Old Blue's Road
Old Blue's Road

Author: James Whiteside

Publisher: University Press of Colorado

Published: 2015-01-15

Total Pages: 295

ISBN-13: 1607323273

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In Old Blue’s Road, historian James Whiteside shares accounts of his motorcycle adventures across the American West. He details the places he has seen, the people he has met, and the personal musings those encounters prompted on his unique journeys of discovery. In 2005, Whiteside bought a Harley Davidson Heritage Softail, christened it “Old Blue,” and set off on a series of far-reaching motorcycle adventures. Over six years he traveled more than 15,000 miles. Part travelogue and part historical tour, this book takes the reader along for the ride. Whiteside’s travels to the Pacific Northwest, Yellowstone, Dodge City, Santa Fe, Wounded Knee, and many other locales prompt consideration of myriad topics—the ongoing struggle between Indian and mainstream American culture, the meaning of community, the sustainability of the West's hydraulic society, the creation of the national parks system, the Mormon experience in Utah, the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, and more. Delightfully funny and insightful, Old Blue’s Road links the colorful history and vibrant present from Whiteside’s unique vantage point, recognizing and reflecting on the processes of change that made the West what it is today. The book will interest the general reader and western historian alike, leading to new appreciation for the complex ways in which the American West's past and present come together.

The Class Choregus
The Class Choregus

Author: David E. Morine

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2014-03-07

Total Pages: 239

ISBN-13: 1568332688

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Ed Morley has a problem. He has five days to pass Amherst’s comprehensive exam in Fine Arts or he won’t graduate. Ed spent the past four years majoring in frat parties and rugby scrums, and after failing the comprehensive once, the odds are against him. However, taking on an obscure office known as the Class Choregus may propel him to a successful graduation. All he needs to do is lead the senior class in song during Commencement week—simple enough if he could read a note of music or carry a tune! As Ed navigates his personal comedy of errors, the specter of the Vietnam War looms over campus and a feeble anti-war protest is catalyzed into a fullscale rebellion. This is a tale of Eastern Seaboard colleges in the Sixties: fraternities, drinking, football, and scoring with “Beta honeys”—a world which is interrupted by the seriousness of the war in Vietnam. Even an apathetic jock like Morley is forced to consider his dilemma ina larger societal context. If the boys of A Separate Peace and A Catcher in the Rye continued to college, this is the world they would have entered. The Class Choregus belongs among the fine comic college novels which reveal to us the flip side of our fantasies and dreams.

These Old Blue Arms
These Old Blue Arms

Author: Jon Reiter

Publisher:

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 213

ISBN-13: 9780578089782

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Living a life most would only find in adventure novels, Amund Dietzel, went from shipwrecked sailor, to carnival attraction, to tattooer of great reputation. All of this under the auspices of the arts, which as a career can be as unforgiving as the sea, he carved out not only a life one would be proud to call theirs, but inspired many -- Back cover.

Defending the Old Dominion
Defending the Old Dominion

Author: Stuart Lee Butler

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 673

ISBN-13: 0761860398

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Defending the Old Dominion describes historical events in Virginia during the War of 1812, examining how Virginia's militia was organized, supplied, and financed by the Commonwealth. The book discusses the militia's unpreparedness in training, its lack of adequate ordnance and arms, and how that affected its ability to defend the state against British incursions during the war. Political activities of the Virginia legislature and the U.S. Congress are examined with special reference to how the state financed the war and its relationship with the U.S. government. The book includes the fascinating story of nearly two thousand former slaves who fled to British ships to fight in Virginia with British forces.