Bøker utgitt av MARINER PUB

What do a politically astute silverfish, a golf ball thief, and a gay Bible salesman have in common? In the real world, nothing. But flowing out of the mind of Philip Hirsh, they become players in a diverse collection of stories, an allegorical wonderland filled with people (and other creatures) struggling to find happiness using the full array of man's favorite coping mechanisms like chicanery, manipulation, deception, and everyone's favorite-murder.

Rick Britton has been writing about Thomas Jefferson and Monticello for over a dozen years. His well-received Jefferson pieces have appeared in newspapers and magazines all across the Old Dominion. Based largely on that work, this book presents an eclectic and captivating collection of Jefferson essays. Within its pages you'll discover: Jefferson's influence on Albemarle, his native county; the British raid that came within a hairsbreadth of capturing Jefferson; slavery along Monticello's Mulberry Row; Jefferson's friendship with Italian vintner Filippo Mazzei; his wide-ranging scientific pursuits; William Clark's 1807 trek to Big Bone Lick, Ky., in search of Mastodon bones; Jefferson's efforts toward exploring the West; the all-but-forgotten Freeman and Custis expedition; Jefferson's slavery correspondence with Edward Coles; Lafayette's 1824 visit to Monticello; Jefferson's founding of the University of Virginia; his amazing architectural legacy; and the early years of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, the organization that owns and operates Monticello.

Appalachia. According to popular mythology, it's a mountainous holdover from colonial days, an all-white outlaw society mired in poverty and cliche jokes about family feuds. Throw in some stories about moonshine, add a few images of grimy coal miners and you're done. People who know better and try to preseve Appalachian history and culture are no match for developers greedy for more land and franchise locations. The process is irreversible, but the real story--hilariously funny, sometimes poignant, alway surprising--can be told, savored and remembered.