2015-16 Westphalia Press Catalog | Page 11

History The Republican Manual: History, Principles, Early Leaders, and Achievements by E. V. Smalley Eugene Smalley was one-time private secretary to President James Garfield. He helped expose the Ku Klux Klan and was a frequent contributor to the Atlantic Monthly. His stalwart support of the Republican Party started with his youthful enlistment in the Civil War, and this book was intended as a helpmate in the Garfield presidential campaign of 1890. The Violin and Old Violin Makers by A. Mason Clarke There is no question about the fascinating tales that come with celebrated violins, as in this volume, and the enormous prices. The storied value of old violins has been challenged by the view that it is great violinists rather than violins that give us superior notes. Eight Decades in Syria by A.J. McFarland During World War I when the Ottoman Empire was at war with the Allies and most non-Muslims fled, Reverend McFarland remained in Mersine, billeting a German officer and helping treat wounded Turkish soldiers. War in Syria: R. M. Preston’s The Desert Mounted Corps During World War I, some of the most daring military excursions were carried out in the Middle East by the Desert Mountain Corps during 1917 and 1918. Much of their activity was in what is now Syria. Callinicus: A Defense of Chemical Warfare by J. B. S. Haldane Ironically, considering current Middle East problems, it was a Syrian named Callinicus who allegedly was the first to use chemical warfare. Born in AD 673, he combined naphtha, pitch, sulfur, saltpeter and other toxins to produce Greek fire, a sort of Byzantine smoke bomb. The Riddle of the Rhine: Chemical Strategy in Peace and War by Victor Lefebure Victor Lefebure (1891-1947) was seconded to the Special Brigade of the Royal Engineers that was developing chemical warfare to be use against the Germans. After the war he became a successful businessman and the inventor of a number of building materials. This book about chemical warfare became basic to the subject’s history. 11