In this remarkable new photographic history, local historian and photographer Dennis LeBeau presents a heartwarming tale of life in the Brookfields at the turn of the century. The photographs in this collection are those of William Bullard, an itinerant photographer in the 1890s and early 1900s from North Brookfield, whose work has never before been published in book form. The story of Bill Bullard's life and photographic legacy are dramatically revealed in this fascinating glimpse into the past. After the photographer's untimely and tragic demise, the rich photographic archives of Bill Bullard were carefully preserved by his brother, Charlie Bullard, and three generations of the neighboring Gaudette family. Dennis LeBeau has individually reprinted each image in this collection from its original glass plate negative. Mr. LeBeau's researched and well-informed captions accompany the photographs in Bullard's collection, creating a comprehensive historic portrait of both the Brookfields and the Bullard family.

Thomas and Jane Welsh Carlyle moved from rural Scotland to London's Cheyne Walk. This title focuses on writers for whom 'the centre' was a pressing concern. Elizabeth Gaskell, like her contemporary Emily Bronte, was from the north of England, though based in Lancashire and Cheshire rather than Yorkshire. Her first novel, Mary Barton 1848) was set in the north and was unusually realistic in its depiction of Manchester working-class life. Ruskin grew up in suburban London; in later life, he settled in the Lake District . The three volumes that comprise a set are facsimile reproductions of contemporary biographical material. They include letters, memoirs, poems and articles on three outstanding Victorian literary persons: John Ruskin, Elzabeth Gaskell and the Carlyles.

Based on ethnographic research among militias in Sierra Leone and Liberia, Danny Hoffman considers how young men are made available for violent labor on battlefields and in dangerous unregulated industries.

A rich and evocative portrait of one of the greatest authors of Victorian England Who was William Makepeace Thackeray? Was he the wealthy dilettante who came to London in the 1830s and squandered his fortune on newspapers? Was he the impoverished freelance author of the 1840s who scrapped for every penny he could get? Or was he the great writer who published Vanity Fair in 1847, skewering Victorian society and ensuring his literary legacy? Throughout the many phases of his life, Thackeray remained an enigma. He was friendly but standoffish, generous yet miserly, confident and utterly terrified of failure. A century and a half after Thackeray’s death, D. J. Taylor has produced a biography that tackles the complexities of these contradictions and restores Thackeray to his place in the literary pantheon. His fortune lost by the time he was thirty, his personal life in constant torment, Thackeray’s story is as dramatic as that of any of his characters. In Thackeray, the man can finally be seen in full.