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This is W. H. Hudson's classic narrative of rural life in Wiltshire, England, in the late 1800s. Originally published in 1910, this remarkable book transports the reader to the vast downs of the Salisbury Plain--the domain of the shepherd, who lived a life that had changed little for centuries, yet was now confronting the inexorable approach of the modern world. This work vividly captures life at that particular time and place, and is primarily centered around telling the tale of a particular shepherd, Caleb Bawcombe, and relating his many anecdotes. Seemingly every subject related to a shepherd?s work and life, from his beloved sheep dog, to his often strained relationship to the local landowner, is discussed.
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It was another time. Deadly earthquakes, steamboat explosions, floods, train wrecks, and other tragedies were a part of everyday life in nineteenth-century California. Yet, the men and women of the day licked their wounds, mourned their dead, picked up the pieces, and plunged ahead to build a great prosperous new state that took its place in the forefront of our great Union. This is their stories, in their own words. First-person accounts of the major 19th century California catastrophes. Includes scores of contemporary period photographs and other illustrations.
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Introducing the victims and perpetrators responsible for California’s most notorious shootouts, lynchings, and assassinations, this account shows how homemade justice is never black-and-white. In relating these histories, this discussion also analyzes how and why Hollywood storylines almost always follow the same skewed and unrealistic arc in which the bad guys abuse the good guys, the good guy take the high road until the bad guy has gone too far, and the good guy picks off the bad guys, one by one, in an increasingly dramatic fashion.
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Subtitle: "Kidnappings During the Prohibition and Depression Eras." In California in the 1920s and 1930s, kidnappingnicknamed the snatch racket by a cynical newspapermanwas the most booming criminal enterprise around. Driven by greed, desperation and sometimes plain stupidity, ransom artists preyed indiscriminately on Hollywood socialites, wealthy heiresses and even poor people who couldnt pay a dime. Every new disappearance sold more newspapers, but for both the kidnappers and their unfortunate victims, even the simplest caper often went tragically wrong. California Snatch Racket brings this dark and forgotten era into shockingly vivid life. Richly illustrated, California Snatch Racket reflects newspaper, police, court and prison accounts of the times written in a style that places the reader on the scene. Avoiding supposition and sensationalism, the book offers true accounts of the crimes and the people. These 15 bizarre, often ironic tales illustrate the complex cruelties that flourished in the Golden Era of the Golden State. A modern city rises and lynches a pair of kidnappers. A victim begs leniency for his kidnapper in a case where a technicality demands the death penalty. A couple of college kids imitate the Leopold and Loeb kidnapping to prove their intellectual prowess and famed evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson fakes her own kidnapping to cover up an affair. California Snatch Racket recounts its stories in the manner of the times, while leaving judgment to the courts and the readers.
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Volume III: Stories include Firebaugh, Selma, Hanford, Fresno, Dunlap, Coalinga, Madera, Kingsburg, Fowler, Oakhurst, Mariposa
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"The Early History of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department". The dusty and lawless frontier of Los Angeles - a combustible mixture of Civil War veterans, failed gold prospectors, and desperadoes - experienced the highest recorded murder rate in U.S. history. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department was created to bring law and order to this treacherous, rough-and-tumble town.