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WHAT'S NEW
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Schools and libraries now have permission to directly link to the
new databases. They are:
To date, we have more than 15,000 images in our database. Every one has a
title and will soon have a description. (Many have descriptions already.) The
images are fully searchable with their own separate search engine.
VIDEOS
Many
schools (and parents) block access to YouTube for lots of obvious reasons. Our
new site allows viewing of videos without exposing anyone to the reasons why
YouTube is blocked. All videos have a title, a description and are fully
searchable with their own separate search engine. Approximately 650 are already
included in the AwesomeStories' database.
We still link to external videos - from the BBC, National Geographic,
the History/Biography Channels, archives, etc. Direct pathways to hundreds of
those are provided, in-context, within the stories.
Before television, people were entertained - and heard the news - by means
of radio. Even today, radio is the medium we rely on for all kinds of
programming. National archives contain many historical radio broadcasts,
old-time radio plays and related audio clips. Our plan is to include (and
organize) hundreds of freely available broadcasts in our database. Many are
already available - like a Joan of Arc "You
are There" re-enactment - and they have their own separate search engine.
DOCUMENTS
What do famous presidential speeches look like - after the president has
marked-up (or created) the
manuscript? What reference books provide helpful background to
learn more about the people/places/events featured at Awesome Stories? What
testimony, given in crucial cases, helped to tip the scales?
Examine thousands of documents, books, maps and other such items - or
simply search for them with the document search engine.
SLIDE-SHOWS
Nearly every chapter, in every story on the site, has a slide show. Schools
and libraries have permission to directly link to them. Highlights of the American
Revolution, for example, is a story in which slide shows are filled
with primary sources from the National Archives and the Library of Congress.
Each asset in the slide show has a title and
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NARRATED STORIES
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In addition to the various databases, featured above, the site has
narrations to assist readers and individuals who learn better by hearing than
reading. Permission is granted to directly link to all narrated stories.
NOTE that use of narrated stories is freely available only to site
members.
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CATEGORY TOPICS
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| Because the site has
hundreds of stories which incorporate thousands of topics, it isn't always easy
to do a "one-stop shop" on a particular subject. So ... we have created a series
of focused topics which provide our members, and site users, with detailed
information - and direct access - to those sources. Permission is granted to
link to any of the sample
topics. |
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IN THE NEWS
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To commemorate the Virginia Tech tragedy, which took place two years ago on
April 16th, we are featuring a
collection of poems written by a group of McMullen County High School students.
These teens - from Tilden, Texas - produced an extremely moving tribute in
memory of those who fell that day.
Slumdog
Millionaire
The award-winning film is now
available on DVD. Our story, behind the movie, provides helpful background
about the storyline and provides an English translation of "Jai Ho!," the
Oscar-winning "song of the year."
A disastrous earthquake in Italy has damaged or destroyed 26 towns and
cities near L'Aquila. Richard Owen, an expert surveying the destruction,
reports "a scene of devastation - a jewel of medieval Italy has collapsed."
What causes earthquakes? Why did this one produce so many stunning losses?
The Soloist
Nathaniel Ayers was a full-ride scholarship student at Juilliard when he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Thirty years later, as a homeless street musician in Los Angeles, he met Steve Lopez, a columnist for the LA Times. Lopez wrote a series of articles about Ayers and his plight, prompting readers to provide Nathaniel with two new violins and a cello. A talented musician, now with a troubled past, Ayers was invited to watch the LA Philharmonic rehearse at Disney Hall. Members of the Phil have befriended Nathaniel, helping him to further develop his significant talent. Meet the real people, hear the music which helps Nathaniel stay calm and watch him play various instruments in this story behind the movie.
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SITE SIGNUP AND LOGIN
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Our tech team has simplified the sign-up and log-in process on
the site. Since you need both a username AND password for the new site, you will
need to convert your old password. Just follow the instructions on the relevant
page.
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AN APPEAL TO SITE USERS
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An enormous amount of work and resources, over a ten-year period, has gone
into the creation of Awesome Stories. We would greatly appreciate your help in
spreading the word on the the new design and its easy navigation, powerful
search engine and database retrieval of stories, images, videos and
audio-clips. If you like what you see, let us
know!
