Books with author William Babington Maxwell

Genius Baby may be the first serious contender for “The Great American Novel” since the 1920’s. Genius Baby does for a model American character what the stories of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy did for the archetypal Russian characters or what Cervantes’ Don Quixote did for the confused middle class Spanish seeker looking for a just social order. Genius Baby is a work of fiction deeply rooted in the reality of scientific research on human development, with especial attention to the beauty and flaws of representative samples of the American dream. We first meet the primary hero of the story, Richard Milton-Chu, in the memory of his father who is re-living Richard’s immaculate birth. Richard is born in a modified Jacuzzi where the 97F degree water is pre-warmed, purified by ultra-violet light and refreshed so that the baby’s birth is facilitated by both gravity and buoyancy. The modified Jacuzzi is fitted with a birthing stool and holders for everything needed by the mother and her assisting midwife so that when the time of birth comes, the room can be reduced to zero light, total darkness, so that the baby’s eyes are not burned by harsh light. All of the baby’s senses are respected, initially: no light, no sound, no hard surfaces, no odors, and no temperature changes. Gradually the light is raised and the baby finds his mother’s arms. But the umbilical cord is not snipped until it collapses, indicating that all of the baby’s lungs, heart, and brain switches have been turned either on or off as coordinated by nature’s own timers, and the baby can now breathe on his own and by his own free will -- not rudely jerked into what the baby perceives as peril. We next meet Richard twenty-three months later when several crises overtake his patent attorney father, his children’s story writer mother, an inventive genius from Kenya, and two scholarly patent attorneys from France who discovered and partnered with the Kenyan genius. With the help of the French attorneys, the Kenyan genius developed a new energy device that converts solar energy to electrical energy at about four times the efficiency of current models. Consequently, greedy bureaucrats and energy industry capitalists get word of the invention and conspire to thwart its development at all costs. The villains enlist the assistance of a KGB-trained “murder specialist” and four misguided pawns from Albania. The plot of the story is open enough to allow for the reader to observe the problems that a modern, intelligent father and mother have in trying to educate a child who is far more intelligent than they. The story evolves to include issues relating to slavery, America’s number one curse, inter-racial marriage, class and caste in America and in the world, and the interplay of music with psychological health. The several endings obey the American vision of “All’s well that ends well,” as long as some punishments are handed out for wrong thoughts and rewards exceed punishments.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

The First Hero is history fiction for children ages 10 to 18 and details how humankind's first inventions came about. The story element is the universal story of heroes seeking to live in a healthier environment, less despotism, more respect. Perils abound in each enviornment, but these children conquer each. This heroic family begins their journey from a steamy rain forest in what is now Nigeria, moves to a savannah with very different animals and dangers; moves on to a safer mountain where the reader meets three generations of the pioneers of all human cultures and civilizations. For centuries, opinion leaders, including popular movies and news stories, have presented nearly all of Africa in an unfavorable light. The effects of such myths are profound, justifying colonialism, slavery, economic exploitation, and even stimulating racist theories. This book looks at Africans of 190,000 years ago with huge admiration and invites the readers to re-think the stereotypes they absorbed from biased sources. Heroism is a trait that lies in all humans as a potential. That nobel quality blossoms frequently and sometimes insistently, but not always. The early history of the first truly human family is told by the bravest daughter/sister, Venus. The reader meets her and her grandchildren and grandnieces and grandnephews at humankind's first fireside. Venus tells how the family escape the control of an Alpha Male, the childrens great grandfather, by fleeing to the savannah. In the savannah the family meets new kinds of threats, including the most powerful master of the savannah, the soon-to-be-made extinct Giant Brown Bear. One memberr of that fearsome species eats the children's mother, rendering all six orphans. Grief is so profound that Venus invents humankind's first articulate word, am'mah (mother). The challenge of living in a cooler climate generates new inventions, beginning with the kaftan. The first music, the first raft, the first organized war party, the first celebratory dance are but a few of the amazing inventions that this heroic family creates to start humankind on the long and difficult path from primate culture to truly human culture. The oldest son, soon named "Torchbearer," connects the pre-puberty family to the transcendental and begins to enforce necessary rules for the healthy survival of his family. The reader is drawn into the story by realistic depictions of what dangers and challenges our brave ancestors conquered. We put up with despots and tyranny at our and our children's perils. This book easily translates into "the big screen" or a lengthy television series. A challenge and an opportunity awaits the entrepreneurs with vision and a sense of justice. When children around the world identify with Venus and Torchbearer's family, they banish from our racial memory that short historic period of racist and caste-based bigotries and usher in a consciousness of the oneness of humankind.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

Genius Baby may be the first serious contender for “The Great American Novel” since the 1920’s. Genius Baby does for a model American character what the stories of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy did for the archetypal Russian characters or what Cervantes’ Don Quixote did for the confused middle class Spanish seeker looking for a just social order. Genius Baby is a work of fiction deeply rooted in the reality of scientific research on human development, with especial attention to the beauty and flaws of representative samples of the American dream. We first meet the primary hero of the story, Richard Milton-Chu, in the memory of his father who is re-living Richard’s immaculate birth. Richard is born in a modified Jacuzzi where the 97F degree water is pre-warmed, purified by ultra-violet light and refreshed so that the baby’s birth is facilitated by both gravity and buoyancy. The modified Jacuzzi is fitted with a birthing stool and holders for everything needed by the mother and her assisting midwife so that when the time of birth comes, the room can be reduced to zero light, total darkness, so that the baby’s eyes are not burned by harsh light. All of the baby’s senses are respected, initially: no light, no sound, no hard surfaces, no odors, and no temperature changes. Gradually the light is raised and the baby finds his mother’s arms. But the umbilical cord is not snipped until it collapses, indicating that all of the baby’s lungs, heart, and brain switches have been turned either on or off as coordinated by nature’s own timers, and the baby can now breathe on his own and by his own free will -- not rudely jerked into what the baby perceives as peril. We next meet Richard twenty-three months later when several crises overtake his patent attorney father, his children’s story writer mother, an inventive genius from Kenya, and two scholarly patent attorneys from France who discovered and partnered with the Kenyan genius. With the help of the French attorneys, the Kenyan genius developed a new energy device that converts solar energy to electrical energy at about four times the efficiency of current models. Consequently, greedy bureaucrats and energy industry capitalists get word of the invention and conspire to thwart its development at all costs. The villains enlist the assistance of a KGB-trained “murder specialist” and four misguided pawns from Albania. The plot of the story is open enough to allow for the reader to observe the problems that a modern, intelligent father and mother have in trying to educate a child who is far more intelligent than they. The story evolves to include issues relating to slavery, America’s number one curse, inter-racial marriage, class and caste in America and in the world, and the interplay of music with psychological health. The several endings obey the American vision of “All’s well that ends well,” as long as some punishments are handed out for wrong thoughts and rewards exceed punishments.