It's 1911 and the secluded southwestern Alabama town of Old Texas has been besieged by a scabrous and malevolent character called E. O. Smonk. Syphilitic, consumptive, gouty and goitered, Smonk is also an expert with explosives and knives. He abhors horses, goats and the Irish. Every Saturday night for a year he's been riding his mule into Old Texas, destroying property, killing livestock, seducing women, cheating and beating men—all from behind the twin barrels of his Winchester 45-70 caliber over and under rifle. At last the desperate citizens of the town, themselves harboring a terrible secret, put Smonk on trial, with disastrous and shocking results. Thus begins the highly anticipated new novel from Tom Franklin, acclaimed author of Hell at the Breech and Poachers. Smonk is also the story of Evavangeline, a fifteen-year-old prostitute quick to pull a trigger or cork. A case of mistaken identity plunges her into the wild sugarcane country between the Alabama and Tombigbee rivers, land suffering from the worst drought in a hundred years and plagued by rabies. Pursued by a posse of unlikely vigilantes, Evavangeline boats upriver and then wends through the dust and ruined crops, forced along the way to confront her own clouded past. She eventually stumbles upon Old Texas, where she is fated to E. O. Smonk and the townspeople in a way she could never imagine. In turns hilarious, violent, bawdy and terrifying, Smonk creates its own category: It's a southern, not a western, peopled with corrupt judges and assassins, a cuckolded blacksmith, Christian deputies, widows, War veterans, whores, witches, madmen and zombies. By the time the smoke has cleared, the mystery of Smonk will be revealed, the survivors changed forever.
April, 1927: After months of rain, the Mississippi River has reached dangerous levels and the little town of Hobnob is under threat. Residents fear the levee will either explode under the pressure of the water or be blown by saboteurs from New Orleans, who wish to save their own city. But when an orphaned baby is found, the lives of Ingersoll, a blues-playing prohibition agent, and Dixie Clay, a bootlegger who is guarding a terrible secret, collide. Little can they imagine how events are about to change them - and the great South - forever. For in the dead of night, after thick, illusory fog, the levee will break...
An Edgar Award winner, Tom Franklin’s Poachers collects ten stunning, bleak tales set in the woodlands, swamps and chemical plants along the Alabama River. Staking his claim as a fresh, original Southern voice, Tom Frankin’s lyric, deceptively simple prose conjures a world where the default setting is violence, a world of hunting and fishing, gambling and losing, drinking and poaching—a world most of us have never seen. In the chilling title novella, three wild boys confront a mythic game warden as mysterious and deadly as the river they haunt. And, as a weathered, hand-painted sign reads: “Jesus is not coming.” This terrain isn’t pretty, isn’t for the weak of heart, but in these deperate, lost people, Franklin somehow finds the moments of grace that make them what they so abundantly are: human. “While he may occasionally wax sentimental about life in the impoverished South, Franklin’s style is often as laconic and simply spoken as his characters’ dialogue, sometimes close to Hemingway, but more often akin to Denis Johnson or Raymond Carver in its resonant ordinariness.” —Publishers Weekly
“Fast-paced and unrelentingly violent . . . readers looking for a strange and savage tale can’t go wrong” with this western from an Edgar Award–winning author (Publishers Weekly). From the New York Times–bestselling author of Hell at the Breech and Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter, a historical thriller in turns hilarious, bawdy and terrifying. It’s 1911 and the townsfolk of Old Texas, Alabama, have had enough. Every Saturday night for a year, E. O. Smonk has been destroying property, killing livestock, seducing women, cheating and beating men, all from behind the twin barrels of his Winchester 45-70 caliber over-and-under rifle. Syphilitic, consumptive, gouty, and goitered—an expert with explosives and knives—Smonk hates horses, goats, and the Irish, and it’s high time he was stopped. But capturing old Smonk won’t be easy—and putting him on trial could have shocking and disastrous consequences, considering the terrible secret the citizens of Old Texas are hiding. Praise for Tom Franklin: “I’m reminded, by the evocative strength of the prose and the relentlessness of the imagination, of William Faulkner.” —Philip Roth “It’s as if the author kidnapped Raymond Carver’s characters and set them loose in the Deep South.” —The New York Times Book Review
In the 1970s, Larry Ott and Silas "32" Jones were boyhood pals in a small town in rural Mississippi. Their worlds were as different as night and day: Larry was the child of lower-middle-class white parents, and Silas, the son of a poor, black single mother. But then Larry took a girl to a drive-in movie and she was never seen or heard from again. He never confessed . . . and was never charged. More than twenty years have passed. Larry lives a solitary, shunned existence, never able to rise above the whispers of suspicion. Silas has become the town constable. And now another girl has disappeared, forcing two men who once called each other "friend" to confront a past they've buried for decades.
