Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Assignment #5:The Radicals Part 2: BRET HARTE..Radical Writings and The West's Most Famous Writer




various pictures of Bret Harte at different ages/graveyard/grave headstone and Bret Harte School



Bret Harte was one of the West's most famous writers and he appeared in many articles in national magazines like the Atlantic Monthly and several New York magazines to name a few. Bret Harte in March1854, when he was young at an age of 18, came to California to stay with his parents and was already a writer and it showed with his grisly tales for his articles and also poetry, that was read by many in the East as tales of adventure and harshness in the wilds of the West.It was in September of 1856, that he became a tutor for Abner Bryant's four sons, Tom, Wise, George and Jonathan which gave the experience of living in the wilds under the big mountian called Mt Diablo. It was thought that the experience with the Bryant boys in the wilds of Tassajara helped to give those writings their wild edge and veracity.The Bryants had a ranch near Alamo Creek in the Tassajara Valley( now Blackhawk area) and their stock included 83 Spanish mares and horses, 238 head of cattle, 652 Spanish sheep, two wagons and one buggy.




Bret Harte in a letter to his sister explained the wildness of the area he was living in these words and alot more on October 8, 1856,"had four young sons, and not caring to have them grow up like range-cattle, he decided to have a tutor....There is nothing of the rural character of a farm, saving the corral at the bottom of the field and the haystack at the top, and the whole place is as wild as the god of nature made it". "Bryant was not really a farmer or rancher but a"Drover" and lived in a mere shanty that might be as well a hunters cabin in the wilderness".




Harte in his letters back home noted that Bryant was a very religious man and that autumn, the young writer joined the Bryants at an evangelical camp meeting in the valley. It was after this meeting that the young Harte later wrote his famous piece called "An Apostle of the Tules" which described the festive and revival atmosphere of the meeting and he begins the piece with Oct 10, 1856. Other works that drew and showed his wild life in Danville include the famous "A Legend of Monte Diablo" from the Atlantic Monthly article of October 1863, "Cressy, The Convalescence of Jack Hamlin", and "A First Family of Tassajara....The Queen of the Pirate Isle".




He also wrote classic California Gold rush pieces like "The Outcasts of Poker Flat" and "The Luck of Roaring Camp" along with the now famous poem "Plain Language from Truthful James" along many others.




Bret Harte also worked with such writers as Samuel Clemens(aka mark Twain), Charles Warren Stoddard and Prentice Mulford while writing for San Franscico's "The Californian" newspaper.
Mark Twain had said and also criticize Harte's pieces as complete nonsense when asked about Bret Harte's writing and said they were not worth the effort.



Harte historical significance are seen in that he romanticized the California gold rush period but he also showed the readers in the East, the romantic side of the West but also at the same time also showed the harshness and isolation of the West also. He was a little more critical of the West than say Clemens, as he showed a lot more of the harshness and brutal side of him living in the California wilderness, as he put it. This put him at odds with many of the West's greatest writers and made him a radical in that sense of writers. Young Bret Harte stay in Danville was brief to a few years but he got the glimpse of the West and how brutal but beautiful it was, giving a leg up on his writing and how he would pursue his writing in romanticizing and showing the harshness of the West, the way he did.

ASSIGNMENT #4-The Radicals Part 1: The Radicals and The Grangers


station house/SRV railroad turn table/grangers poster and book on grangers




I was in the San Ramon Museum looking around and a women came up to me and asked if i needed any type of assistance and i told her i was a CSU student and was majoring in History. She asked me what CSU meant and i told her California State University, as I was just a little shocked that she did not know what CSU meant. I told her that i was looking for information on Daniel Inman, his brother Andrew and the settlers of Danville and the significance of Danville founders to the Bay Area and California. What she gave me in information was father beyond the S.F Bay Area and also even beyond California in being significant, this organization was formed because of events far away from the dusty trails and roads of Danville.




The organization was called the Grangers and today it is found in many areas of California and was founded after the Civil War, which was disrupted to many farmers during that time. The Danville Grange Hall is still located on Diablo Road and has been standing there for over 130 years(IN THREE LOCATIONS). The Civil War which was thousands of miles away, caused many disruptions in farming within California and the San Ramon, it was because of that the Grangers were formed. The Danville Grange was founded by Oliver Hudson Kelley in 1867, as a way to improve farmers lives throughout the country and hoping that this new type of farmers fraternity, the Patrons of Husbandry, would help famers and help mend the wounds of the Civil War for many farmers.





