FREE/BARGAIN — Non-Fiction

[Little.Egret]

Originally Posted by rrrlakin

Kosciusko is the name of a county in Indiana, and a street in Bay City, Michigan, to name only places that I have been. I'm sure there are more examples out there.

It's also the name of the highest mountain in Australia, Main Range of the Snowy Mountains in Kosciuszko National Park

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Kosciuszko

It was named by the Polish explorer Pawel Edmund Strzelecki in 1840

And when Elizabeth Moon needed a name for a huge spaceship

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_a_Hero_(novel)

She selected Koskiusko

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by Little.Egret

It's also the name of the highest mountain in Australia, Main Range of the Snowy Mountains in Kosciuszko National Park

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Kosciuszko

It was named by the Polish explorer Pawel Edmund Strzelecki in 1840

And when Elizabeth Moon needed a name for a huge spaceship

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_a_Hero_(novel)

She selected Koskiusko

I read about that mountain and the park, a couple of years ago. I remember, again vaguely, that the mountain is named Kosciusko (or Kosciuszko), but I sure wouldn't have been able to tell you the name if you had asked. I'm glad that someone wrote a book about the general Kosciusko, it seems like he deserves more press lately than he has gotten.

The name is so unusual (to those of us in the 'States, at least) that I feel sure that if we ever see something named Koscius(z)ko, we'll have a pretty good idea of where the name came from.

[GtrsRGr8]

Not to disparage Mississippi (I lived there a couple of times, and think that it gets a bad rap. There is lots of nice scenery, lots of wide open spaces, the people are as good as anywhere, as smart as anywhere, etc.), but it is hard to imagine someone in that time and that place in Mississippi, as it would be in many other places of that era, knowing enough about general Kosciusko that he would think of naming the settlement that grew up there that name.

The only reasons that I can imagine are that:
1. The settlement grew up at about the same time that Kosciusko was engaging in his exploits. Kosciusko's name was "fresh" on people's minds, then.
2. The people had a better classical, fundamental education then in the schools, despite the standards of the physical facilities of the schools not being anywhere close to ours (e.g., the plethora of one-room schoolhouses).

[Froide]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

Just a little factoid that might pique the interest of someone in the U.S. in that book(let) . . . .

There is a town of 7,000 people or so in Mississippi named for this Polish-Lithuanian general. It's Kosciusko. It's the only place of any kind that I know of named after him. I suppose that one or more of the founders of this little town knew about the exploits of this general and, so, gave the settlement that name.

Kosciusko is not known for much. It is just off of the Natchez Trace Parkway. There is a Bible college there. That's about it. Oh, and it happens to be the hometown of someone that you may have heard of--Oprah Winfrey.

Other namesakes of his are included in:
List of things named after Tadeusz Kościuszko

[Little.Egret]

Originally Posted by Little.Egret

Charles River Editors, free

Osiris: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Egyptian God of the Dead

The Alcázar of Seville: The History of Spain’s Most Famous Royal Palace

The Battle of the Nile: The History of the Decisive Royal Navy Victory that Trapped Napoleon in Egypt

Queen Victoria’s Army: The History of the British Army during the Victorian Era

Tadeusz Kościuszko: The Life and Legacy of Poland’s Most Famous General


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

Add

Submarines and the World Wars: The History of Submarine Warfare in World War I and World War II

The Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution: The History and Legacy of America’s Most Important Documents

[sufue]

Also a street in downtown Los Angeles. I feel sorry for folks who have to try spell their street address, "General Thaddeus Kosciusko Way", over the phone, even though it has apparently been anglicized.

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

Just a little factoid that might pique the interest of someone in the U.S. in that book(let) . . . .

There is a town of 7,000 people or so in Mississippi named for this Polish-Lithuanian general. It's Kosciusko. It's the only place of any kind that I know of named after him. I suppose that one or more of the founders of this little town knew about the exploits of this general and, so, gave the settlement that name.

Kosciusko is not known for much. It is just off of the Natchez Trace Parkway. There is a Bible college there. That's about it. Oh, and it happens to be the hometown of someone that you may have heard of--Oprah Winfrey.

[Dngrsone]

Originally Posted by AnotherCat

In my opinion his books are interesting reads, well the ones I have tried.

Those who enjoy this book may also like McWhorter's Lexicon Valley podcast (but the podcast will not be enjoyed by closed minded and unworldly grammar and pronunciation policemen ).

I will look into that. Podcasts will work for my weekend commute.

Meanwhile, Michaelangelo and the Sistine Chapel is on sale at Amazon right now for $1.99.

I have this book and found it very interesting.

Funny, I think about he Sistine Chapel and the Vatican and my thought runs to a novel called Saint Joan, which was nice, so I looked it up: $15 on Kindle, but there is a Charles River pub for $2.99 on the same subject. But for that price you get all of the following, squeezed into 64 pages:

*Includes pictures
*Includes medieval and modern accounts of Pope Joan's story
*Looks at the different theories about Pope Joan's existence
*Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading
*Includes a table of contents

[GtrsRGr8]

I had no idea that so many places were named after him. It's interesting that all (I think) of the first hits on Google, when I did a cursory search of his name, were about the little town in Mississippi. The mountain in Australia is certainly larger. More people might see the general's name from the street sign in _downtown_ Los Angeles than see it concerning the town in Mississippi. But the town gets all of the first few(?) hits. Being Winfrey's hometown probably helps.

