John Smith Popular Books
John Smith Biography & Facts
John Smith (baptized 6 January 1580 – 21 June 1631) was an English soldier, explorer, colonial governor, admiral of New England, and author. He played an important role in the establishment of the colony at Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in North America, in the early 17th century. He was a leader of the Virginia Colony between September 1608 and August 1609, and he led an exploration along the rivers of Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay, during which he became the first English explorer to map the Chesapeake Bay area. Later, he explored and mapped the coast of New England. He was knighted for his services to Sigismund Báthory, Prince of Transylvania, and his friend Mózes Székely. Jamestown was established on May 14, 1607. Smith trained the first settlers to work at farming and fishing, thus saving the colony from early devastation. He publicly stated, "He that will not work, shall not eat", alluding to 2 Thessalonians 3:10. Harsh weather, a lack of food and water, the surrounding swampy wilderness, and attacks from Native Americans almost destroyed the colony. With Smith's leadership, however, Jamestown survived and eventually flourished. Smith was forced to return to England after being injured by an accidental explosion of gunpowder in a canoe. Smith's books and maps were important in encouraging and supporting English colonization of the New World. Having named the region of New England, he stated: "Here every man may be master and owner of his owne labour and land. ...If he have nothing but his hands, he may...by industries quickly grow rich." Smith died in London in 1631. Early life Smith's exact birth date is unclear. He was baptized on 6 January 1580 at Willoughby, near Alford, Lincolnshire, where his parents rented a farm from Lord Willoughby. He claimed descent from the ancient Smith family of Cuerdley, Lancashire, and was educated at King Edward VI Grammar School, Louth, from 1592 to 1595. Smith was initially set on a path to apprentice with a merchant in the Hanseatic League merchant seaport of King's Lynn in Norfolk. However, he found himself ill-suited for the monotonous life of a tradesman and the confines of a counting house. Peter Firstbrook, the biographer of John Smith, posits that Smith's brief stint as an apprentice to a merchant in the seaport of King's Lynn sparked his adventurous spirit. Smith set off to sea at age 16 after his father died. He served as a mercenary in the army of Henry IV of France against the Spaniards, fighting for Dutch independence from King Philip II of Spain. He then went to the Mediterranean where he engaged in trade and piracy, and later fought against the Ottoman Turks in the Long Turkish War. He was promoted to cavalry captain while fighting for the Austrian Habsburgs in Hungary in the campaign of Michael the Brave in 1600 and 1601. After the death of Michael the Brave, he fought for Radu Șerban in Wallachia against Ottoman vassal Ieremia Movilă. Smith reputedly killed and beheaded three Ottoman challengers in single-combat duels, for which he was knighted by the Prince of Transylvania and given a horse and a coat of arms showing three Turks' heads. In 1602 he was wounded in a skirmish with the Crimean Tatars, captured, and, taken to a slave market, sold. He was sent as an enslaved gift to a woman in Constantinople, Charatza Tragabigzanda, who sent him to perform agricultural work and to be converted to Islam in Rostov. During one of the regular beatings his slavemaster gave him, Smith overpowered the slaver and he escaped from Ottoman territory into Muscovy, then on to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth before travelling through Europe and Africa, and returning to England in 1604. In Jamestown In 1606, Smith became involved with the Virginia Company of London's plan to colonize Virginia for profit, and King James had already granted a charter. The expedition set sail on Discovery, Susan Constant, and Godspeed on 20 December 1606. His page was a 12-year-old boy named Samuel Collier. During the voyage, Smith was charged with mutiny, and Captain Christopher Newport (in charge of the three ships) had planned to execute him. These events happened approximately when the expedition stopped in the Canary Islands for resupply of water and provisions. Smith was under arrest for most of the trip. However, they landed at Cape Henry on 26 April 1607 and unsealed orders from the Virginia Company designating Smith as one of the leaders of the new colony, thus sparing him from the gallows. By the summer of 1607, the colonists were still living in temporary housing. The search for a suitable site ended on 14 May 1607 when Captain Edward Maria Wingfield, president of the council, chose the Jamestown site as the location for the colony. After the four-month ocean trip, their food stores were sufficient only for each to have a cup or two of grain-meal per day, and someone died almost every day due to swampy conditions and widespread disease. By September, more than 60 had died of the 104 who left England. In early January 1608, nearly 100 new settlers arrived with Captain Newport on the First Supply, but the village was set on fire through carelessness. That winter, the James River froze over, and the settlers were forced to live in the burned ruins. During this time, they wasted much of the three months that Newport and his crew were in port loading their ships with iron pyrite (fool's gold). Food supplies ran low, although the Native Americans brought some food, and Smith wrote that "more than half of us died". Smith spent the following summer exploring Chesapeake Bay waterways and producing a map that was of great value to Virginia explorers for more than a century. In October 1608, Newport brought a second shipment of supplies along with 70 new settlers, including the first women. Some German, Polish, and Slovak craftsmen also arrived, but they brought no food supplies. Newport brought a list of counterfeit Virginia Company orders which angered Smith greatly. One of the orders was to crown Indian leader Powhatan emperor and give him a fancy bedstead. The Company wanted Smith to pay for Newport's voyage with pitch, tar, sawed boards, soap ashes, and glass. After that, Smith tried to obtain food from the local Indians, but it required threats of military force for them to comply. Smith discovered that there were those among both the settlers and the Indians who were planning to take his life, and he was warned about the plan by Pocahontas. He called a meeting and threatened those who were not working "that he that will not work shall not eat." After that, the situation improved and the settlers worked with more industry. Encounter with the Powhatan tribe Native Americans led by Opechancanough captured Smith in December 1607 while he was seeking food along the Chickahominy River, and they took him to meet Chief Powhatan (Opechancanough's older brother) at Werowocomoco, the main village of the P.... Discover the John Smith popular books. Find the top 100 most popular John Smith books.
