Bücher veröffentlicht von Important Books

Over forty years after the Louisiana Purchase and Lewis and Clark's expedition, this year marks the point at which men and women from the east began to travel westward and populate the land near the Pacific.Bernardo DeVoto's fascinating study of this movement fully captures this moment when Western frontier was first truly settled by adventurers and explorers. Immigrant trains spread across the breadth of the country and men and women aspired to make new lives for themselves in the west. Some of these made in through the treacherous passes, but others like the Donner Party ended in tragedy. DeVoto uncovers the famous adventurers and explorers who were instrumental in forging new paths westwards like Jim Bridger, Frances Parkman and Jim Clyman.This brilliant book uncovers how through the course of the year and through a variety of different reasons the United States greatly expanded as areas that would become known as Texas, new Mexico, California, Oregon and Utah came under its sway.Bernard DeVoto was a Pulitzer-Prize-winning historian of the American West. He was a lifelong champion of American Public lands and the conservation of public resources as well as an outspoken defender of civil liberties. His book The Year of Decision, 1846 was first published in 1942 and he passed away in 1955.

Translated by H. T. Lowe-Porter, The Magic Mountain is Thomas Mann's story of an unassuming, undistinguished young engineer named Hans Castorp who sits on the balcony of a sanatorium, wrapped in his blanket, thermometer in his mouth, naively but earnestly pondering the meaning of life, time, and his love for the beautiful Frau Chauchat. Among the other characters on this Germanic ship of fools are Hofrat Behrens, the head doctor, and his hearty but sick-looking sidekick, Dr. Krokowski and an entourage of interesting patients. Mann began working on The Magic Mountain following a few weeks' visit to a sanatorium in Switzerland. It is a massive meditation on "the inner significance of an epoch, the pre-war period of European history." It was an immense international success from the time of its publication.