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From David Wilson, the artist behind the bestselling Rust Belt Arcana tarot deck.

Great Lakes Tarot includes 78 original illustrations. The cards feature plants, animals, water, industry, and people of the region. This deck is for tarot fans, of course, but it's also for anyone interested in the Great Lakes region, enormous reserves of freshwater, fishing, shipping, wildflowers, ecosystems, coastlines, the Midwest, the Rust Belt, and Canada.

The largest freshwater system on Earth, like you’ve never seen it before. 

The Great Lakes region is home to one-tenth of the United States’ population, and one-quarter of Canada’s. Even if we remember the mnemonic HOMES, we might forget what a natural wonder they are. Cartographer Alex B. Hill, author of Detroit in 50 Maps, shifts our perspectives and offers a fresh look at the five lakes and the vibrant region surrounding them. Split into four categories—history & culture, ecology, infrastructure, and physical—these fifty-plus maps show the lakes’ influence and confluences, from the Underground Railroad to monarch butterfly migration. See how many NFL teams play on a Great Lake, where mysterious shipwrecks and Bigfoot sightings cluster, the lakes' effect on snowfall, and even how “not so Great” lakes have vied for (and in one case, temporarily won) a coveted Great designation. Shrinking wetlands, oil spills, and rising temperatures due to climate change reflect both the fragility of the lakes and the vital role they play. 

Great Lakes in 50 Maps is perfect for anyone who appreciates the history, nature, and future of the world’s greatest group of lakes.

Uncover the secret Chicago laboratory of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie Style.

Before Frank Lloyd Wright officially launched America’s most famous architectural career, he was designing the building blocks of his legendary prairie style on the side. In violation of his contract with his employers, Adler and Sullivan, Wright moonlighted as an independent architect from his Oak Park studio. From 1892 through the spring of 1893, he experimented with the elements that would become his signature in houses in Chicago, La Grange and Oak Park. The full roster of these “bootleg homes” has remained a matter of mystery and debate. Robert Hartnett seeks to provide the first definitive account of the hidden artifacts of Wright’s storied legacy.

Step into the future of the past in Chicago's 1893 World's Fair!

What came to be known as the World's Columbian Exposition was planned to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's 1492 landfall in the New World. Chicago beat out New York City, St. Louis, Missouri, and Washington, DC, in its bid as host - a coup for the Windy City. The site finally selected for the fair was Jackson Park, a marshy area covered with dense, wild vegetation. Daniel H. Burnham and John W. Root were selected as chief architects, creating the famous White City. The fair featured several different thematic areas: the Great Buildings, Foreign Buildings, State Buildings, and the Midway Plaisance, a nearly mile-long area that featured exotic exhibits. The exposition also showcased the world's first Ferris Wheel and introduced fairgoers to new sensations like Cracker Jack, Pabst Beer, and ragtime music. Unfortunately, by 1896, most of the fair's buildings had been removed or destroyed, but this collection takes readers on a tour of the grounds as they looked in 1893.

Michigan is home to an amazing array of food and drink brands, each with a fascinating story behind it.

Ready-to-eat breakfast cereals like Kellogg’s and Post changed how the world eats, and Gerber first made baby food commercially available. But the Wolverine State is bursting with many other notable edibles, such as Faygo, American Spoon, Jiffy, Sanders and Vernors. Better Made uses Michigan potatoes for its chips. Fudge, pasties and anything made with cherries are also local standards. Others are gone but not forgotten, like Awrey’s and Twin Pines.

Authors Gail Offen and Jon Milan explore the history and stories behind all of these and many, many more.

There are as many versions of Greater Cincinnati as there are residents of the region. That’s roughly two million different perceptions of the city.

In Cincinnati in 50 Maps, editor Nick Swartsell and cartographer Andy Woodruff present over fifty ways of looking at the Queen City, from its early roadways and Indigenous earthworks to its shifting neighborhood borders. A visualization of relative population density can tell one story, and one showing where jobs are clustered tells another. New maps with up-to-date data sit beside historical maps that show things like exactly how communities were razed to make room for highways. Broken up into five sections—Mapping the Past, the Shape of Cincinnati, Communities and Culture, Getting Around, and Health and Environment—these visual representations show both the commonalities and the contradictions of an ever-changing American city.

