“Pretty, overdressed, jewel-bedecked Octavia Bassett," of Nevada, is one of the most fascinating characters that Mrs. Frances Hodgson Burnett ever drew. The story of the visit of this dashing young American girl to her father's sister in the staid, respectable, ultra-conservative English village of Slowbridge, and of the consternation which she produced in the society of that place by her frank speech, her dazzling toilets and her unconventional ways, is told with uncommon freshness and spirit in ‘A Fair Barbarian’. The sharp contrasts suggested by the presence amid the stiffness and primness of Slowbridge society of this breezy, brilliant, self-possessed young beauty, whose mother was an actress in San Francisco, whose father is a silver mine owner and who has passed a portion of her life in the mining camps of Nevada, are made the most of by Mrs. Burnett.

Distributed by the University of Nebraska Press for the University of Idaho Press Octavia Bassett, a beautiful young heiress from Bloody Gulch, Nevada, unexpectedly descends upon her aunt in the sleepy village of Slowbridge, England. As a young woman raised haphazardly by her father in the Wild West of the 1870s, she finds their customs unnecessarily fastidious and difficult to understand.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1881.

#1 New York Times bestseller and arguably the best business narrative ever written, Barbarians at the Gate is the classic account of the fall of RJR Nabisco at the hands of a buyout from investment firm KKR. A book that stormed both the bestseller list and the public imagination, a book that created a genre of its own, and a book that gets at the heart of Wall Street and the '80s culture it helped define, Barbarians at the Gate is a modern classic—a masterpiece of investigatory journalism and a rollicking book of corporate derring-do and financial swordsmanship. The fight to control RJR Nabisco during October and November of 1988 was more than just the largest takeover in Wall Street history. Marked by brazen displays of ego not seen in American business for decades, it became the high point of a new gilded age and its repercussions are still being felt. The tale remains the ultimate story of greed and glory—a story and a cast of characters that determined the course of global business and redefined how deals would be done and fortunes made in the decades to come. Barbarians at the Gate is the gripping account of these two frenzied months, of deal makers and publicity flaks, of an old-line industrial powerhouse (home of such familiar products a Oreos and Camels) that became the victim of the ruthless and rapacious style of finance in the 1980s. As reporters for The Wall Street Journal, Burrough and Helyar had extensive access to all the characters in this drama. They take the reader behind the scenes at strategy meetings and society dinners, into boardrooms and bedrooms, providing an unprecedentedly detailed look at how financial operations at the highest levels are conducted but also a richly textured social history of wealth at the twilight of the Reagan era. At the center of the huge power struggle is RJR Nabisco's president, the high-living Ross Johnson. It's his secret plan to buy out the company that sets the frenzy in motion, attracting the country's leading takeover players: Henry Kravis, the legendary leveraged-buyout king of investment firm KKR, whose entry into the fray sets off an acquisitive commotion; Peter Cohen, CEO of Shearson Lehman Hutton and Johnson's partner, who needs a victory to propel his company to an unchallenged leadership in the lucrative mergers and acquisitions field; the fiercely independent Ted Forstmann, motivated as much by honor as by his rage at the corruption he sees taking over the business he cherishes; Jim Maher and his ragtag team, struggling to regain credibility for the decimated ranks at First Boston; and an army of desperate bankers, lawyers, and accountants, all drawn inexorably to the greatest prize of their careers—and one of the greatest prizes in the history of American business. Written with the bravado of a novel and researched with the diligence of a sweeping cultural history, Barbarians at the Gate is present at the front line of every battle of the campaign. Here is the unforgettable story of that takeover in all its brutality. In a new afterword specially commissioned for the story's 20th anniversary, Burrough and Helyar return to visit the heroes and villains of this epic story, tracing the fallout of the deal, charting the subsequent success and failure of those involved, and addressing the incredible impact this story—and the book itself—made on the world.

