Author: Christopher C. Knight

1Mind Amongst the Spindles

By Charles Knight

Lowell Massachusetts was founded in the 1820s as a planned manufacturing center for textiles and is located along the rapids of the Merrimack River, 25 miles northwest of Boston. By the 1850s Lowell had the largest industrial complex in the United States. The textile industry wove cotton produced in the South. In 1860, there were more cotton spindles in Lowell than in all eleven states combined that would form the Confederacy. Mind Amongst the Spindles is a selection of works from the Lowell Offering, a monthly periodical collecting contributed works of poetry and fiction by the female workers of the textile mills. The Lowell Mill Girls, as the workers were known, were young women aged 15-35. The Offering began in 1840 and lasted until 1845. As its popularity grew, workers contributed poems, ballads, essays and fiction. The authors often used their characters to report on conditions and situations in their lives and their works alternated between serious and farcical. (Introduction adapted from Wikipedia by MaryAnn)

2Astounding Stories 04, April 1930

By Arthur J. Burks, Ray Cummings, Tom Curry, Thomas H. Knight, Captain S. P. Meek and Anthony Pelcher

The fourth issue of <i>Astounding Stories</i> continues Ray Cummings serial "Brigands of the Moon", along with pulp sci-fi stories by Capt. S. P. Meek, Anthony Pelcher and other authors. - Summary by Alan Winterrowd

3Cruise of the Alerte - In Search of Treasure

By Edward Frederick Knight

The book describes a voyage undertaken in 1889 by an English barrister Edward Frederick Knight to the South Seas. This delightful story takes the reader on a voyage to the forbidding desert island of Trindade, where it is rumored that immense treasure lies buried. Though the heroes of this treasure-hunt do not have to contend with malicious people, they have their share of adventures. Almost inaccessible desert island, changing weather, hideous land crabs and heavy digging in the mud are enough challenges for the brave adventurers. (Kristine Bekere)

A coasting voyage boyage in a small yacht from Hammersmith in the UK to Copenhagen and back, including various visits to places on the Baltic. - Summary by Jane Bennett

In this fine sailing and exploring yarn, Edward Frederick Knight (1852-1925), sometime English barrister, journalist, sportsman, and amateur seaman, conspires over a fish dinner in Harwich to buy and refit the tiny yacht Falcon, recruit a crew of four (and a cabin boy), and sail across the Atlantic Ocean to South America. This they do, despite naysayers who advised painting the yacht's name conspicuously on her keel to aid identification when found floating upside down in some foreign sea. <br><br> The book provides detailed descriptions of sailing in difficult waters and powerful storms, the spectacular scenery of Bahia and Rio de Janeiro, sport hunting in unspoiled jungles, frequent revolutions (and a terrible war of annihilation) and, perhaps most important, the customs of the many different peoples who inhabit the South American continent. As was common practice in his day, Knight assumes the superiority of the “white” races and is not hesitant to express his sometimes less-than-favorable impressions of the “lesser” races he encounters. But he offers high praise for the beauty of the land and the kindness of the people he meets. (Steven Seitel)

6We Were There at the Normandy Invasion

By Clayton Knight

D-Day: 6 June 1944. The date of the invasion of the Normandy Coast of France by the Allies. This novel gives a different look at that invasion than most of us have ever seen. It tells of a young French boy, André Gagnon, and his exciting adventures as he helps the Maquis (the French Underground fighting the Germans), a shot down British airman, and the American soldiers in their successful attempt to liberate France from German occupation. An entertaining and informative family friendly tale. - Summary by Wayne Cooke

7Non-Stop Stowaway

By Clayton Knight

A story for boys who want to know of the thrills and joys of Aviation. It is written by a war flyer who was a pilot with a squadron at the front and who there learned to know how he and other young men reacted to those dangerous moments when lightning-quick decisions were necessary. - Summary by EDITOR

8penny magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, issue 2

By Charles Knight

The Penny Magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge was published in competition to Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, which started two months earlier. Costing just one penny, it was aimed at the working class and needed broad circulation in order to survive. Initially successful, its content proved to miss the mark and be of more interest to the upper classes and folded after a couple of years. Its format was to offer short essays on a variety of topics the paternalistic publisher deemed important to its readership. This was the second edition. - Summary by LynneT