The Science of Algal Fuels

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Paul David Blanc

When a new technology makes people ill, how high does the body count have to be before protective steps are taken? This disturbing book tells a dark story of hazardous manufacturing, poisonous materials, environmental abuses, political machinations, and economics trumping safety concerns. It explores the century-long history of "fake silk," or cellulose viscose, used to produce such products as rayon textiles and tires, cellophane, and everyday kitchen sponges. Paul Blanc uncovers the grim history of a product that crippled and even served a death sentence to many industry workers while also releasing toxic carbon disulfide into the environment. Viscose, an innovative and lucrative product first introduced in the early twentieth century, quickly became a multinational corporate enterprise. Blanc investigates industry practices from the beginning through two highly profitable world wars, the midcentury export of hazardous manufacturing to developing countries, and the current "greenwashing" of viscose as an eco-friendly product. Deeply researched and boldly presented, this book brings to light an industrial hazard whose egregious history ranks with those of asbestos, lead, and mercury.

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John Bunyan

Bunyan's allegory uses the everyday world of common experience as a metaphor for the spiritual journey of the soul toward God. The hero, Christian, encounters many obstacles in his quest: the Valley of the Shadow of Death, Vanity Fair, Doubting Castle, the Wicket Gate, as well as those who tempt him from his path (e.g., Talkative, Mr. Worldly Wiseman, the Giant Despair). But in the end he reaches Beulah Land, where he awaits the crossing of the river of death and his entry into the heavenly city. "Pilgrim's Progress" was enormously influential not only as a best-selling inspirational tract in the late 17th century, but as an ancestor of the 18th-century English novel, and many of its themes and ideas have entered permanently into Western culture.

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Gordon E. Dammann, Alfred Jay Bollet

"The bloodshed of the Civil War created both crisis and opportunity for the field of medicine, as doctors were forced to improvise and adapt in the hospital and on the battlefield. This new and exciting challenge in American history was captured in an equally new and exciting medium - photography." "Images of Civil War Medicine: A Photographic History is a collection of images taken during the Civil War. This exceptional visual encyclopedia covers medical facilities, individual surgeons, and other medically related phenomena, accompanied by a text describing the main features of Civil War medicine."--Jacket.

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Kathy Picard

Dr. Vivian Blake's three-year-old son has recently died in a car crash, leaving her life shattered and her marriage under strain. On her first day back at work she meets Stephen Daunt, a young teacher who is suffering constant nightmares and has nearly caused the death of a pupil and has attempted to smother his wife in her sleep. Treating him under hypnosis, Dr Blake is shocked when Stephen starts to describe being a factory owner in Victorian times ... and even more taken aback when he apparently starts to communicate with the soul of her dead son.