.... Anne Bronte (1820-1849), and their brother (Patrick) Branwell Bronte (1817-1848), were born in Thornton, Yorkshire. The Bronte children's imaginations transmuted a set of wooden soldiers into characters in a series of stories they wrote about the imaginary kingdom of Angria-the property of Charlotte and Branwell-and the kingdom of Gondal-which belonged to Emily and Anne. A hundred tiny handwritten volumes (started in 1829) of the chronicles of Angria survive, but nothing of the Gondal saga (started in 1834), except some of Emily's poems. The relationship of these stories to the sisters' later novels is a matter of much interest to scholars. In the 1840s Char .....

.... In 1596 he was given by the College of Arms the right to a coat of arms and a crest. Doing that advanced his status to that of a country gentleman. He would belong to the upper class of rural society. That was the class just under the knights and the nobility to which the country gentleman could be promoted if he made money in trade or the law and had influence at court. His rise in authority began the year after he was married. He became constable of Stratford, in charge of keeping the town safe. From 1561 to 1565, he was Chamberlain, responsible for the oversight and maintenance of Corporation of Stratford property. In 1564, his name appeared on the lis .....

.... finally chose to stop his public uprisings. When Ann turned twenty-one, she married a man named William Hutchinson. Ann and William were the parents of twelve children. Ann had always admired Minister John Cotton since he reminded her of her father. Like her father, he complained about the minister's clergy and the cleanliness of the Church and always talked about the religious opportunities in America. When New England was formed, Cotton took his chance and traveled there in search of religious freedom. In 1634, took her family and followed him to Massachusetts. To her surprise, New England turned out to be more strict religiously than England. She was not .....

.... them. When they finally reached Shangdu, Kublai's palace, Marco Polo was 21 years old. Kublai and Marco ended up being really good friends, and Kublai appointed him into governing Yangchow for three years. His father and uncle were Kublai's military advisors. They were sent to neighboring countries and he would bring back some stories or artifacts. After 24 years later, they decided to leave China. Three years later, Marco Polo was caught and put in a prison in Genoa. There, he and his Russian friend, Rustichello wrote Divisament dou Monde, a book about his travels, especially China. He died when he was around 70 years old in 1324. Marco Polo's father and u .....

.... story in a way that holds the reader's attention through all of his accomplishments. Cajal's early life, before he left his mark in the scientific world, is so personal and so interesting that it is what makes this book so truly great to read. Cajal was not always interested in science. He underwent many changes in his early life that led him down the path that eventually made him a Noble Prize winner. He came from a modest background. His father was a modest surgeon in a very small village in the Spanish countryside. Cajal owes his excellent work ethic to his father who impressed upon him the idea of hard work leading to success. Cajal came from a poor .....

.... despair – frightened women, terrified children, despondent old men and women, and helpless adults looking towards the corner of the street and gazing at the sky hoping for a miracle that does not happen – until they are driven out of their homes at gunpoint, and their houses looted and put to torch in front of their eyes – and they still thank God for sparing the lives of those who survived to face the next ordeal. This story is being repeated in the Balkans for the umpteenth time. Almost a month after the most powerful military grouping in history launched air attacks on rump Yugoslavia to compel adherence to a peace accord, a human tragedy .....

.... when the midwife told a local physician of his birth, the physician incorrectly recorded it as “baby girl Barrow” in the Vital Statistics volume of the Ellis County Courthouse at Waxahachie. Three additional children followed Clyde’s birth, and the families financial difficulties worsened as the price for cotton bounced up and down. After some years the Barrow’s found it impossible to provide for their children and sent them to live with relatives in east Texas. At one relatives home Clyde developed two interests that remained with him to the end of hid life: a passion for music, and an obsession with guns. Even as Clyde drove al .....

.... would frequently front large amounts of money to get stories on Hughes. Howard was also associated with what has been called one of the greatest publishing hoaxes in history. Howard Hughes Sr., commonly known as Big Howard, was a graduate of the Harvard School of Law, yet never once appeared before a court of law. Big Howard spent the first 36 years of his life chasing money across the Texas plains, as a wildcatter and a speculator in oil leases, working hard enough and earning just enough to move on to another, hopefully more fortunate gamble. In the year of his marriage, Big Howard sold leases on land that proved to have $50,000 in oil beneath it. He prom .....