Cathryn J. Prince's Books

A Professor, A President, and A Meteor

The Birth of American Science

By: Cathryn J. Prince

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A Professor, A President, and A Meteor

The Birth of American Science

By: Cathryn J. Prince

When a fiery meteor crash in 1807 lit up the dark early-morning sky in Weston, Connecticut, it did more than startle the few farmers in the sleepy village. More importantly, it sparked the curiosity of Benjamin Silliman, a young chemistry professor at nearby Yale College. His rigorous investigation of the incident started a chain of events that eventually brought the once-low standing of American science to sudden international prominence. And, by coincidence, the event also embroiled Silliman in politics, pitting him against no less an adversary than President Thomas Jefferson. Based on a wealth of original source documents and interiews with current experts in history, astronomy, and geology, this journalist tells the remarkable story of Benjamin Silliman, arguably America’s first bonafide scientist. In a lively narrative rich with fascinating historical detail, the author documents the primitive state of American science at the time; Silliman’s careful analysis of the meteor samples; and the publication of his conclusions, which contradicted both popular superstitions regarding meteors as ominous portents and a common belief that meteors come from volcanic eruptions on the moon. She also describes Silliman’s struggles to build a chemistry department at Yale with rudimentary material; new insights into geology that resulted from his analysis of the meteor; and his report to the prestigious French Academy, which raised the prestige of American science. Finally, she discusses the political turbulence of the time, which Silliman could not escape, and how the meteor event was used to drive a wedge between New England and Jefferson. This is a fascinating vignette of Federal Period America when science on this continent was still in its infancy, but was just beginning to make its mark.

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254

Publisher

Prometheus Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

1616142723

ISBN 13

9781616142728

Death in the Baltic

The World War II Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff

By: Cathryn J. Prince

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Death in the Baltic

The World War II Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff

By: Cathryn J. Prince

The worst maritime disaster ever occurred during World War II, when more than 9,000 German civilians drowned. It went unreported. January 1945: The outcome of World War II has been determined. The Third Reich is in free fall as the Russians close in from the east. Berlin plans an eleventh-hour exodus for the German civilians trapped in the Red Army's way. More than 10,000 women, children, sick, and elderly pack aboard the Wilhelm Gustloff, a former cruise ship. Soon after the ship leaves port and the passengers sigh in relief, three Soviet torpedoes strike it, inflicting catastrophic damage and throwing passengers into the frozen waters of the Baltic. More than 9,400 perished in the night—six times the number lost on the Titanic. Yet as the Cold War started no one wanted to acknowledge the sinking. Drawing on interviews with survivors, as well as the letters and diaries of those who perished, award-wining author Cathryn J. Prince reconstructs this forgotten moment in history with Death in the Baltic. She weaves these personal narratives into a broader story, finally giving this WWII tragedy its rightful remembrance.

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Page Count

299

Publisher

Macmillan + ORM

Published Date

ISBN 10

1137333561

ISBN 13

9781137333568

American Daredevil

The Extraordinary Life of Richard Halliburton, the World's First Celebrity Travel Writer

By: Cathryn J. Prince

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American Daredevil

The Extraordinary Life of Richard Halliburton, the World's First Celebrity Travel Writer

By: Cathryn J. Prince

With a polished walking stick and neatly pressed trousers, Richard Halliburton served as an intrepid globetrotting guide for millions of Americans in the 1920s and '30s. Readers waited with bated breath for each new article and book he wrote. During his career, Halliburton climbed the Matterhorn, nearly fell out of his plane while shooting the first aerial photographs of Mount Everest, and became the first person to swim the full length of the Panama Canal. With his matinee idol looks, the Tennessee native was a media darling in an era of optimism and increased social openness. But as the Great Depression and looming war pushed America toward social conservatism, Halliburton more actively worked to hide his homosexuality, burnishing his image as a masculine trailblazer. No middle ground existed regarding Halliburton—he was either adored or abhorred. Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald called the Princeton graduate a poseur, a symbol of nouveau riche depravity. But most found his daredevil persona irresistible. As chronicled in American Daredevil, Halliburton harnessed the media of his day to gain and maintain a widespread following long before our age of the twenty-four-hour news cycle, and thus became the first adventure journalist. And during the darkest hours of the Great Depression, Halliburton did something remarkable: he inspired generations of authors, journalists, and everyday people who dreamed of fame and glory to explore the world.

