After the Civil War, the Townsends of Carolina especially and those that migrated to Mississippi, Texas, Tennessee and other pioneer settlements began to seek thier heritage. Perhaps family bibles and knowlege of early Quaker meetings were resourceful for Dunn's Quaker's and those Western Bladen folk. Before long a Richard Townsend the weathest land owner south of Lumberton, N.C. named his ahbury pioneers "Raynham". He produced the finest antibellum sons in the region, but few of the scattered "Townsends" in our developing land recorded who begot who and by whom, for posterity. After FDR's funding provided for Harlee's Kinfolk, some family matching began to take place. I began my quest in 1989, and looked backwards to Thomas born about 1725. The book is a tale of how this search began, was done, and it list the details of discovery. I draw conclusions lost in time for almost 200 years. The book developed in 30 years of research. It is intimate, base, and tells it like it was. You will enjoy the longserving quest for an answer. Daniel V. Townsend, High Point, NC

Once upon a time—before the 1860s—people loved old roses like "Pearl of Gold," "Marchionesse of Lorne," or "Autumn Damask." Then along came the hybrid tea roses, which were easier to arrange, more dramatic, and longer-blooming, and the old roses were all but forgotten. Now the lovely, subtle-hued, richly perfumed old roses are making a comeback, thanks to the efforts of a stubborn band of eccentric characters who rescued them from back alleys, ramshackle cottages, and overgrown graveyards across the country. Thomas Christopher tells us the fascinating stories of the old roses—how they were created and made their way to America—and the unforgettable people who "rustle" them from abandoned lots and secret gardens today, revelling in the mystery of an "unknown yellow."

A profound and delightful jeu d'esprit of a book, mixing biography, etymology, cultural history and quixotic scientific experiments. Aldersey-Williams pulls the unfairly neglected yet enormously influential writer Thomas Browne out of the obscure pages of Pseudodoxia Epidemica and into the 21st century, to apply his generous curiosity and rational intelligence to the vagaries and contradictions of life today. Browne has had some impressive fans (Sebald, Woolf, Borges, Poe, Marias) but this book will revive him, bringing his extraordinary genius to a whole new audience.

2016 marks exactly 500 years since the English humanist and statesman Thomas More published in the city Leuven his world-famous book Utopia. Leuven is celebrating this milestone with a major city festival featuring exhibitions, street art, film, music, theatre, dance, literature, lectures and city walks. The cornerstone is the international, art historical exhibition 'In Search of Utopia' at M - Museum Leuven. The festival will officially start on Monday, 26 September 2016 after a festive opening weekend on 24 and 25 September and will end on 17 January 2017. In the book 'In Search of Utopia' the reader is introduced to the world of More and his friends, with the ideals and dreams of the times. The desire of far-away horizons and the cobweb of new sciences that patiently layed upon the reality. Magnificent works of the 15th- and 16th Century artists: Quinten Metsijs, Hans Holbein, Jan Gossaert en Albrecht Dürer are being brought together in this exciting and intriguing story. It shows in an unexceeded way the imagination of an ideal world.

Spring was late in 1913 and Edward Thomas decided to go and search for winter's grave and the tell-tale signs of season's turn - he set out to cycle westwards from London to the Quantocks. Edward Thomas 1878-1917 turned from writing prose to poetry in 1914. His work as a poet has been widely celebrated and admired - Ted Hughes described Thomas as "the father of us all". The Pursuit of Spring, originally published in 1914, bridges the divide between Thomas the journalist/critic and Thomas the highly regarded poet.

The untold story of baseball’s nineteenth-century origins: “a delightful look at a young nation creating a pastime that was love from the first crack of the bat” (Paul Dickson, The Wall Street Journal). You may have heard that Abner Doubleday or Alexander Cartwright invented baseball. Neither did. You may have been told that a club called the Knickerbockers played the first baseball game in 1846. They didn’t. Perhaps you’ve read that baseball’s color line was first crossed by Jackie Robinson in 1947. Nope. Baseball’s true founders don’t have plaques in Cooperstown. They were hundreds of uncredited, ordinary people who played without gloves, facemasks, or performance incentives. Unlike today’s pro athletes, they lived full lives outside of sports. They worked, built businesses, and fought against the South in the Civil War. In this myth-busting history, Thomas W. Gilbert reveals the true beginnings of baseball. Through newspaper accounts, diaries, and other accounts, he explains how it evolved through the mid-nineteenth century into a modern sport of championships, media coverage, and famous stars—all before the first professional league was formed in 1871. Winner of the Casey Award: Best Baseball Book of the Year

Searching for the Good is a harrowing & very human examination of the myths & realities of war. Told through the author's personal journey, it also relates the story of that multitude of soldiers who served with honor in Vietnam, came home & went on with their lives in spite of much pain & torment. It's about youth & patriotism, pride & guilt & the horrors of ground combat. It's about returning, adjusting & never forgetting. It evokes the daily experience of life in the field & the rush of adrenaline in combat. It tracks the personal repercussions, positive & negative, on the lives of the survivors. For better or worse, was has shaped our country & it's citizens. It is an essential part of our outlook on life, our institutions & our policies & almost certainly our future. In this book the author--while capturing the universal experiences & feelings of the sixties generation--speaks out on behalf of the men & women who served in what some have said is "the only war America has ever lost." Many readers of this book have been both inspired & moved to tears by this "courageous account of a personal odyssey."