Joan of Arc by Mark Twain - When Joan of Arc was first published in Harper's magazine in 1895, the reading public did not recognize Mark Twain behind it. It is ostensibly a translation of Sieur Louis de Conte's memoirs, the one person who was with Joan during the three important stages of her life: as a visionary village peasant, as a military genius and as the defendant at her trial. The narrator, quiet, retiring and sentimental, is quite unlike the true author. Twain was fascinated by Joan. He spent 12 years in research and made many attempts before finally getting the story right.
Beyond the Myth: The Story of Joan of Arc by Polly Schoyer Brooks - The king was going mad . . . So begins Polly Schoyer Brooks's account of one of history's most compelling stories and one of the world's most popular heroines-Joan of Arc. Brooks tells us of a fifteenth-century France ravaged by war, plague, and religious conflict; of a king who suffered fits of madness and his weak son who made a disappointing successor; and of a peasant girl from the countryside who accomplished what appeared to be miracles by rallying the dispirited French nation with her desire to see the rightful king rule. Little more than a year after her astounding triumphs-uniting the nation and securing the throne for Charles VII with her victory over the English at Orlean-nineteen-year-old Joan was imprisoned on charges of witchcraft and sorcery, tried for heresy, and burned at the stake. Polly Schoyer Brooks's detailed narrative unveils the spirited young woman who became a patron saint and continues to inspire courage and faith.