Download or read book The Town That Died written by Michael J. Bird and published by Souvenir Press. This book was released on 2012-04-01 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On Thursday, December 6th 1917, a French freighter loaded with over 2,500 tons of high explosives collided with another vessel in the harbour of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and caught fire. At exactly 9.06am she blew up. The explosions, which was seen and heard fifty-two miles away, unleashed a man-made destructive force unequalled in power until the first atomic bomb. It levelled the Halifax waterfront, wiped out a square mile of the city from the face of the earth and sent an enormous wave crashing over the piers to tear ocean-going ships from their moorings. The Town That Died tells in full the whole story of this appalling disaster, which led to thousands of deaths and injuries while the homeless numbered in tens of thousands. Set against the background of the lives of many of the people involved, it tells exactly what happened on that morning, of the cruel twist of fate that meant it was impossible to rescue many of the people trapped in their burning homes and the bitter legal battle that was fought to establish who was to blame for the catastrophe. Michael Bird spent over a year researching this book, travelling over 7,000 miles to piece together the incredible story by interviewing survivors, discovering contemporary letters, diaries and newspapers and official documents and reports that had not been previously available. There is much that will shock in this study of human behaviour at a time when men and women were tested to breaking point. Predominantly, this is the story of the great courage, endurance and self-sacrifice shown by thousands of ordinary people when they found themselves caught up in the horror of The Town That Died.
Download or read book The Town That Died written by Michael J. Bird and published by Nimbus Publishing (CN). This book was released on 2011-04 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Town That Died is a moving and detailed account of the greatest human-made explosion before Hiroshima known as the Halifax Explosion. It is told from the personal experiences of survivors, to accurately chronicle the tragic events that led to the ill-fated collision in the harbour narrows and the dreadful consequences.
Download or read book The Town That Died Laughing The Story Of Austin Nevada Rambunctious Early Day Mining Camp And Of Its Renowned Newspaper The Reese River Reveille written by Oscar Lewis and published by Legare Street Press. This book was released on 2023-07-18 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explore the fascinating history of Austin, Nevada, a mining camp that sprang up in the late 1800s and quickly became known for its irreverent attitude and lively community. This book tells the story of the town and its inhabitants, with a focus on the colorful cast of characters who worked on the Reese River Reveille. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Download or read book The City of Good Death written by Priyanka Champaneri and published by Restless Books. This book was released on 2021-02-23 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing, Priyanka Champaneri’s transcendent debut novel brings us inside India’s holy city of Banaras, where the manager of a death hostel shepherds the dying who seek the release of a good death, while his own past refuses to let him go. Banaras, Varanasi, Kashi: India’s holy city on the banks of the Ganges has many names but holds one ultimate promise for Hindus. It is the place where pilgrims come for a good death, to be released from the cycle of reincarnation by purifying fire. As the dutiful manager of a death hostel in Kashi, Pramesh welcomes the dying and assists families bound for the funeral pyres that burn constantly on the ghats. The soul is gone, the body is burnt, the time is past, he tells them. Detach. After ten years in the timeless city, Pramesh can nearly persuade himself that here, there is no past or future. He lives contentedly at the death hostel with his wife, Shobha, their young daughter, Rani, the hostel priests, his hapless but winning assistant, and the constant flow of families with their dying. But one day the past arrives in the lifeless form of a man pulled from the river—a man with an uncanny resemblance to Pramesh. Called “twins” in their childhood village, he and his cousin Sagar are inseparable until Pramesh leaves to see the outside world and Sagar stays to tend the land. After Pramesh marries Shobha, defying his family’s wishes, a rift opens up between the cousins that he has long since tried to forget. Do not look back. Detach. But for Shobha, Sagar’s reemergence casts a shadow over the life she’s built for her family. Soon, an unwelcome guest takes up residence in the death hostel, the dying mysteriously continue to live, and Pramesh is forced to confront his own ideas about death, rebirth, and redemption. Told in lush, vivid detail and with an unforgettable cast of characters, The City of Good Death is a remarkable debut novel of family and love, memory and ritual, and the ways in which we honor the living and the dead. PRAISE FOR THE CITY OF GOOD DEATH “In Champaneri’s ambitious, vivid debut, the dying come to the holy city of Kashi to die a good death that frees them from the burden of reincarnation…. In sharp prose, Champaneri explores the power of stories—those the characters tell themselves, those told about them, and those they believe. . . . This epic, magical story of death teems with life.” —Publishers Weekly “Brimming with characters whose lives