Koscius(z)ko really must have been "somebody" in his day. I'm glad that Charles River Editors has, in effect, acknowledged that by creating this book about him. Thanks, Little.Egret, for posting it, and all of the CRE books that you do.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

I had no idea that so many places were named after him. It's interesting that all (I think) of the first hits on Google, when I did a cursory search of his name, were about the little town in Mississippi. The mountain in Australia is certainly larger. More people might see the general's name from the street sign in _downtown_ Los Angeles than see it concerning the town in Mississippi. But the town gets all of the first few(?) hits. Being Winfrey's hometown probably helps.

Koscius(z)ko really must have been "somebody" in his day. I'm glad that Charles River Editors has, in effect, acknowledged that by creating this book about him. Thanks, Little.Egret, for posting it, and all of the CRE books that you do.

Google hits are personalized so that those most relevant to the searcher (in Google's algorithm) come first. My guess is that a lot of southern-oriented searches plus your location, if you have it turned on, were as responsible as its being Oprah's hometown.

There's a full-length bio of Kosciuszko in published by Macmillan and he figures prominently in histories of the American Revolution, so I don't think he's been forgotten.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by issybird

Google hits are personalized so that those most relevant to the searcher (in Google's algorithm) come first. My guess is that a lot of southern-oriented searches plus your location, if you have it turned on, were as responsible as its being Oprah's hometown.

There's a full-length bio of Kosciuszko in published by Macmillan and he figures prominently in histories of the American Revolution, so I don't think he's been forgotten.

Thanks for the info about personalized hits. That probably explains why I got the hits that I did, in the positions that I did.

Again, I _vaguely_ remember that Koscius(z)ko did play a part in the American Revolution, too. There were several high-ranking/notable foreigners who helped out. Most prominent in my mind is a German (from Prussia, if I remember correctly). He helped drill troops . . . . I think that he was at Valley Forge. I don't remember the chap's name. Anyway, I'm getting too far off topic . . . .

[issybird]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

Thanks for the info about personalized hits. That probably explains why I got the hits that I did, in the positions that I did.

Again, I _vaguely_ remember that Koscius(z)ko did play a part in the American Revolution, too. There were several high-ranking/notable foreigners who helped out. Most prominent in my mind is a German (from Prussia, if I remember correctly). He helped drill troops . . . . I think that he was at Valley Forge. I don't remember the chap's name. Anyway, I'm getting too far off topic . . . .

Baron von Steuben. And let's not forget the Marquis de Lafayette; when the American troops landed in France in 1917 they shouted, "Lafayette, we are here!"

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by issybird

Baron von Steuben. And let's not forget the Marquis de Lafayette; when the American troops landed in France in 1917 they shouted, "Lafayette, we are here!"

Forget? How can you forget when you never knew it in the first place. ha

Actually, I remembered Lafayette after I made my last post, but that's all that I remembered--his last name. There were probably several Frenchmen who helped out (sorry, friends in the U.K., I know that you don't see it that way), some of whom probably were there with the French government's blessing, to say the least. The French and the British were bitter enemies at the time (the geopolitical situation in the northern hemisphere of this side of the planet, at that time, is intensely interesting (to anyone who likes history)).

[Little.Egret]

Hourly History shorts, free

Joseph Bazalgette: A Life From Beginning to End

Michael Faraday: A Life From Beginning to End

Isambard Kingdom Brunel: A Life From Beginning to End

Nikola Tesla: A Life From Beginning to End

Thomas Edison: A Life From Beginning to End

Charles Darwin: A Life From Beginning to End

Oliver Cromwell: A Life From Beginning to End

The Renaissance: A History From Beginning to End (Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Theresa of Avila, William Shakespeare, Martin Luther, Johannes Gutenberg)


https://www.amazon.com/s/?url=search...Hourly+History

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?url=sear...Hourly+History

https://www.amazon.ca/s/?url=search-...Hourly+History

[piperclassique]

And a lot more. Four pages of them.
Thank you!

[GtrsRGr8]

ADDENDUM: The ebooks weren't from Charles River Editors, but from Hourly History. My somewhat tongue-in-cheek comment about the Cromwells still is true.

Heehee.

I downloaded the first one, a day or two ago, then got distracted, and didn't download the rest of the ones that I didn't already have. piperclassique's post probably reminded me of that.

What I would like to see published is a Charles River Editors book(let) on how someone who is not from England can remember who Oliver Cromwell was, and what he did, and who Thomas Cromwell was, and what he did. I can't (haven't yet) gotten them straight! I'm sure every schoolchild in England has got that down pat.

I need some kind of mnemonic device . . . .