#ann putnam

[itswadestore]

From images of Congo from Anne Eisner Putnam, 1940-1950

[la-femme-au-collier-vert]

From The Library of Anne Rice (Part 1)

A list of books owned by Anne Rice including annotation information taken from auction listings at Bonham's, October 2024. Will continue in Part 2.

Frazer, James G. The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (abridged edition).New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., 1963. She writes on the flyleaf in June of 2012: "When I bought this book I don't know. I know I read it or a copy of it in the 1980s when writing The Vampire Lestat. It is essential to me." On the jacket spine she has added "Sacred!"

Frazer, James G. The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion. 1981. Marked on the cover, "Gift to Stan from Anne 1985 / Save Always, AR," and internally reads in Stan's handwriting: "A gift to me from Anne because I've never read it."

Gaskell, Elizabeth. Tales of Mystery & the Macabre. Wordsworth edition, 2007. bears Rice's ownership signature to title page ("Anne Rice / May 29, 2012 / The Desert") and is tabbed and annotated throughout. 

Gaskell, Elizabeth. North and South. Penguin Books, 2000. bears her ownership signature on the title page.

Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom the Bell Tolls. New York: Charles Scribner's Son, 1940. Original beige cloth stamped cover and spine, in facsimile dust jacket. First edition with the Scribner's "A" on the copyright page. With Post-it note to front pastedown indicating that the book was a gift "From Becket and Christina / Christmas / 2012."

King, B. B. & David Ritz. Blues All Around Me: The Autobiography of B.B. King. New York: Avon Books, 1996. First edition, inscribed to "To Anne / All the best to you / B.B. King / 10-18-96." 

Montgomery, L.M. Anne of Green Gables. Cutchogue, NY: Buccaneer Books, 1976. Anne Rice ownership signature dated February 7, 2015, Palm Desert. Annotated on front pastedown; "It's immediately a pleasure, and making me want to write."

 Montgomery, L.M. Emily's Quest. Oxford City Press, 2009. Anne Rice ownership signature dated February 21, 2015; annotated and tabbed.

Montgomery, L.M. Emily Climbs. Sourcebooks, 2014. Anne Rice ownership signature dated February 12, 2015.

Montgomery, L.M. Emily of New Moon. Ameron House, c.2015. Anne Rice ownership signature dated February 6, 2015, inscribed: "Reading the paperback and loving it so much I had to have a hardcover." 

Montgomery, L.M. The Blue Castle. Sourcebooks, 2011. Anne Rice ownership signature dated May 12, 2015 to title page.

Puzo, Mario. The Godfather. New York: Putnam, 1969. Book club edition. On May 26 and 27, 2013, she writes, "Badly need this, Studying in detail" and on page 74 she writes, "Note how easily it flows." She has great praise for the nimbleness of the novel's p.o.v. and is often asking herself "how can I learn from this?" On p 225 she writes, "This is a most impressive piece of work and is masterly. Again I marvel at vocabulary, tone, and placement—organization of the book. I fight OCD as I write, I've come to see that, and this helps me to see what this novel accomplishes. Presenting the Don as a 'great' man, a 'genius,' without apology is a conscious approach that is so powerful."

Puzo, Mario. The Godfather. Another copy, later edition, lacking jacket. With Anne Rice's ownership signature.

Puzo, Mario. The Godfather Papers and Other Confessions. London; William Heinneman, 1972.

Puzo, Mario. The Fortunate Pilgrim. New York: Random House, 1997. Anne Rice ownership signature. 

Wallace, Lew. Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. New York and London: Harper & Brothers, 1908. Anne Rice re-read this copy of Ben-Hur in 2006, a used copy she picked up somewhere, leaving detailed marginalia throughout and summing up her thoughts on the first flyleaf: "12-12-06: This is an amazing achievement: a Judeo-Christian novel. Jewish history and honor are here! And a woman tells this history to her son! How did we get away from this to The Robe ... 12-15-06: I've spent over two days reading & studying this wonderful book. It does seem unique—and it covers an amazing amt of material including a physical description of Our Lord, the crucifixion, etc. It is not anti-semitic. It presents Jews as exotic, 'oriental.' It has a primitive quality ... why is the prose so difficult? so 'dated'? Compare to Dickens." Rice's notes in the margin often compare the novel to (presumably the 1959 version of) the film, finding the novel superior in every way, and commenting more than once on its structural similarities to Dickens: "the whole spectacle and the co-incidence" (p 166).

