The Civilized Rats

The Civilized Rats is a novel that tells the story of a tribe of rats that came together to establish an organized humanlike society under the inspiration of Nunuto, the city rat. In one of their annual tribal gatherings, they adopted the idea and started a kingdom of rats modeled along that of humans. The civilization, as they called it, blossomed. Under the inspirational Nunuto, the rats raised and trained an army that they named ratmy. They attacked humans, killed a snake, killed a cat, and chased away another deadly snake that swallowed rats. However, when Nunuto died of a snakebite, there arose a leadership crisis in the ratmy. This led to the breakup of the kingdom as intractable civil wars set in. Splinter ratmy groups emerged here and there and went violent. Societal problems like violence, stealing, robbery, rape, murder, wars, banditry, looting, fights for supremacy, and other problems akin to those found in human societies set in. The disunity among rats became worse than it was at the beginning. The kingdom collapsed, thus ending their dream of an organized society. One comes to the last but very brief chapter, only to discover that the entire story was a mere dream by an overfed rat that fell asleep in a kitchen.

The Civilized Rats is a novel that tells the story of a tribe of rats that came together to establish an organized humanlike society under the inspiration of Nunuto, the city rat. In one of their annual tribal gatherings, they adopted the idea and started a kingdom of rats modeled along that of humans. The civilization, as they called it, blossomed. Under the inspirational Nunuto, the rats raised and trained an army that they named ratmy. They attacked humans, killed a snake, killed a cat, and chased away another deadly snake that swallowed rats. However, when Nunuto died of a snakebite, there arose a leadership crisis in the ratmy. This led to the breakup of the kingdom as intractable civil wars set in. Splinter ratmy groups emerged here and there and went violent. Societal problems like violence, stealing, robbery, rape, murder, wars, banditry, looting, fights for supremacy, and other problems akin to those found in human societies set in. The disunity among rats became worse than it was at the beginning. The kingdom collapsed, thus ending their dream of an organized society. One comes to the last but very brief chapter, only to discover that the entire story was a mere dream by an overfed rat that fell asleep in a kitchen.

Some extraordinary rats come to the aid of a mouse family in this Newbery Medal Award–winning classic by notable children’s author Robert C. O’Brien. Mrs. Frisby, a widowed mouse with four small children, is faced with a terrible problem. She must move her family to their summer quarters immediately, or face almost certain death. But her youngest son, Timothy, lies ill with pneumonia and must not be moved. Fortunately, she encounters the rats of NIMH, an extraordinary breed of highly intelligent creatures, who come up with a brilliant solution to her dilemma. And Mrs. Frisby in turn renders them a great service.

To be published simultaneously in nine countries, Rat is an allegorical novel--about the laws that govern society, about our mythologies, truths and lies, behaviors and institutions, love and hope--as reflected in the gutters, drains and sewers where our close relative, the rat, lives.

"Tells the darkly humorous story of the French colonial state's failed efforts to impose its vision of modernity upon the colonial city of Hanoi, Vietnam. This book offers a case study in the history of imperialism, highlighting the racialized economic inequalities of empire, colonization as a form of modernization, and industrial capitalism's creation of a radical power differential between "the West and the rest." On a deeper level, The Great Hanoi Rat Hunt will engage the contradictions unique to the French Third Republic's colonial "civilizing mission," the development of Vietnamese resistance to French rule, the history of disease, and aspects of environmental history"--

That the Alaska Railroad was ever built is astonishing. It was constructed over the most treacherous terrain in the world during the most violent political era in US history. The workforce included anarchists, Bolsheviks, socialists, syndicalists, and labor union organizers against the backdrops of the First World War, Spanish Influenza, the Russian Revolution, American troops in Siberia to keep Russian Socialism from our shore, Japan's relentless gobbling of colonies from Southeast Asia to Siberia, and the Great Red Scare. It was built by the United States military to supply the United States Navy with coal and, in the process, closed coal mining in the Territory of Alaska – to the great anger of the private sector. Then there were the scammers, land speculators, Natives and their land claims, blacks and discrimination, sedition, wages in scrip, permafrost, freezeup/breakup, ration stamps, and environmental damage. A Rate's Nest of Rails is an in-the-weeds look at what it took to construct the only government-funded railway in American history.

‘Racso, a brash and boastful little rodent, is making his way to Thorn Valley, determined to learn how to read and write and become a hero. His bragging and lies get him off to a bad start, but a crisis gives him the opportunity to prove his mettle. A worthy successor [to Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, a Newbery Medal winner by the author's father].' 'BL. 1986 Children's Editors' Choices (BL) Children's Choices for 1987 (IRA/CBC) Notable 1986 Childrens' Trade Books in Social Studies (NCSS/CBC) 1986 Children's Books (NY Public Library) Best Science Fiction/Fantasy 1986 (VOYA)