In early April 1861, the streets of West Chester, PA, echoed with the sound of a rattling snare drum. The orders it marked out could be heard for blocks around – about face, advance, retreat, company rest – but there were no troops in the city to hear it. The Civil War, though it loomed heavy on the minds of everyone in the nation, had not yet begun. Fort Sumter would remain in Union hands for another two weeks and the secession crisis in the south was yet still only a war of words. But on the one hundred block of Barnard Street, the children had already mustered. The children were already marching. And Charley King, a boy of only 11, was leading them. In a matter of days, the war would start in earnest. In just a few months, Charley would march with the 49th Pennsylvania Infantry into the heat of battle. And in just under a year and a half, he would become the youngest enlisted soldier to die in the American Civil War. Charley marched with Company F, tapping out the cadence and relaying orders as they fought in the ill-fated Peninsula Campaign, traveled in the long slog through Maryland during Robert E. Lee’s first invasion of the North, and faced down enemy artillery in the woods north of Sharpsburg at Antietam Creek. That battle remains the bloodiest day in American history. Charley and twenty-two thousand other Americans were killed or wounded that day. Charley’s final resting place is unknown, but he is memorialized in West Chester at Greenmount Cemetery where his mother and father are buried. Using a wide range of sources, this unique history reconstructs Charley’s short life and the tragedy of his claim as the youngest soldier to die in the American Civil War.

A lonely young boy stumbles upon an abandoned baby crow. Rescuing and nurturing the little bird, they will go on to share many adventures together as they become the unlikeliest of friends. But when summer ends and the new school year begins, he must face the choice of turning loose his little friend and the risk of never seeing him again.

Charley Alcott has always lived in the shadow of his older brother John. Compared to the handsome John, Charley was soft spoken, average looking and most likely to be ignored by people. But Charley was about to embark on a life-changing journey that would take him back to Charley’s Lake. Readers can follow him in this fascinating novel by Art Zahn. Brother John was taller than Charley and quite handsome. He was outgoing, suave, and shrewd—a carbon copy of their mother, Claire. He was clearly Claire’s favorite while Charley was the often-neglected second. Charley never understood his mother’s cold treatment of him, but it left him feeling insecure despite his achievements. The only place that he truly felt welcome was Lake Charles, which he has fondly nicknamed Charley’s Lake. When Charley became a lawyer, he was given a position with the prestigious law fi rm, Penicutt, Black, Rivers, and Penicutt. Due to his timidity, he was given menial tasks for three years. A rare chance in the courtroom resulted in a blunder, which sent Charley into the claims department of family owned Vesuvius Insurance Company. Claire and John had no idea what surprises were in store for them with this change. And at age twenty-eight, Charley Alcott decided he would search for his true identity. Will he fi nd the answers he is looking for in his haven, at Charley’s Lake? Readers can fi nd out as they follow his metamorphosis in this captivating read.

Noted guitarist John Fahey presents a textual and musicological examination of the music of blues legend Charley Patton. This new edition is enhanced by Fahey's notes from the Grammy-winning, out-of-print box set Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues: The Worlds of Charley Patton.

In Alaska a popular belt buckle reads: “Alaska is what America was.” This novel is about 1950 Alaska, when the state’s population was an unbelievably small ninety-eight thousand people, compared to today’s seven hundred thousand plus. And yet Alaska is still “The Last Frontier.” This book is about a time when adventure and challenge were daily in the wilderness as well as in the small towns and cities between the great Mountain Ranges. In particular in the far north where these five years of wilderness intimacy take place, of coming of age and old age, of migrating caribou, free roaming wolf packs, aerial hunters. denning bears and huge moose, constant daylight, constant night, and much, much more.

"I'm no ordinary woman..." Jack is in love with Kitty, Charley with Amy and both need Charley's Aunt to help. But when she doesn't turn up, they coerce their friend and fellow student into posing as the widowed millionaire, so they can confess their feelings to the girls. Things become more complicated when first, Jack's father and then Amy's uncle turn up. Both take a keen interest in Charley's Aunt, "from Brazil - where the nuts come from." One of the most popular comic farces of all time, Charley's Aunt has been loved since its original performances in 1893 and the continuous four year run that followed. The original dialogue is retained in this edition, refreshed with modern stage direction and a new introduction.