Cleland, John. 1709-1789. Fanny Hill or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure. New York: Penguin Books, 1985. Annotated and with ownership signature to the title page: "Anne Rice / January 2014 / Palm Desert." Rice underscores Cleland's descriptions of bodies and physical acts, and in particular, wonders about the novel's p.o.v.: on p 108 she writes in the margin, "Is this a man's view? A gay man? An author who is male and female?"

Clinton, Bill. Born 1946. My Life. New York: Alfred Knopf, 2004. Jacket spine with label "From the library of Anne Rice" laid down to tail. First edition, inscribed on the title page, "To Anne—After doing this book, I admire you even more—Bill Clinton." with: a note on the Office of William J. Clinton letterhead: "2/17 —Huma—For author ANNE RICE.—Thanks, Sally." When Clinton published his memoir in 2024, Rice was one of the VIPs to receive a presentation copy, in which he expresses his admiration for her work after having written a book of his own.

Bellman, Henry. 1882-1945. Kings Row. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1943. Annotated and with ownership signature to front free endpaper: "Anne Rice / June 27, 2013 / Palm Desert." Rice has carefully read and annotated this copy, complementing the writing (particularly when Bellamann writes about Father Donovan) and adds a long note on the rear pastedown: "Pages & pages of this book are about the mind—about how the mind learns, expands, grows, experiences." Sometimes her comments are in conversation with the text, as when, on p 153, she underlines the town of Auvergne and writes "Auvergne, what a coincidence! As I plan a trip there and write about Lestat!"

Dickens, Charles. David Copperfield.  New York: Penguin Classics, 2014. With ownership signature of Anne Rice dated June 11, 2018, tabbed and annotated throughout. On the preliminary leaf of Copperfield, Rice writes, "Again with my beloved David, and my beloved Dickens. I have just read Claire Tomalink 'The Invisible Woman' and her later bio of Dickens. I'm writing my new novel in my head."

Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. New York: Penguin Classics, 2008. Signed and dated June 15, 2018, tabbed and annotated throughout.

Rawlings, Marjorie Kinnen. South Moon Under. New York, London: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1933 (undated later facsimile edition).

Mitchell, Margaret, Gone With the Wind. New York: [Simon and Schuster], 2011. Rice reread this copy in March of 2015, tabbing dozens of pages and commenting in the margins.

Tolstoy, Leo. War and Peace. New York: Alfred Knopf, 2007. The first date on this copy of War and Peace is June 30, 2010, and Rice writes: "The Desert / Being reborn in Tolstoy, studying at his feet—Searching for the Christ who is bigger than religion." In a different ink, Rice adds at the top of the same page, "Revisiting 7-16-17—Having seen much of the new BBC series with Lily James as Natasha." Rice has tabbed the pages throughout this volume and made extensive notes on character development and theme. On the rear flyleaf, she adds, "'Life is everything...' p 10064— use for L" as well as "The guiltlessness of suffering (do we make ourselves suffer to be guiltless)?"

Tolstoy, Leo. Anna Karinina. Translated by Rosamund Bartlett. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. Signed and annotated February 19, 2015. Heavily tabbed, especially in the center part of the novel, and noted on the front flyleaf: "Reading chunks of the story of Levin & Kitty / So beautiful and smooth—"

[forthegothicheroine]

Ann Putnam Jr was the only one of the Salem accusers that we know of who publicly apologized and recanted in front of the town. I've heard lots of takes on her apology- that it was heartbreaking and sincere, or that it was mealy-mouthed and hollow for saying the devil influenced her. It's not for me to accept her apology- she didn't do anything to me- and obviously no apology could ever be enough or bring anyone back or make it up to the survivors.

But for a twelve year old girl whose mother and friends were also accusers? I fully believe that she looked back and concluded they all must have been under the devil's sway.

[the-sum-of-many-poets]

salem

around sunset

the sow

leapt four feet in the air

gave one squeak & fell down dead

the farmer’s banjo arm

a cursed ear

clutched in his palm

& the perley’s sick cow

who went mad

ran into the pond & drowned itself

surely the raving tree

slave to the wind

spoke a proposition through the leaves

found a restless soul

obsequious & broken

& claimed it

this harlequin woman

jinxed the village with a strand of her hair

once

she even uttered a poem

conjuring sweet ambergris from plague

blame belongs with her

in the ground

in the crevice with elizabeth howe

the witch’s mark upon her

away from the sycamore & its wooing limbs

the trials of piously high anxieties

already the genius

draws a diagram for killing

ann putnam junior

her most aggressive accuser

laments

fourteen years later

walks the ruins of her own future

what could a twelve year old know of executions

the piss & shit of hangings

what furrows a child’s mind

ask the mother

ask the wasp in her mouth

feeding a puritan’s satan fetish

a small gnarly man they say

with cloven feet

approximately the height of a walking stick

first comes anger

followed by mischief

fools

he is the walking stick

& who will carefully

lovingly guide

the blind widow of elizabeth howe

©️david sichler

[detroitlib]

From our stacks: Cover detail from The Rowan. Anne McCaffrey. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1990.

