FREE/BARGAIN — Non-Fiction

[issybird]

Dakota: A Spiritual Geography is $1.99 today at Amazon, regularly $13.99.

From Goodreads:

A beautiful meditation on life in the Great Plains from award-winning author and poet Kathleen Norris.

Kathleen Norris invites readers to experience rich moments of prayer and presence in Dakota, a timeless tribute to a place in the American landscape that is at once desolate and sublime, harsh and forgiving, steeped in history and myth. In thoughtful, discerning prose, she explores how we come to inhabit the world we see, and how that world also inhabits us. Her voice is a steady assurance that we can, and do, chart our spiritual geography wherever we go.

I read this shortly after it came out, admittedly 25 years ago (!), and liked it a lot. It's become something of a classic of its genre, spiritual/religious memoir.

[sufue]

John Ashdown-Hill wrote a pretty good book (IMO) about the last few months of Richard III's reign, the finding of Richard's burial site, and the DNA work that established his identity. He's also written a number of other biographies of people from this period, mostly normally priced in the US $10 range. His new book, Cecily Neville: Mother of Richard III, came out earlier this year, and has been (per eReaderIQ) sitting at $29.95 since publication. It has now dropped to $5.25 at Kindle US - not a great price, but not too horrible either for a newish non-fiction book, and certainly better than $29.95. It's still over $20 at Kobo US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Cecily-Nevill...dp/B07B7LDLQ2/

Spoiler:

Wife to Richard, Duke of York, mother to Edward IV and Richard III, and aunt to the famous ‘Kingmaker’, Richard, Earl of Warwick, Cecily Neville was a key player on the political stage of fifteenth-century Britain England.

Mythologically rumoured to have been known as ‘the Rose of Raby’ because of her beauty and her birth at Raby Castle, and as ‘Proud Cis’ because of her vanity and fiery temper, Cecily’s personality and temperament have actually been highly speculated upon. In fact, much of her life is shrouded in mystery. Putting aside Cecily’s role as mother and wife, who was she really?

Matriarch of the York dynasty, she navigated through a tumultuous period and lived to see the birth of the future Henry VIII. From seeing the house of York defeat their Lancastrian cousins; to witnessing the defeat of her own son, Richard III, at the battle of Bosworth, Cecily then saw one of her granddaughters become Henry VII’s queen consort.

Her story is full of controversy and the few published books on her life are full of guess-work. In this highly original history, Dr John Ashdown-Hill seeks to dispel the myths surrounding Cecily using previously unexamined contemporary sources.

[bfisher]

Thanks. Also $CDN 5.43 at amazon.ca
https://www.amazon.com/Cecily-Nevill.../dp/B07B7LDLQ2

[GtrsRGr8]

I'm a lurker now.

But sometimes I'm going to run across a deal too good not to share. This is one of those deals.

The University of Illinois Press currently has all of their ebooks on sale for _$4.99_ each. Read about it at https://t.e2ma.net/message/eya5v/2syejad. You'll find three that actually are _free_, if you'll look around.

[bfisher]

Originally Posted by issybird

Dakota: A Spiritual Geography is $1.99 today at Amazon, regularly $13.99.

From Goodreads:



I read this shortly after it came out, admittedly 25 years ago (!), and liked it a lot. It's become something of a classic of its genre, spiritual/religious memoir.

Thank you so much for posting that, issybird. It's also on sale at amazon.ca for $CDN 1.99 - I think it may be a monthly deal:
https://www.amazon.ca/Dakota-Spiritu.../dp/B004H1UOEK

I just read it in one sitting. It's one of the best things I've read this year. Note, for anyone who may be a bit put off by the suggestion of religion, it's also a great book on modern life on the high plains.

[Dngrsone]

I may be the only person interested in this bargain, but Never Use Futura is a book about the font of that name which has become as ubiquitous in business as (or even more than) Helvetica.

