Books with author Sam Watkins

Of the 120 men who enlisted in "Company H" (Or Co. Aytch as he calls it) in 1861, Sam Watkins was one of only seven alive when General Joseph E. Johnston's Army of Tennessee surrendered to General William Tecumseh Sherman in North Carolina on April, 1865. Of the 1,200 men who fought in the First Tennessee, only 65 were left to be paroled on that day. "Co. Aytch: A Confederate Memoir of the Civil War" is heralded by many historians as one of the best war memoirs written by a common soldier of the field. Sam R. Watkin's writing style in "Co Aytch" is quite engaging and skillfully captures the pride, misery, glory, and horror experienced by the common foot soldier.

Sam Watkins joined the First Tennessee Regiment in 1861, fighting against the Yankees until the Confederacy surrendered in 1865, one of the few surviving men from his original company. Decades later, Watkins wrote an account of his days in the Confederate army. “Co. Aytch: A Confederate Memoir of Civil War” is an engaging and often humorous memoir, which deftly captures the complicated humanity of a soldier’s life.

From the row houses of Baltimore to the stoops of Brooklyn, with searing conviction and full compassion, D. Watkins, New York Times bestselling author of The Cook Up and The Beast Side lays bare the voices of the most vulnerable and allows their raw, intimate stories to uncover the systematic injustice threaded within our society. Honest and eye-opening, We Speak for Ourselves makes us listen, feel, and create a course toward change that starts right where we are.Watkins introduces you to Down Bottom, the storied community of East Baltimore that holds a mirror to America’s poor black neighborhoods—“hoods” that could just as easily be in Chicago, Detroit, Oakland, or Atlanta. As Watkins sees it, the perspective of people who live in economically disadvantaged black communities is largely absent from the commentary of many top intellectuals who speak and write about race. Unapologetic and sharp-witted, D. Watkins is here to tell the truth as he has seen it. We Speak for Ourselves offers an in-depth analysis of inner-city hurdles and honors the stories therein. We sit in underfunded schools, walk the blocks burdened with police corruption, stand within an audience of Make America Great Again hats, journey from trap house to university lecture, and rally in neglected streets. And we listen. Watkins shares the lessons he has learned while navigating through two very distinct worlds—the hood and the elite sanctums of prominent black thinkers and public figures—serving hope to fellow Americans who are too often ignored and calling on others to examine what it means to be a model activist in today’s world. We Speak for Ourselves is a must-read for all who are committed to social change.

From the row houses of Baltimore to the stoops of Brooklyn, with searing conviction and full compassion, D. Watkins, New York Times bestselling author of The Cook Up and The Beast Side lays bare the voices of the most vulnerable and allows their raw, intimate stories to uncover the systematic injustice threaded within our society. Honest and eye-opening, We Speak for Ourselves makes us listen, feel, and create a course toward change that starts right where we are.Watkins introduces you to Down Bottom, the storied community of East Baltimore that holds a mirror to America’s poor black neighborhoods—“hoods” that could just as easily be in Chicago, Detroit, Oakland, or Atlanta. As Watkins sees it, the perspective of people who live in economically disadvantaged black communities is largely absent from the commentary of many top intellectuals who speak and write about race. Unapologetic and sharp-witted, D. Watkins is here to tell the truth as he has seen it. We Speak for Ourselves offers an in-depth analysis of inner-city hurdles and honors the stories therein. We sit in underfunded schools, walk the blocks burdened with police corruption, stand within an audience of Make America Great Again hats, journey from trap house to university lecture, and rally in neglected streets. And we listen. Watkins shares the lessons he has learned while navigating through two very distinct worlds—the hood and the elite sanctums of prominent black thinkers and public figures—serving hope to fellow Americans who are too often ignored and calling on others to examine what it means to be a model activist in today’s world. We Speak for Ourselves is a must-read for all who are committed to social change.

Deliver professional-level 3D content in no time with this comprehensive guide to 3D animation with Maya. With over 12 years of training experience, plus several award winning students under his belt, author Adam Watkins is the ideal mentor to get you up to speed with 3D in Maya. Using a structured and pragmatic approach Getting Started in 3D with Maya begins with basic theory of fundamental techniques, then builds on this knowledge using practical examples and projects to put your new skills to the test. Prepared so that you can learn in an organic fashion, each chapter builds on the knowledge gained in the previous chapter, showing you all the essentials of 3D in Maya, from modeling and UV layout, to texture creation, rigging animating and rendering. As you go from project to project you'll develop a strong arsenal of skills that combined will form a complete end to end process to creating complete projects in Maya. The accompanying website provides all the tools you need to develop your skills. Project files to accompany the practical examples used throughout the text, so you can work along with the examples. Additional textures and models will give you all the resources you need to start making your own projects in no time at all. --Provides all you need to get started, including a valuable roadmap to the "big picture" of 3D production. Rather than a lengthy description of dialog boxes or option lists, you gain a full understanding of how Maya "thinks" so that you can become effective real-world artists. --Watkins has over twelve years of 3D education experience, having trained hundreds of 3D artists. With multiple award winning students, he knows how people learn 3D, what works and what doesn't, proper pacing, and offers engaging, manageable, yet ambitious tasks. --Create a project from start to finish using all the major components of the 3D process - modeling, UV layout, texture creation, rigging, animation, and rendering - with Maya. --Bonus content for professors! Includes suggested curriculum for 3D based training for semester and year-long sessions, suggested layouts and pacing. How do these chapters fit into a teaching strategy? How long should a class spend on each chapter? All these questions are answered in the included Curriculum Appendices and online resources.

