There were no bats or balls on the campus of Wichita State University in the spring of 1977. Five years later, the resurrected varsity baseball program was in the final game of the College World Series, fulfilling the seemingly impossible promise made by Gene Stephenson when he began recruiting players to a place that didn't even have a practice field. Stephenson would lead the Shockers for over three decades, but those first five years with the team set him on the course that put him amon...

The Flint Hills stretch across eighty-two thousand square miles of American history in a long, rocked-up, grassed-up finger pointing from the Oklahoma border all the way to Nebraska. This history winds though the mythos of the cowboy, climbing among families built on fierce independence, respect for the land and the water, and stubborn refusal to sacrifice a way of life to enforced economic change. These stories tell the hard truths of hard people whose traditional values have carried them...

John E. Brown (April 2, 1879 February 12, 1957) was a prominent Methodist evangelist, publisher, radio pioneer, and educator in the first half of the twentieth century. In 1919, he established John Brown University, one of Arkansas’ leading private universities to provide an interdenominational, Christian education for needy students. He was also the leading figure in securing passage of a law prohibiting the sale of alcohol in Benton County, a ban that continued into the twenty-first cent...

A moving cultural biography of abolitionist martyr John Brown, by one of the most important African-American intellectuals of the twentieth century.In the history of slavery and its legacy, John Brown looms large as a hero whose deeds partly precipitated the Civil War. As Frederick Douglass wrote: "When John Brown stretched forth his arm ... the clash of arms was at hand." DuBois's biography brings Brown stirringly to life and is a neglected classic.

Du Bois portrays John Brown as a deeply religious and moral man, driven by a fierce commitment to ending the institution of slavery. Brown’s dedication to the cause of abolition is highlighted, particularly his willingness to use violence in the fight for freedom—a stance that made him both a controversial and heroic figure. Du Bois carefully examines Brown’s early life, his involvement in the fight against slavery in Kansas, and the events leading up to the Harpers Ferry raid, which ultim...

Few figures are more seminal in the abolitionist movement in America than John Brown. His firebrand approach to the movement arose out of his religiously inspired and deep-seated belief that slavery was not only morally unjust but that its removal from American society could only be achieved through armed insurrection. Following his capture in 1859 during an unsuccessful raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry and his subsequent hanging he became an electrifying and symbolical figure f...

"John Brown" by W. E. B. Du Bois is a compelling biography of the iconic abolitionist John Brown, whose fervent dedication to the cause of emancipation left an indelible mark on American history. Through meticulous research and vivid prose, Du Bois presents a nuanced portrait of Brown, exploring his motivations, ideals, and enduring legacy.From his early years as a fervent opponent of slavery to his pivotal role in the armed struggle against it, Brown emerges as a complex and contr...

More Alternative Truths is an exploration of the potential consequences of today’s politics in our daily lives. More than our individual lives, but our American identity.This exploration defines this anthology. So many of the stories ask what has America become? What will it be in the future? Will it devolve into a Russian style oligarchy, or will we rise to the challenge and use our hearts, our minds and our votes to return to a rational democracy, of, by, and for the people. No o...

A "compulsively readable" account of the fugitive who betrayed John Brown after the bloody abolitionist raid on Harper's Ferry ( Booklist, starred review).John Brown's Spy tells the nearly unknown story of John E. Cook, the person John Brown trusted most with the details of his plans to capture the Harper's Ferry armory in 1859. Cook was a poet, a marksman, a boaster, a dandy, a fighter, and a womanizer—as well as a spy. In a life of only thirty y...

W. E. B. Du Bois was a public intellectual, sociologist, and activist on behalf of the African American community. He profoundly shaped black political culture in the United States through his founding role in the NAACP, as well as internationally through the Pan-African movement. Du Bois's sociological and historical research on African-American communities and culture broke ground in many areas, including the history of the post-Civil War Reconstruction period. Du Bois was also a prolifi...

In 1968, the world experienced a brand-new kind of terror with the debut of George A. Romero’s landmark movie Night of the Living Dead. The newly dead rose to attack the living. Not as vampires or werewolves. This was something new . . . and terrifying. Since then, zombies have invaded every aspect of popular culture.But it all started on that dreadful night in a remote farmhouse. . . .Nights of the Living Dead returns to that night, to the outbreak, to wh...

A compelling biography of one of the most controversial and significant figures in American history. John Brown was a white abolitionist who led a raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry in 1859, in an attempt to incite a slave rebellion and overthrow the institution of slavery in the United States. In addition to his analysis of Brown's life and legacy, Du Bois also provides a broader historical context for understanding the abolitionist movement and the struggle for racial justice in...