The Edge Of The Swamp

The flowering of literary imagination known as the American Renaissance had few roots in the South. While Hawthorne, Emerson, Melville, Thoreau, and Whitman were creating a body of work that would endure, the only southern writer making a lasting contribution was Edgar Allan Poe. This failure on the part of antebellum southern writers has long been a subject of debate among students of southern history and literature. Now one of the region's most distinguished men of letters offers a cogently argued and gracefully written account of the circumstances that prevented early southern writers from creating transcendent works of art. Louis D. Rubin, Jr., brings forty years of critical integrity and imaginative involvement with the history and literature of the South to his informal inquiry into the foundations of the southern literary imagination. His exploration centers on the lives and works of three of the most important writers of the pre-Civil War South: Poe, William Gilmore Simms, and Henry Timrod. In a close and highly original reading of Poe's poetry and fiction, Rubin shows just how profoundly growing up in Richmond, Virginia, influenced that writer. The sole author of the Old South whose work has endured did not use southern settings or concern himself with his region's history or politics. Poe was, according to Rubin, in active rebellion against the middle-class community of Richmond and its materialistic values. Simms, on the other hand, aspired to the plantation society ideal of his native Charleston, South Carolina. He was not the most devoted and energetic of southern writers and one of the country's best-known and most respected literary figures before the Civil War. Rubin finds an explanation for much of the lost promise of antebellum southern literature in Simms's career. Here was a talented man who got caught up in the politically obsessed plantation community of Charleston, becoming an apologist for the system and an ardent defender of slavery. Timrod, also a Charlestonian native, was a highly gifted poet whose work attained the stature of literature when the Civil War gave him a theme. He was known as the poet laureate of the Confederacy. Only when his region was locked in a desperate military struggle for the right to exist did he suddenly find his enduring voice. Anyone interested in southern life and literature will welcome his provocative and engaging new look at southern writing from one of the region's most perceptive critics.

Within these covers are stories about a group of risk-takers and adrenaline junkies who lived a life of stimulating and challenging activity. It is a rollicking adventure account of men who chose awilderness avocation and lifestyle in lieu of comfort and leisure for their relaxation. This is also a travelogue about much of the backcountry of this nation. Their journeys into these wilderness areas lasted over twenty years comprising some seventy expeditions into places like the Everglades, Okefenokee Swamp, Appalachian Trail, Pesidential Range, and the desert of Joshua Tree. Learn about these locations and other backwoods areas, primarily in the mountain states of Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming. Read about these unusual people and the physical trials they put their aging bodies through as they pursued their passion, searching for refuge from their work, and adventure in their lives to help calm their craving for fun and new experiences. Importantly, they wanted to be explorers and to see what was over the horizon. Their interest level had no valley and no summit. It was limitless. They were not purists in the sense of following the conventional standards of "roughing it" in the wilderness. Instead, they did it their way. They were the real thing and enjoyed living on the edge. Not many people do. There is humor, philosophy, lessons on field-craft, and dubious judgment noted in their journeys. These should appeal to all readers with similar inclinations despite age or gender. I am thankful to have been a member of this group, and wish we could do it again. We would try, if we had the stamina.

In a world filled with breathtaking beauty, we have often overlooked the elusive magic of certain landscapes. A cloudy river flows into an Arctic wetland where sandhill cranes and muskoxen dwell. Further south, cypress branches hang low over dismal swamps. Places like these-collectively known as swamplands or peatlands-often go unnoticed for their ecological splendor. They are as globally significant as rainforests, yet, because of their reputation as wastelands, they are being systematically drained and degraded. Swamplands celebrates these wild places, as journalist Edward Struzik highlights the unappreciated struggle to save peatlands by scientists, conservationists, and landowners around the world. An ode to peaty landscapes in all their offbeat glory, the book is also a demand for awareness of the myriad threats they face. It inspires us to see the beauty and importance in these least likely of places­. Our planet's survival might depend on it.