overlap and whose stories interweave, Champaneri’s exquisite debut delves into the consequences of the past, and how stories that are told can become reality even when they contain barely a shred of truth. As Pramesh discovers, the bitterness of past wounds can bring hope for redemption and life.” —Bridget Thoreson, Booklist “Lush prose evokes the thick, close atmosphere of Kashi and the intricate religious practices upon which life and death depend. Rumor and superstition hold sway over even the most level-headed people, twisting what’s explainable into something extraordinary—with tragic consequences. . . . The City of Good Death is a breathtaking, unforgettable novel about how remembering the past is just as important as moving on.” —Eileen Gonzalez, Foreword Reviews, Starred Review "Champaneri’s Kashi is teeming and vivid . . . the book frequently charms, and it's as full of humor, warmth, and mystery as Kashi’s own marketplace." —Kirkus Reviews “The City of Good Death is the debut novel of Priyanka Champaneri but it has the confidence of a master storyteller. Drawing on the rich literary traditions of Salman Rushdie and Arundhati Roy, Champaneri’s epic saga will satisfy armchair travelers thirsty for adventure, and sick of looking out their windows.” —Chicago Review of Books "In intricate detail and with remarkable skill, Champaneri writes a powerful tale about the pull of the past and our aching need to understand the mysteries and misunderstandings that thwart our relationships. An atmospheric and immersive debut with a rich cast of characters you won’t soon forget." —Marjan Kamali, author of The Stationery Shop
Download or read book Wisconsin Death Trip written by Michael Lesy and published by UNM Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Consists chiefly of excerpts from the Badger State banner, Black River Falls, Wis., for the years 1885-1900 and of photos. taken by Charles Van Schaick from 1890 to 1910.
Download or read book John Dies at the End written by Jason Pargin and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2009-09-29 with total page 479 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: John Dies at the End is a genre-bending, humorous account of two college drop-outs inadvertently charged with saving their small town--and the world--from a host of supernatural and paranormal invasions. Now a Major Motion Picture. "[Pargin] is like a mash-up of Douglas Adams and Stephen King... 'page-turner' is an understatement." —Don Coscarelli, director, Phantasm I-V, Bubba Ho-tep STOP. You should not have touched this flyer with your bare hands. NO, don't put it down. It's too late. They're watching you. My name is David. My best friend is John. Those names are fake. You might want to change yours. You may not want to know about the things you'll read on these pages, about the sauce, about Korrok, about the invasion, and the future. But it's too late. You touched the book. You're in the game. You're under the eye. The only defense is knowledge. You need to read this book, to the end. Even the part with the bratwurst. Why? You just have to trust me. The important thing is this: The sauce is a drug, and it gives users a window into another dimension. John and I never had the chance to say no. You still do. I'm sorry to have involved you in this, I really am. But as you read about these terrible events and the very dark epoch the world is about to enter as a result, it is crucial you keep one thing in mind: None of this was my fault.
Download or read book This Republic of Suffering written by Drew Gilpin Faust and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2009-01-06 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • An "extraordinary ... profoundly moving" history (The New York Times Book Review) of the American Civil War that reveals the ways that death on such a scale changed not only individual lives but the life of the nation. An estiated 750,000 soldiers lost their lives in the American Civil War. An equivalent proportion of today's population would be seven and a half million. In This Republic of Suffering, Drew Gilpin Faust describes how the survivors managed on a practical level and how a deeply religious culture struggled to reconcile the unprecedented carnage with its belief in a benevolent God. Throughout, the voices of soldiers and their families, of statesmen, generals, preachers, poets, surgeons, nurses, northerners and southerners come together to give us a vivid understanding of the Civil War's most fundamental and widely shared reality. With a new introduction by the author, and a new foreword by Mike Mullen, 17th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Download or read book Chronicle of a Death Foretold written by Gabriel García Márquez and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2014-10-15 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NOBEL PRIZE WINNER • From the author of One Hundred Years of Solitude comes the gripping story of the murder of a young aristocrat that puts an entire society—not just a pair of murderers—on trial. A man returns to the town where a baffling murder took place 27 years earlier, determined to get to the bottom of the story. Just hours after marrying the beautiful Angela Vicario, everyone agrees, Bayardo San Roman returned his bride in disgrace to her parents. Her distraught family forced her to name her first lover; and her twin brothers announced their intention to murder Santiago Nasar for dishonoring their sister. Yet if everyone knew the murder was going to happen, why did no one intervene to stop it? The more that is learned, the less is understood, as the story races to its inexplicable conclusion.
