Books with author Barron John

Previous studies of the Royalist high command have concentrated largely upon a handful of notable individuals such as King Charles himself and Prince Rupert. In this ground-breaking study, John Barratt re-examines these key figures, but he also explores the careers and characters of some of the lesser-known, but equally able Royalist officers. These men played decisive roles in the war, but hitherto they have received little attention.

In the winter of 1918, at the height of WWI, history’s most lethal influenza virus erupted in an army camp in Kansas, moved east with American troops, then exploded, killing as many as 100 million people worldwide. It killed more people in twenty-four weeks than AIDS has killed in twenty-four years, more in a year than the Black Death killed in a century. But this was not the Middle Ages, and 1918 marked the first collision of science and epidemic disease. Magisterial in its breadth of perspective and depth of research, John M. Barry weaves together multiple narratives, with characters ranging from William Welch (founder of Johns Hopkins Medical School) to John D. Rockefeller and Woodrow Wilson. Ultimately a tale of triumph amid tragedy, this crisis provides a precise and sobering model for our world as we confront AIDS, bioterrorism, and other, as yet unknown, diseases.

An American epic of science, politics, race, honor, high society, and the Mississippi River, Rising Tide tells the riveting and nearly forgotten story of the greatest natural disaster this country has ever known -- the Mississippi flood of 1927. The river inundated the homes of nearly one million people, helped elect Huey Long governor and made Herbert Hoover president, drove hundreds of thousands of blacks north, and transformed American society and politics forever. A New York Times Notable Book of the Year, winner of the Southern Book Critics Circle Award and the Lillian Smith Award.

In December 1787, the Bounty sailed from Spithead for the South Seas. In April 1789, her crew mutinied near the Friendly Islands and set the commander, William Bligh, and several companions adrift on the ocean in an open boat. The mutineers took Tahitian wives and settled on an uninhabited and virtually unknown island where twenty years later one survivor and many of their descendents were discovered. Bligh, himself, safely navigated his boat-load of starving shipmates thousands of miles across the ocean to Timor. Published to coincide with the bicentenary of the mutiny of the Bounty, this classic of maritime history, which first appeared in 1831, records the intriguing story of adventure and discovery, in full. Based on his research of unpublished documents and the papers of Captain Peter Heywood--a midshipman on the Bounty--Sir John Barrow answers the two crucial questions raised by the incident: why the crew of the Bounty mutinied in the first place, and why an officer prompted and led the mutiny.

Cherished as one of the most thrilling sea adventures ever recorded, stories of the mutiny on the H.M.S. Bounty have sold millions of copies and enthralled generations of readers around the world in the seven decades since its initial publication. Far more than a sea or adventure story, it is a splendid examination of the abuse of power and the necessity for society to maintain support for authority, no matter how greatly that authority may at times by misused. Some see Capt. Bligh as a gross tyrant who got exactly what he deserved. But at no time does the narrator of the story attempt to justify the mutiny. Others see Fletcher Christian as a romantic hero, but the narrator makes it abundantly clear that his actions in seizing the ship and endangering the entire crew were misguided, to say the least. Always there is a sound balance and a mature evaluation of the actions of all characters, including the officers of the naval court who try those accused of the mutiny. The book also presents a beautiful balance of scenes, from the harsh punishments on board the Bounty to the idyllic interlude of life in Tahiti to the appalling existence of prisoners chained hand and foot for months at a time, and from the depths of despair at a sentence of death by hanging to the dazzling strangeness of sudden freedom. Whether it is description of scene or action or feeling, the authors capture the essence of every element of the story with perfect clarity and depth. In short, this is an exceedingly well plotted and well written work of literature, which can be enjoyed by a wide range of readers, not just those who love adventure yarns.

The Whitestone wraps herself in silence.She watches while the slow centuries slide by.The Whitestone remembers all the peoples of the long long long-ago times.She remembers the gentle hunters of the wildwoodduring Nature's golden age.She remembers how the first farmers came to fell the forestsand sow their fields with golden cornShe remembers the neglected gods and nameless kingsof the age of gold.In seven magical stories that bring the distant past to life,The Whitestone remembers.