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Page Count

376

Publisher

Chicago Review Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1613731620

ISBN 13

9781613731628

Queen of the Mountaineers

The Trailblazing Life of Fanny Bullock Workman

By: Cathryn J. Prince

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Queen of the Mountaineers

The Trailblazing Life of Fanny Bullock Workman

By: Cathryn J. Prince

Fanny Bullock Workman was a complicated and restless woman who defied the rigid Victorian morals she found as restrictive as a corset. With her frizzy brown hair tucked under a helmet, Workman was a force on and off the mountain. Instrumental in breaking the British stranglehold on Himalayan mountain climbing, this American woman climbed more peaks than any of her peers and became the first woman to map the far reaches of the Himalayas and the second to address the Royal Geographic Society of London, whose past members included Charles Darwin, Richard Francis Burton, and David Livingstone. Her books—replete with photographs, illustrations, and descriptions of meteorological conditions, glaciology, and the effect of high altitudes on humans—remained useful decades after their publication. Paving the way for a legion of female climbers, Workman's legacy lives on in scholarship prizes at Wellesley, Smith, Radcliffe, and Bryn Mawr.Author and journalist Cathryn J. Prince brings Fanny Bullock Workman to life, revealing how she navigated the male-dominated world of alpine clubs and adventure societies as nimbly as she navigated the deep crevasses and icy granite walls of the Himalayas. Queen of the Mountaineers is the story of one woman's role in science and exploration, breaking boundaries and charting frontiers for women everywhere.

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183

Publisher

Chicago Review Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1613739583

ISBN 13

9781613739587

Shot from the Sky

American POWs in Switzerland

By: Cathryn J Prince

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Shot from the Sky

American POWs in Switzerland

By: Cathryn J Prince

Now available in paperback, Shot from the Sky uncovers one of the great, dark secrets of World War II: neutral Switzerland shot and forced down U.S. aircraft entering Swiss airspace and imprisoned the survivors in internment camps, detaining more than a thousand American flyers between 1943 and the war’s end. While conditions at the camps were adequate and humane for internees who obeyed their captors’ orders, the experience was far different for those who attempted to escape. They were held in special penitentiary camps in conditions as bad as those in some prisoner-of-war camps in Nazi Germany. Ironically, the Geneva Accords at the time did not apply to prisoners held in neutral countries, so better treatment could not be demanded. When the war ended in Europe, sixty-one Americans lay buried in a small village cemetery near Bern. Cathryn J. Prince, brings to light details of this little-known episode as she describes the events and examines the Swiss justification for their policy. She demonstrates that while the Swiss claimed they satisfied international law, they applied the law in a grossly unfair manner. No German airmen were interned, and the Nazi aircraft were allowed to refuel at Swiss airfields. The author draws on first-person accounts and unpublished sources, including interviews with eyewitnesses and surviving American prisoners, and documents held by the Swiss government and the U.S. Air Force.

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Page Count

289

Publisher

Naval Institute Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1612513476

ISBN 13

9781612513478

A Professor, A President, and A Meteor

The Birth of American Science

By: Cathryn J. Prince

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A Professor, A President, and A Meteor

The Birth of American Science

By: Cathryn J. Prince

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254

Publisher

Prometheus Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

1616142723

ISBN 13

9781616142728

Death in the Baltic

The World War II Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff

By: Cathryn J. Prince

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Death in the Baltic

The World War II Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff

By: Cathryn J. Prince

Draws on survivor interviews and newly declassified records to offer insight into the sinking of the World War II refugee ship that killed over nine thousand people, an incident that was covered up by both Eastern and Western officials.

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Page Count

258

Publisher

Macmillan

Published Date

ISBN 10

023034156X

ISBN 13

9780230341562

Book's by Cathryn J. Prince

A Professor, A President, and A Meteor

A Professor, A President, and A Meteor

Death in the Baltic

Death in the Baltic

American Daredevil

American Daredevil

Queen of the Mountaineers

Queen of the Mountaineers

Shot from the Sky

Shot from the Sky

A Professor, A President, and A Meteor

A Professor, A President, and A Meteor

Death in the Baltic

Death in the Baltic

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