MY JOURNEY THROUGH THE "FDNY" THE NEW YORK CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT IN THE 1960'S AND 70'S WILL EXPOSE MUCH OF WHAT I HAVE WITNESSED. THE MANY HEROIC DEEDS, THE HISTORIC SYSTEMATIC CULTURAL RACISM, THE ETHNIC FAVORITISM, THE ACCEPTED GLORIFIED EMBELLISHMENTS, AND THE INDIFFERENCE THAT PREVAILED IN SOMANY OF THE BLACK COMMUNITIES DURING THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT OF THAT TIME. I NEVER ALLOWED MY FIREFIGHTER'S LIFE'S PURPOSE TO CONSIDER ONE'S GENDER, COLOR OR RELIGION TO PREVENT ME FROM STEPPING IN HARM'S DEADLY PATH, IN THE PRESERVATION OF A LIFE UNKNOWN TO ME. LT. BILL HIGH.., FDNY
The first biography of the little-known real-life Tom Sawyer, told through a harrowing account of Sawyer's involvement in the hunt for a serial arsonist who terrorized mid-nineteenth century San Francisco. When San Francisco Daily Morning Call reporter Mark Twain met Tom Sawyer in 1863, he was seeking a subject for his first novel. He learned that Sawyer was a volunteer firefighter, local hero, and a former “Torch Boy,” racing ahead of hand-drawn fire engines at night carrying torches to light the way. When a mysterious serial arsonist known as “The Lightkeeper” was in the process of burning San Francisco to the ground, Sawyer played a key role in stopping him, helping to contain what is now considered the most disastrous and costly series of fires ever experienced by an American metropolis. By chronicling how Sawyer took it upon himself to investigate, expose, and stop the arsonist, Black Fire details Sawyer’s remarkable life and illustrates why Twain would later feel compelled to name his iconic character after him when writing The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. A vivid portrayal of the gritty, corrupt, and violent world of the Gold Rush-era West, Black Fire is the most vibrant and thorough account of Sawyer’s relationship with Mark Twain, and of the devastating fires that baptized San Francisco.
Many American Christians remain ignorant of black Pentacostalism. In this expansive historical overview, Estrelda Alexander recounts the story of African American Pentecostal origins and development. Whether you come from this tradition or you just want to learn more, this book will unfold all the dimensions of this important movement's history and contribution to the life of the church.
Blackfire: The Rise of the Creeping Moors (Volume II of the trilogy) continues the story of four unlikely teenagers who are summoned by a mysterious stranger to save another world being destroyed by evil. Elli Adams and her friends Beatriz, Jamie, and Alex must overcome challenges of blindness, self-confidence, and Down syndrome as they struggle together to fulfill their mysterious calling as Bairnmoor's last prophetic hope. Join them as they adventure through singing forests and stardust valleys full of mystical, glorious, and ferocious creatures, all of which test their resolve in the face of overwhelming adversity. Eckblad's novel wrestles with the age-old questions of Good and Evil and the nature of the heroic life, even as it provides a fresh perspective on how we can have faith in the Good against every indication that Evil is prevailing―and how each of us can be immensely more than we seem to be.