The Danville Grange No. 85 was formed on October 1, 1873, with 30 charter members (20 men and 10 women) . It had become the third Granger outfit in Contra Costa and also the 85th Granger in the state of California. The members elected Charles Wood, you remember him as the friend of both Daniel and Andrew Inman, to be the first worthy master. The Grange Hall place in San Ramon Valley history is long as it was the meeting place every Saturday for their meetings and pot luck, first at the Danville Grammer School on Front Street, then later in 1874, a new Grange Hall was built just west of Front Street for some $1,383.70 which included the land and building.(3 total loations and buildings used s the Granger Hall).





The Building of the Danville Grange Hall went up quickly and a local newspaper had actually said in this direct quotes, (The Pacific Rural Press on July 11th,1874 edition) "The frame of the new hall for the Danville Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, 30 by 60 feet uopn the ground, is already up".





The Grange Halls were being constructed all over the country and not only were they there to really aid farmers but really served as community centers and became the hubs of community life. The Grange Hall for 40 years became the largest meeting room in the valley as it held meetings, political and other type of speeches, plays, parties, church services and dances. This was not only refined to Danville but all over the country, that this was going on. Grangers in Danville and the county, it was not just a local importance but also state wide. The Grangers made great efforts to improve themselves and their economic conditions within the county and state, as Grangers really changed and reflected the views of the agriculture community within the county and state. It was these views like on transportation such as lowering railroad rates, scientific farming techniques, rural economic development, public education, health and safety. Selling California and San Ramon Valley agriculture and wheat to other parts of the U.S and the world, was a prime focus of the Grangers and they hired their own wheat and agriculture agents in an efffort to get larger returns for the farmers. The wheat was a dry, flavorful grain which sold well at the Livermore Corn exchange at $68.00 a ton in 1870's but the farmers only got $28.00 a ton.





One of the biggest historical contributions to only the county but to the state was that they had formed a bank, a business famers assocaition and facilities for shipping wheat, grains and other types of agriculture to other parts of the U.S and the world. This was not just a county bank but the state Grangers Bank of California, a state wide bank that dealt with shipping various types of the California agriculture to other locations outside of California. The Grangers met on April 1874, with Woods and several other local Grangers, along wth 130 other subordinate state Grangers, to found the Grangers Bank of California. Local Danville Grangers John J. Kerr, Erastus Ford and James Stone(Stoneridge fame) also along with Woods, helped plan a warehouse and business association throughout California. The historically signifance of all of this was that the Grangers set the tone and price for wheat, grain and other types of agriculture to be cheapily shipped out of California. They even built the Grangers Wharf in Martinez and a railroad that went to the wharf and this let them have a deep water location to send the agricultural goods directly to the ships.




The Grangers significance was not only felt in their farmers associations and their banks, but also politically. Farmers were angry about the the railroad monopolies in California who charged high prices for shipping wheat and other agricultural products. The Grangers acted on this anger and lobbied the California legislature to stop this overcharging for shipping wheat and agriculture products by the California railroads. This became known as the "Grangers Laws" which helped reduce the power of the railroads in California. Grangers elected to the 1878-1879 California Constitutional Convention made up one fourth of all the legislators there,which included Danville founder Daniel Inman and later Charles Wood and A.J Young, all Grangers and friends of each other in Danville.


The Grangers were also important politically and in the sense of history in that they were free speakers, free-thinkers and had ground breaking ideas in social and also politically wise for their time. Charles Wood, Daniel Inman, A.J Young and many others from Danville inacted ideas of anti-smoking and drinking efforts, graduated tax systems and their non-partisan ideas had weakened the party system and led to support for a new political parties like the Progressive Party. These free-thinking ideas spread throughout California legislatures and then even into the United States as a whole, so the historical and political significance was wide and long lasting.