These maps present reported statistics in new ways, and they represent the things that make Cincinnati the unique place that residents know and love: Find every place you can get Cincinnati chili, the location of every public stairway, and where the infamous Cincy traffic is worst.

Anyone who calls or ever called Cincinnati home will find something familiar, something surprising, and something revealing in this glossy, full-color volume.

"The Rust Belt Arcana tarot is incredible. I wholeheartedly recommend it for tarot enthusiasts, naturalists, and witches alike."—Allison Sasso, Veil and Vow Tarot

Our popular Rust Belt Arcana tarot deck is back in stock! The tarot deck contains 78 watercolor prints by David Wilson (co-author and illustrator of Matt Stansberry's Rust Belt Arcana: Tarot and Natural History in the Exurban Wild).

Cards are standard tarot size (2.75" x 4.75" / 300gs). We are confident this is the first ever Rust Belt themed tarot deck, and pretty sure it is the prettiest one as well. Now with a new printed box!

Detroit in 50 Maps shows you the Motor City from entirely new perspectives, from neighborhood coffee shops to the legacy of redlining.

There are thousands of ways to map a city. Roads, bridges, and railways help you navigate the twists and turns; topography gives you the lay of the land; population growth shows you its changing fortunes. But the best maps let you feel what that city's really like. Detroit in 50 Maps deconstructs the Motor City in surprising new ways. Track where new coffee shops and coworking spaces have opened and closed in the last five years. Find the areas with the highest concentrations of pizzerias, Coney Island hot dog shops, or ring-necked pheasants. In each colorful map, you'll find a new perspective on one of America's most misunderstood cities and the people who live here.

A conversation starter for Detroiters past, present, and future, Detroit in 50 Maps is for anyone keen to understand the city in new and surprising ways.

This full-color book of maps, one of Belt Publishing’s 50 Maps Series, presents the capital and biggest city in Ohio like you’ve never seen it before. 

Columbus is a place perpetually in search of an identity. Once called a “cow town,” it is now a sprawling metropolitan area and home to the behemoth Ohio State University. How can one best represent the city, in all its complications and contradictions? 

One way is through maps, as editor Brent Warren and cartographer Vicky Johnson-Dahl explore here. These fifty-plus maps show things that are inherently Columbus, from ComFest to the present and former locations of the city’s iconic arches. But you will also find maps that offer surprising ways of looking at the city, whether charting immigrant populations, LGBTQ+ landmarks, or mass transit that was never actually built. Divided into four sections—Situating the City, Getting to Know the City, Getting Around, and People and Places—Columbus in 50 Maps will excite current, former, and future Columbusites as well as people with an interest in the region or creative urban cartography.

There have been few cars that ignited the public’s interest as much as the Ford Mustang.

Introduced at the opening of the New York World's Fair in April 1964, the Mustang was based on mechanicals from the earlier Ford Falcon compact car; it quickly established a new motorcar category which was widely copied by domestic and overseas competitors—the “pony car.” From the outset, the Mustang represented inspired product planning and design, followed by brilliantly executed marketing. Ford's Mustang team effort used every tool in the vehicle-marketing toolbox: clever teases long before the new product went on sale, unprecedented publicity, simple but effective advertising, the stage at the World's Fair, movie placement, distribution of toy plastic models, and even a replica pedal car for the young drivers of the future. With a measure of luck, it became a classic case of releasing the right product at the right time, and Ford sold one million units in less than two years. Even today, the Mustang is held high as a symbol of American design, engineering, and the freewheeling American spirit.

Gear up for a frightful jaunt into the darkest reaches of the ancient Appalachians.

Folk deep within Appalachian hollers lean close to share stories of the inexplicable with hushed awe. Monsters rumbling in the hills. Strange lights darting through the pitch-black night sky. Horrible occurrences, almost ineffable in their bizarre tragedy. "Tall tales," you might say. But tell that to the Flatwoods monster in Braxton County, West Virginia. Or the Goat Man of Louisville--look into his humanoid eyes and let him know you don't believe. And what of those apparitions in Mammoth Cave's Corpse Rock, or the Satan-spawn known as the Jersey Devil? How do you respond when those mysteries confront? From metaphysical energy that swirls near the Serpent Mound in Ohio to Point Pleasant's Mothman legacy, Mark Muncy and Kari Schultz explore the dark history lurking in the shadows of Appalachia..

