The hardscrabble folks of Troublesome Creek have to scrap for everything except books -- thanks to Roosevelt's Kentucky Pack Horse Library Project and traveling librarian Cussy Mary Carter. Last of her kind, Cussy's skin is a shade of blue unlike most anyone else. Not everyone is keen on her family...

On the morning of April 29, 1986, a fire alarm sounded in the Los Angeles Public Library. As the moments passed, the patrons and staff who had been cleared out of the building realised this was not the usual false alarm. As one fireman recounted later, 'Once that first stack got going, it was...