[bestmusicalworldcup]

The Best Snubbed Musical World Cup

The Best Snubbed Musical World Cup is a tournament to determine the best musical excluding those that won the Tony Award for Best Musical. Submissions are now closed! The final list of musicals in the Best Snubbed Musical World Cup is below.

& Juliet 1789: Les Amants de la Bastille 21 Chump Street 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee 35MM: A Musical Exhibition A New Brain Ablaze The Act Adamandi Aida Alice By Heart Allegiance An American in Paris American Idiot American Psycho Amélie Anastasia Anne & Gilbert Annie Get Your Gun Anything Goes Anyone Can Whistle The Art Of Pleasing Princes Assassins Back to the Future the Musical Bandstand Bare: A Pop Opera Be More Chill Beauty and the Beast Beetlejuice The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas Big Fish Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson Bonnie and Clyde Bran Nue Dae Bright Star Calvin Berger Carousel Carrie Chess Chicago Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Cinderella (Rodgers & Hammerstein) Clown Bible The Color Purple Come from Away The Count of Monte Cristo Death Note: The Musical Dogfight The Dolls of New Albion Dracula Dreamgirls The Drowsy Chaperone Elisabeth Émilie Jolie Evil Dead: The Musical Falsettos The Fantasticks Finding Neverland Firebringer Fly by Night Frankenstein The Frogs Funny Girl Ghost Quartet Godspell Grease Groundhog Day The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals Gypsy Hair Hans Christian Andersen Heathers Hedwig and the Angry Inch Holy Musical B@man! Hoy no me puedo levantar The Hunchback of Notre Dame In Transit Into the Woods Jagged Little Pill Jane Eyre Jekyll & Hyde Jesus Christ Superstar Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat La Légende du roi Arthur The Last Five Years Le Roi Soleil Legally Blonde The Light in the Piazza The Lightning Thief Little Shop of Horrors Lizzie The Lord of the Rings Love in Hate Nation Love Never Dies The Mad Ones Made in Dagenham The Magic Show Magic Tree House: The Musical Mary Poppins Matilda Mean Girls Mentiras el musical Merrily We Roll Along Miss Saigon Mozart! Mozart, l'opéra rock Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 Newsies Next to Normal Notre-Dame de Paris Octet Oklahoma Oliver On the Town On Your Feet! The Story of Emilio & Gloria Estefan Once on this Island Once Upon A Mattress Ordinary Days Parade Phantom (Yeston & Kopit) Pippin The Pirate Queen Preludes Pretty Woman The Prince of Egypt Priscilla, Queen of the Desert The Prom Ragtime Rebecca Ride the Cyclone The Rocky Horror Show Roméo et Juliette: de la Haine à l'Amour Sarafina! The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1964) The Secret Garden The Scarlet Pimpernel Seussical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers She Loves Me Show Boat Shrek the Musical Sidd Singin' In the Rain Six Soldaat van Oranje Something Rotten Spies are Forever The Spitfire Grill SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical Starry Starship Sunday in the Park With George Tanz der Vampire / Dance of the Vampires Tarrytown The Threepenny Opera / Die Dreigroschenoper Tick Tick Boom Timéo The Trail to Oregon! Tuck Everlasting Twisted Urinetown Waitress West Side Story Wicked Wiedzmin The Wild Party (Lippa) The Wizard of Oz (1987) The Woman in White Wonderland You're a Good Man Charlie Brown

[aspiringtrashpanda]

Did you know the Salem Witch Trials memorial was raised in 1992, and the last convicted witch (Elizabeth Johnson Jr.) was officially exonerated in 2022 when the imprisonments and executions happened in 1692? Wild. Find the prompt list HERE.

── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ──

DAY 19 Prompt: Solomon Additional tags: Solomon's morally grey past, regret, angst

Twelve brisk steps from the wooden slats of the outdated square house, Solomon finds himself fenced in by a stone wall. The structure creeps just higher than his waist, and though the grout has begun to crumble between uneven edges and lopsided bricks formed through nature’s touch, the absence of any moss speaks of reverent care.