It is available at Amazon.com for $1.99

[Little.Egret]

Charles River Editors, free

Mount Athos: The History of the Greek Mountain and the Center of Eastern Orthodox Monasticism

Emily Dickinson: The Life and Legacy of the Famous American Poet

El Escorial: The History and Legacy of Spain's Most Famous Royal Site

https://www.amazon.com/s/?url=search...+river+editors

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?url=sear...+river+editors

https://www.amazon.ca/s/?url=search-...+river+editors

[bfisher]

Guadalcanal Diary by Richard Tregaskis is $CDN 1.99 at amazon.ca today:
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B01LW89S0Y

It was adapted to film for what was a quintessential WW2 Hollywood movie (the Brooklyn cabbie, the Irish padre, ...). I'm curious to see how much the book got mangled by the adaptation.

[sufue]

The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe is £0.99 today as part of the UK Kindle Daily Deal.

link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07DFX79DZ/

Spoiler:

A wildly vivid and entertaining chronicle of America's manned space program, from the author of The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY US ASTRONAUT SCOTT KELLY

‘What is it’ asks Tom Wolfe, ‘that makes a man willing to sit on top of an enormous Roman Candle…and wait for someone to light the fuse?’ Arrogance? Stupidity? Bravery? Courage? Or, simply, that quality we call 'the right stuff'?

A monument to the men who battled to beat the Russians into space, The Right Stuff is a voyage into the mythology of the American space program, and a dizzying dive into the sweat, fear, beauty and danger of being on the white-hot edge of history in the making.

‘Tom Wolfe at his very best… Learned, cheeky, risky, touching, tough, compassionate, nostalgic, worshipful, jingoistic...The Right Stuff is superb’ - New York Times Book Review

[Fluribus]

Hey, won't you play another somebody done somebody wrong song. A song of death. Sing it with power. Don't mail it in.

Norman Mailer The Executioner's Song for $1.99 at Amazon.com.

[KyBunnies]

Originally Posted by Fluribus

Hey, won't you play another somebody done somebody wrong song. A song of death. Sing it with power. Don't mail it in.

Norman Mailer The Executioner's Song for $1.99 at Amazon.com.

I could not resist.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VTicelwAn0


Back to regular posting.

[Little.Egret]

Charles River Editors, Free

Lord Byron: The Life and Legacy of the Most Famous Romantic Poet

https://www.amazon.com/s/?url=search...+river+editors

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?url=sear...+river+editors

https://www.amazon.ca/s/?url=search-...+river+editors

[sufue]

Lone Star: A History of Texas and the Texans by T. R. Fehrenbach has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle US as part of the Daily Deal, matched (and coupon/VIPable) at Kobo US. Fehrenback is perhaps better known for his Fire & Blood: A History of Mexico, and, after all, a good chunk of the history of Texas and Mexico is pretty intertwined...

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/Lone-Star-His...dp/B00J90F6SS/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/lone-star-9

Spoiler:

The definitive account of the incomparable Lone Star state by the author of Fire & Blood: A History of Mexico.

T. R. Fehrenbach is a native Texan, military historian and the author of several important books about the region, but none as significant as this work, arguably the best single volume about Texas ever published. His account of America's most turbulent state offers a view that only an insider could capture. From the native tribes who lived there to the Spanish and French soldiers who wrested the territory for themselves, then to the dramatic ascension of the republic of Texas and the saga of the Civil War years. Fehrenbach describes the changes that disturbed the state as it forged its unique character. Most compelling is the one quality that would remain forever unchanged through centuries of upheaval: the courage of the men and women who struggled to realize their dreams in The Lone Star State.

[Dngrsone]

America's Women covers the breadth of US history (more than four centuries) and I found it very interesting when I bought it on sale four years ago.

It is at Amazon.com for $1.99

Also on sale is Vaccinated, which I haven't found time to read yet, but there you go: Amazon.com again at $1.99

[Fluribus]

Peter Stark has a very manly and rugged face. More manly than the typical Marlboro Man. He brings us Young Washington: How Wilderness and War Forged America’s Founding Father for $1.99 at Amazon.com. If you can look at that face and not buy this book, then you are beyond all redemption.

William J Bernstein (sadly, the listing does not show us his face) offers us A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World for $1.20 at Amazon.com.