This book was written and illustrated by Charles R. Knight (1874–1953), the acknowledged master of animal drawing and the man who American Biographies agrees "was generally recognized as the most distinguished painter of animal life." Those who have seen his murals, paintings, and bronzes of both prehistoric and modern animals in the New York Museum of Natural History or any one of a dozen other major zoological museums know why his work is so highly regarded. His animal portrayals are startlingly alive with beauty, virility, charm, power, and expression. He seems to have caught animals in the very act of feeding, stalking, resting, or in any one of the thousands of completely natural attitudes that animals assume.
In this book, which is an extensive course in animal drawing, Knight offers an almost incredible wealth of practical instruction to commercial and fine artists, painters, sculptors, book illustrators, designers, decorators, and art students. He discusses animal musculature, bone structure, animal psychology, movements, habits, and habitats. He provides innumerable tips on animal proportions, the play of light and shadow, coloring, hair formation, feather arrangements of birds, scales of fish, how animals lie down, animal expressions, how a lioness bends back her ears when angry, and many others. Scores of animal categories are covered: great apes, tigers, lions, dogs, bears, cattle, horses, antelopes, sheep, goats, camels, swine, seals, rodents, young animals, exotic animals, crocodiles, snakes, fish, and birds.
This work should help both practicing artists and art students achieve more natural and lifelike drawings. Especially valuable will be the many pointers on how to avoid stiffness and gracelessness in drawings of horses, deer, and other quick-footed animals; how to introduce the proper sense of bulk and power in sketches of such heavier animals as elephants and bears; and how to put into drawings of the cat family, from the household pet to the African lion, the superb lithe grace and wealth of subtle expression that we marvel at in the originals.

Charles R. Knight’s 'Valley Thunder' is the first full-length account in more than three decades to examine the combat at New Market on May 15, 1864—the battle that opened the pivotal 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign. Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, who set in motion the wide-ranging operation to subjugate the South in 1864, intended to attack the Confederacy on multiple fronts so it could no longer “take advantage of interior lines.” One of the keys to success in the Eastern Theater was control of the Shenandoah Valley, a strategically important and agriculturally abundant region that helped feed Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Grant tasked Maj. Gen. Franz Sigel, a German immigrant with a mixed fighting record, and a motley collection of units numbering some 10,000 men to clear the Valley and threaten Lee’s left flank. Opposing Sigel was John C. Breckinridge, a former vice president and now Confederate major general who assembled a scratch command to repulse the invading Federals. Included within the ranks of his 4,500-man army were cadets from the Virginia Military Institute under the direction of VMI Commandant of Cadets Lt. Col. Scott Ship, who had marched eighty miles in just four days to fight Sigel. When the two armies faced off at New Market, Breckinridge boldly announced, “I shall advance on him. We can attack and whip them here and we will do it!” As the general rode by the cadets he shouted, “Gentlemen, I trust I will not need your services today; but if I do, I know you will do your duty.” The sharp fighting seesawed back and forth during a drenching rainstorm, and was not concluded until the cadets were dramatically inserted into the battle line to repulse a Federal attack and launch one of their own. The Confederate victory drove Union forces from the Valley, but they would return, reinforced and under new leadership, within a month. Before being repulsed, these Federals would march over the field at New Market and capture Staunton, burn VMI in Lexington (partly in retaliation for the cadets’ participation at New Market), and very nearly capture Lynchburg. Operations in the Valley on a much larger scale that summer would permanently sweep the Confederates from the “Bread Basket of the Confederacy.” 'Valley Thunder: The Battle of New Market' is based upon years of primary research and a firsthand appreciation of the battlefield terrain. Knight’s balanced and objective approach includes a detailed examination of the complex prelude leading up to the day of battle. His entertaining prose introduces a new generation of readers to a wide array of soldiers, civilians, and politicians who found themselves swept up in one of the war’s most gripping engagements. About the Author: Charles R. Knight is a native of Richmond, Virginia. He is a former Historical Interpreter at New Market Battlefield State Historical Park, and currently serves as the curator of the Douglas MacArthur Memorial. Charlie has written articles for various Civil War and railroad publications, including Blue & Gray, Classic Trains, and NRHS Bulletin. He lives in Norfolk, Virginia, with his wife and son.