Wicked

Name: Wicked Litchfield County
Brand: Peter C. Vermilyea
SKU: 9781467119696
Price: 11.0 USD
Availability: InStock

The Wicked American history book series introduces the wicked, notorious history of our towns, states, and local communities. Meet the Red Light women of Death Valley, discover the bloody mining disputes of Coeur D’Alene, and gamble your way through Kentucky’s Sin City. From scandalous Newport, Rhode Island to the misdeeds in Jurupa Valley, this wicked history series covers the most salacious and sordid in stories, coast to coast! [View all Wicked Series books]

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Wicked Litchfield County

$21.99 $11.00 Save 50%

Wicked Waterbury

$16.99

Wicked Litchfield County

Wicked Ridgefield, Connecticut

$16.99

Wicked Hartford

$21.99 $11.00 Save 50%

Wicked Ridgefield, Connecticut

$21.99 $11.00 Save 50%

Wicked Waterbury

$21.99 $11.00 Save 50%

Wicked New Haven

$21.99 $11.00 Save 50%

Wicked Bridgeport

$21.99 $11.00 Save 50%

Wicked Litchfield County

9781467119696

$21.99 $11.00 Save 50%

Thieves, rumrunners and rapscallions all color the unsavory side of Litchfield County history. Townspeople accused women of witchcraft simply for not bearing enough children in the early days of the region. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Owen Sullivan and William Stuart took advantage of the county's isolated stretches and a currency shortage to build counterfeiting empires. In 1780, Barnett Davenport's brutal actions earned him infamy as the nation's first mass murderer. Small-time speakeasies slowly took hold, and the omnipresence of alcohol-fueled crime led to the birth of the nationwide prohibition movement. Local historian Peter C. Vermilyea explores these and other devilish tales from the seedier history of Litchfield County.

Wicked Hartford

9781467137348

$21.99 $11.00 Save 50%

One of the oldest cities in America, Hartford holds plenty of sinful stories. Famed inventor and industrialist Samuel Colt sold arms to both the North and South in the buildup to the Civil War. The notorious Seyms Street jail was the subject of national criticism and scandal for its deplorable conditions. Local journalist Daniel Birdsall fought to expose corruption in the powerful insurance industry and local government at the expense of his own printing presses. Tension between unions and "robber barons" such as Jay Gould spilled into the streets during the Gilded Age. Author Steve Thornton takes readers on an exciting journey through the seedy underbelly of Hartford's past.

Wicked Ridgefield, Connecticut

9781467136822

$21.99 $11.00 Save 50%

Ridgefield is no stranger to life's shadier characters. The history of this idyllic community includes cunning crooks, suburban embezzlers, bungling burglars and wandering scallywags. In 1894, a group of bank robbers literally blew it in a heist at the Saving Bank--the explosion attracted witnesses to see the gang miss out on a grand haul of fifty dollars. Half a decade later, in 1940, a skeleton whose origins still befuddle experts was unearthed in a tree nursery. This look at the darker side of Ridgefield's past includes sad and tragic moments as well, such as newlyweds imprisoned in the Tombs, the Satanists of the '70s and a hermit murdered for love. Local editor Jack Sanders tells fascinating tales of two centuries of Ridgefield criminals, n'er-do-wells and even wayward do-gooders in this entertaining--and occasionally humorous--glimpse into some of the town's wickedest moments.

Wicked Waterbury

9781596296299

$21.99 $11.00 Save 50%

In its early days, Waterbury was a muddy swamp, a breeding ground for pestilence and mosquitoes. Yet the town's early settlers rarely strayed from the path of Puritan righteousness. By the turn of the twentieth century, however, this rigorously policed, morally upright community had become what one politician called a "crossroads of slime and evil." Headlines boasted tales of corrupt politicians and love scandals, union strife and industrial sabotage. For sixteen years, Waterbury was the hideout for "Mad Bomber" George Metesky, and in 1974 the town witnessed the double homicide that provoked the longest-running trial in Connecticut's history. From the controversial opening of a birth control clinic to the corruption of Mayor T. Frank Hayes, authors Edith Reynolds and John Murray document the major episodes that gave Waterbury the nickname "Sin City."

Wicked New Haven

9781609498894

$21.99 $11.00 Save 50%

Since its founding in 1638, the bustling Connecticut metropolis of New Haven has been plagued by all manner of sin and scandal. Stories of grave robbers and madmen in lighthouses are only a sliver of the Elm City's darker side. Author and historian Michael J. Bielawa chronicles the city's historic tales of pirates, mysteries and unusual deaths. Learn about Yale hauntings and Town and Gown riots, the Red Pirate William Delaney and the mysterious labor activist Frank Sokolowsky, whose strange murder in 1920 may have been at the hands of a jealous wife or part of a political plot. Discover the overzealous Wakemanites whose Christmas Eve exorcism led to the brutal murder of a man they believed possessed. Join Bielawa if you dare to peer into the shadowy corners of New Haven's wicked history.

Wicked Bridgeport

9781609493790

$21.99 $11.00 Save 50%

Join Bielawa as he navigates a precarious path through the unforgettably macabre and scandalous misdeeds of Bridgeport.

Beneath the smokestacks of the gritty cityscape of Bridgeport, Connecticut is the shocking criminal underbelly of this New England community. Sin and vice have long had a home on the shores of the Long Island Sound, and Bridgeport's sinister past is littered with tales of pirates, mobsters, bizarre Victorian murders, and even rumors of a doctor's attempts to reanimate the dead. Historian Michael J. Bielawa investigates such bizarre crimes as the unsolved murder of philanthropist James Beardsley, and the grisly discovery in Yellow Mill Pond during the 19th century, which helped legitimize forensic science. Join Bielawa as he navigates a precarious path through the unforgettably macabre and scandalous misdeeds of Bridgeport.