In 1897, an aspiring politician is mysteriously murdered in the rural area of Alabama known as Mitcham Beat. His outraged friends -- —mostly poor cotton farmers -- form a secret society, Hell-at-the-Breech, to punish the townspeople they believe responsible. The hooded members wage a bloody year-long campaign of terror that culminates in a massacre where the innocent suffer alongside the guilty. Caught in the maelstrom of the Mitcham war are four people: the aging sheriff sympathetic to both sides; the widowed midwife who delivered nearly every member of Hell-at-the-Breech; a ruthless detective who wages his own war against the gang; and a young store clerk who harbors a terrible secret. Based on incidents that occurred a few miles from the author's childhood home, Hell at the Breech chronicles the events of dark days that led the people involved to discover their capacity for good, evil, or for both.
In 1897, in the rural southwestern area of Alabama known as Mitcham Beat, an aspiring politician is mysteriously murdered. Seeking retribution, his outraged friends -- mostly poor cotton farmers -- form a secret society, Hell-at-the-Breech, to punish the townspeople they believe are responsible. The hooded members of this gang wage a bloody year-long campaign of terror that culminates in a massacre, where the innocent suffer alongside the guilty. Caught in the maelstrom of the Mitcham War are four people: the county's aging sheriff, sympathetic to both sides; the widowed midwife who delivered nearly every member of Hell-at-the-Breech; a ruthless detective who wages his own private war against the gang; and a young store clerk harboring a terrible secret. Based on incidents that occurred a few miles from the author's childhood home, Hell at the Breech chronicles the dark events of dark days, events that lead the people involved to discover their capacity for good, for evil, or for both. It is a mesmerizing and unforgettable display of talent by a writer of immeasurable gifts.
In 1927, as the Mississippi river threatens to burst its banks and engulf all in its path, two federal revenue agents investigate the disappearance of two fellow agents on the trail of a local bootlegger and make a discovery that pits them against a saboteur, forcing them to make desperate choices. 100,000 first printing.
History meets humor in this interactive Benjamin Franklin biography. Laugh and learn as this American hero makes the toughest choices of his life. Perfect for readers of Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales. You're Benjamin Franklin: inventor, humorist, diplomat-spy, and Founding Father. To rise from humble beginnings and become an American hero, you have to weigh the facts, trust your gut, and make tough choices that will forge America's destiny. No pressure! In this tongue-in-cheek biography, father-daughter team Tom and Leila Hirschfeld explore eleven critical decisions that shaped Ben's incredible life. With over 100 pieces of archival and original art, fun facts, historical trivia, sidebars, and more, follow Ben's footsteps through the smart calls and near misses that launched his career and helped unite the United States!
For decades, Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanack provided sage advice and commentary on eighteenth-century America. Now, a modern businessman reflects—writing as Benjamin Franklin—on what America has become. Federal and personal debt are ballooning beyond sustainable levels. Our futures are being jeopardized. Partisan bickering and the entrenched powers of special interests have made it nearly impossible for a real leader to lead. Where is a good American to turn? How about to the man who wrote this timeless observation: “A small leak will sink a great ship”? Ben is back! With his signature intelligence and wit (not to mention a good sprinkling of aphorisms both old and new), Benjamin Franklin, through Tom Blair, moves from the national deficit to Wall Street, from health care to marital bliss. The result is electrifying.
Every schoolchild in America knows that Benjamin Franklin flew a kite during a thunderstorm in the summer of 1752. Electricity from the clouds above traveled down the kite's twine and threw a spark from a key that Franklin had attached to the string. He thereby proved that lightning and electricity were one. What many of us do not realize is that Franklin used this breakthrough in his day's intensely competitive field of electrical science to embarrass his French and English rivals. His kite experiment was an international event and the Franklin that it presented to the world -- a homespun, rural philosopher-scientist performing an immensely important and dangerous experiment with a child's toy -- became the Franklin of myth. In fact, this sly presentation on Franklin's part so charmed the French that he became an irresistible celebrity when he traveled there during the American Revolution. The crowds and the journalists, and the ladies, cajoled the French powers into joining us in our fight against the British. What no one has successfully proven until now -- and what few have suggested -- is that Franklin never flew the kite at all. Benjamin Franklin was an enthusiastic hoaxer. And with the electric kite, he performed his greatest hoax. As Tucker shows, it was this trick that may have won the American Revolution.
