Reference work provides the linguistic derivation and meaning of over 12,000 names of towns, rivers, and countries throughout the U.S

American Place-Names: A Concise and Selective Dictionary for the Continental United States of America

Reference

Stewart, George R.

Atlases & Maps

Oxford University Press

Places all the more common American given names in their historical and linguistic context, discussing their etymology and usage, emergence in America, and degree of use today

American Given Names: Their Origin and History in the Context of the English Language

The celebrated author of Names on the Land has here collected the histories of some 12,000 place-names--including the names of many notable places, chief rivers, cities, and states, as well as those that have special historical significance and that reflect early customs and dialects. The culmination of a lifetime of investigation, this book provides the linguistic meaning and derivation of each name, and often such information as the date and occasion of naming.

American Place-Names: A Concise and Selective Dictionary for the Continental United States of America (Oxford Quick Reference)

Dictionaries & Thesauruses

The Year Of The Oath

History

Americas

Da Capo Press

Spitcat, a raging forest fire in the Sierra Nevada of California, had a lifespan of merely eleven days, "yet its effects could be reckoned ahead in centuries." So writes George R. Stewart in this engrossing novel of a fire started by lightning in the dry heat of September, and fanned out of control by unexpected winds. The book begins with the origins of the fire—smoldering quietly at first, unnoticed, then suddenly bursting into a terrifying inferno, devouring trees and animals over acre after acre and leaving nothing but desolation in its wake.Firefighters and lookouts, forest rangers and smokejumpers—as well as animals in the forest, many of them the bewildered victims of the blaze, and all the varied tress and bushes there—are characters of this realistic story.

Fire

World

Ballantine Books

Storm

A violent storm sweeps through California, taking on a life of her own. Making her way from the Pacific Coast, she gains momentum as she approaches the Sierra and transforms into a blizzard of great strength, covering mountain ranges and roads with twenty feet of snow. Originally published in 1941, _Storm_ is a rare combination of fiction and science by a master storyteller, drawing upon a deep knowledge of geography, meteorology, and human nature.  "In _Storm_ we are…far from freeways, from megapopulation, from sprawl, from beach TV, from stress, from road rage. And we are in touch with a much deeper reality. Of land and water and weather, of humans huddled together on the planet in a dark universe."—Ernest Callenbach, in the foreword

An instant classic upon its original publication in 1949 and winner of the first International Fantasy Award, Earth Abides ranks with On the Beach and Riddley Walker as one of our most provocative and finely wrought post-apocalyptic works of literature. Its impact is still fresh, its lessons timeless. With an introduction by Connie Willis When a plague of unprecedented virulence sweeps the globe, the human race is all but wiped out. In the aftermath, as the great machine of civilization slowly and inexorably breaks down, only a few shattered survivors remain to struggle against the slide into barbarism . . . or extinction. This is the story of one such survivor, Isherwood “Ish” Williams, an intellectual loner who embraces the grim duty of bearing witness to what may be humanity’s final days. But then he finds Em, a wise and courageous woman who coaxes his stunned heart back to life and teaches him to hope again. Together, they will face unimaginable challenges as they sow the seeds of a new beginning. Praise for Earth Abides “One of the finest of all post-holocaust novels.”—The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction “The book has more thought-challenging elements than a shelf full of ordinary novels.”—The Christian Science Monitor

Earth Abides: A Novel

Literature & Fiction

United States

Del Rey

Earth Abides

Product Description \nFirst published in 1949, award-winning Earth Abides is one of the most influential science-fiction novels of the twentieth century. It remains a fresh, provocative story of apocalyptic pandemic, societal collapse, and rebirth.\nThe cabin had always been a special retreat for Isherwood Williams, a haven from the demands of society. But one day while hiking, Ish was bitten by a rattlesnake, and the solitude he had so desired took on dire new significance.\nHe was sick for days―and often delirious―waking up to find two strangers peering in at him from the cabin door. Yet oddly, instead of offering help, the two ran off as if terrified. Not long after, the coughing began. Ish suffered chills and fever, and a measles-like rash on his skin. He was one of the few people in the world to live through that peculiar malady, but he didn't know it then.\nIsh headed home when he finally felt himself again―and noticed the strangeness almost immediately. No cars passed him on the road; the gas station not far from his cabin looked abandoned; and he was shocked to see the body of a man on the roadside near a small town.\nWithout a radio or phone, Ish had no idea of humanity’s abrupt demise. He had escaped death, yet could not escape the catastrophe―and with an eerie detachment he found himself curious as to how long it would be before all traces of civilization faded from Earth.\nReview \n“One of the finest of all post-holocaust novels.” 
 — The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction\n“The book has more thought-challenging elements than a shelf full of ordinary novels.” 
— Christian Science Monitor\nAbout the Author \nGEORGE R. STEWART (1895-1980) taught for more than fifty years at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of 
Pickett's Charge, Names on the Land, and the International Fantasy Award–winner 
 Earth Abides, as well as numerous other books of history, biography, and fiction.

Harper/Voyager

Seventeen-year-old Moses Schallenberger wanted to go to California. In 1844, he joined a wagon train to do just that. There was only one problem: Nobody had ever made it to California by wagon before. For a year, he and 50 others struggled through high mountain passes and across wide rushing rivers, enduring dangerous encounters with Indians and buffalo, inclement weather, difficult terrain, near-starvation and disaster.Ultimately, Moses and his friends succeeded–becoming the first pioneers to cross the Sierra Nevadas by wagon. Today, the trail they blazed is a major route into California.

The Pioneers Go West (Landmark Books)

Children's Books

Random House Books for Young Readers

Describes the difficulties, hardships, and dangers faced by the pioneers during their trek westward from Missouri to California, in the eyewitness account of a teenaged boy

To California by Covered Wagon (Landmark Books,42)

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Books by Stewart, George R.