Cometography is a four-volume catalog of every comet observed throughout history. Volume II provides a complete discussion of every comet seen during the nineteenth century. Cometography uses the most reliable orbits known to determine the distances from the Earth and Sun at the time a comet was discovered and last observed, as well as the largest and smallest angular distance to the Sun, most northerly and southerly declination, closest distance to the Earth, and other details to enable the reader to understand the physical appearance of each well-observed comet. The book also provides non-technical details to help the reader better appreciate how the comet may have influenced various cultures at the time of its appearance. Cometography will be valuable to historians of science as well as providing amateur and professional astronomers with a definitive reference on comets through the ages.
The Texas Panhandle-its eastern edge descending sharply from the plains into the canyons of Palo Duro, Tule, Quitaque, Casa Blanca, and Yellow House-is as rich in history as it is in natural beauty. Long considered a crossroads of ancient civilizations, the twenty-six northernmost Texas counties lie on the southern reaches of the Great Plains, w...
Before the drought of the early twenty-first century, the dry benchmark in the American plains was the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. But in this eye-opening work, Kevin Z. Sweeney reveals that the Dust Bowl was only one cycle in a series of droughts on the U.S. southern plains. Reinterpreting our nation’s nineteenth-century history through paleoclimatological data and firsthand accounts of four dry periods in the 1800s, Prelude to the Dust Bowl demonstrates the dramatic and little-known role drought played in settlement, migration, and war on the plains. Stephen H. Long’s famed military expedition coincided with the drought of the 1820s, which prompted Long to label the southern plains a “Great American Desert”—a destination many Anglo-Americans thought ideal for removing Southeastern Indian tribes to in the 1830s. The second dry trend, from 1854 to 1865, drove bison herds northeastward, fomenting tribal warfare, and deprived Civil War armies in Indian Territory of vital commissary. In the late 1880s and mid-1890s, two more periods of drought triggered massive outmigration from the southern plains as well as appeals from farmers and congressmen for federal famine relief, pleas quickly denied by President Grover Cleveland. Sweeney’s interpretation of familiar events through the lens of drought lays the groundwork for understanding why the U.S. government’s reaction to the Dust Bowl of the 1930s was such a radical departure from previous federal responses. Prelude to the Dust Bowl provides new insights into pivotal moments in the settlement of the southern plains and stands as a timely reminder that drought, as part of a natural climatic cycle, will continue to figure in the unfolding history of this region.
From Kanorado to Pawnee villages, Kansas is a land rich in archaeological sites--nearly 12,000 known-that testify to its prehistoric heritage. This volume presents the first comprehensive overview of Kansas archaeology in nearly fifty years, containing the most current descriptions and interpretations of the state's archaeological record. Building on Waldo Wedel's classic Introduction to Kansas Archaeology, it synthesizes more than four decades of research and discusses all major prehistoric time periods in one readily accessible resource. In Kansas Archaeology, a team of distinguished contributors, all experts in their fields, synthesize what is known about the human presence in Kansas from the age of the mammoth hunters, circa 10,000 B.C., to Euro-American contact in the mid-nineteenth century. Covering such sites as Kanorado-one of the oldest in the Americas-the authors review prehistoric peoples of the Paleoarchaic era, Woodland cultures, Central Plains tradition, High Plains Upper Republican culture, Late Prehistoric Oneota, and Great Bend peoples. They also present material on three historic cultures: Wichita, Kansa, and Pawnee. The findings presented here shed new light on issues such as how people adapted to environmental shifts and the impact of technological innovation on social behavior. Included also are chapters on specialized topics such as plant use in prehistory, sources of stone for tool manufacture, and the effects of landscape evolution on sites. Chapters on Kansas culture history also reach into the surrounding region and offer directions for future inquiry. More than eighty illustrations depict a wide range of artifacts and material remains. An invaluable resource for archaeologists and students, Kansas Archaeology is also accessible to interested laypeople--anyone needing a summary of the material remains that have been found in Kansas. It demonstrates the major advances in our understanding of Kansas prehistory that have applications far beyond its borders and point the way toward our future understanding of the past.
Across more than six generations—beginning before the Revolutionary War—the Breckinridge family has produced a series of notable leaders. These often controversial men and women included a presidential candidate, a U.S. vice president, cabinet members, generals, women's rights advocates, congressmen, editors, reformers, authors, and church leaders. Along with success, the Breckinridges, like other Americans, faced hardship and war, contended with race, lived through difficult family situations—including a sex scandal—and encountered personal and political failure. An articulate, opinionated, and frank family, the Breckinridges have left a detailed record that allows us a vivid recreation of the range of American history and society.
