The Texas-Siberia Trail


Book Description

Major Malcolm-Wheeler Nicholson is best remembered as the man who invented the modern comic book, founded DC Comics, and brought SUPERMAN, hero of heroes, to the public. But before all of that the Major wrote adventure tales for the great pulp magazines-and no run-of-the-mill pulp fiction was it. The Major served as a cavalry officer on the southwest border during the Mexican Revolution. While the First World War raged in Europe, he fought the Moro insurgency in the southern Philippines. Then followed his strangest assignment, conducting espionage in legendarily hostile Siberia. After the war he was stationed in Western Europe. These places became the settings for the majority of his hardboiled adventure stories. His use of authentic detail, combined with his superior storytelling ability, make his stories difficult to put down. You read one of the Major's entrancing tales-and your imagination is transported back to those real places of danger and daring! This inaugural collection of the Major's fiction includes stories set in all four of his real-life arenas, originally published in top adventure pulps: ADVENTURE, ARGOSY, THE POPULAR MAGAZINE. It is time for the Major to receive his due-as one of the great adventure writers of the pulps. Included is an introduction by Nicky Wheeler-Nicholson, the Major's granddaughter.




Travels in Siberia


Book Description

A Dazzling Russian travelogue from the bestselling author of Great Plains In his astonishing new work, Ian Frazier, one of our greatest and most entertaining storytellers, trains his perceptive, generous eye on Siberia, the storied expanse of Asiatic Russia whose grim renown is but one explanation among hundreds for the region's fascinating, enduring appeal. In Travels in Siberia, Frazier reveals Siberia's role in history—its science, economics, and politics—with great passion and enthusiasm, ensuring that we'll never think about it in the same way again. With great empathy and epic sweep, Frazier tells the stories of Siberia's most famous exiles, from the well-known—Dostoyevsky, Lenin (twice), Stalin (numerous times)—to the lesser known (like Natalie Lopukhin, banished by the empress for copying her dresses) to those who experienced unimaginable suffering in Siberian camps under the Soviet regime, forever immortalized by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in The Gulag Archipelago. Travels in Siberia is also a unique chronicle of Russia since the end of the Soviet Union, a personal account of adventures among Russian friends and acquaintances, and, above all, a unique, captivating, totally Frazierian take on what he calls the "amazingness" of Russia—a country that, for all its tragic history, somehow still manages to be funny. Travels in Siberia will undoubtedly take its place as one of the twenty-first century's indispensable contributions to the travel-writing genre.




Route 66


Book Description

Route 66 is a fixture of American culture. For the truckers, salesmen and vacationers who have traveled it and for the people who live along it, the road is a reminder of the bygone days of American motoring. Despite time, neglect and progress, Route 66 endures. Almost all of its 2,448 miles are still intact and drivable. Travel from Chicago to Los Angeles and experience Route 66 through this richly illustrated book, with pictures of many of the historic landmarks and longtime businesses that have become roadside institutions to several generations of Route 66 travelers, plus some that are relatively unknown. Nearly all of the places shown can be visited today. The book is also a salute to those who supported the highway over the years, including Cyrus Avery, Jack Cuthbert ("Mr. 66"), Lucille Hamon and Campbell's 66 Express.




Red Express


Book Description

On t.p.: The greatest rail journey-from the Berlin Wall to the Great Wall of China. Follows the Trans-Siberian Express through six countries.




The Other Side of Russia


Book Description

Travel to post Soviet Siberia and the Russian Far East with author Sharon Hudgins as she takes readers on a personal adventure through the Asian side of Russia—an area closed to most Westerners and many Russians prior to the 1990s. Even today, few people from the West have ridden the TransSiberian railroad in winter, stood on the frozen surface of Lake Baikal, feasted with the Siberian Buryats, or lived in the "highrise villages" of Vladivostok and Irkutsk. One of the few American women who has lived and worked in this part of the world, Hudgins debunks many of the myths and misconceptions that surround this "other side of Russia." She artfully depicts the details of everyday life, set within their cultural and historical context—local customs, foods, and festivals, as well as urban life, the education system, and the developing market economy in postSoviet Siberia and the Russian Far East. Hudgin's prose shines in her colorful descriptions of multicourse meals washed down with champagne and vodka, often eaten by candlelight when the electricity failed. The author's accounts of hors d'oeuvres made of sea slugs and roulades of raw horse liver will fascinate those with adventuresome tastes, while her stories of hosting Spanish, French, and TexMex feasts will come as a surprise to anyone who thinks of Russia as a gastronomic wasteland. Readers of The Other Side of Russia: A Slice of Life in Siberia and the Russian Far East will find themselves among the guests at Christmas parties, New Year's banquets, Easter dinners, and birthday celebrations. They will experience the challenges of living in highrise apartment buildings often lacking water, heat, and electricity. Above all, Asian Russia's natural beauty, thriving cities, and proud people shine from the pages, proving it is not only a land of harsh winters and vast uninhabited spaces, but also home to millions of Russian citizens who live and work in modern metropolises and enjoy a rich cultural and social life.







The 1931-1940: American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States


Book Description

"The entire field of film historians awaits the AFI volumes with eagerness."--Eileen Bowser, Museum of Modern Art Film Department Comments on previous volumes: "The source of last resort for finding socially valuable . . . films that received such scant attention that they seem 'lost' until discovered in the AFI Catalog."--Thomas Cripps "Endlessly absorbing as an excursion into cultural history and national memory."--Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.




Alaska at War, 1941-1945


Book Description

Over the course of the past two hundred years, only one United States territory has experienced foreign occupation: Alaska. Available for the first time in paperback, Alaska at War brings readers face to face with the North Pacific front in World War II. Wide-ranging essays cover the war as seen by Alaskan eyes, including the Japanese invasion of the Attu and Kiska islands, the effects of the war on Aleutian Islanders, and the American campaign to recover occupied territory. Whether you’re a historian or a novice student interested in this pivotal period of American history, Alaska at War provides fascinating insight into the background, history, and cultural impact of war on the Alaskan homefront.




Greetings from Route 66


Book Description

Take the scenic route with this colorful collection of vintage art, photos, history, and trivia celebrating the historic highway. John Steinbeck famously christened Route 66 America’s “Mother Road” in The Grapes of Wrath, and that chapter about Tom Joad’s exodus is just one of the classic pieces collected in this wide-ranging anthology. You’ll find history, roadside attractions, pop culture, ghost stories—even recipes from famous greasy spoons. And it’s all illustrated with the largest collection of vintage art, postcards, travel decals, collectibles, and other Route 66 memorabilia ever amassed. This is truly a worthy tribute to the Main Street of America.




Allies in Wartime


Book Description

This book is a collection of articles, essays and speeches that together illuminate a remarkable chapter in human history: the Alaska-Siberia Airway during World War II.