The life of the world famous Irish tenor John McCormack, a celebrated performer who sang classical opera as well as popular ballads and music hall favorites.

Worth and Cartwright have compiled a comprehensive discography documenting this exceedingly long career. In a chapter devoted to `The Art of John McCormack and the Phonograph,' McCormack's vocal technique is examined, and his artistic development chronicled. His talent for blending the intellectual and the intuitive in his musical interpretation is pointed out. An account of the events of his career adds to the history of singing. Recordings are listed chronologically by recording session, and a useful alphabetic listing by song title is provided. . . . The authors carefully acknowledge indebtedness to a number of McCormack discography researchers. A bibliography and artist index conclude the volume, which is sturdily bound. All undergraduate and graduate music libraries with McCormack recordings will want this book. Choice

The white mercenaries who attracted the world's attention in the Congo during the early 1960s were never more than a few hundred in number. In contrast, no fewer than a million Swiss troops served as mercenaries in the armies of Europe during the preceding 500 years. Swiss mercenaries form a significant strand in the rope of European military history, and this book draws on many French and German-language sources to describe how the Swiss emerged from the isolated valleys of the Alps with a new method of warfare. Their massed columns of pike-carrying infantry were the first foot-soldiers since Roman times who could hold their own against the cavalry. For a brief period at the end of the 15th century the Swiss army appeared unbeatable, and after Swiss independence had been ensured they were hired out as mercenaries throughout Europe. Kings and generals competed to hire these elite combat troops. Nearly half of the million served with the French, their centuries of loyal service culminating with the massacre of the Swiss Guards during the French Revolution. Marlborough, Frederick the Great and Napoleon all hired large numbers of Swiss troops, and three Swiss regiments served in the British Army.

A collection of Christmas stores by a small-town, Southern, country veternarian

Wrigley is funny, sad, and poignant, right down to her name: Wrigley Strawberry Field. We catch her life over six days, as she reconciles the fact that she is dying. We see the strength of a young woman whose life was a chaotic menagerie: raised by hippy parents, childhood tattoo, first date, working in a crematorium, marriage, children, divorce (her husband was in bed with a waitress during the reception), her success as an artist, etc. And with the support of her neighbor and her attorney (Biscuit Grivet), how she tells her two young children that mommy is going away. But . it's her story. Let's let her tell it.

In the sequel to Fields and Pastures New, the author continues his "reminiscences of his experience tending to the animals and people of Choctaw County, Alabama."--Jacket.

The warm and gently humorous memoir of a young veterinarian's first year of practice in Choctaw County, Alabama, in the early 1960s. "I can relate to Dr. McCormack on page after page of this book. In his writing he beguilingly captures the laughter and tears of the veterinary scene. A heartwarming read for the animal lover."--James Herriot.