About twenty years ago, I think it was—I won't be certain, though—a man whose name, if I remember correctly, was Wm. L. Yancy—I write only from memory, and this was a long time ago—took a strange and peculiar notion that the sun rose in the east and set in the west, and that the compass pointed north and south. Now, everybody knew at the time that it was but the idiosyncrasy of an unbalanced mind, and that the United States of America had no north, no south, no east, no west. Well, he began to preach the strange doctrine of there being such a thing. He began to have followers. As you know, it matters not how absurd, ridiculous and preposterous doctrines may be preached, there will be some followers. Well, one man by the name of (I think it was) Rhett, said it out loud. He was told to "s-h-e-e." Then another fellow by the name (I remember this one because it sounded like a graveyard) Toombs said so, and he was told to "sh-sh-ee-ee." Then after a while whole heaps of people began to say that they thought that there was a north and a south; and after a while hundreds and thousands and millions said that there was a south. But they were the persons who lived in the direction that the water courses run. Now, the people who lived where the water courses started from came down to see about it, and they said, "Gents, you are very much mistaken. We came over in the Mayflower, and we used to burn witches for saying that the sun rose in the east and set in the west, because the sun neither rises nor sets, the earth simply turns on its axis, and we know, because we are Pure(i)tans." The spokesman of the party was named (I think I remember his name because it always gave me the blues when I heard it) Horrors Greeley; and another person by the name of Charles Sumner, said there ain't any north or south, east or west, and you shan't say so, either. Now, the other people who lived in the direction that the water courses run, just raised their bristles and continued saying that there is a north and there is a south. When those at the head of the water courses come out furiously mad, to coerce those in the direction that water courses run, and to make them take it back. Well, they went to gouging and biting, to pulling and scratching at a furious rate. One side elected a captain by the name of Jeff Davis, and known as one-eyed Jeff, and a first lieutenant by the name of Aleck Stephens, commonly styled Smart Aleck. The other side selected as captain a son of Nancy Hanks, of Bowling Green, and a son of old Bob Lincoln, the rail-splitter, and whose name was Abe.

This is a history of the Civil War years written by a Confederate soldier decades later. From the preface: ""Co. AYTCH."—This week's Herald contains the last number of "Co. AYTCH" that will be published in the paper. The generals, and President, and Vice-President, and other high officials have published their accounts of the war, but Sam Watkins is the first high private who has written up the common soldier side of the matter. In big, gilt-edge books, the general, the President, and the Vice-President, tell about their plans, their battle, their retreats, their measures, and their ideas, and not a word about what the poor, sore footed, hungry, and naked soldier felt. In "Co. AYTCH" we see the old "webfoot," dressed in a dirty, greasy, gray suit—or rather non-suit—a cotton blanket thrown across his shoulder, and fastened under his cartridge-box belt; a greasy, dirty haversack hanging down—very thin and flabby; with shoes of untanned leather. There he goes, footsore, tired, and hungry, but chipper and sassy, and ready for the battle. In "Co. AYTCH" we see this same "webfoot" in camp, cooking his rations—corn meal bread, corn meal coffee, corn meal soup, blue beef, with not an eye of grease on it. He lies down on the cold ground, in an old thin blanket, and shivers through the night. In "Co. AYTCH" we hear this "webfoot" talking to his comrades, cheering their drooping spirits, discussing the situation, defending the general, hoping for final victory, and a glorious return home to father, mother, and sweetheart. In "Co. AYTCH" we see this same "webfoot," hungry, ragged, dirty, and footsore, "on the battle's perilous edge," the light of victory in his eye, a gun with a gleaming bayonet in his hands, springing forward like a deer, a ringing shout upon his lips, rushing up to the breastworks, behind which belch Napoleon guns and volleys of musketry; see him cross the abattis at a bound; see him as he stands upon the enemy's ramparts, shouting victory ! In "Co. AYTCH" we see this same "webfoot" shot down by a minnie ball, and lying cold and stark in death, and thrown into a common shallow grave, unhonored, unknown, and unsung, far away from fond loved ones. In "Co. AYTCH" we see other soldiers, driven by hunger, stealing hogs, others deserting and going home. All this we see in "Co. AYTCH." Every old soldier, and every son of an old soldier, should have a copy of it.—Columbia Herald."

About twenty years ago, I think it was—I won't be certain, though— a man whose name, if I remember correctly, was Wm. L. Yancy—I write only from memory, and this was a long time ago—took a strange and peculiar notion that the sun rose in the east and set in the west, and that the compass pointed north and south. Now, everybody knew at the time that it was but the idiosyncrasy of an unbalanced mind, and that the United States of America had no north, no south, no east, no west. Well, he began to preach the strange doctrine of there being such a thing. He began to have followers. As you know, it matters not how absurd, ridiculous and preposterous doctrines may be preached, there will be some followers. Well, one man by the name of (I think it was) Rhett, said it out loud. He was told to "s-h-e-e." Then another fellow by the name (I remember this one because it sounded like a graveyard) Toombs said so, and he was told to "sh-sh-ee-ee."

Everychild knows a garage sale and knowing that Mom likes to shop there sometimes. Al's Mom often buys the stuffs from the garage sales too, but this time it is not just only a stuff.... They found the amazing...magic...flying carpet and the fun story is going on.Kids 4-6 will enjoy the imaginary story and the interactive quizzes, it's easy and fun!!