John Fahey is feared and revered around the world as a guitar player and composer. His inventions for acoustic and electric strings are the stuff of legend. Known for his finger-picking finesse, Fahey's pen has the same world-gobbling ferocity as his guitar. Fahey's collection of short stories defy classification - part memoir, part personal essay, part fiction, part manifesto. It is a collection that makes an explosive selection of his work available for public consumption. What else is there to say, except 'Grab your ankles, dear readers. It's kingdom time!'

Australia was born with its eyes wide open. Although politicians spoke publicly of loyalty to Britain and the empire, in secret they immediately set about protecting Australia's interests from the Germans, the Japanese - and from Britain itself. As an experienced intelligence officer, John Fahey knows how the security services disguise their activities within government files. He has combed the archives to compile the first account of Australia's intelligence operations in the years from Federation to World War II. He tells the stories of dedicated patriots who undertook dangerous operations to protect their new nation, despite a lack of training and support. He shows how the early adoption of advanced radio technology by Australia contributed to the war effort in Europe. He also exposes the bureaucratic mismanagement in World War II that cost many lives, and the leaks that compromised Australia's standing with its wartime allies so badly that Australia was nearly expelled from the Anglo-Saxon intelligence network. Australia's First Spies shows Australia always has been a far savvier operator in international affairs than much of the historical record suggests, and it offers a glimpse into the secret history of the nation.

Joseph R. Garry (1910–1975), a Coeur d’Alene Indian, served six terms as president of the National Congress of American Indians in the 1950s. He led the battles to compel the federal government to honor treaties and landownership and dominated an era in government-Indian relations little attended by historians. Firmly believing that forced assimilation of Indians and termination of federal trusteeship over Native Americans and their reservations would doom Indian cultures, Garry had his greatest success as a leader in uniting American Indian tribes to fend off Congress’s plan to abandon Indian citizens. Born into a chief’s family and raised on the Coeur d’Alene reservation in northern Idaho, Garry rose to chairmanship of his tribal council, president of the Affiliated Tribes of the Northwest Indians, and leadership of NCAI. He was the first Native American elected to the Idaho House and Senate. Handsome, personable, and articulate, Garry traveled constantly to urge Indian tribes to hold onto their land, develop economic resources, and educate their young. In a turbulent decade, Garry elevated Indians to political and social participation in American life, and set in motion forces that underlie Indian relations today.

Vampire Vultures is an unexpected gift from the late music legend John Fahey. Originally a project of his own conception, it was to be an epic work that would expand on many of the character and experiences he introduced in How Bluegrass Music Destroyed My Life (2000). It is a unique volume that allows the reader to walk deep into the mind of its creator. Compiled from his private papers, it includes notebook entries, short stories, letters never sent, revealing the struggles and victories of a cult icon's life in modern America.

Essential aspects about the prehistory, history, geography, and architecture of the Inland Pacific Northwest are presented here in one succinct volume. This landmark collection features essays by noted national and regional scholars, such as Donald W. Meinig, Carlos A. Schwantes, Henry Matthews, Clifford E. Trafzer, and Harvey S. Rice. Spokane and the Inland Empire outlines the region's historical geographic systems, Palouse tribal history, characteristics of prehistoric Plateau Indian dwellings, a century of Columbia Plateau agriculture, Spokane's bitter labor disputes that occurred prior to America's entry into World War I, the exceptional architecture of Spokane's Kirtland Cutter, and more. This new edition has been revised from the original volume published in 1991. Extensive illustrations supplement the text.

A young man becomes a research scientist wanting to fight against diseases, tormented by memories of his troubled teenage years and nightmares, fearing he will have a short life to achieve his ambitions.

There are times when an idyllic childhood in Ireland, even for just a few years, can sustain that child as he grows older, encountering physical abuse and terror. That was so for me between 1949 and 1953. Ireland has been in my heart ever since. My memoir is about a battering alcoholic father who would not accept me as his son. It is about my love of Ireland sustaining me, giving me the courage to fight back against despair, to survive a road accident, to seek a better life through reading and hope and education. It is about a growing awareness of being gay under legal intolerance. It is about never giving up. It is about surviving against the odds.

Featuring John Fahay, Jorma Kaukonen, John Renbourn, Stefan Grossman, Pierre Bensusan, Martin Simpson and Bob Brozman.
The seven fingerstyle guitarists you are about to watch have all put their own, highly personal stamp on the instrument, not only by the way they play, but also by the music they write and interpret and the emotions and images their music invokes. No other instrument has found such a vast, global audience in the last 40 years, and as you'll see and hear, no other instrument is capable of such a diverse range of sounds and styles. As divergent as these performances are, the personal backgrounds of these highly creative and influential musicians are interwoven by the mentors who inspired and guided them, their influence on each other, and by the events which have become a part of modern musical history.