Books with author McPherson

A biography of Albrecht Dürer, one of the most influential artists of the Renaissance and Reformation. In addition to creating hundreds of engravings, woodcuts, drawings, and paintings, he wrote books on geometry, fortification, and human proportions. He explored the meaning of beauty in his art textbook, which was called "Food for Young Artists." The Christian worldview which he brought to the field of art is still relevant today. Dürer was counted among the leading intellectuals of the sixteenth century. He witnessed the coming Reformation and made the acquaintance of men such as Erasmus, Martin Luther, Melanchthon, and the Emperor Maximilian. Though he created works of art for wealthy patrons, he made his woodcuts affordable for ordinary people. In this way, Dürer brought the Bible to a wide audience through his brilliant illustrations of the book of Revelation and other themes. This biography includes over twenty illustrations by Albrecht Dürer, who wrote: "Painting is a useful art when it is of a godly sort and employed for holy edification." The life and art of Dürer is food not only for young artists, but for all who seek beauty and truth. This book is written on a 5th-6th grade reading level, but younger children will enjoy having it read aloud to them.

From Pulitzer Prize award-winning historian James M. McPherson comes a thrilling account of America's westward expansion. In this sweeping tale of one of the most exciting and colorful periods in our country's growth, Dr. McPherson interweaves the nation's attempts to bind its Civil War wounds through Reconstruction with the triumphant and tragic taming of the American frontier.Into the West contains personal narratives from settlers and soldiers as well as profiles and accounts of the actions of many historical luminaries involved in Reconstruction and the movement west, such as President Andrew Johnson, General George Armstrong Custer, Sitting Bull, General William Tecumseh Sherman, Geronimo, and Wild Bill Hickock. Dr. McPherson also explores the role of women and the development of the arts on the frontier, the role and legend of the cowboy, and the destruction of the Native American way of life in this thought-provoking companion to the bestselling Fields of Fury.Filled with maps, period photos, illustrations, and anecdotes, this vivid retelling of America's journey, Into the West, will fascinate readers, young and old.

Journey back to when it all began. To when Elentri existed, and lived amongst the clan. Journey back into the wonder, See where it all went wrong. Dance with the Dragonysius, Sing the Elentri song. Once Upon A Tide tells the tale before Lexovia became the last of her kind. See the glory of Elnorious. Experience Taratesia in the finer days and endure the war that changed it all. ATTENTION: Though Once Upon A Tide can be read as a prequel, it is best read AFTER READING BOOKS 1-3 in The Last Elentrice series.

Dereck, is a normal thirteen-year-old boy who has agreed to take care of his five-year-old sister, Jessie, while their mother is away overnight. As the big brother, he intends to keep his sister safe, taking on the role of their dad who died in a car accident the year before.Derek loves his sister, but her constant need of his attention is starting to get on his nerves. However his mom is always reminding him to spend time with his little sister.The only thing Jessie wants Dereck to do is read fairy tales to her, though he would prefer they do anything else like shoot bottle rockets or throw a baseball around. When Jessie takes a nap, a violent storm moves in, causing Dereck to stumble down the steps to the cellar of their home. When Jessie screams out for help, Dereck imagines a tree crashing through her window, trapping his sister in her room. Trying to run to his sister’s rescue, he falls through the cellar floor and wakes up in Oz - an Oz filled with all the fairy-tale characters Jessie loves (and he hates) so much.Right away Dereck meets a farmer and his wife who live on the far side of a cornfield that grows beside the yellow road that weaves itself through Oz. The couple is waiting on the Dorothy girl from Kansas to pass by so they can make a deal with her. If she helps them catch a pesky man-sized crow, they will give her a secret map that shows a shortcut to the Emerald City. But when Miss Glinda warns the farm girl not to take the shortcut, Dereck, with the help of the six-foot crow, decides to ‘borrow’ the map without the farmer’s knowledge so that Dereck can rush to the Wizard as quickly as possible so the great Oz might send him back to his sister who, he knew, was yelling for him to help her. Dereck meets Miss Glinda’s personal assistant who has dressed herself like the good witch and calls herself Glindalina. Right before his eyes, the Wicked Witch of the West talks the assistant into becoming her evil assistant so she can help her make sure Dorothy will get the shortcut map, take the shortcut, and die so the green witch can get her hands on the silver slippers she wants from the farm girl so badly. Miss Glinda is livid and scares the wicked witch away so that she won’t be able to give Dorothy the shortcut map.With the help of Crow, Dereck sneaks the map from Miss Glinda, and takes off down the yellow road where he battles a giant, a wolf, an ogre and somehow loses the yellow road, winding up in the middle of a thick forest where he runs into a little girl who wears a red cloak. The girl introduces him to her grandmother who brings out an old photograph of a young man who favors Dereck a good deal. But how could that be? Within the short visit, the old lady finds out about Dereck planning to take the shortcut and gives him a safety charm since she heard that the shortcut between the yellow road and the Emerald City is a very dangerous path. Dereck makes it to the shortcut path, finding a beautiful lady who quickly morphs into an ugly hag and tells Dereck he must die so that she and the other creatures kept captive there will be freed at last.Dereck remembers bottle rockets in his backpack and uses them to destroy the creature and catch the surrounding forest on fire. Miss Glinda calls for a dragon to take Dereck home then and there. When Dereck arrives back to his house, he finds Jessie hiding in her bedroom closet as the storm outside has started to move away.A few days later, Dereck notices in the artwork of Jessie’s fairy tale books, small things in the background like he had seen on his journey but were never mentioned in the age-old stories. He discovers the artist is from his own hometown and looks up the artist’s picture, realizing he looks very familiar and suddenly remembers the old photograph that Red’s grandma had shown him. That was the artist who had looked like him.But how could that be? Had the artist been to the same place? Dereck may never