Embark on a delightful encounter with the unconventional in Frances Hodgson Burnett's enchanting tale, "A Fair Barbarian." Join Hodgson Burnett as she introduces readers to a charming and unconventional protagonist who turns the staid world of Victorian society upside down. As Hodgson Burnett weaves her narrative, she invites readers into a world where propriety meets spontaneity, and tradition clashes with individuality. Through the eyes of her protagonist, she explores the joys and challenges of embracing one's true self in a world governed by rigid social norms. But amidst the clash of cultures and customs lies a question that resonates with readers of all ages: What does it mean to be truly free? Through her spirited protagonist, Hodgson Burnett offers a refreshing perspective on life, love, and the pursuit of happiness, reminding readers that true liberation comes from following one's heart. Join Hodgson Burnett's charming protagonist as she navigates the intricacies of Victorian society with wit, grace, and a healthy dose of irreverence. Through her unconventional approach to life, she challenges readers to question the status quo and embrace the beauty of individuality. Are you ready to be charmed by the unconventional? Immerse yourself in the pages of "A Fair Barbarian," where tradition meets rebellion in a delightful tale of self-discovery and freedom. Join Hodgson Burnett's unforgettable protagonist on a journey of laughter, love, and liberation. Experience the joy of embracing your true self. Order your copy of "A Fair Barbarian" today and embark on a charming encounter with the unconventional. Don't miss your chance to be captivated by Frances Hodgson Burnett's delightful tale. Purchase "A Fair Barbarian" now and discover the timeless allure of embracing your true self.

This book recovers a major nineteenth-century literary figure, the American Claimant. For over a century, claimants offered a compelling way to understand cultural difference across the Anglophone Atlantic, especially between Britain and the United States. They also formed a political talisman, invoked against slavery and segregation, or privileges of gender and class. Later, claimants were exported to South Africa, becoming the fictional form for explaining black students who acquired American degrees. American Claimants traces the figure back to lost-heir romance, and explores its uses. These encompassed real, imagined, and textual ideas of inheritance, for writers and editors, and also for missionaries, artists, and students. The claimant dramatized tensions between tradition and change, or questions of exclusion and power: it offered ways of seeing activism, education, sculpture, and dress. The premise for dozens of novels and plays, a trope, a joke, even the basis for real claims: claimants matter in theatre history and periodical studies, they touch on literary marketing and reprinting, and they illuminate some unexpected texts. These range from Our American Cousin to Bleak House, Little Lord Fauntleroy to Frederick Douglass' Paper; writers discussed include Frances Trollope, Julia Griffiths, Alexander Crummell, John Dube, James McCune Smith, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Mark Twain. The focus on claimants yields remarkable finds: new faces, fresh angles, a lost column, and a forgotten theatrical genre. It reveals the pervasiveness of this form, and its centrality in imagining cultural contact and exchange.

**Winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Autobiography** Included in President Obama’s 2016 Summer Reading List “Without a doubt, the finest surf book I’ve ever read . . . ” —The New York Times Magazine Barbarian Days is William Finnegan’s memoir of an obsession, a complex enchantment. Surfing only looks like a sport. To initiates, it is something else: a beautiful addiction, a demanding course of study, a morally dangerous pastime, a way of life. Raised in California and Hawaii, Finnegan started surfing as a child. He has chased waves all over the world, wandering for years through the South Pacific, Australia, Asia, Africa. A bookish boy, and then an excessively adventurous young man, he went on to become a distinguished writer and war reporter. Barbarian Days takes us deep into unfamiliar worlds, some of them right under our noses—off the coasts of New York and San Francisco. It immerses the reader in the edgy camaraderie of close male friendships forged in challenging waves. Finnegan shares stories of life in a whites-only gang in a tough school in Honolulu. He shows us a world turned upside down for kids and adults alike by the social upheavals of the 1960s. He details the intricacies of famous waves and his own apprenticeships to them. Youthful folly—he drops LSD while riding huge Honolua Bay, on Maui—is served up with rueful humor. As Finnegan’s travels take him ever farther afield, he discovers the picturesque simplicity of a Samoan fishing village, dissects the sexual politics of Tongan interactions with Americans and Japanese, and navigates the Indonesian black market while nearly succumbing to malaria. Throughout, he surfs, carrying readers with him on rides of harrowing, unprecedented lucidity. Barbarian Days is an old-school adventure story, an intellectual autobiography, a social history, a literary road movie, and an extraordinary exploration of the gradual mastering of an exacting, little-understood art.