This relatively short book is widely regarded as the best on the apparition of Our Lady in 1531 in Mexico City. Tells the complete story, from the Conquest of Mexico and the conversion of the Aztecs, through the development of the devotion and into the modern era. Shows that the picture is not a painting, but more like a photograph, and how under normal circumstances it should have disintegrated in 20 or 30 years. Describes several miracles that saved it and the remarkable power of the devotion. An enthralling story and an essential devotion.
Mary In Our Life: An Atlas of the Names and Titles of Mary, The Mother of Jesus, and Their Place in Marian Devotion presents the 1,969 names, titles, and appellations used to identify the Blessed Virgin Mary over the centuries in terms of their history and related events. Within these titles and their history can be seen the official and private attitudes and prejudices of the times; government pressures, conflicts, and interdictions; internal problems within the Catholic Church; and startling examples of dedication, devotion, and piety. Taken together, Marian titles are a real-life story of the Catholic faith.
Known and named for its lush, green surroundings, Greenwood, South Carolina, has recently been branded with the following statement: "There's Always Something Blooming in Greenwood." However, after reading Ghost Stories of Uptown Greenwood, you may find that this quaint town deserves a new slogan: "You're Never Alone in Uptown Greenwood"! Ghost Stories of Uptown Greenwood includes a multitude of hauntings and ghostly happenings that have been experienced and reported by average, everyday, unsuspecting people. These stories may entice you to ask yourself: "Is it possible that ghosts really do exist?" Additionally, they may give you the travel bug so you can see for yourself if these tales hold any credibility, especially if Greenwood isn't that far of a jaunt. Sit back, relax, enjoy the stories held within this book, and ask yourself the ever-important question . . . do you believe in ghosts?
In 1861, brothers Daniel and Pressley Boyd left their farm in Abbeville County, South Carolina to join the Confederate army. William, Thomas and Andrew soon followed, along with brother-in-law Fenton Hall. During the Civil War, they collectively fought in almost every theater of the conflict and saw firsthand every aspect of soldier life--from death and illness to friendly fire and desertion. By war's end only Daniel survived. Based on their extensive personal correspondence, this updated edition includes 30 never before published letters, along with new research revealing additional family background and undiscovered information about the fates of the Boyd brothers and other family members.
Master storyteller Sherman Carmichael is back with more mysterious tales from South Carolina--from Plantersville to Loris and from Beaufort to Clinton. Many of these stories have been told and retold throughout generations, like the red-eyed specter that roams the stairwells of Wilson Hall at Converse College or the haunted grave site of Agnes of Glasgow in Camden. In 1987, a construction company unearthed the bodies of fourteen Union soldiers from the Civil War--twelve of the bodies were found without their heads. The Abbeville Opera House has a chair that remains open to this day for a patron who visited long ago. Join Carmichael for these and many more rare and offbeat stories from South Carolina.
Between 1838 and the early 1890s, German peasant farmers from the Kingdom of Hanover made their way to Lafayette County, Missouri, to form a new community centered on the town of Concordia. Their story has much to tell us about the American immigrant experience--and about how newcomers were caught up in the violence that swept through their adoptive home. Robert Frizzell grew up near Concordia, and in this first book-length history of the German settlement, he chronicles its life and times during those formative years. Founded by Hanoverian Friedrich Dierking--known as "Dierking the Comforter" for the aid he gave his countrymen--the Concordia settlement blossomed from 72 households in 1850 to 375 over the course of twenty years. Frizzell traces that growth as he examines the success of early agricultural efforts, but he also tells how the community strayed from the cultural path set by its freethinker founder to become a center of religious conservatism. Drawing on archival material from both sides of the Atlantic, Frizzell offers a compelling account for scholars and general readers alike, showing how Concordia differed from other German immigrant communities in America. He also explores the conditions in Hanover--particularly the village of Esperke, from which many of the settlers hailed--that caused people to leave, shedding new light on theological, political, and economic circumstances in both the Old World and the New. When the Civil War came, the antislavery Hanoverians found themselves in the Missouri county with the greatest number of slaves, and the Germans supported the Union while most of their neighbors sympathized with Confederate guerrillas. Frizzell tells how the notorious "Bloody Bill" Anderson attacked the community three times, committing atrocities as gruesome as any recorded in the state--then how the community flourished after the war and even bought out the farmsteads of former slaveholders. Frizzell's account challenges many historians' assumptions about German motives for immigration and includes portraits of families and individuals that show the high price in toil and blood required to meet the challenges of making a home in a new land. Independent Immigrants reveals the untold story of these newcomers as it reveals a little-known aspect of the Civil War in Missouri.
From vampires and demons to ghosts and zombies, interest in monsters in literature, film, and popular culture has never been stronger. This concise Encyclopedia provides scholars and students with a comprehensive and authoritative A-Z of monsters throughout the ages. It is the first major reference book on monsters for the scholarly market. Over 200 entries written by experts in the field are accompanied by an overview introduction by the editor. Generic entries such as 'ghost' and 'vampire' are cross-listed with important specific manifestations of that monster. In addition to monsters appearing in English-language literature and film, the Encyclopedia also includes significant monsters in Spanish, French, Italian, German, Russian, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, African and Middle Eastern traditions. Alphabetically organized, the entries each feature suggestions for further reading. The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters is an invaluable resource for all students and scholars and an essential addition to library reference shelves.