Satisfactory, Solomon decides, a solemn gaze sweeping over slabs of granite benches basked in dappled evening light. They could still do better, though. The rectangle of emerald sod, housing the oaks that protected engraved memories from too much exposure, remains well-kept and manicured, but a lack of real heart thrums within the memorial.

He supposes it is for good reason. 

Two long strides to the right, a daisy for Sarah. The knobs of the stems irritate Solomon’s palm, catch on his fingers as he makes his rounds. A larkspur for Martha. An aster for Susannah and a daffodil for Alice. 

“God knows I am innocent–” He reads aloud, his free hand tracing the truth that had been silenced with a rope. The stone says nothing in return, the wind still and lifeless. Though silvery strands had guided him mere moments ago, they now hang limp into his eyes, a constant reminder of the toes that dangled mere inches from safety. 

Salem haunts Solomon, a specter over his shoulder, a poltergeist in his coffee mug. Each sip turns the dark liquid crimson, sluggishly snaking down the ceramic to drip into the shallow graves at the foot of Gallows Hill. 

If he hadn’t–

If Ann hadn’t seen–

If only he had turned to face her, revealed himself to be the local apothecary, then perhaps the girls would never have picked up the hammer of injustice. When boredom is as potent a malady as smallpox, then hysteria is quick to spread.

The Putnam garden looms in his memory, lush with sage and elderberry, chamomile and marigold. He could have knocked, could have asked permission. Alas, a tonic from the previous night had rendered him haphazard, and a quick spell snipped the stems in favor of brevity. A dark shawl shielding bloodshot eyes from the morning sun, all Solomon had considered was the feather down of his bed. 

He had heard the gasp, the shriek of the young girl, the shrill demand to explain the impossible dissection of her garden without a spade in sight. Yet, he had fled, a nameless ghost of midnight rags billowing around him, his frame imperceptible.

The strike of the gavel wakes him in the middle of the night more often then he’d like. 

Solomon knows he is imperfection personified. Humanity he loved, he had lost, and though he shoulders their burdens, he cannot wash the blood from his hands. 

A thorn pricks his skin as he places a black rose beside Bridget’s date of birth, date of death. He lets the tiny incision leak ancient red into the curve of her initial. 

 It will not bring her back, but perhaps it will ease her spirit to know she lives on in his regrets. 

── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ──

The Salem Witch trials were actually bonkers. Check out the memorial site for more info.

OBEY ME! MONTH MASTERLIST

[heaveninawildflower]

Colour illustrations by Anne Hinchman taken from ‘Nantucket Wild Flowers’ by Alice Owen Albertson.

Published 1921 by G. P. Putnam's Sons.

MBLWHOI Library.

archive.org

[newyorkthegoldenage]

Pupils at P. S. 106 at 1328 Putnam Avenue, Brooklyn, under the direction of teacher Anne S. Frankie, collect mostly canned food for their annual interfaith Thanksgiving project, 1952. The food was distributed to the Little Sisters of the Poor, the Menorah Home for the Aged, and the Lutheran Inner Mission. The tall kids are Richard DiStepano, 11, and Maureen Kidwell, 10. The little ones are Jessie Conlon, 6, and Gene Cadaro, 5.

Photo: Brooklyn Daily Eagle via the Brooklyn Public Library

[thoughtfulfangirling]

2024 Reads

Another human invented marker of time has passed moving us from one year to the next. It's a good reason to start over my lists right?! XD 2023's list can be found here! 2024 starts below!

You Made a Fool out of Death with Your Beauty - Awaeke Emezi

Pussypedia: A Comprehensive Guide^ - Zoe Mendelson & Maria Conejo

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek -Kim Michele Richardson

Meru - S.B. Divya

The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist: A True Story of Injustice in the American South^ by Radley Balko & Tucker Carrington

Watching the Tree: A Chinese Daughter Reflects on Happiness, Tradition, and Spiritual Wisdom^ - Adeline Yen Mah

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous - Ocean Vuong

The Last Days of the Romanovs: Tragedy at Ekaterinburg^ - Helen Rappaport]

Pride and Prejudice* - Jane Austen

Fresh Girl - Jaida Placide

Butts: A Backstory^ - Heather Radke

The Girl Who Chased the Moon - Sarah Addison Allen

The Silent Patient - Alex Michaelides

The Blue Sword - Robin McKinley

In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex^ - Nathaniel Philbrick

A Wicked War: Polk, Clay, Lincoln and the 1846 U.S. Invasion of Mexico^ - Amy S. Greenberg

This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get You Killed: How Guns Made the Civil Rights Movement Possible^ - Charles E. Cobb Jr.

