Books with author Charles G. Norris

This lucid introduction to the historical tales of the ancient Greek civilization is a powerful statement of the captivating majesty and primacy of Greece in history. These are the stories that beget all other stories in the western canon, and to truly lay claim to an education, one must devour the stories in their archetypal primal form: the Greek form.

Providing coverage of traditional topics, and giving students a grasp of the scope, vocabulary and concepts of psychology, this work combines a concern for research, theory, gender and cross-cultural issues with familiar examples. The author draws students into each chapter through "Online" boxes, linking students to the world of psychology via America OnLine and the World Wide Web/Internet.

Originally published in 1903 as portions of the author’s larger “The Lives of the Presidents and How They Reached the White House,” this Kindle edition, equivalent in length to a physical book of approximately 50 pages, describes, in language suitable for children, the lives of the four Presidents of Mount Rushmore: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt.Sample passages:(Washington) When the time came to elect the first President, there was one man in the United States that everybody wanted. This man was George Washington, to whom the people felt that they owed their liberty. It was a great day for the new nation when he was declared President. All along the way, as he rode from Mount Vernon to New York, people came out to welcome him. They fired cannon and rang bells, and made bonfires and put up arches and decorations; little girls scattered flowers in his path and sang songs of greeting, and whenever he came to a town or city every, one marched in procession, escorting Washington through their town.(Jefferson) Congress, you may be sure, had plenty to do in those days, and Jefferson was kept busy enough. His great work was the “Declaration of Independence.” No doubt all of you have read this famous document, which told England and the world that America was determined to be free. When the time came for writing this great paper, five men, three of whom were Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, were chosen to do it. But it was Jefferson that wrote it, and it was John Adams that presented it to Congress in a splendid speech. Ever since that day Jefferson has been of worldwide fame as the author of the “Declaration.”(Lincoln) During all those four years of war Abraham Lincoln lived in the President’s house at Washington--the White House, as it is called. He had but one wish--to save the Union. He did not mean to let war, nor trouble, nor wicked men destroy the nation that Washington had founded, if he could help it. He was always ready to say, “We forgive you,” if the men of the South would only stop fighting and say, “We are sorry.” But they would not do this, much as the great, kind, patient, loving President wished them to do it.(Roosevelt) When he got older he did not let anybody impose on him. One day, when he was only a little fellow and went to a private school, he set out with his churn in a fine new sailor suit. Some of the public-school boys got in his way and called him a “dude.” But they did not stay long, for Teddy and his chum went at them with their fists and fought their way through. Every day for a week it was the same thing. One day, after a hard battle, Teddy said to his chum: “Let’s go ’round the block and come back and fight them again.” He seemed to like fighting as much as he did later on.About the author:Charles Morris (1833-1922) was the author of numerous books for young and old, including “Young People’s History of the World for One Hundred Years,” “Tales from the Dramatists,” and “Primary History of the United States.”

Originally published in 1904 as a portion of the author’s larger “History of the World,” this Kindle edition, equivalent in length to a physical book of approximately 120 pages, recounts, in simple language for young readers, the history of the Middle Ages (including the Dark Ages)—approximately from the fall of the Roman Empire (fifth century) to the fall of Constantinople (1453).CONTENTSPart I: The Dark AgesIntroductionI: The Invasions of the TeutonsII The Persian and Eastern EmpiresIII: The Empire of the SaracensIV: The Empire of CharlemagneV: The Popes and Their InfluenceVI: Feudalism and ChivalryVII: The Era of the CrusadesPart II: The Revival of CivilizationVIII: Medieval ProgressIX: England in Medieval TimesX: France and SpainXI: Germany and ItalyXII: The Elements of Medieval ProgressPart III: Timeline of Medieval HistorySample passage:When the eighth century neared its end, the continent of Europe was not at all like what we find it today. In place of the present kingdoms and empires, there was nothing fixed and stable. In the east was the little that was left of the old Roman Empire, a weak and sickly sort of government. Italy was held by the Lombards in the north, while the emperors at Constantinople still ruled over the south. Spain had been conquered from the Goths and was part of the empire of the Saracens. As for France, it had not yet become a distinct kingdom, for its rulers were Germans, and there was little separation between France and Germany. But near the middle of the century there was born a man who was to make a remarkable change in European affairs.Three great men came in succession, Charles Martel, the Mayor of the Palace, who won the great victory at Tours; his son, Pepin the Short, who took the crown from the feeble King of the Franks, and his grandson Charles, who has since been known as Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, and who was one of the most famous monarchs of history.Charles was born in 742, and became king when his father died in 768. His brother Carloman ruled with him for a time, but he soon died and left Charles as sole king. This great monarch reigned for nearly half a century, and his reign was so full of wars and conquests that at his death he ruled over a great part of western Europe. He made no less than fifty-two military campaigns, nearly all of them successful, and he proved himself as great a statesman as he was a soldier.About the author:Charles Morris (1833-1922) was the author of numerous books for young and old, including “The Lives of the Presidents and How They Reached the White House,” “Tales from the Dramatists,” and “Primary History of the United States.”

Runner-up for the 2009 Chocolate Lily Book Award and commended for the 2009 Best Books for Kids & Teens In 1909, 13-year-old Luc Godin arrive in British Columbia from Quebec only to discover that the house they thought they’d move into hasn’t been built. So the Godins have to make due with living in a railway boxcar with three other families. Luc’s father and the many other newcomers to the Fraser Valley have come to work in the lumber industry. Their new home still has vestiges of the wilderness, and Luc and his family find find pioneering life difficult, especially as French speakers in a world of English. Luc’s father, who becomes a teamster in one of the many lumber mills, is old-fashioned. Horses are what he knows, while Luc has an eye for the modern, particularly the new-fangled bicycles and occasional automobiles. However an accident with a bicycle has profound consequences for Luc and highlights the clash between the old and the new, the settled East and the brash frontier.