The first biography of the little-known real-life Tom Sawyer (a friend of Mark Twain during his brief tenure as a California newspaper reporter), told through a harrowing account of Sawyer's involvement in the hunt for a serial arsonist who terrorized mid-nineteenth century San Francisco. When 28-year-old San Francisco Daily Morning Call reporter Mark Twain met Tom Sawyer at a local bathhouse in 1863, he was seeking a subject for his first novel. As Twain steamed, played cards, and drank beer with Sawyer (a volunteer firefighter, customs inspector, and local hero responsible for having saved ninety lives at sea), he had second thoughts about Shirley Tempest, his proposed book about a local girl firefighter, and began to envision a novel of wider scope. Twain learned that a dozen years earlier the then eighteen-year-old New York-born Sawyer had been a “Torch Boy,” one of the youths who raced ahead of the volunteer firemen’s hand-drawn engines at night carrying torches to light the way, always aware that a single spark could reduce the all-wood city of San Francisco to ashes in an instant. At that time a mysterious serial arsonist known by some as “The Lightkeeper” was in the process of burning San Francisco to the ground six times in eighteen months – the most disastrous and costly series of fires ever experienced by any American metropolis. Black Fire is the most thorough and accurate account of Sawyer’s relationship with Mark Twain and of the six devastating incendiary fires that baptized one of the modern world’s favorite cities. Set amid a scorched landscape of burning roads, melting iron warehouses, exploding buildings, and deadly gangs who extorted and ruled by fear, it includes the never-before-told stories of Sawyer’s heroism during the sinking of the steamship Independence and the crucial role Sawyer and the Torch Boys played in solving the mystery of the Lightkeeper. Drawing on archival sources such as actual San Francisco newspaper interviews with Sawyer and the handwritten police depositions of the arrest of the Lightkeeper, bestselling author Robert Graysmith vividly portrays the gritty, corrupt, and violent world of Gold Rush-era San Francisco, overrun with gunfighters, hooligans, hordes of gold prospectors, crooked politicians, and vigilantes. By chronicling how Sawyer took it upon himself to investigate, expose, and stop the arsonist, Black Fire details – for the first time – Sawyer’s remarkable life and illustrates why Twain would later feel compelled to name his iconic character after his San Francisco buddy when he wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
Four unlikely teenagers are summoned to quest for the salvation of a perpendicular world. Elli Adams and her friends Beatriz, Jamie, and Alex must overcome their own personal challenges of blindness, self-confidence, and Down syndrome as they struggle together to fulfill their mysterious calling as Bairnmoor's last prophetic hope. Join them on an adventure through singing forests and stardust valleys full of mystical, glorious, and ferocious creatures, all of which test their resolve in the face of overwhelming adversity. James Eckblad's novel wrestles with the age-old questions of good and evil and the nature of the heroic life. The story offers a fresh and challenging perspective on how one can have faith in the good against every indication that evil is thriving, if not prevailing, and how every child--and so all of us--can be immensely more than we are, and all we were meant to be.
Blackfire: The Girl with the Diamond Key (Volume III of the trilogy) concludes the story of four unlikely teenagers who are summoned by a mysterious stranger to save another world being destroyed by evil. Elli Adams and her friends Beatriz, Jamie, and Alex must overcome challenges of blindness, self-confidence, and Down syndrome as they struggle together to fulfill their mysterious calling as Bairnmoor’s last prophetic hope. Join them as they adventure through singing forests and stardust valleys full of mystical, glorious, and ferocious creatures, all of which test their resolve in the face of overwhelming adversity. Eckblad’s novel wrestles with the age-old questions of Good and Evil and the nature of the heroic life, even as it provides a fresh perspective on how we can have faith in the Good against every indication that Evil is prevailing―and how each of us can be immensely more than we seem to be.
MY JOURNEY THROUGH THE "FDNY" THE NEW YORK CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT IN THE 1960'S AND 70'S WILL EXPOSE MUCH OF WHAT I HAVE WITNESSED. THE MANY HEROIC DEEDS, THE HISTORIC SYSTEMATIC CULTURAL RACISM, THE ETHNIC FAVORITISM, THE ACCEPTED GLORIFIED EMBELLISHMENTS, AND THE INDIFFERENCE THAT PREVAILED IN SOMANY OF THE BLACK COMMUNITIES DURING THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT OF THAT TIME. I NEVER ALLOWED MY FIREFIGHTER'S LIFE'S PURPOSE TO CONSIDER ONE'S GENDER, COLOR OR RELIGION TO PREVENT ME FROM STEPPING IN HARM'S DEADLY PATH, IN THE PRESERVATION OF A LIFE UNKNOWN TO ME. LT. BILL HIGH.., FDNY
From a leading journalist and activist comes a brave, beautifully wrought memoir. When Darnell Moore was fourteen, three boys from his neighborhood tried to set him on fire. They cornered him while he was walking home from school, harassed him because they thought he was gay, and poured a jug of gasoline on him. He escaped, but just barely. It wasn't the last time he would face death. Three decades later, Moore is an award-winning writer, a leading Black Lives Matter activist, and an advocate for justice and liberation. In No Ashes in the Fire, he shares the journey taken by that scared, bullied teenager who not only survived, but found his calling. Moore's transcendence over the myriad forces of repression that faced him is a testament to the grace and care of the people who loved him, and to his hometown, Camden, NJ, scarred and ignored but brimming with life. Moore reminds us that liberation is possible if we commit ourselves to fighting for it, and if we dream and create futures where those who survive on society's edges can thrive. No Ashes in the Fire is a story of beauty and hope-and an honest reckoning with family, with place, and with what it means to be free.