This Is Your Mind on Plants^ - Michael Pollan

The Silent Patient*~ - Alex Michaelides

Finding Me^ - Viola Davis

Wuthering Heights# - Emily Bronte

Exit Strategy~ - Martha Wells

The Girls Who Went Away:^ The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades before Roe V. Wade - Ann Fessler

Bowling Alone:^ The Collapse and Revival of American Community - Robert D. Putnam

Fugitive Telemetry%~ - Martha Wells

The History of Wales^*% - History Nerds

The War on Everyone^% ~- Robert Evans

Searching for Black Confederates:^ The Civil War's Most Persistent Myth - Kevin M. Levin

The Great Influenza:* The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History [2004] by John M. Barry

Network Effect~ - Martha Wells

Zelda Popkin:^ The Life and Times of an American Jewish Woman Writer - Jeremy D Popkin

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay - Michael Chabon

Medical Apartheid:^ The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present - Harriet A Washington

The Assassination of Fred Hampton:^ How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther - Jeffrey Haas

The Death of Vivek Oji - Awaeke Emezi

Mutual Aid:^% Building Solidarity in This Crisis (And the Next) - Dean Spade

Passin' Through - Luis L'Amour

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store - James McBride

Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro

Histories of the Transgender Child^ - Jules Gill-Peterson

Birdseye: The Adventures of a Curiosu Man^ - Mark Kurlansky

When I Fell from the Sky:^ The True Story of One Woman's Miraculous Survival - Juliane Koepcke

Dear Senthuran:^ A Black Spirit Memoir - Akwaeke Emezi

Emma* by Jane Austen

Lud-in-the-Mist - Hope Mirrlees

Woman:^ The American History of an Idea - Lillian Faderman

System Collapse - Martha Wells

A Dark and Starless Forest - Sarah Hollawell

The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love^% - Bell Hooks

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks^ - Rebecca Skloot

Charity and Sylvia: A Same-Sex Marriage in Early America^ -Rachel Hope Cleves

The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle^ - Lillian Faderman

The Woman in Me^ - Brittany Spears

Reclaiming Two-Spirits: Sexuality, Spiritual Renewal & Sovereignty in Native America^ - Gregory Smithers

Being Huemann: An Unrepentant Memoir of Disability Rights Activist^ - Judith Huemann

The Unthinkable: Who Survives When a Disaster Strikes and Why^ - Amanda Ripley

The Writing of the Gods: The Race to Decode the Rosetta Stone^ - Edward Dolnick

Utopia for Realists:^ How We Can Build the Ideal World - Rutger Bregman

The Echo Wife - Sarah Gailey

To Believe in Women:^ What Lesbians Have Done for America - Lillian Faderman

Priory of the Orange Tree - Samantha Shannon

Tribe:^% On Homecoming and Belonging - Sebastian Junger

Freedom^% - Sebastian Junger

Our Wives Under the Sea - Julia Armfield

Nonviolence: 25 Lessons from the History of a Dangerous Idea% - Mark Kurlansky

Bridehead Revisited# - Evelyn Waugh

The Witch Elm - Tana Frencyh

Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin

HumanKind: A Hopeful History - Rutger Bregman^

Autumn at the Willow River Guesthouse - C.P Ward

From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World Find the Good Death^ - Caitlin Doughty

A Study in Drowning - Ava Reid

The Turn of the Screw - Henry James

Gideon the Ninth* - Tamsyn Muir

See What I Have Done - Sarah Schmidt

Plain Bad Heroines* - Emily M Danforth

Tell Me I'm Worthless - Alison Rumfitt

On Killing:^ The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society - Dave Grossman

Camp Damascus - Chuck Tingle

The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror - Daneil M. Lavery

The Night Gardener - Jonathan Auxier

The World of Lore: Wicked Mortals^ - Aaron Mahnke

The Willows% - Algernon Blackwood

Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones% - Alvin Schwartz

(last updated 10/27)

Currently reading: On Killing (print), Plain Bad Heroines (print), Tell Me I'm Worthless (Audio), Camp Damascus (with spouse), and In the Woods (audio to fall asleep to)

Key: * = Reread ^ = Nonfiction ~ = Read with Empty % = Novella #= Doc book club

My goal for 2024 is for 40% of my reads to be nonfiction. I've had two years within the recent past where I managed 20% of my reads to be nonfiction, so I'm aiming to double that. THIS WILL BE HARD FOR ME! Not because I don't enjoy nonfiction but because I enjoy fiction a lot more and have a lot more practice reading it. Haha Also for me, I am in circles where I'm just going to have more awareness of fictional books that I'm likely to enjoy more so than nonfiction. I'm kind of hoping that this years journey will change that a bit too!