It has become a commonplace remark that fact is often stranger than fiction. It may be said, as a variant of this, that history is often more romantic than romance. The pages of the record of man's doings are frequently illustrated by entertaining and striking incidents, relief points in the dull monotony of every-day events, stories fitted to rouse the reader from languid weariness and stir anew in his veins the pulse of interest in human life. There are many such,—dramas on the stage of history, life scenes that are pictures in action, tales pathetic, stirring, enlivening, full of the element of the unusual, of the stuff the novel and the romance are made of, yet with the advantage of being actual fact. Incidents of this kind have proved as attractive to writers as to readers. They have dwelt upon them lovingly, embellished them with the charms of rhetoric and occasionally with the inventions of fancy, until what began as fact has often entered far into the domains of legend and fiction. It may well be that some of the narratives in the present work have gone through this process. If so, it is simply indicative of the interest they have awakened in generations of readers and writers. But the bulk of them are fact, so far as history in general can be called fact, it having been our design to cull from the annals of the nations some of their more stirring and romantic incidents, and present them as a gallery of pictures that might serve to adorn the entrance to the temple of history, of which this work is offered as in some sense an illuminated ante-chamber. As such, it is hoped that some pilgrims from the world of readers may find it a pleasant halting-place on their way into the far-extending aisles of the great temple beyond.

Originally published in 1899 as a portion of the author’s larger “Primary History of the United States: The Story of Our Country for Young Folks,” this Kindle edition, equivalent in length to a physical book of approximately 35 pages, describes, in simple language for young readers, the lives and careers of Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln.Sample passages:(Franklin) Franklin thought that if lightning was the same as electricity it would pass along a string the same way. So one stormy day he raised a kite up into the clouds with a string of hemp, and with a key tied to the bottom. After he had waited awhile a spark came from the key into his fingers and he felt a shock. This made him very glad, for now he knew that lightning was indeed electricity. That kite-raising made him famous all over the world, and it gave him the idea of the lightning-rod, which carries lightning away from houses.-----(Washington) The British generals felt sure that when spring came they would soon put an end to the American army and make King George master again. They did not know the kind of man they had to deal with. Washington did not wait for spring, but crossed the river again when the ice was floating down in great blocks, and the air was full of falling snow, and the winds were biting cold. Before the British knew that the Americans were on the march they found them in their camp.-----(Lincoln) After a while Lincoln was elected to Congress, and became one of the lawmakers for the whole country. This was in 1846. While he was there the war with Mexico went on, and there was much talk about slaves. Lincoln thought that the owners of slaves ought not to take them into new States or Territories, and he said so in his speeches. He was now a very good and sensible speaker, and in time his name became known all through the country.About the author:Charles Morris (1833-1922) was the author of numerous books for young and old, including “The Lives of the Presidents and How They Reached the White House,” “Tales from the Dramatists,” and “History of the World.”

Originally published in 1904 as a portion of the author’s larger “History of the World,” this Kindle edition, equivalent in length to a physical book of approximately 70 pages, recounts, in simple language, the history of ancient Greece.CONTENTSChapter I: Greece Before the Persian Wars Chapter II: The Persian Invasions of Greece Chapter III: Athens in the Age of PericlesChapter IV: The Peloponnesian and Theban Wars Chapter V: Philip of Macedon and Alexander the Great Chapter VI: The Macedonian Empire Chapter VII: Social and Public Life in Greece Chapter VIII: Art, Literature, and Religion Appendix: Timeline of Greek HistorySample passage:Let us see now what Pericles did. He kept up the fleet and tried his best to make good sailors and naval warriors of the Athenians. And that the city might not be cut off from its port, he got the people to build what were called the Long Walls, great ramparts of stone more than four miles long and two hundred yards apart, which joined the walls of the city with those of Piraeus, its port. Now Athens could not be cut off from its ships or the supplies they brought from all parts of the sea. And there was room enough within the walls for all the people of Attica.While this was doing, Pericles was using the funds of the Confederacy to adorn Athens with magnificent buildings and splendid works of art. The grand temple called the Parthenon was built on the Acropolis, and other grand and beautiful edifices, enriched with the rarest sculptures and statuary, were built in various parts of the city. The whole city became brilliant and splendid in aspect. Pericles had found it wood and left it marble, and its statues became so numerous that they seemed almost to outnumber the living inhabitants. The temples of Athens were not wonderful for vastness of size, like those of Egypt, but were remarkable for the beauty of their architecture and their exquisite sculptures.Pericles did more than this. He made Athens a home for the ablest men of the world— poets, artists, orators, philosophers. Great writers, dramatists, and thinkers made their way to this city, and it grew rich with the fruits of genius. The theatre was made free to all, and the finest works of the greatest dramatists were performed for the general public. Men before had served in the army, on juries, in the courts, etc., without pay, but Pericles saw that all were paid, so that the poorest men could attend to public duties without loss. He even went so far as to supply free banquets for the people on festival days.About the author:Charles Morris (1833-1922) was the author of numerous books for young and old, including “The Lives of the Presidents and How They Reached the White House,” “Tales from the Dramatists,” and “Primary History of the United States.”