19th cent

Written in 1843 to provide immigrants to Illinois with practical information about everyday life on the prairie. Presents an accurate look at the Middle West in the 1840s.

Chronicles the experiences Major Isaac N. Smith had while serving as a Confederate spy in Virginia during the Civil War.

Peter Leschak chronicles the events surrounding the deadliest fire in North American history which occured in the small lumbering town of Peshtigo, Wisconsin, on October 8, 1871, and discusses how reading about that fire inspired him to become a firefighter.