Download or read book After Everyone Died written by Sean Little and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2018-01-17 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Flu -- that's what everyone called it -- culled the primate population of the planet. It struck hard and fast, wiping out the whole of the population. For reasons he can't understand, Twist is left alive to face the apocalypse alone. Well, not entirely alone -- his neighbor's gassy Labrador, Rowdy, tags along for the ride. Twist and Rowdy are forced to face the new post-apocalypse world together, holing up in the local library and scavenging supplies to outlast a long, cold Wisconsin winter. Twist has to adapt to the emptiness and isolation of an empty world and come to terms with the fact that he might be the only person left alive in the entire world. In a world where boredom and loneliness are the greatest threat, Twist must survive, keeping the hope that others might be alive, as well"--Page 4 of cover.
Download or read book Entering Sappho written by Sarah Dowling and published by Coach House Books. This book was released on 2020-10-06 with total page 84 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An abandoned town named for the classical lesbian leads to questions about history and settlement. Driving along the Pacific Coast Highway, you come to a road sign: Entering Sappho. Nothing remains of the town, just trash at the side of the highway and thick, wet bush. Can Sappho’s breathless eroticism tell us anything about settlement—about why we’re here in front of this sign? Mixing historical documents, oral histories, and experimental translations of the original lesbian poet’s works, this book combines documentary and speculation, surveying a century in reverse. This town is one of many with a classical name. Take it as a symbol: perhaps in a place that no longer exists, another kind of future might be possible.
Download or read book The Girl Who Died written by Ragnar Jónasson and published by Minotaur Books. This book was released on 2021-05-04 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE NAIL-BITING NEW STORY FROM THE MILLION COPY BESTSELLING AUTHOR "Is this the best crime writer in the world today? If you're looking for a mystery to get lost in during lockdown..." —The Times, UK "A world-class crime writer...One of the most astonishing plots of modern crime fiction" —Sunday Times, UK "It is nothing less than a landmark in modern crime fiction." —The Times, UK From Ragnar Jónasson, the award-winning author of the international bestselling Ari Thór series, The Girl Who Died is a standalone thriller about a young woman seeking a new start in a secluded village where a small community is desperate to protect its secrets. Teacher Wanted At the Edge of the World Una wants nothing more than to teach, but she has been unable to secure steady employment in Reykjavík. Her savings are depleted, her love life is nonexistent, and she cannot face another winter staring at the four walls of her shabby apartment. Celebrating Christmas and ringing in 1986 in the remote fishing hamlet of Skálar seems like a small price to pay for a chance to earn some teaching credentials and get her life back on track. But Skálar isn’t just one of Iceland’s most isolated villages, it is home to just ten people. Una’s only students are two girls aged seven and nine. Teaching them only occupies so many hours in a day and the few adults she interacts with are civil but distant. She only seems to connect with Thór, a man she shares an attraction with but who is determined to keep her at arm’s length. As darkness descends throughout the bleak winter, Una finds herself more often than not in her rented attic space—the site of a local legendary haunting—drinking her loneliness away. She is plagued by nightmares of a little girl in a white dress singing a lullaby. And when a sudden tragedy echoes an event long buried in Skálar’s past, the villagers become even more guarded, leaving a suspicious Una seeking to uncover a shocking truth that’s been kept secret for generations.
Download or read book The Village that Died for England written by Patrick Wright and published by Gardners Books. This book was released on 2002 with total page 487 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tyneham is the archetypal 'lost village': a Dorset hamlet in a beautiful valley evacuated to make a training area for allied tanks during World War Two, and never returned to its inhabitants despite Churchill's pledge of restitution. It has lurked in the national imagination ever since: the symbol of a vanished England. A history of the military occupation of a Dorset village, The Village that Died for England is also a subtle parable about the politics of landscape and a masterpiece of English irony. First published in 1995 to considerable acclaim and controversy, this Faber edition has been revised to take into account material that has since come to light, and includes many additional illustrations.
Download or read book The Other Side of the River written by Alex Kotlowitz and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2012-01-04 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bestselling author Alex Kotlowitz is one of this country's foremost writers on the ever explosive issue of race. In this gripping and ultimately profound book, Kotlowitz takes us to two towns in southern Michigan, St. Joseph and Benton Harbor, separated by the St. Joseph River. Geographically close, but worlds apart, they are a living metaphor for America's racial divisions: St. Joseph is a prosperous lakeshore community and ninety-five percent white, while Benton Harbor is impoverished and ninety-two percent black. When the body of a black teenaged boy from Benton Harbor is found in the river, unhealed wounds and suspicions between the two towns' populations surface as well. The investigation into the young man's death becomes, inevitably, a screen on which each town projects their resentments and fears. The Other Side of the River sensitively portrays the lives and hopes of the towns' citizens as they wrestle with this mystery--and reveals the attitudes and misperceptions that undermine race relations throughout America.
