A "great storehouse of legends and traditions" according to translator E.A. Wallis Budge, 'The Kebra Nagast' most likely dates back to the sixth century AD, and provides an alternative view of many biblical stories. According to this ancient text, the kings of Ethiopia were descended from Solomon, King of Israel, and the Queen of Sheba; the Ark of the Covenant had been brought from Jerusalem...

She is remembered today as a muckraking journalist, author of such blockbuster exposes as 1904's The History of the Standard Oil Company, which actually contributed to the corporation's breakup in 1911. But in this 1900 work, as charming as it is important, American author IDA MINERVA TARBELL (1857-1944) shows a softer side as she traces, with a laudatory and admiring spirit, the development...

When the wind is from the north the old woman manages my meals with fair regularity; but on the other days she often makes my tea at three o'clock instead of six. If I refuse it she puts it down to simmer for three hours in the turf, and then brings it in at six o'clock full of anxiety to know if it is warm enough.... The general ignorance of any precise hours in the day makes it impossible...