Okay, below the cut I'm putting the nonfiction books on my tbr, most of which I have the lovely people of Tumblr to thank for the recommendations!

1968: The Year that Rocked the World

The Age of Wood; Our Most Useful Material...

The Assassination of Fred Hampton

Behind the Scenes: Or, Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the...

Being Human

The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shelf

Birdseye: The Adventures of a Curious Man

Bowling Alone

Brave the Wild: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped...

Butts: A Backstory / Evermore Recommended

The Cadaver Kin and the Country Dentist / Automatuck9

Charity and Sylvia: A Same-Sex Marriage in Early America

Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse...

Dear Senthuran

DisneyWar

Driven to Distraction: Recognizing and Coping with...

Finding Me (Viola Davis)

The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed...

The Food of a Younger Land

The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women...

The Glass Universe

The Great Hunger: The Story of the Famine...

The Great Influenza

Helping Her Get Free: A Guide for Families and Friends of an Abused Woman

The History of Ireland

The History of Scotland

The History of Wales

How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

The Indifferent Stars Above

In the Heart of the Sea / ecouterbien

In the Wake of the Plague: The Black Death...

The Last Days of the Romanovs / Automatuck9

Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer

Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical...

Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During the Crisis...

A New World Begins

Nonviolence: The History of a Dangerous...

This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get you Killed / Empty

Radium Girls

The Road to Jonestown

Paper: Paging through History

People's Temple

Pussypedia / Bookstagram Rec

Salt: A World History

Say Nothing

Sea Biscuit: An American legend

Searching for Black Confederates

This is Your Mind on Plants

Unmasking Autism

The Unthinkable: Who Survives when Disaster Strikes - And Why

Watching the Tree / found all by my little self

We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow we Will be Killed...

A Wicked War: Polk, Clay, Lincoln and the.. / Rose

The Writing of the Gods: The Race to Decode the Rosetta...

I will actually add to this list as I get more recs and whatnot. And I still have some coming which I ordered from Thriftbooks. Once those are here, I'll add those. I'm a little sad there aren't more memoirs, but there's plenty of time for that yet! This is already 37 books, and given lately I've been reading about 70 (nonfiction may slow me down tho), these should give me plenty of ability to reach my 40% goal. Now it's just a matter of if I do it XD

[myhauntedsalem]

Giles Corey’s Ghost and Curse

Giles Corey and his wife along with 25 other people were accused of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts by a group of young girls in 1692.

Corey, born in England in 1611, was a wealthy farmer who lived with his wife five miles southwest of Salem in what is today Peabody.

Corey’s accusers were three young girls, Abigail Williams, Ann Putnam and Mercy Lewis, they along with two other girls had implicated most of the victims in the Salem Witch Trails.

Giles and his wife Martha were members of the Salem Town Church where they were a part of a group of members who did not want Reverend Samuel Parris appointed the minister of this church in 1689.

Ironically, Abigail Williams was Parris’s 11-year old niece and one ringleader of the girls involved in the accusations. Putnam was the other leader.

Corey was brought before the local magistrates, he refused to enter a plea so he was thrown in jail.

On September 9th his wife was sentenced to die along with five others.

At his trail the girls stated he was “in league with the devil.” Corey refused to enter a plea because he knew the law stated he could not be tried, condemned, and executed until he stated he was either innocent or guilty.

Historians believe that he was avoiding this because he knew he was going to be found guilty which meant his land would be confiscated. He wanted it turned over to his heirs. He and Martha had 3 children from previous marriages.

Since he stayed mute, the court decided that a confession should be forced out of him. Corey was ordered to undergo peine forte et dure or pressing.

On September 19th he was dragged, naked to an open field where he was placed on a board that had been put in a shallow pit. Another board was placed on top of him.

Heavy stones and bricks were placed on top of him. For three days he endured this torturous pain, all the time remaining silent.

On September 22nd the end was near. Corey’s mouth was dry with thirst and his face was swallow and red. George Corwin, whose ghost is mentioned in another post here, was the Essex County sheriff at the time.

He knelt on the ground next to Corey having seen his lips move. He felt that Corey was about to relent but instead Corey uttered these now famous words, “More weight!”

