Jacob Jankowski reflects back on his wild and wondrous days with a circus. In the Depression Era, Jacob, finding himself parentless and penniless, joins the Benzini Brothers ‘Most Spectacular Show on Earth’. There he meets the freaks, grifters, and misfits that populate this world: Marlena, beautiful star of the equestrian act; August, her charismatic but twisted husband (and the circus's animal trainer); and Rosie, the seemingly untrainable elephant Jacob cares for.

Jacob Janowski's luck had run out—orphaned and penniless, he had no direction until he landed on a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. A veterinary student just shy of a degree, he was put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. It was the Great Depression and for Jacob the circus was both his salvation and a living hell. There he met Marlena, the beautiful equestrian star married to August, the charismatic but brutal animal trainer. An...

Hey Nostradamus wrestles with religion and nihilism, sorrow and acceptance. It will take you to a place you didn't know existed.

Fourteen-year-old Francis Tucket is heading west on the Oregon Trail with his family by wagon train. When he receives a rifle for his birthday, he is thrilled that he is being treated like an adult. But Francis lags behind to practice shooting and is captured by Pawnees. It will take wild horses, hostile tribes, and a mysterious one-armed mountain man named Mr. Grimes to help Francis become the man who will be called Mr. Tucket."A real knock 'em, sock 'em ripsnorter … Superb charac...

When the Spanish government declared war against the United States in 1898, Theodore Roosevelt resigned his post as Assistant Secretary of the Navy to take his place as lieutenant colonel of the First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry. His involvement with this unit, nicknamed The Rough Riders, established "Teddy" as a household name. The Rough Riders is the future president's account of his experiences and of the Spanish-American War.

Has the United States ever invaded Great Britain?In 1899, naval historian John Randolph Spears (1850–1936) published the 2-volume book "The history of our navy." Included in Volume 1 was a an intriguing chapter entitled "John Paul Jones and the Ranger," which tells the little-known story of America's invasion of Great Britain during the Revolutionary War. It is this 15-page chapter that has been included here for the convenience of the interested reader.

Join Francis Tucket’s final adventure and homecoming in this rip-roaring series set in the great American West.Francis Tucket, Lottie, and Billy have survived extraordinary, hair-raising adventures in their quest to find Francis's family, lost when he was kidnapped from a wagon train on the Oregon Trail. Now they meet up with a British explorer, bloodthirsty soldiers, and in a tragic, heroic encounter, with Jason Grimes, the mountain man. Their way is made...

Here are four unforgettable stories by the author of Life of Pi. In the exquisite title novella, a very young man dying of AIDS joins his friend in fashioning a story of the Roccamatio family of Helsinki, set against the yearly march of the twentieth century whose horrors and miracles their story echoes. In "The Time I Heard the Private Donald J. Rankin String Concerto with One Discordant Violin, by the American composer John Morton," a Canadian university student visits Washingto...

Kirby Fisher survived an Apache attack to become the most respected and feared man in the territory. Beating all the odds, there was no one left to oppose him. Then a man named Carson is dropped-more dead than alive-into King's life. Tough and intelligent, Carson is the first man King has come across in years who can offer him any kind of a fight. But Carson isn't ready, not yet. King will nurse him along until the greenhorn is ripe to turn his wits and his gun against the very man who cre...

Home of the first settlement in the United States and known as Old Dominion and The Mother of Presidents, the state of Virginia’s artistic output proves among the most fecund in the nation, evidenced in this ninth volume of The Southern Poetry Anthology. This collection includes well-known, established, and celebrated poets such as Charles Wright, Claudia Emerson, Gregory Orr, Ellen Bryant Voigt, R. T. Smith, Forrest Gander, and Rita Dove, and the editors have dedicated equal focu...

Gary Paulsen's popular Western saga continues in the fourth novel about Francis Tucket.Things look grim for Francis and his adopted family, Lottie and Billy. Without horses, water, or food, they're alone in a prairie wasteland, with the dreaded Comanchero outlaws in pursuit. Death can strike at any moment—but so can good fortune. When they stumble upon an ancient treasure, it takes teamwork, courage, and wit to hold on to it. By sticking together, Francis and his family wi...

In The Preservationist, Dave Maine tells the story of Noe who has been called by God to build a boat and collect two of every animal on earth to be saved from a coming deluge.