Charles Sprague as an American poet often known as the “Banker Poet of Boston”. He won the best prologue prize at the 1811 opening of the Park Theater, NYC

What would you sacrifice in the name of faith? What would you choose when faced with impossible choices—the salvation of your soul, or the lives of millions? I often write about choice and sacrifice, thrusting ordinary people into extraordinary circumstances and presenting them with difficult choices. I also wonder what I would sacrifice for another person: money, freedom, my health, even my own life. I especially marvel at people who do give up their lives for others. I had friend, a soldier, who threw his body onto a grenade to save the lives of his comrades. I was in living India at the time—trying to find myself—when I heard this sad but heroic story and gained much-needed perspective on my own quest. I went through most of my life thinking the greatest sacrifice a person can make is giving up their life in service to another. But times and values change. Now it seems that many people have a greater attachment to their faith then their lives; they would more quickly die for their God than their fellow man—regardless of the consequences. Acts of terror, random shootings, myriad crimes that we could hardly imagine a few years ago are not…

John Bartlett was a writer publisher and editor from Massachusetts. He published and edited Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations since 1855

May Sarton (3 May, 1912 – 16 July, 1995) was a writer, poet, journalist and memoirist. She is remembered for her excellent journals and memoirs

Sarah Kemble Knight – teacher & diarist. Her journey from Boston to New York provides historians a first-hand accounts of traveling through Colonial New England

Billy Boyle wakes up in Sicily, with amnesia. He doesn’t remember what happened, or who he is, but he has a yellow silk handkerchief which seems important

William Dean Howells was a novelist, ciritc, and playwright. He is remembered for his novels A Traveler from Alturia and The Rise of Silas Lapham.

The book is thought provoking, and beautifully written. I’m very impressed how Ms. Brooks managed to write so much panoramic content in a relatively short book

Robert McCloskey (15 September, 1914 – 30 June, 2003) was an American author known for his children’s books, which he also illustrated.

Frances Parkinson Keyes (21 July, 1885 – 3 July, 1970) was a novelist who wrote about her life as the wife of a U.S. Senator.