا من المفكرين الأكثر تأثيرًا في عصر التنوير، حيث يعتبر مصدر المعرفة والأفكار ليس العقل، وإنما التجربة التي نحتك بها ونكتسبها عن طريق الحواس، وهو صاحب القول المشهور «العقل صفحة بيضاء» وأراد من خلاله الاعتراض على العقلانيين القائلين بتوفر العقل على أفكار فطرية، مبيناً أن العقل لا يتوفر على شيء، وأن مصدر أفكاره ومبادئه وقواعده التجربة فقط، وبذلك أسس للفلسفة الحسية التجريبية.

ولد في الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية في أواخر القرن التاسع عشر، وقد أسره الأدب منذ طفولته المبكرة، ورث مهارة والدته الأدبية، وكتب أول أشعار له في سن الرابعة عشرة، لكن لم تبدأ موهبته الأدبية في الازدهار حتى السابعة عشر من عمره في هارفارد حيث بدأ بدراسته الجامعية، وقد حقق انطباعا جيداً من مساهمته الدائمة في المجلة الطلابية الجامعية محامي هارفارد.

George Mergenthaler, the grandson of the inventor of the Linotype, was an only child, and at the time of his birth in 1920, became the sole male heir the family fortune. Tall, handsome, Ivy League educated, speaking fluent German and French, "Merg" as he was know to his friends, did what many in his generation did following the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor: He enlisted in the Army.

On a cold November day in Amsterdam in 2004, the celebrated and controversial Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh was shot and killed by an Islamic extremist for making a movie that "insulted the prophet Mohammed." The murder sent shock waves across Europe and around the world. Shortly thereafter, Ian Buruma returned to his native land to investigate the event and its larger meaning as part of the great dilemma of our time.

After his surrender to the Royal Navy, Napoleon became the object of massive English public interest. He would live out his last years on the island of St. Helena without ever admitting to being a prisoner. This close study of Napoleon in captivity attempts to reconstruct an authentic portrait of the fallen emperor by examining contemporary documents and records of public opinion.

Once he was a young, happily married businessman. Then he lost his wife to human madness and that young man was gone, replaced by the Loner, the wandering son of legendary gunfighter Frank Morgan, and now the current occupant of a cell in the brutal and unforgiving Hell Gate prison. The Kid's crime? He looked too much like an outlaw who escaped from this very prison. So the Kid teams up with a fellow inmate with an escape plan, vowing to hunt down a look-alike killer on the loose.

David Forsyth recounts the life of Eben Smith, an integral but little-known figure in Colorado mining history. From Smith’s early years and his labor in the mines, to his rise to prominence as an investor and developer, Forsyth shows how Smith used the mining and milling knowledge he acquired in California to become a leader in technological innovation in Colorado’s mining industry.

The daughter of a fallen woman, Mattie Armstrong’s life should have ended in poverty and failure. But at 14, Mattie escaped her gossiping neighbors and her loneliness, and went to work for Dr. Dinsmore. There, she began to nurture a dream that would take her to the Nebraska prairies as the state’s first woman doctor. This novel breathes life into the Old West, leaving the listener feeling as if Mattie is close by sharing her insights into life in the prairie towns.

Bert Trautmann is famed as the goalkeeper who broke his neck in an FA Cup final and played on. But his early life is no less extraordinary: he grew up in Nazi Germany and fought for the Germans in World War Two. In 1945 he was captured and sent to a British POW camp where, for the first time, he saw a better way of life. He embraced England as his new home and before long became an England football hero. This is his extraordinary story.

Amity Whitford dared to stake her own claim on the endless plains of Western Kansas. She built her homestead, Dove's Nest, with her bare hands. But the ravages of the sun and drying winds took their toll.

من أهل حماة (بسورية) ولد ونشأ ومات فيها، زار القاهرة والتقى بعلمائها واتصل بملوكها، وكان طويل النفس في النظم والنثر، حسن الأخلاق والمروءة، فيه شي من الزهو والإعجاب.

Mark Scarbrough has been searching for something his entire life. Whether it’s his birth mother, true love, his purpose, or his sexual identity, Mark has been on a constant quest to find out who he really is, with the great Western texts as his steadfast companions. As a boy with his head constantly in a book, desperate to discover new worlds, he can hardly distinguish between their plots and his own reality.

From the heart of Africa, a spellbinding true story of entrepreneurship, media, culture, and tradition all tastefully rolled into one! Absolute Radio is an authentic story of girls and boys who became women and men—and heroes—on the wings of a radio station. Running the course of 25 years, the story comes from the culturally stylish twin city of Sekondi-Takoradi in Ghana with global footprints. It is the most tantalizing and groundbreaking body of work about Ghana’s private broadcasting industry.

Don't form a personal opinion and don't get involved. The editors recommended a 'just the facts' focus for this cub reporter...For his first few years on the job, journalist Tom Rivers did his best to heed that advice. But living and working in a small town, it's hard to stay out of the story. So when the editors offered him a bi-weekly column 10 years ago, Rivers jumped at the chance to share some his own ideas, adventures, and the occasional off-beat story that just didn't fit the news-article form.

What do a bunch of well-seasoned river gals do on river trips without their men? Everything you might imagine, and more. These stories invite you to relive experiences of women who have been running rivers for decades and find themselves back out on whitewater year after year. You'll find tales of difficult rescues and the kind of unexpected adventures western river runners love to share. Through a variety of stories, haikus, poems, and essays, this anthology goes deeper.

For listeners looking for inspiration in times of uncertainty, Journey to the West provides a blueprint for sticking to a seemingly impossible ambition and getting past the winning post. With a focus on ‘lessons learnt’, Wang draws conclusions from the formative events in his life, which gradually emerge as a useful guide to avoiding life’s pitfalls and maximising the chances of success. His story demonstrates how, with a strong sense of direction and friends by your side, barriers to success can be overcome.