New York Times bestselling author"--Cover.

A realistic account of life on the river in 1812. With talk of a coming war with England, Manuel Lisa, an experienced trader, is in St. Louis preparing his river expedition for a dangerous journey on the Upper Missouri. While there, a ragged man with an odd air of quality about him, comes to see Lisa in hopes of joining his keelboat mission -- Amazon.com

An indispensable guide for hawk watchers, this is a completely new edition of the seminal book that introduced a holistic method for identifying distant birds in flight.

The New York Times–bestselling author of H is for Hawk explores the human relationship to the natural world in this “dazzling” essay collection (Wall Street Journal). In Vesper Flights, Helen Macdonald brings together a collection of her best loved essays, along with new pieces on topics ranging from nostalgia for a vanishing countryside to the tribulations of farming ostriches to her own private vespers while trying to fall asleep. Meditating on notions of captivity and freedom, immigration and flight, Helen invites us into her most intimate experiences: observing the massive migration of songbirds from the top of the Empire State Building, watching tens of thousands of cranes in Hungary, seeking the last golden orioles in Suffolk’s poplar forests. She writes with heart-tugging clarity about wild boar, swifts, mushroom hunting, migraines, the strangeness of birds’ nests, and the unexpected guidance and comfort we find when watching wildlife.

"When twenty-three-year-old Emily Cavenaugh's marriage to her abusive high school sweetheart ends, she trades in her dull smalltown life for an all-access pass to see the world as a flight attendant. Hoping for a new start, she moves to San Francisco to bunk with six other new flight attendants them is KC Valentine, a free spirit who encourages Emily to shed her mousy ways and start collecting experiences as exciting as her passport stamps. Emily soon follows KC's advice a little too well, falling in love with an older, married co-worker named Tien, a father to two young girls. But as Emily and Tien become more deeply entangled, KC grows distraught.Neither her friends nor co-workers know the real reason she became a flight attendant: to find her father who abandoned her as a child."--Provided by publisher.

Highlights many obscure scientists and inventors, with special focus on the Wright brothers, on the road to manned flight.