The 20th century did not stop the flow of historical landmarks that the Grangers and the local residents of San Ramon Valley and Danville made to the county and California, the Grangers being of free-thinking and spirited as the Grangers who were before them. They were also responsible for the rural free delivery by the post office(was adopted statewide) , also they founded the Valley Improvement Assocaition which brought telephone service and a new electric railway in 1905, initiated a new public high school district in 1909 for all high school age children(use to be one building for all children first grade through high school statewide) , organized the Good Roads League in the County(Contra Costa) with the overall goals of paving roads for the new invented automobiles and building a highway from Martinez(County Seat) to Stockton by way of the San Ramon Valley, and finally initiated a lobbying effort to make Mt Diablo, a State Park and this even before there was a State park System. Their efforts started the California State System, in which Mt Diablo was added to that Park System soon after it was made official.




The trip to the San Ramon Valley Museum was interesting in finding out alot about the Grangers and that many of Danville's founders and early settlers were quite radical thinkers in a social and political sense. They set the tone and in motion many things that we have today and they made history in doing so, in their actions and new type of thinking for their time. I personally found interesting that a bunch of farmers lobbied for Mt Diablo to become a State Park and this from farmers of all people. But they lobbied and got their wishes and we have Mt Diablo State park today, thanks to people like Daniel Inman, Charles Wood, A.J. Young, James Stone and others. The Grangers were important for alot of reasons historical both in County, State and also for the United States which i have explained. I do hope that you go visit the old original Grangers Hall in Danville, now the Village Theatre on Front street( on the second floor) or the newer one that opened in 1952 on Diablo St. It reminds us all of the times of old, of old radical ideas and free thinking by the Grangers, that brought out changes and history being made.



A Granger song I wanted ya'll to see and maybe sing (yeah right?)

Brothers of the plow
The power is with you
The word is expectation waits
For action prompt and true
Oppression stalks abroad
Monopolies abound (railroads!!)
Their giant hands already clutch
The tillers of the ground

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

ASSIGNMENT # 3 PART C


Inman children's school// Daniel Inman/// Daniel Inman ranch
Green Valley School



Secondary Sources!!



There are many lores and tales about Danville and the most interesting is the funny lore how Danville was named. It was touched on about how Danville got it's name but this will rip apart any ideas or secondary sources used, though the lore of how Danville was named is still being argued about to this day. The Inman brothers were some fo the first people to settle in Danville and it was thought that they had come to a name, after one of the Inman brothers, Daniel.They had both decided, so it is told that they named the settlement after Daniel and Danville is very close to Daniel. Some Danville historians have stated that they named if after Daniel or Dan for short and called it Dan's village or Danville. It must be noted that many settlements or soon to be towns were named after one of the founding members and the use of Ville or Burg was put at the end, as in Boonesburg or the endless others.



The other half of how historians who think of how Danville was named, comes from the idea that Danville was named after one of the Inman brothers' mother-in-law home town of Danville, Kentucky. The mother-in-law in question was Andrew Inman's wife mother and out of respect of her, they had named the settlement Danville. It was said that grandma Sara Young and the mother-in-law as mentioned, they were there when settlement folk told the Inmans that a name was needed for the settlement. Daniel did not get along all too well with Andrew's Mother-in-law but the name came not after just the idea of naming the town after the mother-in-law hometown but also that of grandma Sara Young, who also came from Danville, Kentucky.



The naming lore of the naming of Danville is that, it was named after the mother-in-law but when really it was named mostly out of respect for Grandma Sara Young and that it sounded alot like Dan Inman. Inmanville was the first name put up for the settlement, but it was soon rejected by both the Inman brothers and grandma Sara Young. You can really see how Danville was really partly named from Daniel Inman first name and out of respect for Grandma Sara Young, who had real fond memories of Danville, Kentucky, growing up there.



The question of the mother-in-law, well maybe Andrew made a point of naming it Danville, as they say out of respect for the mother-in law, being married to the daughter of her. It is also very doubtful that both Daniel or Grandma Sara Young felt the same way as Andrew and through research, you can sense a tension between some of the Inman/Young clan and the mother-in laws family. The question of use of secondary sources in guessing why Danville was named that name, well you get the idea that maybe there were several reasons but the lore and also the guessing continues in why Danville was named that and who it was named after!
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Danville is important in the whole basis of the Bay Area because it is home of Blackhawk which are where many of the movie pictures actors, various athletes and movers and shakers of the business world live. The naming of Danville is important in the identity of what would be a very important town in the East Bay, not only in the well known people who live there such as Eugene Oneil but Danville also houses the Blackhawk Museum, a world known automobile Musueum. The list goes on with the importance of Danville, to not only the Bay Area but to California and the United States, like being the middle line of the Southern Pacific line through the San Ramon Valley as one example, thus linking the valley and Livermore vineyards to the world. Danville is not a name that Daniel and Andrew Inman named a little settlement in the San Ramon Valley, no it was more than that, in that it had significant contributions then and also later for the S.F bay Area, California and the United States. This blog simple shows the strange and curious naming of Danville, how it got it's name and how a little settlement started and then
later became significant in the annuals of history.