Franklin Benjamin Sanborn was born December 15, 1831, in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire. In 1850, Sanborn studied Greek with a private tutor then entered Phillips Exeter Academy and, after, entered Harvard, from which he graduated in 1855. Sanborn moved to Concord, Massachusetts, where he taught school. Active in politics as a member of the Free Soil Party in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, in 1856 Sanborn became Secretary of the Massachusetts Kansas Commission, where he came into contact with John Brown. Sanborn was one of The Secret Six, who knew in advance of Browns impending raid on Harper's Ferry in October 1859. On the night of April 3, 1860, five federal marshals from Virginia arrived at Sanborn's Concord home, handcuffed him, and attempted to wrestle him into a waiting coach in order to take him to Washington, DC, to answer questions before the Senate regarding his entanglements with John Brown. Some 150 townspeople rushed to his defense. Louisa May Alcott wrote a friend, "Sanborn was nearly kidnapped. Great ferment in town. Annie Whiting immortalized herself by getting into the kidnapper's carriage so that they could not put the long legged martyr in." Though Sanborn would disavow his having had any advance knowledge of John Browns attack, he would defend Browns actions to the end of his life, assisting in the support of his widow and children and making periodic pilgrimages in later years to John Brown's grave. He would not only write a biography of John Brown but also of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Samuel Gridley Howe, and others. From 1863 to 1867 Sanborn was editor of the Boston Commonwealth, from 1867 to 1897 editor of the Journal of Social Science, and from 1868 to 1914 a correspondent of the Springfield Republican. He was associated with the National Conference of Charities, the National Prison Association, the Massachusetts Infant Asylum, and the Clarke School for the Deaf. In 1863, he became secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of Charities. He was secretary from 1863 to 1868 and again from 1874 to 1876. In 1865, he was one of the founders of the American Social Science Association and was its secretary from 1865 to 1897. In 1879 he became state inspector of Massachusetts Charities under a new board and helped reorganize the entire charities system, focusing especially on the care of children and insane persons. He served as chairman until 1888. Sanborn was twice married. In 1854, he married Ariana Walker, who died just eight days later. Sanborn courted the nineteen-year-old daughter of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Edith Emerson, proposing to her in 1861. He was rejected. In 1862, Sanborn married his cousin Louisa Leavitt, who had worked as a schoolteacher at the Concord school Sanborn had founded. They would have three sons. In the end, Sanborn was revered as a relic from a golden age gone by a tall and venerable figure moving picturesquely through Boston and Concord. He died on February 24, 1917, after being struck by a railway baggage cart during a visit to his son Francis in New Jersey. He was buried at the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, near the graves of his friends and mentors Ralph Waldo Emerson, Bronson Alcott, Ellery Channing, and Henry Thoreau. Concord's flags were flown at half-mast for three days. At the end of the month, February 1917, just prior to America's entering World War I, the Massachusetts House of Representatives recognized Sanborns dedication to the unfortunate, the diseased, and the despised.
This unique, user-friendly guide follows Benjamin Franklin's footsteps through Philadelphia. The author takes a chronological journey through surviving landmarks from the Founding Father's time and the sites that preserve his legacy today. On his way, he speaks to curators, park rangers, and even Franklin impersonators to tell the story of this fascinating American icon. • Visitor information on Franklin sites • Convenient walking tour • Helpful maps
Six different dolls representing President and his wife at three different ages; 29 outfits, plus costumed groups of Roosevelt children and grandchildren. Descriptive notes.
What would Ben Franklin say if he could see us today? For decades, Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanack provided sage advice and commentary on eighteenth-century America. Now, a modern businessman reflects—writing as Benjamin Franklin—on what America has become. Federal and personal debt are ballooning beyond sustainable levels. Our futures are being jeopardized. Partisan bickering and the entrenched powers of special interests have made it nearly impossible for a real leader to lead. Where is a good American to turn? How about to the man who wrote this timeless observation: “A small leak will sink a great ship”? Ben is back! With his signature intelligence and wit (not to mention a good sprinkling of aphorisms both old and new), Benjamin Franklin, through Tom Blair, moves from the national deficit to Wall Street, from health care to marital bliss. The result is electrifying.
This unique, user-friendly guide follows Benjamin Franklin's footsteps through Philadelphia. The author takes a chronological journey through surviving landmarks from the Founding Father's time and the sites that preserve his legacy today. On his way, he speaks to curators, park rangers, and even Franklin impersonators to tell the story of this fascinating American icon. • Visitor information on Franklin sites • Convenient walking tour • Helpful maps
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