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APRIL HIGHLIGHTS
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European countries had been at war nearly three years before President
Woodrow Wilson asked the U.S. Congress to enter the conflict on April 2, 1917.
Germany's formidable weapon - its rigid airships - had been creating
fear, and inflicting damage, in London while its use of chemical weapons - the
first ever - compounded the misery of soldiers
fighting in the trenches of France.
More than two million Americans were ultimately
drafted while government-created posters - like Uncle Sam declaring
"I WANT YOU" -
helped to change the attitude of isolationist Americans who had long resisted
involvement in the conflict. During the war, Congress passed censorship laws
which greatly limited the people's right to freely speak their mind. Americans -
and citizens living in war-torn countries - grew "tired of the war"
and everything belonging to it."
The various stories profiled in this segment include video recreations
and eyewitness accounts, explanatory animations and virtual field
trips.
JESSE JAMES -
ASSASSINATED
It was hot in Missouri on the 3rd of April, 1882. After feeding his
horses that morning, Jesse James returned to his rented home. Then he did
something he almost never did - he took off his gun belt. Soon thereafter, he
was fatally shot by one of his own men, Robert Ford. Learn the story of Jesse
James within the context of the American Civil War. And ... discover what
happened to his assassin, ten years later.
MARTIN LUTHER KING, Jr. -
ASSASSINATION
Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee on the 4th of April,
1968. The night before his death he gave a powerful, extemporaneous speech -
known today as "The Mountaintop Speech" - which seemed to foreshadow his
untimely end. Robert F. Kennedy, meanwhile, had traveled to Indianapolis to
campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. It was up to Senator
Kennedy to tell the gathered crowd about Dr. King. His message to the
people of Indianapolis, and their reaction to it, were later featured in a
documentary.
HELEN KELLER - MIRACLE at the
WATER PUMP
When Helen Keller was nineteen months old, she developed a serious
illness which deprived her of sight, hearing and speech. Becoming an
uncontrollable child, she was nearly seven years old before an amazing teacher
came into her life. Anne Sullivan, who had her own vision problems, worked "a
miracle" in the life of Helen Heller on the 5th of April, 1877. Experience the
journey of Helen's life in this new story. The last two chapters include
audio-clips of her entire autobiography.
MAHATMA GANDHI - BREAKING the
SALT LAWS
On the 6th of April, 1930, Mahatma Gandhi bent
down to pick up a grain of sand on Dandi Beach. It had taken one month for
Gandhi and his colleagues to walk 241 miles, completing their journey to protest
the salt tax which
Britain had levied on India. This was not the first time Gandhi had advocated nonviolent
resistance. Learn more about his life, and his efforts, in this
video produced by the Indian government.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER - NAZI
RESISTOR
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a man whom Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. greatly admired, was a pastor and a Nazi-resistor. Implicated in the
failed plot to assassinate Hitler, Bonhoeffer was executed on the 8th of April,
1945. He died at the Flossenburg concentration camp three weeks before the war
in Europe was over (and eleven days before Flossenburg was liberated). This
story highlights his life and the plot to bomb the bunker at Wolf's Lair
(referred to as "Operation Valkyrie").
APOLLO 13 -
SAVED
Before Apollo 13 launched, some folks wondered whether its
mission number should be changed. It was that thing about suspicion...about the
number 13. Keeping the sequential numbers in place, however, NASA launched the
intended moon shot on the 11th of April, 1970. Two days later - on April 13 -
the astronauts radioed Houston control with the now-famous words: "Houston, we
have a problem." With links to official documents, video and radio
transmissions, learn about the "problem" and how the astronauts were
saved.
THE EASTER
STORY
For those commemorating Easter (this year it falls on April 12), this
story provides a virtual tour (of the relevant places in Israel) and a journey
through the world of medieval art (depicting the various scenes).
LEGEND OF
ST. PATRICK and the EASTER of 432
A story is told of St. Patrick, and his exploits, on Easter in the year
432. An order had gone forth that no fires were to be lit until the King first
lit his own fire on the Hill of Tara. Such was common for this particular
festival, marking the beginning of spring. Patrick, of St. Patrick's Day fame,
had another idea and disobeyed the King's ruling. He started a fire, on the Hill
of Slane, which the King could see. That may not sound like much today, but at
the time the penalty for disobeying the law was ... death. The event marked a
turning point in the life, and work, of St. Patrick in Ireland. Learn more about
the man in this new story.
PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S
ASSASSINATION
On the 14th of April, 1865, Abraham Lincoln attended a play - Our
American Cousin - at Ford's Theater. It was just a week after General
Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House, ending the American Civil
War. John Wilkes Booth, an actor who often performed at Ford's Theater, knew the
place well. He also knew the President would be there.
Wielding a knife
and a derringer, Booth had no trouble entering the President's box since no
bodyguards were there to resist him. Lincoln died from a single shot to the
head. Three others were attending the play with the President. Each faced
serious personal challenges as a direct result of what they had witnessed.
Thanks to the Library of Congress and National Archives, you can see
Booth's derringer, the contents of the President's pockets when he was shot, the
theater as it appeared at the time, the only known photograph of Lincoln in his
coffin and much more. Also learn "the rest of the story" regarding several
others whose lives were impacted by the first assassination of an American
president.
DIARY of JOHN WILKES
BOOTH
Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth, kept a diary
about the shooting. Many pages of that diary are missing, leading to ongoing
debate about what they might have said.
THE
TITANIC
Crossing the North Atlantic on her maiden voyage, the Titanic - then the world's largest ship - received several warnings about ice in the
area. Some of the messages were not marked for the captain to see. Late in the
evening of April 14, 1912 - a moonless, windless night - the Titanic struck an
iceberg. Within five to ten minutes, the ship had a starboard list of five
degrees. She was already sinking, without enough lifeboats to save everyone.
Although it was not the most deadly sinking of all time, Titanic remains the most sensational.
Learn how icebergs are formed and how they reach "Iceberg Alley." See a
picture of the iceberg believed to be the one which Titanic struck. Examine
photographs of the ship - before and after its sinking. Review the testimony of
witnesses and discover how Titanic communicated with other ships. Learn how her
new wireless system operated, meet rescuers and heroes who risked their own
lives to help others, view the wreck today and learn about a new theory which
might explain why she sank so quickly.
MIDNIGHT RIDE OF PAUL
REVERE
It was the beginning of the American Revolutionary War, in 1775. As Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow later penned:
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now
alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.
The poem, of course, commemorates the famous ride of Paul Revere, sent to
alert Massachusetts colonists that British troops were on their way. But three
men, not just Revere, attempted to warn the colonists. And only one - Dr. Samuel
Prescott - made it to Concord. Revere and his other companion, William Dawes,
were captured. Perhaps Longfellow changed the facts because his poem would have
lacked good rhyme and rhythm had he used Prescott's name!
SAN FRANCISCO
EARTHQUAKE
While the people of San Francisco slept, the ground below them was
moving. At first, during the early hours of April 18, 1906, no one knew that
something was awry. But then the rolling motions came, causing streets to rise,
and fall, and rise again. It seemed, to one observer, as though the earth itself
was breathing. What happened next devastated one of America's most popular
cities and traumatized her citizens. Learn the story from eyewitnesses and
archived photographs.
AMERICAN REVOLUTION - THE FIRST
SHOTS
By the time an advance guard of British soldiers arrived at the
town of Lexington - on April 19, 1775 - most of the minutemen under Captain John
Parker's command had gone home. He had earlier admonished them: "Stand your
ground. Don't fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it
begin here." It did - hours later.
THE UNDERGROUND
RAILROAD
On the 24th of April, 1990, the space shuttle Discovery left Cape Canaveral with a very
special payload - the Hubble Space Telescope. Although it initially had "vision
problems," the Hubble has produced a treasury of information (and images) from
outer space. This part of our space story is about the Hubble and its
extraordinary legacy.
We provide this story to mark an important event, but be advised it is
neither for children nor for anyone who does not want to see pictures of war.
On the 9th of April, 1942, Filipinos and Americans could no longer
defend Bataan during World War II. The following day, the "Bataan Death March"
began. Thousands of Filipinos and Americans died before the last survivors were
rescued.
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SEARCHING AwesomeStories
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blazing-fast search for:
If it's on the site, you'll find
it.
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