From the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Battle Cry of Freedom, a powerful new reckoning with Jefferson Davis as military commander of the ConfederacyHistory has not been kind to Jefferson Davis. His cause went down in disastrous defeat and left the South impoverished for generations. If that cause had succeeded, it would have torn the United States in two and preserved the institution of slavery. Many Americans in Davis’s own time and in later generations considered him an incompetent leader, if not a traitor. Not so, argues James M. McPherson. In Embattled Rebel, McPherson shows us that Davis might have been on the wrong side of history, but it is too easy to diminish him because of his cause’s failure. In order to understand the Civil War and its outcome, it is essential to give Davis his due as a military leader and as the president of an aspiring Confederate nation.Davis did not make it easy on himself. His subordinates and enemies alike considered him difficult, egotistical, and cold. He was gravely ill throughout much of the war, often working from home and even from his sickbed. Nonetheless, McPherson argues, Davis shaped and articulated the principal policy of the Confederacy with clarity and force: the quest for independent nationhood. Although he had not been a fire-breathing secessionist, once he committed himself to a Confederate nation he never deviated from this goal. In a sense, Davis was the last Confederate left standing in 1865.As president of the Confederacy, Davis devoted most of his waking hours to military strategy and operations, along with Commander Robert E. Lee, and delegated the economic and diplomatic functions of strategy to his subordinates. Davis was present on several battlefields with Lee and even took part in some tactical planning; indeed, their close relationship stands as one of the great military-civilian partnerships in history.Most critical appraisals of Davis emphasize his choices in and management of generals rather than his strategies, but no other chief executive in American history exercised such tenacious hands-on influence in the shaping of military strategy. And while he was imprisoned for two years after the Confederacy’s surrender awaiting a trial for treason that never came, and lived for another twenty-four years, he never once recanted the cause for which he had fought and lost. McPherson gives us Jefferson Davis as the commander in chief he really was, showing persuasively that while Davis did not win the war for the South, he was scarcely responsible for losing it.

When the Exlathars escaped the battle that night, their silhouetted figures merged with the sky, their wings swatted at stars and the Coltis people were too busy celebrating their victory to realise that there wasn't one.Now the Exlathars are back. And they bring with them remnants of everybody's past.Back in England, Dezaray discovers just how deep Coldivor's connection to Earth really goes. But she cannot change their past and she cannot see how to alter their future. It seems the ripples that shake the surface are only a glimpse of what's brewing beneath.The young adult fantasy 'Caught in the Ripples' delves deeper into The Last Elentrice series, answers questions the first book raised and plunges you into an ocean of intrigue and magic.They thought the Elenfar was the end...turns out it was only the beginning.

This “appreciative biography that rolls as smoothly as a film reel” (Cleveland Plain Dealer) celebrates one of cinema’s greatest clowns, painting a detailed portrait of the man behind the mayhem and offering a fresh look at the classic comedies that defined the Golden Age of Silent Film.Writer—and avowed fan—Edward McPherson takes the reader on a fascinating journey through Buster Keaton’s life and times, from the vaudeville stage to the glittering screens of early Hollywood, where he rivaled even Charlie Chaplin as the master of silent comedy. Based on extensive research, this biography reveals Keaton in his prime as an antic genius—equal parts auteur, innovator, prankster, and daredevil—focusing on his glorious 1920s films, which “McPherson evokes with insight and enthusiasm” (Washington Post Book World).

In the end, light may not be enough to outshine the darkness. After Melia's near fatal attack, the connection binding Trinity and Blain shifts, allowing a dark force to wedge them apart. Her only hope for the life she craves is stopping Melia and her gang of Rogues. Too bad life never plays fair. As Trinity's eighteenth birthday draws near, new abilities manifest. More problems occur when objects around her spontaneously erupt in flames. While Trinity tries to manage her new powers, Blain works with Watchers to root out Melia's hiding place.Unfortunately, Trinity's uncontrolled talent evokes suspicion, causing old friends to challenge her ability to fulfill her destiny.Havoc between the immortals ensues, leaving mortals unprotected as a new threat surfaces. Melia found a way to awaken an ancient god, whose wrath--if released--is sure to create more devastation than Pandora ever dreamed of. Everything about Trinity's life is changing, except her vow: Keep those she cares for safe. But fate always has an ulterior plan.

This is the only biography of Calvin available for young people. Joyce focuses on Calvin's childhood and youth, tracing his days at the university and the circumstances of his conversion. She traces his early and precocious leadership of the Protestants in France, and his flight to Basel, Strassburg, and Geneva when King Francis I began executing Protestants. The result is a warm and affectionate picture of the leader of the second generation of the Protestant Reformation. This is a book worth reading out loud to younger students; older students and adults will find it a valuable introduction and aid in understanding the author of The Institutes of the Christian Religion.