FREE/BARGAIN — Non-Fiction

[issybird]

Triangle: The Fire that Changed America by Dave Von Drehle is an excellent social history of the fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory in New York in 1911. It’s been on sale before, but if you’ve not got to it, it’s a highly recommended read for anyone interested in labor or women’s issues, New York, or the run up to World War I. Or all of them. Kindle Daily Deal; $1.99.

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B004RPY48I/

[sufue]

Thanks for the recommendation...I was thinking about it, and you tipped me over...

Originally Posted by issybird

Triangle: The Fire that Changed America by Dave Von Drehle is an excellent social history of the fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory in New York in 1911. It’s been on sale before, but if you’ve not got to it, it’s a highly recommended read for anyone interested in labor or women’s issues, New York, or the run up to World War I. Or all of them. Kindle Daily Deal; $1.99.

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B004RPY48I/

[sufue]

Cross-post to the Mystery thread for Written In Bone: hidden stories in what we leave behind, by Sue Black, which is a forensic anthropologist's view of our body's bones. It was a CWA Gold Dagger award winner for non-fiction, so I put it in the Mystery thread, but here's the link: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh....php?p=4166376

[issybird]

One of my favorite books of all time, Vera Brittain’s memoir of her experiences in the Great War, Testament of Youth, is a Kindle Daily Deal today for only 99¢. A must read for anyone interested in World War I or women’s history.

I hope this means more Daily Deals about the Great War leading up to November 11!

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00H6T1AB6/

[Tarana]

The True Story of the Great Escape By Jonathan F. Vance $1.99 Amazon, Kobo and B&N

During World War II, a small group of Allied soldiers executed a daring escape from Stalag Luft III, a POW camp in eastern Germany. This enthralling account tells the story of the courageous mission that inspired the 1963 film The Great Escape.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Tarana

The True Story of the Great Escape By Jonathan F. Vance $1.99 Amazon, Kobo and B&N

Can anyone compare this to the Paul Brickhill account? I loved that as a kid; does Vance have more/better info and does he tell such a cracking good story?

[llcj]

Originally Posted by issybird

Can anyone compare this to the Paul Brickhill account? I loved that as a kid; does Vance have more/better info and does he tell such a cracking good story?

The Great Escape by Ted Barris might be of interest to you. https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/the-great-escape-12

[issybird]

Originally Posted by llcj

The Great Escape by Ted Barris might be of interest to you. https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/the-great-escape-12

Thanks! That’s a new title to me.

[j.p.s]

A History of Histories by John Burrow is on sale today at amazon.com for $1.99

https://www.amazon.com/History-Histo.../dp/B0011UGNB8

[GA Russell]

Since October, 2018, there has been a monthly magazine entitled...

Mom’s Favorite Reads eMagazine

I count 22 issues currently available for free at Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07JZ7LS7Z

[sufue]

I've mentioned a few times how much I like Peter Hopkirk's books, which are mostly histories of Central Asia/India during the Great Game period. Part of this is just that I'm kind of a fan of that period (including mysteries set in that period), but I also think they are easy to read and really bring the history to life. Now a bunch of them have dropped in price, mostly at Kindle UK, including:

Trespassers on the Roof of the World: The Race for Lhasa, £0.99
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0074OKE38
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0074OKE38

Foreign Devils on the Silk Road: The Search for the Lost Treasures of Central Asia, £1.99
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005HWB2QW
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005HWB2QW

On Secret Service East of Constantinople: The Plot to Bring Down the British Empire, £2.99
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005HVR9WY
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005HVR9WY

Setting the East Ablaze: Lenin's Dream of an Empire in Asia, £3.99 (not really dropped in price, but still inexpensive), also $3.99 in the US
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0071MDD6I
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0071MDD6I
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GVFNN1Q
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00GVFNN1Q

The Great Game: On Secret Service in High Asia, £4.99
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003Y3BLNK
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003Y3BLNK

And finally, The Quest for Kim, which is not quite a history, but not really fiction either - it documents Hopkirk's attempts, some successful and some not, to trace the paths of Kipling's Kim in modern day South Asia, £1.99/$1.99
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00713DMTU
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00713DMTU
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GW4L0HK
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00GW4L0HK

I haven't been able to find most of Hopkirk's books in the US as of now, which is odd because I bought almost all of them a few years ago at Kobo and Kindle US. Perhaps some publisher issue...

[Critteranne]

"Capote: A Biography" by Gerald Clarke is on sale at all the usual suspects.

[Critteranne]

I: The Creation of a Serial Killer by Jack Olsen is on sale today for 1.99. I think it's on sale at all the usual suspects.

Note: Jack Olsen (no relation to Gregg Olsen) was a journalist and one of the classic true crime authors. He died in 2002 but left behind some famous books. This one was his last true crime book. Note that long, first-person sections of it a written by the serial killer: Keith Jesperson (the Happy-Face Killer). A lot of readers dislike it because of they didn't like the serial killer's first-person sections.

