The Parrys left England to practice their Quaker religion without ridicule. They found their home in New Hope, Pennsylvania, where they went on to become one of the region's most illustrious families.

Follow two generations of the Parry family, spanning a period of one hundred years from the pre-Revolutionary War to the end of the American Civil War. They rely on their knowledge, skills, and steadfast determination to leave a lasting impact on both New Hope and Philadelphia.

The family derived much of its strength from Benjamin Parry, a multifaceted entrepreneur, inventor, and community leader who dominated New Hope for more than half a century. His efforts make the town the industrial capital of Bucks County in the early nineteenth century. The story continues with Benjamin's son, Oliver, who becomes an intrepid pioneer of Philadelphia's Spring Garden District when the city was expanding its boundaries westward in the mid-nineteenth century.

Gain a unique perspective of the nation's first one hundred years as it struggles to form a more perfect union by examining the hard work of just one family whose shared sense of destiny helped the nation achieve its potential. Be inspired by "The Parrys of Philadelphia and New Hope."

Ralph Montagu needed money to rebuild and refurbish his magnificent London house, which had burned down whilst he was in exile in France. The richest woman in England, being a widowed Duchess (and mad) would only remarry into royalty. Legend has it that Ralph dressed as the Emperor of China, and his servants in the same fashion, wooed and wed her. Reading this story made me want to know more about such an audacious man. I discovered that he had brought down a prime minister, dined with Louis XIV, helped bring William III to the throne, patronised famous scientists, playwrights and painters, and managed to cap his career with the ultimate prize - a ducal coronet. His country house still stands, occupied by his descendant and full of the treasures he collected. It also holds his archive (including many bundles of debtors' bills) that has provided the foundation for this biography.

The gripping, vividly told story of the largest POW escape in the Second World War - organized by an Australian bank clerk, a British jazz pianist and an American spy. In August 1944 the most successful POW escape of the Second World War took place - 106 Allied prisoners were freed from a camp in Maribor, in present-day Slovenia. The escape was organized not by officers, but by two ordinary soldiers: Australian Ralph Churches (a bank clerk before the war) and Londoner Les Laws (a jazz pianist by profession), with the help of intelligence officer Franklin Lindsay. The American was on a mission to work with the partisans who moved like ghosts through the Alps, ambushing and evading Nazi forces. How these three men came together - along with the partisans - to plan and execute the escape is told here for the first time. The Greatest Escape, written by Ralph Churches' son Neil, takes us from Ralph and Les's capture in Greece in 1941 and their brutal journey to Maribor, with many POWs dying along the way, to the horror of seeing Russian prisoners starved to death in the camp. The book uncovers the hidden story of Allied intelligence operations in Slovenia, and shows how Ralph became involved. We follow the escapees on a nail-biting 160-mile journey across the Alps, pursued by German soldiers, ambushed and betrayed. And yet, of the 106 men who escaped, 100 made it to safety. Thanks to research across seven countries, The Greatest Escape is no longer a secret. It is one of the most remarkable adventure stories of the last century.