ASSIGNMENT # 3 PART B





Secondary sources!!



MT DIABLO IS NOT NAMED AFTER THE DEVIL/IS NOT A VOLCANO!!

Geologists state that Mt Diablo is not a volcano but it sure looks like one, as geologists, as the primary sources have stated that they are still trying to figure it out. We know the rocks are very old but the mountian itself is very young. Why am i talking about Mt Diablo, it stands at 3,849 feet in Danville borderlines and takes up a portion of Danville, so it has and is part of Diablo history. The view from Mt Diablo, which is the highest Mountain in the S.F Bay area, can see as far as 200 miles to the east, north and south, and to the Pacific Ocean on a clear
day.



What also makes Mt Diablo part of Danville history are the facts that Native people felt to have quite significant value to the mountain. The Juipun saw it as the center of the world for them and the birthplace of the world. Hundreds of miles away in the Sierra Nevada, some Northern Miwok saw it as a place where the supernatural beings lit the world and landscape around them, that the mountain touched the sky. The Central Miwok featured Mt Diablo as part of their most sacred ceremonies. The Wintun, their spiritual leaders prayed to the creator from the summit of the mountain. The Volvon , an early area native group, it was part of the homeland which included the summit and most of the mountain an they were a Bay Miwok speaking people. The mountain as early as 1811 was called Cerro Alto de los Bolbones(High Point of the Volvon). Mt Diablo for the 25 independent tribal groups that lived near or around the mountain, Mt Diablo is a spiritual place of worship.


So why the name Mt Diablo, the fire mountain as some call it, though it has lore that it is not a volcano or was one maybe 165 million years ago. Some California geologists say that a giant fold of rock happened some 2 million years ago,with the fault lines of both the Calaveras and the Diablo faults does support this. Sandstone and bedrock make up most of Mt Diablo as seen with Rock City, Castle Rock, Fossil Ridge and Devil's Slide. So why is the lore of giant Mt Diablo still are heard by some, of a old old volcano, when geologists say otherwise. The name El Diablo can be traced back to 1805 when Spanish military troops searched for runaway mission Indians. What is now called Buchanan fields in Concord, a group of Chupcan Indians escaped the Spanish during the night, after being surrounded, disappearing forever into the night and up on to the mountain top. The Spanish both angry and confused, called the mountain "Monte Del Diablo or the "Thicket of the Devil". The word "Monte" was later translated into Mount so to take in the real history of the Spanish and English words, though it was an linguistic accident that this occured.


The lore of Mount Diablo continues even today, though many people who speak of this being an old volcano, as really secondary knowledge brought through both myth and words of mouth and transferred through generations. People who do not know the true history of the mountain, asks when that old devil's mountain going to erupt again and it has been millions of years, or is indeed now extinct. You have to really laugh at this type of talk of the TALLEST MOUNTAIN in the Bay Area. You have to think with the double peak and the overall dimensions of the mountain, it does look very like an volcano but it is not and far from it!
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Does Mt Diablo have local significance to the S.F Bay Area and also California, you betttacha! Mt Diablo does not only have the history lore of the Spanish and Indigenous people to add to the history of both the S.F Bay Area and California but it is history itself. The mountain was used to stand atop of and chart areas of the S.F Bay Area and California by the Spanish and then Anglos in the 19th century, being almost 4,000 feet in altitude. You could also say that Mt Diablo is also part of history, in the Indigenous people used the mountian for both their religious and spiritual ceremonies. One of the last of the great Grizzly bears was hunted and also killed at the base of the mountain. Mt Diablo does make up a certain amount of local and California history and it still does, as thousands still flock there to view the Bay Area or California on a clear day, hike or view wildlife. (oh where oh where has my grizzly bear gone....only you..can prevent wildfires!!)

ASSIGNMENT # 3 PART A.

