Chimborazo

Chimborazo Hospital, just outside Richmond, Virginia, served as the Confederacy's largest hospital for four years. During this time, it treated nearly eighty thousand patients, boasting a mortality rate of just over 11 percent. This book, the first full-length study of a facility that was vital to the Southern war effort, tells the story of those who lived and worked at Chimborazo. Organized by Dr. James Brown McCaw, Chimborazo was an innovative hospital with well-trained physicians, efficient stewards, and a unique supply system. Physicians had access to the latest medical knowledge and specialists in Richmond. The hospital soon became a model for other facilities. The hospital's clinical reputation grew as it established connections with the Medical College of Virginia and hosted several drug and treatment trials requested by the Confederate Medical Department. In fascinating detail, Chimborazo recounts the issues, trials, and triumphs of a Civil War hospital. Based on an extensive study of hospital and Confederate Medical Department records found at the National Archives, along with other primary sources, the study includes information on the patients, hospital stewards, matrons, and slaves who served as support staff. Since Chimborazo was designated as an independent army post, the book discusses other features of its organization, staff, and supply system as well. This careful examination describes the challenges facing the hospital and reveals the humanity of those who lived and worked there.

His cheeks are as tender as raw meat on a butcher’s block. And those are just the cheeks of his face. As he slumps in the saddle, watching the road disappear into the distance, he aches in parts of his body that he’s only just discovering he has… When Mark travels to Ecuador to go hiking and climbing, he discovers a land of dramatic volcanoes rising through the clouds and wide-open horizons rich in history. But when his partner Edita suggests a return visit, she has a very different adventure in mind: to cycle across the Andes and complete a unique sea-to-summit challenge by climbing the highest mountain starting from sea level. It will be an intrepid world first (or so they think). But there’s just one problem – Mark can barely cycle over a road bridge without getting off to push. With a month to train, they rent some bikes and head to Scotland to cycle the North Coast 500. Will this be enough to prepare them for an epic adventure to climb a mountain that in one respect is the highest in the world?

In Response to Mt. Chimborazo, Sgt. Taylor Diamond leads a team of local police responders into a mire of cover-ups, corruption and death. Evidence takes the team on a trail of discovery that doesn't stop until it metaphorically reaches the farthest point from the center of the earth, the peaks of Mt. Chimborazo. The center of the earth, representing the heart of mankind and their beliefs, wants, needs and dreams couldn't be any further from the egotistical world leaders that refrain from nothing to gain the power and wealth of the world and keep it. Their arrogant decisions, criminal enterprising and political corruption touch all. Diamond's team are on a quest to solve the deaths of his comrades, trail the evidence and attempt to stop the corruption, while being pursued by unwitting federal agents and hired assassins.

A collection of poems, transcribed narratives by indigenous farmers, and observations made by Brandi, Scott, and Warwick during their years living and working in isolated highland agricultural communities of the Ecuadorian Andes.