Best Seller John Smith Books of 2024
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Red Sparrow
Jason MatthewsNow a major motion picture starring Jennifer Lawrence and Joel Edgerton! From the New York Times bestselling author and veteran CIA officer Jason Matthews comes the electrifying mo...
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New Ideas from Dead Economists
Todd G. Buchholz"If you read only one economics book this year, read this one.”Larry Summers, Secretary of the Treasury for President Clinton, Director of the National Economic Council for Preside...
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John Denver
John CollisJohn Denver was America's biggestselling solo star of the '70s. In commercial terms he was on a par with Sinatra in the '40s, Elvis in the '50s and the Beatles in the '60s. He expe...
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John Smith
John SmithThis is the story of my time on earth as far as I can recall I was born in the year nineteen hundred and twenty seven. On the twenty sixth of October, on the north side of th...
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Lies They Teach in School
Herb W. ReichIt is a cliché that history is written by the victors, but what we accept as history is replete with stories of great men and events that either never happened or didn’t happen the...
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Short But Sweet
John SmithThree stort stories that have been on my mind lately. Hopefully writing them for you will help them to fade away.The Long Bus Ride Down on his luck and looking for a new life Jim h...
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My Neighborhood- 4-Cold January Nights
John SmithBrittney and Monica come home on a cold night in January. Running around in short skirts has costs and they settle in next to the fire to warm up. Soon much more warms up that ju...
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The Story of Pocahontas and Captain John Smith
Elmer Boyd SmithLong, long ago, when the Indians ownld the land, there lived in Virginia, near the river afterwards called the James, a little girl, the Princess Pocahontas, daughter of the great ...
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Captain John Smith
Charles Dudley WarnerCaptain John Smith understood his good fortune in being the recorder of his own deeds, and he preceded Lord Beaconsfield (in "Endymion") in his appreciation of the value of the inf...
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River of Death
Alistair MacleanThe classic tale of adventure and the dark secrets of a lost city in the Brazilian jungle, from the acclaimed master of action and suspense.THE LOST CITYHamilton knows the way to t...
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How to Lead
David M. RubensteinThe New York Times Bestseller #1 Wall Street Journal BestsellerThe essential leadership playbook. Learn the principles and guiding philosophies of Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Ruth Bade...
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Sweet Little Slut- 1- Making New Friends
John SmithChristy is bored with boys her age. Ever since starting college she has had disappointing experience after experience. On the way home from school one day she see's a handsome olde...
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Carpe Diem-1- a Rose Never Tasted So Good
John SmithUnderemployed Handyman Tom is asked to watch over a beach house for a client. While doing so he meets the clients daughter Rose, fresh from years at an all girls boarding school. ...
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The Guns of John Moses Browning
Nathan GorensteinA “wellresearched and very readable new biography” (The Wall Street Journal) of “the Thomas Edison of guns,” a visionary inventor who designed the modern handgun and whose aweinspi...
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Frederick Douglass
David W. BlightWinner of the Pulitzer Prize in History“Extraordinary…a great American biography” (The New Yorker) of the most important African American of the 19th century: Frederick Douglass, t...
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Autoridad Espiritual
Watchman NeeÉste es un libro profundo y a la vez sencillo, que debe leerse con detenimiento y oración. En una época en que los cimientos de la autoridad corren peligro de desmoronarse en la i...
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Wexford Manor- School for Girls- Excerpt
John SmithWexford Manor is an elite school for girls nestled in the foothills of the mountains away from the problems of the world. But Wexford Manor has a problem. Their graduating seniors...
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Red Sparrow Trilogy eBook Boxed Set
Jason MatthewsRed Sparrow is now a major motion picture starring Jennifer Lawrence and Joel Edgerton!Now available in a single collection, the complete electrifying New York Times bestselling tr...
