Akron Public Library

"The Rough Riders (1899) is the story of the First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry, the regiment Roosevelt led to enduring fame in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. Roosevelt recounts how the regiment was raised from an unusual mixture of hardened southwestern frontiersmen and privileged northeastern college graduates, and how it trained in Texas and then sailed "southward through the topic seas toward the unknown." Writing at a time when war could still...

Dal and Mac Traven left Texas young and idealistic. They came back from opposite sides of a living hell, a war that had torn the nation in two. They wanted only to reclaim their old lives...but one man held their future hostage. Colonel Henry T. Ashford had gathered an army of criminals and renegade soldiers, leading them on a path of destruction and kidnapping through Texas to the Gulf. Among Ashford's captives were the Traven's sister and Dal's...

The Whangara people believe their ancestor Paikea was saved from drowning by riding home on the back of a whale. The tribal group has since granted leadership positions to the first-born males, believing them to be descendants of Paikea. But then a young mother dies in childbirth along with her newborn male son. His twin sister survives and the little girl, Pai, is brought up by her grandparents. Learning the skills of chiefdom from her uncle, Pai...

Hopalong Cassidy rides straight into an ambush in the West's untamed territories.

"In his younger days, Taylor Callahan didn't know right from wrong--and didn't much care either. As a Confederate bushwhacker, renegade outlaw, and all-around hellraiser, he gave the devil himself a run for his money. Most folks figured Taylor would end up swinging from a noose or shot dead in poker game. But somewhere along the road to perdition, he decided to change his wicked ways. To atone for his sins. And to fight the good fight--against the...

Mac and Dal, two brothers who fought on opposite sides in the Civil War, return home to Texas to discover that their sisters and Dal's sweetheart have been kidnapped by rampaging Rebel guerrillas refusing to accept the defeat of the Confederacy. With the help of their notorious uncle, Mac and Dal must rescue the women before they can be sold into a Mexican brothel.

"Count Eduardo Cortes's fortune-and future at his beloved ranch-are in question. Tragedy, money woes and family pressure are now driving him toward a marriage of convenience. That is, until he encounters Bernadette Barron, wandering frightened and disheveled after a society ball... Beneath the grime, it's clear Bernadette is beautiful and rich. But is she just another heartbreak waiting to happen or has Eduardo finally found the one woman who can...