With the centenary of the outbreak of the The Great War coming in 2014, World War One, A Very Peculiar History commemorates the events of the time by looking at some of the incredible lengths, no matter how risky or bizarre, people went to to defend their country. From Front pigs to hairy beasts, author Jim Pipe looks at the nicknames coined at the time, while providing mind-boggling lists and figures about the battles, the equipment used and the harsh conditions the troops faced. Laced throughout this chronological description of the events leading up to and during the war are tales of human endeavour, charity and daring some scary, some quirky, and some truly unbelievable.
Time is a resource. Everyone knows it has to be managed. And on the Discworld that is the job of the Monks of History, who store it and pump it from the places where it's wasted (like the underwater; how much time does a codfish need?) to places like cities, where there's never enough time. But the construction of the world's first truly accurate clock starts a race against, well, time for monks of time. Because it will stop time. And that will only be the start of everyone's problems.
Now back in print with a new essay, this classic of Iowa history focuses on the Old Order Amish Mennonites, the state’s most distinctive religious minority. Sociologist Elmer Schwieder and historian Dorothy Schwieder began their research with the largest group of Old Order Amish in the state, the community near Kalona in Johnson and Washington counties, in April 1970; they extended their studies and friendships in later years to other Old Order settlements as well as the slightly less conservative Beachy Amish.
One morning Hannah Garvey woke up and decided she'd had enough: of the fast track, the corporate ladder and chronic love-gone-wrong. So she traded in the rat race of Chicago to become the resident manager for Valhalla Springs, an exclusive retirement development nestled in the Missouri Ozarks. And she's more than ready to kick back, relax and enjoy the view.