Here are some linkts that you might enjoy to read as they are
a mixed of sites for ya'll!


http://www.ci.danville.ca.us/enjoy_danville/historic_danville

http://www.discoverdanvilleca.com/danville-history.php

www.museumsrv.org/srvm_vh_Danville.html

www.americantowns.com/ca/danville-information

http://www.savemountdiablo.org/home.htm

http://www.eugeneoneill.org/

http://www.blackhawkmuseum.org/exhibitions.html

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

ASSIGNMENT #2 PART B



Please right click and then click again for a even bigger picture!


Here are some pictures of Old Danville and these are from the walls of the Museum of the San Ramon Valley and deal with mostly, the Danville line of the Southern Pacific Railroad which came to the valley in 1891....I just wanted you to get a feel of how it looked like in Danville in the 1800's.Thanks again to the Museum of the San Ramon Museum located at now 205 Railroad Ave, Danville, Ca 94526; for letting me take pictures inside the museum and letting me explore a bit for this Danville History blog.


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History significance:the Southern Pacific linked most of the citrus, walnut and other fruit and vegetables fields of the Sam Ramon Valley to California and the outside world. This is also important for a industry that would become quite known in California, the Vineyeard and wine business.This line which stopped in Danville, went onto one of the Bay Area's premiere grape growing areas, Livermore Valley. I will be using the the San Ramon Valley Line of the Southern Pacific Railroad as a primary source, as this pretty much changed Danville and made the San Ramon Valley, the way it is, along with the 680 freeway which i will also discuss in Blog #4.












Danville History Part 1

ASSIGNMENT #2 PART A


1.old salon/2. bakery/3. more bakery 4. foward motion sports
Danville today as we drive through the town



For over 130 years, Danville has been a place of change and growth, as it is referred often as the "Heart of the San Ramon Valley". Danville was first inhabited by Bay Miwok Indians, living in the valleys by the creek's banks and then living up on Mt Diablo during the summer months.It was later part of the huge Mission San Jose grazing land and even later a Mexican land grant called Rancho San Ramon.



Danville was settled and named after Americans drawn here by the California Gold Rush. Daniel and Andrew Inman bought 400 acres of Old Town with their mining earnings in 1854,after living in the area for the summer, two years earlier. By 1858, the community had a blacksmith, a hotel, a wheelwright and a general store and the townspeople wanted a post office.





The name for this new town was debated and several names were thrown in, as Dan Inman had stated and Imnanville was suggested but they decided against that and just named it
Danville, after Dan Inman and close enough to the last name of the Inman's. It was considered
though that the name could of come from Andrew's mother-in-law, who was born and raised near Danville, Kentucky. But many think it was named after the energenic young Dan who was later an Alameda County Assemblyman and Supervisor.




The Danville Post Office opened in 1860 with hotel owner Henry W. Harris as the first postmaster. Harris reported in 1862, that there were 200 people living within the city limits, with 200 ballots casted in the last general election.Hearing the stories of prosperity to be found in California, people from the mid-west and east coast began to settle in Danville and also in the surrounding valleys. Most new residents had been farmers and observed that the valley was fertile and the weather was good and overall a great place to settle. The 1869 census counted
nearly 1,800 people in the combined Danville and Lafayette area. Most squatted on land or purchased land, from the Mexican and other owners and established ranches, farms and also
businesses.


Settlers raised cattle and sheep and grew wheat, barley and onions. Later the farms produced hay, a wide variety of fruit crops like apples, plums, pears, walnuts and almonds etc. In the mid 1800's, horses and wagons hauled these products north to the dockss at Pachecho and Martinez, following Road #2, which wound by San Ramon Creek and was almost impassable during the rainy season, because of flooding.

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Please go to Blog #3 for information why Danville is historically significant and there will be even more information on Blog #4 on the Southern Pacific Railroad-San Ramon Valley line which brought agriculture, beef and alot more from the San Ramon Valley to the world.


*Information on Danville History is donated by the Museum of San Ramon Valley located at 205 Railroad Ave., Danville Ca 94526 925-837-3750



**Please go and check out the Abraham Lincoln exhibit at the Museum of San Ramon Valley as it has some very nice Civil War pieces and exhibits that all will enjoy, about the Civil War and also President Lincoln.


