Allen Young

Reprint of the original, first published in 1876.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1876.

Everyone loves chocolate, right? But how many people actually know where chocolate comes from? How it's made? Or that monkeys do their part to help this delicious sweet exist? This delectable dessert comes from cocoa beans, which grow on cocoa trees in tropical rain forests. But those trees couldn't survive without the help of a menagerie of rain forest critters: a pollen-sucking midge, an aphid-munching anole lizard, brain-eating coffin fly maggots--they all pitch in to help the cocoa tree survive. A secondary layer of text delves deeper into statements such as "Cocoa flowers can't bloom without cocoa leaves . . . and maggots," explaining the interdependence of the plants and animals in the tropical rain forests. Two wise-cracking bookworms appear on every page, adding humor and further commentary, making this book accessible to readers of different ages and reading levels. Back matter includes information about cocoa farming and rain forest preservation, as well as an author's note.

Allen Young has held a number of interesting careers and roles. He has worked as a reporter for the Washington Post and Liberation News Service, protested the Vietnam War, edited several gay anthologies, joined the "no nukes" movement, and started a commune. Now, from his Octagon House in the North Quabbin region of Massachusetts, he provides insights into his most memorable moments. Young's journey begins in a surprising place. He grew up on a poultry farm in New York's Borscht Belt. His childhood gave him not only a lifelong love for the great outdoors but also his first political education. His Communist parents fostered in their son a passion for standing up to the bastions of power and fighting for the oppressed. After six years at Columbia and Stanford and a sojourn to South America, Young devoted himself wholeheartedly to a variety of causes. He gave up a reporter's job at the Washington Post to join the New Left's underground press, edited pioneering gay liberation anthologies, and put down new roots in one of the most rural parts of Massachusetts. Through it all, Young constantly explored what it meant to be "left, gay, and green." His career, political pursuits, and relationships all took him in surprising new directions, but even as his identity was changing, Young never lost his true sense of self.

Sir Allen Young (1827–1915), merchant navy officer and experienced Polar explorer, took part in several expeditions before that of the Pandora. As navigator he had accompanied the McClintock expedition to discover the fate of Sir John Franklin, during which he explored several hundred miles of new coastline by sledge. He was also in command of the Fox on the 1860 North Atlantic telegraph expedition to assess the practicality of a cable route between Europe and America across the Faroes, Iceland and Greenland. In 1875, he led, and financed, the British North-West Passage Expedition on the Pandora, and this compelling account of his journey was first published in 1876. In it, he records his attempt to reach the magnetic pole via Baffin Bay and Lancaster Sound, and to navigate the North-West Passage in one season, though he failed in this attempt because of heavy ice in the Franklin Strait.

Sir Allen Young (1827–1915), was a merchant navy officer and experienced polar explorer. He took part in several expeditions before those of the Pandora including as navigator to McClintock on the Fox to discover the fate of Sir John Franklin. He was also in command of the Fox on the 1860 North Atlantic Telegraph Expedition to assess the practicality of a cable route between Europe and America across the Faroes, Iceland and Greenland. In 1875 and 1876 he led two expeditions in the Canadian Arctic on the steam yacht Pandora. The first, the British North-West Passage Expedition, was an attempt to reach the magnetic pole via Baffin Bay and Lancaster Sound, and to navigate the North-West Passage in one season. The second was a further attempt on the North-West Passage, but also to deliver dispatches to George Nares' Arctic expedition. These compelling accounts were first published together in 1879.

Lesbian writers include some of the most innovative and adventurous writers of this century, but only recently have they been given their due attention in terms of critical study. This book is the first anthology to discuss the subject of lesbianism as it relates to the critical interaction among readers, writers, and literary critics. It explores lesbian texts in terms of identification, meaning, and interpretation, and examines the complex entanglements of identity, voice, intersubjectivity, textualities, and sexualities. "A wonderful exploration of the varieties of life choices lesbians can and do make. This book once again proves that telling the truth aboutyourself is a revolutionary act." --Rita Mae Brown "They will probably drum Karla Jay and Joanne Glasgow out of the academy for this one...A college text that is witty, literate, interesting, and can be read for fun. What's the world coming to? Lesbian Texts and Contexts: dry title, wonderful book." --Barbara Grier, Editor Naiad Press "To call this collection much-needed or eagerly awaited would be the understatement of the year.It's thrilling ot think of the new readings of classic texts, the new directions for theory, and--maybe best of all--the new range of literary encounters in the classroom, that will be enabled by this radical intervention on the critical scene." --Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Duke University "Excellent,...challenging, sexy,...never boring." --Outweek.