A Serial Killer's Daughter: My Story of Faith, Love, and Overcoming" by Kerri Rawson is on sale for $2.99. This is by the daughter of Dennis Rader (BTK). I think it's on sale at all the usual suspects.

Note: The Rawson book was published by a Christian publisher. Some reviewers were annoyed by the fact that she talked about her faith. (I've skimmed it in the bookstore, so I don't think she brought faith into it as often as some readers indicate.) More seemed annoyed because she talked about herself and not about the victims. As she wasn't at the murder scenes, and didn't find out he was a serial murderer until she was married, I don't know what they expected.

Reviewer reads memoir, and then complains, "It's all about her!"

One of Us: The Story of Anders Breivik and the Massacre in Norway by Asne Seierstad is $2.99 today.

Note: Has anyone read this one? It has gotten very good reviews. But it seems like it's going to be a tough one...

[sufue]

The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell is part of the UK Kindle Daily Deal today, on sale at £0.99.

Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08MWW2VDL
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08MWW2VDL

Spoiler:

Explore the Hero's Journey in stories as old as humanity and as new as last night's dream

The latest incarnation of Oedipus, the continued romance of Beauty and the Beast, stand this afternoon on the corner of 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue, waiting for the traffic light to change. — Joseph Campbell

Since its release in 1949, The Hero with a Thousand Faces has influenced millions of readers by combining the insights of modern psychology with Joseph Campbell’s revolutionary understanding of comparative mythology. In these pages, Campbell outlines the Hero’s Journey, a universal motif of adventure and transformation that runs through virtually all of the world’s mythic traditions. He also explores the Cosmogonic Cycle, the mythic pattern of world creation and destruction.

As part of the Joseph Campbell Foundation’s Collected Works of Joseph Campbell, this third edition features expanded illustrations, a comprehensive bibliography, and more accessible sidebars.

As relevant today as when it was first published, The Hero with a Thousand Faces continues to find new audiences in fields ranging from religion and anthropology to literature and film studies. The book has also profoundly influenced creative artists—including authors, songwriters, game designers, and filmmakers—and continues to inspire all those interested in the inherent human need to tell stories.

Originally Posted by sufue

More years ago than I care to remember, I was assigned Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces for a humanities class. Sadly I was majoring in engineering, and study time was tight, and I didn't give Hero the attention it deserved. But I still remember I liked it.

Now Campbell's The Power of Myth, which appears to be an edited transcript of the many hours of interviews he did with Bill Moyers for the PBS series of the same name, is on sale for $1.99 in the US (Kindle and Kobo) and £1.49 in the UK. (At least through the length of the sample, it's a transcript.) I would expect this to be pretty interesting too, at least the sample is, although I'm not sure I've ever read something this long in this kind of format before.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/product/B004QZACH6/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-power-of-myth
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004QZACH6/

[sufue]

I'm a bit of a John Steinbeck fangirl, but I had never heard of The Harvest Gypsies: On the Road to the Grapes of Wrath until it popped up in today's Kindle US Daily Deal, for $1.99. And it's matched and discountable at Kobo US - note the "partners" code for 40% off is still working, so if you have a VIP membership and use the code, it's only $1.07.

Per the blurb, Harvest Gypsies is a collection of seven articles (with accompanying photos) about Dust Bowl migrants that Steinbeck wrote for the San Francisco News. Unfortunately the sample ends while it's still in the introduction, which was written by Charles Wollenberg, but still, for $1.99 or less, how can you go wrong?

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NCB9Z5J
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07NCB9Z5J
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-harvest-gypsies-2

Spoiler:

A collection of newspaper articles about Dust Bowl migrants in California’s Central Valley by the author of The Grapes of Wrath, accompanied by photos.

Three years before his triumphant novel The Grapes of Wrath—a fictional portrayal of a Depression-era family fleeing Oklahoma during a disastrous period of drought and dust storms—John Steinbeck wrote seven articles for the San Francisco News about these history-making events and the hundreds of thousands who made their way west to work as farm laborers.

With the inquisitiveness of an investigative reporter and the emotional power of a novelist in his prime, Steinbeck toured the squatters’ camps and Hoovervilles of rural California. The Harvest Gypsies gives us an eyewitness account of the horrendous Dust Bowl migration, and provides the factual foundation for Steinbeck’s masterpiece. Included are twenty-two photographs by Dorothea Lange and others, many of which accompanied Steinbeck’s original articles.

'”Steinbeck’s potent blend of empathy and moral outrage was perfectly matched by the photographs of Dorothea Lange, who had caught the whole saga with her camera—the tents, the jalopies, the bindlestiffs, the pathos and courage of uprooted mothers and children.”—San Francisco Review of Books

“Steinbeck’s journalism shares the enduring quality of his famous novel…Certain to engage students of both American literature and labor history.”—Publishers Weekly

Note that Steinbeck is in the public domain if you are lucky enough to live in or visit Canada or the few other countries with reasonable copyright laws. However this title is pretty obscure, and neither Faded Page nor PG Canada had it when I looked.