With his dying breath Corey called out. “I curse you, sheriff, and I curse all of Salem.” That same day Martha was hanged with eight other people.

The witch trail executions stopped after this. Salem’s townspeople realized shortly after Corey’s pressing that all the girl’s testimony had been lies.

Nineteen people were hanged, four or five others died in prison waiting for their trails or executions. And Corey died under stones.

This torturous death resulted in his ghost haunting the Howard Street Cemetery today. It is believed he also haunts the Joshua Ward House in Salem–more information about this is in the link above.

This cemetery did not open until 1801 but it was on this land where Corey was pressed in a pit. It is believed his body is buried here as well.

Several witnesses have stated they have seen his apparition floating among the tombstones. Others state they have felt his clammy hands touch them.

As for the curse, George Corwin died of a heart attack. Other Essex County sheriffs have suffered from heart conditions as well. Several over the years reported seeing Corey’s ghost in their bedrooms.

Those who reported this sight stated they felt a strong pressure on their chests that didn’t go away until Corey’s ghost disappeared.

There is also a legend that states when Corey’s ghost appears he acts as a harbinger. It is said people saw his ghost just before the June 25, 1914 Great Salem Fire that destroyed most of the city.

Others believed Corey’s curse caused this fire.

[digitalnewberry]

Summer, summer, summertime

Summer is in full swing here in Chicago, so there's no better time to reflect on some warm weather quotes from the past few centuries.

"Happy to join you for a walk on the wild side. I am thinking of turning existentialist for the summer!" - Frank Walsh to Jack Conroy (1958)

"I love the summer, the warm, pleasant summer, when the very thought of the cold frosts of winter brings a smile almost of derision to our faces." - Unidentified compositions, Everett family writings (ca. 1850s-1870s)

"I want you should have a good long summer to rest, recruit, and get fat & strong." - Isaac Stevens Metcalf to his wife, Antoinette Brigham Putnam Metcalf (1866)

"I wish you both could visit me this summer and eat some of the lovely cherries that are coming." - Katharine Kerr Moore to her mother, May Walden (1915)

"This summer I found a new way to go broke." - Mary Ann Heller to Jack Conroy (1965)

"Our summer is passing away -- swiftly, & upon silent wings." - Edward A. Barnes diaries (1876)

(tag yourself I'm "I found a new way to go broke")

[mockiatoh]

Tumblr users in Salem would have been like “it’s ableist for you to say that Ann Putnam isn’t being afflicted by witches. How dare you say she’s not valid”

[brookstonalmanac]

Birthdays 9.20

Beer Birthdays

Marc Lemay

Pete Coors (1946)

Five Favorite Birthdays

Gary Cole; actor (1956)

Malcolm Reynolds; character on Firefly (2468)

Upton Sinclair; writer (1878)

Jim Taylor; Green Bay Packers RB (1935)

Jay Ward; animator (1920)

Famous Birthdays

Asia Argento; Italian actor, singer (1975)

Red Auerbach; Boston Celtics coach (1917)

Xavier Marcel Boulestin; chef, cookbook author (1878)

Joyce Brothers; psychologist (1928)

Maggie Cheung; Chinese actor (1964)

Dale Chihuly; artist, glass sculptor (1941)

James Dewar; Scottish chemist, physicist (1842)

Joanie Dodds; model (1981)

John Harle; classical saxophonist (1956)

Kristen Johnson; actor (1967)

Guy Lafleur; Montreal Canadiens RW (1951)

Sophia Loren; Italian actor (1934)

George R.R. Martin; writer (1948)

Anne Meara; comedian (1929)

Jelly Roll Morton; pianist (1885)

Chuck & John Panozzo; rock musicians (1948)

Maxwell Perkins; literary editor (1884)

Henry Putnam; librarian (1861)

Fernando Rey; Spanish actor (1917)

Brinke Stevens; model, actor (1954)

Leo Strauss; German philosopher (1899)

Slappy White; comedian (1921)

[haggishlyhagging]

Given the tensions and moral compromise associated with male medical care, the mid-nineteenth-century movement of women into medical training took on the aspects of a crusade—for female health, for morality, for decency.