"Boris, a swamp creature who was adopted by human parents, starts to question where he truly belongs"--

In this new series by #1 bestselling—and critically-acclaimed—mystery and suspense author Kate Bold, Camille Grace, a rising star in the FBI’s BAU unit, is dispatched to the one place she vowed to never return: the deep South. When bodies turn up in the swamps, victims of alligator attacks, something seems awry, and Camille must discover if this is mother nature—or the work of a new serial killer. “Phenomenal debut with a huge creep factor… So many twists and turns, you’ll have no idea who the next victim will be. If you love a thriller that will keep you awake well into the night, this book is for you.” —Reader review for Let Me Go Camille clashes with her partner, convinced there is more to the deaths than alligator attacks—and yet she, herself, is puzzled: who would commit such a twisted crime? Why? At the same time, Camille feels compelled to dive back into her sister’s cold case, and into the disappearance that has haunted her for her entire life. Might she find a new lead? First, though, she must race a ticking clock to save the next victim in time. Unless the killer finds her first. A riveting psychological crime thriller full of mystery and suspense, the CAMILLE GRACE mystery series will make you fall in love with a brilliant new female protagonist. Packed with twists and turns, her story will keep you flipping pages late into the night. The series begins with NOT ME (book #1), and books #3-#8 in the series are now also available. “This is an excellent book… When you start reading, be sure you don’t have to wake up early!” —Reader review for The Killing Game “I really enjoyed this book… It draws you in right away and keeps you turning the pages right up to the end. I am really anticipating the next book.” —Reader review for Let Me Go “WOW what a great read! Talk about a diabolical killer! Really enjoyed this book. Looking forward to reading others by this author as well.” —Reader review for The Killing Game “Excellent start to a new series… Get this book and read it, you will love it!” —Reader review for Let Me Go “Captivating and riveting serial murder with a twist of the macabre… Very well done.” —Reader review for The Killing Game “Good read with good plot, plenty of action, and great character development. A thriller that will keep you awake into the night.” —Reader review for Let Me Go

For Julia Sims, photography originally served as an excuse to spend time in the Manchac Swamp. She had turned to the swamp for solace after a family tragedy and visited the swamp frequently. As her concern for the vanishing wetlands grew, she was inspired to document the swamp and share her love of nature with the world. Veiled behind dense drapes of Spanish moss and walls of wondrous cypress trees, Manchac Swamp is a wilderness jewel accessible only by boat. Drawn to the swamp's mystery and eventually captivated by its peace, Sims spent 15 years patiently penetrating its secrets. The result, trapped on film, is the many moods, flora, and fauna of this hidden world. Now, in this stunning album of her photographs, a glimpse of that quintessential Louisiana place in its seasonal variations is offered to all. In an evocative introduction to the book, John Kemp draws upon his interviews with several residents. They are a rare group who are known as guardians of the swamp and consider their existence a study in life as they learn to coexist with the majesty that surrounds them. An enigmatic group, they make their living off of the land. As deteriorating environmental conditions reduce or eliminate wildlife, there is, in turn, a diminished harvest for them as trappers, hunters, and fishermen-and a diminished heritage for all of us.

This edition includes: Novels: A Search for a Secret All But Lost Out on the Pampas The Young Franc-Tireurs The Young Buglers The Cornet of Horse In Times of Peril Facing Death, The Hero of the Vaughan Pit Winning His Spurs Friends Though Divided Jack Archer Under Drake's Flag By Sheer Pluck With Clive in India In Freedom's Cause St. George For England True to the Old Flag The Young Colonists The Dragon and the Raven For Name and Fame The Lion of the North Through the Fray The Bravest of the Brave A Final Reckoning The Young Carthaginian With Wolfe in Canada Bonnie Prince Charlie For the Temple In the Reign of Terror Orange and Green Captain Bayley's Heir The Cat of Bubastes The Curse of Carne's Hold The Lion of St. Mark By Pike and Dyke One of the 28th With Lee in Virginia By England's Aid By Right of Conquest Chapter of Adventures Maori and Settler The Dash For Khartoum Held Fast for England Redskin and Cowboy Beric the Briton Condemned as a Nihilist In Greek Waters Rujub, the Juggler Dorothy's Double A Jacobite Exile Saint Bartholomew's Eve Through the Sikh War In the Heart of the Rockies When London Burned A Girl of the Commune Wulf The Saxon A Knight of the White Cross Through Russian Snows The Tiger of Mysore At Agincourt On the Irrawaddy The Queen's Cup With Cochrane the Dauntless Colonel Thorndyke's Secret A March on London With Frederick the Great With Moore at Corunna Among Malay Pirates At Aboukir and Acre Both Sides the Border The Golden Cañon The Stone Chest The Lost Heir Under Wellington's Command In the Hands of the Cave Dwellers No Surrender A Roving Commission Won by the Sword In the Irish Brigade Out With Garibaldi With Buller in Natal At the Point of the Bayonet To Herat and Cabul With Roberts to Pretoria The Treasure of the Incas With Kitchener in the Soudan With the British Legion Through Three Campaigns With the Allies to Pekin By Conduct and Courage Short Stories Historical Works ...