In May, 1876, events in this story led to the murder of a pretty fifteen year-old girl known as Sarah Ann (Sallie) Curry. A first page article about the murder was headlined as "A Murder Most Foul, Strange, and Unnatural," but what did "Strange and Unnatural" mean in the murder of a girl?

In May, 1876, events in this story led to the murder of a pretty fifteen year-old girl known as Sarah Ann (Sallie) Curry. A first page article about the murder was headlined as "A Murder Most Foul, Strange, and Unnatural," but what did "Strange and Unnatural" mean in the murder of a girl?

Berlandier: A French Naturalist on the Texas Frontier tells the history of Jean Louis Berlandier (1805-1851), remembered as one of the most enlightened naturalists of the American Southwest. He was one of the first to investigate the natural history of the Gulf Coastal Plain, the Rio Grande Valley, the Balcones Escarpment and the Edwards Plateau. Students of Texas biology have learned about Berlandier through such species as the Texas Green-Eyed Sunflower, Texas Windflower, Texas Tortoise, and the Rio Grande Leopard Frog. Between 1826 and 1828, Berlandier collected these species for the Academy of Natural Sciences, Geneva, and studied the Indians of Texas for the Mexican Ministry of the Interior, resulting in his scholarly treatise, The Indians of Texas, in 1830. Berlandier's plant collections are in twenty-seven world herbaria, and many hundreds of his insects, mollusks, reptiles, birds, and mammals are in prestigious institutions such as the Smithsonian and the United States National Museum. Most of the Indian material collected by Berlandier is in the Gilchrest Museum, and the wealth of his writing resides in the libraries of Yale, Harvard, Texas A&M, and the University of Texas. His diary, the most important of his writings, consists of more than 1,500 pages, currently housed in the Library of Congress; it serves as the basis of this history of his life and work.

Revenge is a double-edged, all-consuming sword, though it is not until he is too deeply immersed that Nicholas Ryder realizes the cost cannot be justified. New to South America, Caroline James, a feature journalist, quickly realizes "you could lose New York" in the enveloping arms of the Amazon; but when trouble arrives her secure world is obliterated, the oppressive heat and smell of fear reducing the jungle canopy to a claustrophobic web from which there is no escape. Acting as a guide for University Researchers, Nick tracks down the River Bandits responsible for the death of his brother and his family; but with the added complication of his growing feelings towards Caroline, it is not long before the roles of cat and mouse are reversed and he and the others must run for their lives. A straightforward investigation into the deaths soon escalates and impinges on the world of politics and power, where uncivilized savagery bubbles just beneath the thin veneer of refinement and respectability.