Buried deep within the hills and hollers of North Carolina's majestic Appalachian Mountains are stories, traditions and a proud cultural heritage unlike any other. Hidden History of the Western North Carolina Mountains reveals the people, customs and folklore of the region, exploring bygone traditions, fascinating real-life characters and tales so tall they rival the peaks that shape the landscape. What was life like for workers in the gristmills? Was Abraham Lincoln actually born in Bostic in Rutherford County? Who was Amos Owens, and why was he known as the "Cherry Bounce King"? Journey through the mountains with North Carolinian Alice Sink as she investigates these and other questions, unveiling the history of life in western North Carolina that traditional accounts have overlooked.

Follow the adventures of Mike, Peggy, Nora, Jack and their friend Prince Paul as they discover mysterious goings on in one of Blyton's most exciting and adventurous stories.

Travel writing about Muslim Europe. A journey around Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans, home to the largest indigenous Muslim population in Europe, following the footsteps of Evliya Celebi through Serbia, Bosnia, Albania, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro. A book that begins to decolonise European history.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Everybody tells you to live for a cause larger than yourself, but how exactly do you do it? The author of The Road to Character explores what it takes to lead a meaningful life in a self-centered world. “Deeply moving, frequently eloquent and extraordinarily incisive.”—The Washington Post Every so often, you meet people who radiate joy—who seem to know why they were put on this earth, who glow with a kind of inner light. Life, for these people, has often followed what we might think of as a two-mountain shape. They get out of school, they start a career, and they begin climbing the mountain they thought they were meant to climb. Their goals on this first mountain are the ones our culture endorses: to be a success, to make your mark, to experience personal happiness. But when they get to the top of that mountain, something happens. They look around and find the view . . . unsatisfying. They realize: This wasn’t my mountain after all. There’s another, bigger mountain out there that is actually my mountain. And so they embark on a new journey. On the second mountain, life moves from self-centered to other-centered. They want the things that are truly worth wanting, not the things other people tell them to want. They embrace a life of interdependence, not independence. They surrender to a life of commitment. In The Second Mountain, David Brooks explores the four commitments that define a life of meaning and purpose: to a spouse and family, to a vocation, to a philosophy or faith, and to a community. Our personal fulfillment depends on how well we choose and execute these commitments. Brooks looks at a range of people who have lived joyous, committed lives, and who have embraced the necessity and beauty of dependence. He gathers their wisdom on how to choose a partner, how to pick a vocation, how to live out a philosophy, and how we can begin to integrate our commitments into one overriding purpose. In short, this book is meant to help us all lead more meaningful lives. But it’s also a provocative social commentary. We live in a society, Brooks argues, that celebrates freedom, that tells us to be true to ourselves, at the expense of surrendering to a cause, rooting ourselves in a neighborhood, binding ourselves to others by social solidarity and love. We have taken individualism to the extreme—and in the process we have torn the social fabric in a thousand different ways. The path to repair is through making deeper commitments. In The Second Mountain, Brooks shows what can happen when we put commitment-making at the center of our lives.

Over the course of nineteen essays, Alan Watts ("a spiritual polymatch, the first and possibly greatest" —Deepak Chopra) ruminates on the philosophy of nature, ecology, aesthetics, religion, and metaphysics. Assembled in the form of a “mountain journal,” written during a retreat in the foothills of Mount Tamalpais, CA, Cloud-Hidden, Whereabouts Unknown is Watts’s meditation on the art of feeling out and following the watercourse way of nature, known in Chinese as the Tao. Embracing a form of contemplative meditation that allows us to stop analyzing our experiences and start living in to them, the book explores themes such as the natural world, established religion, race relations, karma and reincarnation, astrology and tantric yoga, the nature of ecstasy, and much more.

The Pioneer Mountains of southwest Montana are truly a hidden gem, with more than 80 alpine lakes, great fishing, and excellent opportunities for hiking, mountaineering, and camping. Based on a lifetime spend exploring the East and West Pioneers, this guide describes the region's trails and cross-country routes, beautiful mountain scenery, and the wildlife, birds, and wildflowers that thrive here. Includes more than 33 maps, easy-to-follow directions, 114 full-color photographs, and fishing details for 89 lakes.