** Now availiable is a nice book on Vintage Danville: 150 years of Memories..which is a coffee table book which commemorate's Danville's 150th anniversity. The book chronicles Danville's roots, people and the achievements of the Danville community. Local Danville residents, Beverly Lane and Laura Grinstead, put all their effort into this great book with illustations, photographs and experiences, which capture the sprit of the people, places and culture of Danville. The book costs just $35.00 and you can pick up your copy at the Museum of the San Ramon Valley, as they got plenty of copies to buy there.

Friday, April 9, 2010

some pics to show you who i am







SOME PICS OF THE TAO HOUSE..EUGENE ONEILL HOUSE..THE PLAYWRIGHT
AND NOBEL PRIZE WINNER FOR LITERATURE!!








Why i am putting the pictures of the Tao House up is because i too write books as explain
lower in this blog and Eugene Oneill, like me was a Danville resident and i just wanted to
show you this national Pak and you can visit it by calling the Eugene Oneill Society.The
number is on the Linkt that i have posted below. Here is some quick facts on Eugene Oneill and
the Tao House

-Eugene Oneill and his wife Carlotta built the Tao House and lived there from 1937-1944.
-He wrote 6 plays there including "A Moon for the Misbegotten", "The Iceman Cometh"
and "A Long Day's Journey Into Night" among others.
-Many scholars believe that Eugene Oneill along with Shakespeare and Shaw, was one of the three greatest playwrights in the English-speaking world.

-Eugene Oneill recieved 4 pullisers prizes for his writing and still the only American Playwright
to recieve the Nobel Prize for literature!
-Eugene Oneill and Carlotta purchased land in the San Ramon valley, above what is now Danville in 1937. They put down $15,000.00 deposit for 158 acres which was part of an old Spanish Land
Grant.



Here is my house-------------->>>>>>





Casa de Bonita en Danville Californias





Norte de Alta California








LA CASA DE BONITA ...MAS PICTORIAS O FOTO!












more shots of The Casa De Bonita














my kitties..tiggra and Tabitha..ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh



Above are the pics of Casa De Bonita, the name of my house since i am a book writer and then hopefully like my fellow Danville writer Eugene O'Neil. I will have my books published one day and then be able to name my house, like he did with his, in the Tao house! Dream on huh!




I moved into Casa De Bonita in 1997 and have done several extra additions including planting a whole different garden in, with all tropical plants including Banana trees, Caladuims, 3 types of
canna's, Alocasia(2 types), Philodendrons, Cyathea, Heliconias, Musa, Strelitzia (The Bird of Paradise),Sword Ferns, Boston Ferns, Silver Lady Ferns, 4 types of Lilies, Royal Palms, Queen Palms, Mexican Fan Palms, Bamboo(2 types), Australian Tree Ferns, New Zealand Tree Ferns
and alot more....I am planning on planting even more tropical plants later on in the spring and take out the last non tropical bush from my backyard and put my wood bench and more Queen palms, Tree Ferns and Alocasias(Elephant Ears) there where the bush was, maybe a small fountain also.


I have also put new wooden floors in the kitchen and dining area and added some extra security lights in the backyard. My next big project after getting the big bush in the back out and then
replaced with what i want there, will be my Attrium job. I am planning on getting rid of two walls and opening the living room area with an open wall library on just two sides with book shelves to the wall on those two sides, a desk/chair and a lounge chair for reading. You can tell by the pictures of part of my library, i need more space for my books and i am always getting new books to read and keep in my library. I will be closing off my Attruim with an sundome , so the sunlight can still get in while it is sunny out. The outside backyard job and the Attruim job will be the last two things i will need to do for awhile on the house!



My library includes literature from authors such as Shakespeare, Kipling, Frost, Steinbeck, Hemingway, London, Twain, Hawthorne, Austen, Dickens, Forster, Jules, H.G Wells, Mr Poe, Muhlbach, Voltaire, Plato, Socrates, Carroll, Milton, Dumas, Thoreau, Sinclair, Hobbes, Humes,
Locke, Longfellow, Hugo, Milton, Scott, just to name just a few of the many pieces of literatures
i have in books!
I also have quite a collection of history books and nature/fauna/flora and Amazon/tropical rainforest books along with books on mammals, reptiles and pretty much any type of things to do with nature including several of Darwin and Mr Spencer! I ADORE a good sci-fi book so i
have alot of those in both paperback and hard back books!