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Qwiki is a multimedia encyclopedia containing more than three million entries featuring video, photos, and narration. I watched the Beatles entry and was a bit distracted by the robotic voice reading the text, but it was a solid introduction to the topic and seemed as if it would keep the interest of people with the shortest of attention spans. Registered users can improve existing entries or create their own. I think this site would be particularly useful for brainstorming topics.
Graphic by Zak Wohlschlegel
Want to know all about "The Hermit Priest of Belfry Hill"? The story is in True Tales of Old-Time Kansas as well as many other interesting tales of fascinating people and adventure.
"Many of the tales capture the romance, excitement, and adventure of the Old West, while others have the tempo of a quiet life surrounded by the immensity of the plains and prairies. There are well-known characters: Bill Cody, the Dalton gang, the Bloody Benders, William Clarke Quantrill, Abraham Lincoln, and Frederic Remington, who once owned a Kansas sheep ranch and later was a silent partner in a Kansas City saloon before he became a well-known artist.
And there are stories, too, about little-known characters such as Prairie Dog Dave Morrow, who made his living capturing live prairie dogs. Dary relates tales of lost treasure and sudden riches, of outlaws and "jayhawk" raiders, of massacres and heroics. A generous number of illustrations help bring the tales to life." (taken from Kansas Press)
Though not exhaustive by any means, Catherine Hauber's Hiking Guide to Kansas is a nice introduction. For Council Grove, she only mentions three short hikes around the lake, but she includes a nice picture and clear instructions for how to find the trailhead and what a hiker can expect to see. The book is organized by region, then by county, and finally by specific place.
Kansas Hiking Trail Finder is a nice supplement to the book. American Trails also has a good page with links to Kansas hiking, cycling, and other outdoor recreation. I also like Best Hiking Trails of Kansas.
On August 21, 1863, William Quantrill led 400 Confederate irregulars to a rise on the outskirts of Lawrence, Kansas. For two years, the 3,000 inhabitants of this prosperous frontier community had managed to escape the Civil War which raged in the East. At Quantrill's command, the horrors of that war were brought directly into their homes. (from the book jacket)
"While some of the bushwackers set the building on fire, others stood the two men up and bound them together with rope. Then, when the flames caught and began to roar, the startled captives were pitched inside. Wild with fright, Palmer and his friend regained their footing and struggled out the door, pleading with the Rebels for mercy. But amid hellish laughter and waving pistols the men were again hurled into the furnace. At last the rope broke, but there was nowhere to run. By this time only Palmer was able to rise. Standing in the flames, arms reaching for heaven, he screamed above the roar, 'O God save us!' "
A Book Review By Wilma Rife (taken from Center for Kansas Studies Fall 1994 Newsletter)
From the cover photograph showing John Houser and Clarence O. ("Red") Haywood sitting in a tree in Ford County nearly a century ago, on through letters and diary excerpts of more than a dozen teenagers who came to Kansas with their families between 1867 and 1900, "A Funnie Place, No Fences" is an authentic, revealing and highly readable history. Two immediate realizations come to the reader from these entries: the extraordinary amount of physical labor that was done by most of these young people and the degree of socializing that was--along with the work--a part of life in the "empty" heartland.
The writers were observant and explicit. Bertie Canfield, 14, writes, "It looks very funnie to us, for there is no fences, when we have come from New York State where they have the land fenced off into fields."
Jennie Eliza Milton, 15, carefully records daily mileage on the family trip by covered wagon from Storm Lake, Iowa, to Prescott, Kansas: 15 3/4 miles one day, 18 miles another, with river crossings noted, towns named, extraordinary sights remarked on, "We camped for dinner in Leavenworth. Saw a Chinaman."
Ned Beck, April 3, 1886, comments on the Kansas weather,"...land of surprises and variety of weather...The snow is 6 inches deep and still falling."
There is D. C. Grinnell's impressive litany of activities, "...raked oats...hauled 7 loads of manure and went swimming,...broke prairie,...plowed corn," and on his way to Hill's mill on the Neosho, a surprising burst of purple prose, "...the Effulgent rays of the celestial Orb of Day was hidden from my sight and darkness mantled the Lamp of heaven." Pretty high-flown rhetoric from a hauler of manure!
There are frequent accounts of church going, family and neighbor visits, even dances lasting until 4:00 a.m., alongside the somber details of sudden and early death, "Alf's little baby was buried at 3 o'clock...They buried him under the box elder bush..."
The youthful accounts are supplemented by several entries written by adults looking back on their early lives. Among them are William Allen White's memories of his El Dorado High School years.
Photographs from the Kansas Collection of the University of Kansas libraries and drawings by Sandra Jarvis add to this vivid portrayal of Kansas life in the last decades of the nineteenth century, as seen through the eyes of a few of the remarkably energetic young people who lived it and some adults who remember how it was.
True Grit was a book before it was anything else and an entertaining one at that--full of action, interesting people, and humor.
So, they made a movie that was so good that many people didn't bother to read the book because they liked the movie so much. But the book is still better.
So, the Coen brothers updated the movie, sticking pretty close to the book. I am a big Jeff Bridges fan, so I'm looking forward to watching this (plus, I love, love, love the Coen brothers). But, guess what? I'm betting the book will STILL be better. (MHouse)
Looking for a different place to find your Current Event for the day? 10x10 features the top 100 news stories from around the world linked to images on a ten by ten grid. The stories are ranked according to current popularity and importance. Clicking on an image in the grid will provide you with more information including links to more articles about the story. (You must allow pop-ups for the article links to work).
Tip from Free Technology 4 Teachers
Tour Monticello online with History.com's Monticello Explorer. Narrated video tours and self-paced tours provide an interesting perspective on Thomas Jefferson's beautiful estate.