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Palace of Treason
Jason MatthewsRed Sparrow is now a major motion picture starring Jennifer Lawrence and Joel Edgerton!The thrilling sequel to Red SparrowCIA insider Jason Matthews’s compulsively readable New Yor...
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From Saturday Night to Sunday Night
Dick EbersolA memoir by the legendary television executive detailing his pioneering work on Saturday Night Live, Sunday Night Football, the Olympics, the NBA, music videos, late night, and mor...
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Moving Day
John SmithChristy has to move off to college and asked her older neighbor to help. She gets the help she needs and discovers his hidden talents that need to be shared.
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The Apartment Complex- Jackie
John SmithEverything one does around the complex could lead to meeting someone special. John discovers that doing laundry can lead to alot more fun that he planned on having. John visits the...
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PASSION
Louie GiglioKey messages by today’s leading Christian voices on what it means to possess a passion for Jesus ChristWhat exactly is it that instills passion in a person’s soul? What brings the ...
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The Road to Camelot
Thomas OliphantA “provocative reconstruction of John F. Kennedy’s ‘fiveyear campaign’ for the White House” (The New Yorker), beginning with his bold, failed attempt to win the vice presidential n...
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Learner Driver
John M W SmithPaul has so much to offer as a future husband that Maggie would be crazy not to fight for itparticularly as their attraction is mutual! But now, as Paul is giving her a driving les...
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The Apartment Complex- Rebecca
John SmithWhat can happen when an older divorced man is kind to a younger women who is just moving into a new apartment complex? Kindness can pay off with kindness.Follow John as he discover...
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Turkish Delights
John Gregory-Smith'John GregorySmith has a passion for Turkish food and it shows. This is a rich and inviting introduction to the authentic flavours of Turkey, presenting regional dishes and tradit...
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Hank and Jim
Scott Eyman“[A] remarkably absorbing, supremely entertaining joint biography” (The New York Times) from bestselling author Scott Eyman about the remarkable friendship of Henry Fonda and James...
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The Legends Club
John FeinsteinThe riveting inside story of college basketball's fiercest rivalry among three coaching legendsUniversity of North Carolina's Dean Smith, Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, and North Carolina...
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A Billion Years
Mike RinderOne of the highestranking defectors from Scientology exposes the secret inner workings of the powerful organization in this remarkable memoir that is “not only a cautionary tale bu...
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The Books That Changed My Life
Bethanne PatrickOne hundred of today’s most prominent literary and cultural icons talk about the books that hold a special place in their heartsthat made them who they are today.Leading authors, p...
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Love and Hate in Jamestown
David A. PriceA New York Times Notable Book and aSan Jose Mercury News Top 20 Nonfiction Book of 2003In 1606, approximately 105 British colonists sailed to America, seeking gold and a trade rout...
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The Club
Joshua Robinson & Jonathan CleggThe Club is the inside story of how English soccer’s Premier League became the wildest, richest, most popular sports product on the planet, "a narrative that is part Great Exp...
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Play It Loud
Brad Tolinski & Alan di PernaThe inspiration for the Play It Loud exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art"Every guitar player will want to read this book twice. And even the casual music fan wil...
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The Apartment Complex- Mary
John SmithIn an effort to get back into shape I start to exercise at a park across the street. There I meet Mary, a beautiful married women whith whom I become friends. She invites me to an ...
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Forbidden Tastes
John SmithMoving away to college was an eye opening experience for Katie. Her home schooling background had not prepared her for what she was to discover living with girls from very differen...
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John Smith
Kevin HicksonThe death of John Smith on 12th May 1994 was one of those events which sticks in the memory. He was cut down at the moment that it looked as if he was set to become the next Prime ...
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The Stranger in My Bed
Michael FleemanThe Stranger in My Bed from journalist Michael Fleeman presents the chilling true story of one woman who escaped the deadly hold of the killer she loved and married; and of the gri...
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Watership Down
Richard Adams & Madeline MillerNow with a new introduction by Madeline Miller, the New York Times bestselling author of The Song of Achilles and Circe.The 50th anniversary edition of Richard Adam’s timeless clas...
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The Naugthy List
John SmithSierra dreams that she has a meeting with a strange big man in a red suit with two small helpers dressed in green. They question her about a request she made at an office party th...
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Call to Duty- Raven
John SmithA strange call out of the blue brings an old buddies daughter to John's doorstep. A promise to help brings into john's life someone he never thought he would meet and into a life h...
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The Narrative of John Smith
Arthur Conan DoyleArthur Conan Doyle wrote his first novel The Narrative of John Smith in 1883 when he was just 23, living in Portsmouth and struggling to establish himself as a doctor and a writer....
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Carpe Diem-6- Beach Buddies
John SmithTom and Rose continue to explore each other and the internet. Through Rose, Tom is able to contact Beth online and sets up a meeting. Rose heads off to visit a friend leaving Tom t...