Mary Seacole (1805 to 1881) was an amazing woman, in many ways way ahead of her time. She was a free black woman born in Jamaica of Scottish and Creole descent. This is her autobiographical account of her colourful and brave life. She was named 'the greatest black Briton' in 2004 and also posthumously awarded the Jamaican Order of Merit.

Mary Seacole was born in Jamaica in 1805 and was of mixed race. Her mother had cared for sick servicemen and Mary continued that humanitarian tradition in Panama before borrowing money to make the 4,000 mile journey to the war against the Russians being fought in the Crimea. There she treated the wounded of both sides of the conflict, both on the field of battle and in her own 'hotel.' This book is 'Mother Seacole's' (as she was known to the British soldiers) own account of her extraordinary life. It tells of a remarkable woman, who possessed astonishing determination and great humanity-which is all the more incredible since she was hampered by the bigotry and prejudice that were common against coloured people and women in general. At the end of hostilities she returned to England all but destitute and had to be assisted by those who remembered her great kindness during the war.

Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands (1857) is one of the earliest autobiographies of a mixed-race woman. In her autobiography, Seacole records her bloodline thus: "I am a Creole, and have good Scots blood coursing through my veins. My father was a soldier of an old Scottish family." Legally, she was classified as a mulatto, a multiracial person with limited political rights. Seacole emphasises her personal vigour in her autobiography, distancing herself from the contemporary stereotype of the "lazy Creole", She was proud of her black ancestry, writing, "I have a few shades of deeper brown upon my skin which shows me related - and I am proud of the relationship - to those poor mortals whom you once held enslaved, and whose bodies America still owns." She also became widely known and respected, particularly among the European military visitors to Jamaica who often stayed at Blundell Hall. She treated patients in the cholera epidemic of 1850, which killed some 32,000 Jamaicans. However, the erection of a statue of her at St Thomas' Hospital, London, on 30 June 2016, describing her as a "pioneer nurse", has generated controversy and opposition from supporters of Florence Nightingale. Earlier controversy broke out in the United Kingdom late in 2012 over reports of a proposal to add her to the UK's National Curriculum.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Written in 1857, this is the autobiography of a Jamaican woman whose fame rivalled Florence Nightingale's during the Crimean War. Seacole's offer to volunteer as a nurse in the war met with racism and refusal. Undaunted, Seacole set out independently to the Crimea where she acted as doctor and 'mother' to wounded soldiers while running her business, the 'British Hotel'. A witness to key battles, she gives vivid accounts of how she coped with disease, bombardment and other hardships at the Crimean battlefront. "In her introduction to the very welcome Penguin edition, Sara Salih expertly analyses the rhetorical complexities of Seacole's book to explore the richness of her story. Traveller, entrepreneur, healer and woman of colour, Mary Seacole is a singular and fascinating figure, overstepping all conventional boundaries." Jan Marsh, Independent "It's hard to believe that this amazing adventure story is the true-life experience of a Jamaican woman - it would make a great film." Andrea Levy, Sunday Times

Everyone has a cross to bear. Hers has her husband on it. Welcome to The Adventures of Mrs. Jesus: a wonderfully profane and inventive chronicle of the life of humankind's most tragically overlooked spouse. To millions, Jesus is a teacher, a leader, and the savior of mankind. Finally, his long-suffering wife gets her turn in the spotlight. Meet the woman who woke up on the wrong side of history, as translated from the scrolls that killed the Dead Sea.

In 1998, at the very moment that a publisher had approached Bruce Davidson about a book of his 1959 Brooklyn Gang photographs, former gang leader Bobby Powers unexpectedly telephoned the Davidsons. Over the next decade, Emily Davidson maintained an ongoing conversation with Powers in order to bring to light his struggle to overcome his drug-ridden and violent past and to inspire others with his example. Through the words and reflections of the former drug addict and petty criminal, this book relates the long, agonizing journey from youthful urban violence and despair to the life of a committed and generous professional. Beginning in a working-class Brooklyn neighborhood in the mid 1950s where alcohol abuse and poverty were rampant, Bobby Powers went from being an illiterate gang leader and notorious drug dealer to a destroyed individual who had lost everything, including family members, close friends, and himself, all presented in his own words and in grim detail in this book. At a critical turning point in his life, recognizing the threat of his behaviors to survival, he entered detox and embarked on the arduous path to recovery and self-understanding. This process involved not only acknowledging and coming to terms with the injuries he had inflicted on his children and others, but also asking for their forgiveness. Having achieved a new way of life as a responsible and caring adult, Bobby Powers is today, at 69, a nationally respected drug addiction counselor who has aided a wide spectrum of people, including former gang members. His story represents a brutal and inspiring lesson in human frailty, degradation, and transformation.

Presents the life of the famous English playwright and discusses some of his notable works.

Wild about Harry originally published 1991.