Bradford's Battery was raised early in the war (spring/summer 1861). It went to Virginia in late 1861, but remained in North Carolina and southeast Virginia. It was involved in some of the lesser known campaigns, such as Suffork (Va.), and Plymouth (N.C.). It became a part of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia during the Petersburg Campaign (Summer 1864), and was surrendered at Appomattox. A former officer of the battery, Patrick Hoy wrote these memoirs about 1903. We have added to his roster from details we have found in later research.

Heavily influenced by his childhood in British-ruled India, Rudyard Kipling created some of the most well-read children's stories in Western Culture. Originally published as a series of short stories for magazines in the late 1800s, the Nobel Prize-winning Rudyard Kipling would eventually publish the classic The Jungle Book in 1894. Manga Classics brings this collection of Kipling's brilliant fables to a new audience with their faithful, unabridged adaptation of stories like Mowgli's tales, Rikki Tikki Tavi, Toomai of the Elephants, The White Seal, and more.

The essays in "Instinct for Survival" explore fundamental ideas about the ties of community, the trials and tribulations of family life, the sacrif cial nature of public service, the yearnings of the spirit, and the tangled joys of teaching. From his childhood in Arkansas to his career as both Army off cer and professor of literature, Pat Hoy uses his rich experiences as departure points in his quest for meaning.

In "Mosaics of Southern Masculinity," Hoy recalls his absent father and develops a multilayered inquiry into male identity that includes memories of his own sons and ref ections on the ways other southern writers have grappled with father-son relationships. "The Spirit Was Willing and So Was the Flesh" stems from Hoy's attempts to come to terms with the feminine aspects of his own personality and with the apparent dichotomy between the spiritual and the physical. Hoy toys with his own personal poetics and philosophy of writing in "Conversing with Images," where he articulates the unspoken power of images. A fascination with life's mysteries informs these essays, which together create a transcendent and marvelous mosaic of life.