It was this sense of being involved in a moral crusade which accounts for the determination of our early female doctors. For example, Elizabeth Blackwell applied to over sixteen schools before she found one which would accept her, but, as she said, "The idea of winning a doctor's degree gradually assumed the aspect of a great moral struggle, and the moral fight possessed attraction for me. " In the same year that Blackwell gained admission, Harriet Hunt was admitted to Harvard Medical College only to have the decision reversed because the students threatened to riot if she came. (Harvard had admitted three black male students the year before and that, according to the white male majority, was enough!) Undaunted, Hunt went to seek a medical education at an "irregular" school. Through the efforts of women like Blackwell, Hunt, Marie Zakrzewska, Lucy Sewall, Sarah Adamson, Ann Preston, Helen Morton, and Mary Putnam Jacobi—to mention only a few—there were, by 1900, approximately five thousand trained women doctors in the land, fifteen hundred female medical students and seven medical schools exclusively for women.

Male doctors recognized that women in the profession posed a threat which was far out of proportion to their numbers. The woman patient who considered herself socially superior to female lay healers, yet was repelled by male medicine, would naturally welcome a woman professional. Faced with this threat to their practice, the male doctors responded with every argument they could think of: How could a lady who was too refined for male medical care travel at night to a medical emergency? Operate when indisposed (e.g., menstruating)? If women were too modest for mixed-sex medical care, how could they expect to survive the realities of medical training—the vulgar revelations of anatomy class, the shocking truths about human reproduction, and so on?*

*Nor is this perception of the incompatibility of women and medicine dead among American gynecologists today. One who was recently interviewed in the January 1977 Ms. magazine explained, "You have to be kind of crazy to go into the field, because it's a difficult, physically demanding residency. I had to be extremely obsessive-compulsive to get through it. This kind of behavior doesn't look good on a woman. And I'm so attuned to ob/gyn as a male speciality that I find it hard to accept women in it. I just don't see them as very feminine. I only know a couple of them who are feminine and good doctors too."

-Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English, For Her Own Good: 150 Years of the Experts’ Advice to Women

[bestmusicalworldcup]

2024 Best Musical World Cup Qualifiers Official List A-K

This section of the Official List features musicals between letters A-K that have NOT automatically qualified.

Here is the list of musicals that have automatically qualified.

Here is the list for letters L-Z.

& Juliet 9 to 5 13: The Musical 21 Chump Street 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee 35MM: A Musical Exhibition 42nd Street 1776 1789: Les Amants de la Bastille Ablaze The Act Adamandi The Addams Family Aida Ain't Misbehavin Alice By Heart Allegiance American Idiot An American in Paris American Psycho Amélie Anastasia Anne & Gilbert Annie Annie Get Your Gun Anyone Can Whistle Anything Goes Applause The Art of Pleasing Princes Assassins Av. Larco Avenue Q Back to the Future the Musical The Band's Visit Bandstand Bare: A Pop Opera Bat Boy Beauty and the Beast Bedknobs and Broomsticks Beetlejuice Be More Chill The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas Big Fish Big River Billy Elliot the Musical Black Friday Blood Brothers Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson Bonnie and Clyde The Book of Mormon Bran Nue Dae Bridges of Madison County Bright Star Bring It On Bugsy Malone Bye Bye Birdie La Cage aux Folles Calendar Girls Calvin Berger Camelot Caroline, or Change Carousel Carrie Catch Me if You Can Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Chess Chitty Chitty Bang Bang A Chorus Line Cinderella (Rodgers and Hammerstein) City of Angels Clown Bible The Color Purple Contact The Count of Monte Cristo Crazy for You Curtains Damn Yankees De 3 Biggetjes Dear Evan Hansen Death Note: The Musical Death Takes a Holiday The Devil Devotion of Suspect X Dogfight The Dolls of New Albion Don Juan Dorian Gray Dracula, the Musical Dreamgirls The Drowsy Chaperone Elisabeth Émilie Jolie Everybody’s Talking About Jamie Evil Dead: The Musical Evita FANGIRLS The Fantasticks Finding Neverland Fiorello! Firebringer The Fisherman’s Daughters Fly by Night Follies Fosse Frankenstein (Wang Yong Beom + Brandon Lee) Frankenstein: A New Musical The Frogs Frozen Funny Girl A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder Godspell Grease Groundhog Day Guys and Dolls The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals Hair Hallelujah, Baby! Hans Christian Andersen Harmony Heathers Hedwig and the Angry Inch Hello, Dolly! Holy Musical B@man! How to Dance in Ohio How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying Hoy no me puedo levantar In the Green In Transit Jack the Ripper Jagged Little Pill Jane Eyre Jekyll and Hyde Jerome Robbins' Broadway Jersey Boys Jesus Christ Superstar Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Kimberly Akimbo King's Table The King and I Kinky Boots Kismet Kiss Me, Kate Kiss of the Spider Woman