Download or read book The Day the Music Died written by Ed Gorman and published by Overamstel Uitgevers. This book was released on 2013-12-31 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1950s Iowa, a murder-suicide forces a lawyer to put aside his rock-and-roll grief Sam McCain loves Buddy Holly because he’s the only rock-and-roll star who still seems like a dweeb, and Sam knows how that feels. With the unrequited love of his life at his side, Sam drives more than three hours through the snow to watch his idol play the Surf Ballroom. That night, Buddy Holly dies in the most famous plane crash in music history, but Sam has no time to grieve. Because there are too many lawyers in this small town, Sam makes a living as a PI, doing odd jobs for an eccentric judge—whose nephew, it seems, has a problem only a detective could solve. His trophy wife has been murdered, and as soon as Sam arrives, the nephew kills himself, too. The police see this as a clear-cut murder-suicide, but Sam wants to know more, diving into a mystery that will get dangerous faster than you can say “bye-bye, Miss American Pie.”
Download or read book The Man Who Died written by Antti Tuomainen and published by Orenda Books. This book was released on 2017-10-10 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: DIVWhen Finnish mushroom entrepreneur Jaakko discovers that he has been slowly poisoned, he sets out to find his would-be murderer ... with dark and hilarious results. The critically acclaimed standalone thriller from the King of Helsinki Noir... ***Shortlisted for the Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year*** ***Shortlisted for the CrimeFest Last Laugh Award*** 'Right up there with the best' Times Literary Supplement 'Deftly plotted, poignant and perceptive in its wry reflections on mortality and very funny' Irish Times 'Told in a darkly funny, deadpan style ... The result is a rollercoaster read in which the farce has some serious and surprisingly philosophical underpinnings' Guardian ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– A successful entrepreneur in the mushroom industry, Jaakko Kaunismaa is a man in his prime. At just thirty-seven years of age, he is shocked when his doctor tells him that he's dying. What's more, the cause is discovered to be prolonged exposure to toxins; in other words, someone has slowly but surely been poisoning him. Determined to find out who wants him dead, Jaakko embarks on a suspenseful rollercoaster journey full of unusual characters, bizarre situations and unexpected twists. With a nod to Fargo and the best elements of the Scandinavian noir tradition, The Man Who Died is a page-turning thriller brimming with the blackest comedy surrounding life and death, and love and betrayal, marking a stunning new departure for the King of Helsinki Noir. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 'The deadpan icy sensibility of Nordic noir is combined here with warm-blooded, often surreal, humour. Like the death cap mushroom, Tuomainen's dark story manages to be as delicious as it is toxic' Sunday Express 'An offbeat jewel ... relentlessly funny' Don Crinklaw, Publishers Weekly 'A bizarre, twisty, darkly comic novel about a man investigating his own murder ... a tightly paced Scandinavian thriller with a wicked sense of humour' Foreword Reviews 'Smart, sensitive, and engaging, and guaranteed to be unlike anything else in your crime fiction library ... the perfect blend of thrills, investigation, character development, and comedy' Crime by the Book 'Hugely entertaining and satisfying ... like Carl Hiassen transported to Finland. It's full of black comedy and has an unlikely hero in Jaakko, who you'll root for to the very end' Kevin Wignall, author of A Death in Sweden 'A delightful mad caper of a story, which will make readers snort out loud with laughter and would have made an excellent 1930s screwball comedy directed by Frank Capra' Crime Fiction Lover 'Combines a startlingly clever opening, a neat line in dark humour and a unique Scandinavian sensibility. A fresh and witty read' Chris Ewan, author of Safe House 'Dark and thrilling, funny and intelligent, this Fargo-like novel contains lethal doses of humour ... and mushrooms' Sofi Oksanen, author of Purge ‘A book I will never forget’ Matt Wesolowski ‘This one is a winner right from the first sentence’ Booklist ‘Antti Tuomainen is a wonderful writer, whose characters, plots and atmosphere are masterfully drawn’ Yrsa Sigurðardóttir ‘An original and darkly funny thriller with a Coen Brothers-esque feel & tremendous style’ Eva Dolan/div
Download or read book The Town that Died written by Reginald Lewis and published by . This book was released on 1975 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Book of the Dead written by Muriel Rukeyser and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written in response to the Hawk's Nest Tunnel disaster of 1931 in Gauley Bridge, West Virginia, The Book of the Dead is an important part of West Virginia's cultural heritage and a powerful account of one of the worst industrial catastrophes in American history. The poems collected here investigate the roots of a tragedy that killed hundreds of workers, most of them African American. They are a rare engagement with the overlap between race and environment in Appalachia. Published for the first time alongside photographs by Nancy Naumburg, who accompanied Rukeyser to Gauley Bridge in 1936, this edition of The Book of the Dead includes an introduction by Catherine Venable Moore, whose writing on the topic has been anthologized in Best American Essays.