July 24, 1915 was supposed to be Chicago's social event of a lifetime, but turned into a tragedy unlike any other.

More than 7,000 people living in the Chicago area and Michigan City, Indiana, eagerly anticipated Saturday morning, July 24, 1915. This particular Saturday was going to be anything but a routine summer day. Plans had been carefully made for it to be the social and entertainment event of the year, and for some, a lifetime. The fifth annual midsummer excursion and picnic had been organized by the employees of the Western Electric Company's Hawthorne Works. Thousands of carefree merrymakers would enjoy a festive day including a lovely cruise across Lake Michigan to an awaiting parade and day-long picnic. The day would conclude with an evening cruise back to Chicago. For thousands of hard-working immigrant laborers and their families and friends, it was going to be a day to remember.

Instead, the day's scheduled event turned into a tragedy never before seen. The SS Eastland, while still tied to the wharf, rolled into the Chicago River with more than 2,500 passengers on board. Nearly 850 people lost their lives, including 22 entire families. The ensuing struggle for survival, and the resulting death, heroism, cowardice, greed, and scandal gripped the city of Chicago.

One of the Largest Tragedies in Iowa History.

On January 7, 1950, a fire erupted at St. Elizabeth's Mental Health Facility for women. The disaster garnered state-wide and national attention as the second largest loss of life in the history of the state and the third largest hospital fire in the nation, to date. The fire, started by a patient, claimed the lives of forty patients and one nurse, while twenty-five patients were rescued. Rescue efforts were hampered by the fact that most patients were locked in their rooms at the time. Bret Grimes recounts the lives of those who fought and survived the ordeal.

The Chicago World’s Fair lifted a city, state, and nation and helped visualize a lift post-Great Depression. Revisit the Fair in this visual history!

It took six years and cost $100 million, but on May 27, 1933, the gates swung open on the biggest birthday party the city of Chicago had ever seen. The Century of Progress Exposition, better known as the 1933–34 Chicago World's Fair, commemorated the amazing progress that had been made since the founding of the city just 100 years earlier.

Many of America's largest companies joined with countries from around the world to showcase their histories and advertise their newest products. The road to opening day was not an easy one, with the Great Depression making it look like the fair might never be built, but thousands of small investors stepped forward to help close the financial gap. The fair went on to an unprecedented second season, and when the gates finally closed after the last of the 39 million visitors went home, it had achieved something quite rare among world's fairs: earning a profit.

This collection of rare photographs, previously unpublished, highlights the major attractions of the fair and the astonishing changes made between seasons. This book is a must-have for fans of Chicago, Illinois, and Great Depression-era history.

Yuletide in the Motor City

No city seems to love Christmas as much as Detroit. Whether at Hudson’s, or sitting at the Fox Theatre, or seeing the hundreds of dolls and live reindeer at the famous Rotunda, the city can’t get enough of the holiday season. Detroiters have been celebrating Christmas for over 300 years, when the city was French and children waited for Pere Noel. As holiday traditions evolve, some endure, like Christmas trees and children writing letters to Santa. Some, such as meat pie and saying 1,000 Hail Marys for good luck, fade, and new ones—Santa at the Thanksgiving Day Parade—take their place.

Local history writer Bill Loomis leads a very merry jaunt through the happiest days of Christmas in Detroit.

Dive into Cleveland’s deep past and return with a new vision for how we should think about the region today.

The land we call “northeast Ohio” was originally forged through eons of glacial pressure, geologic shifts, and the relentless movement of the Cuyahoga River. Since the last Ice Age, however, it has also been transformed countless times by the many people who have called it home.

In An Alternative History of Cleveland, Jon Wlasiuk uncovers the mysteries, devastations, and human incursions that have shaped the region. Here, you’ll encounter the giant megafauna that roamed the area until their mysterious extinction, Indigenous civilizations who first shaped the land and harnessed its natural resources, industrial pioneers like John D. Rockefeller and Charles Brush who corralled electricity and crude oil in the service of capitalist progress, the environmental devastation that polluted the Cuyahoga and caused toxic algae blooms in Lake Erie, and the numerous Clevelanders today who want to reshape the city’s relationship with the natural environment. Though separated by thousands of years, these stories contain a common theme: the city of Cleveland remains bound to nature, despite our best efforts to liberate ourselves from its limits.

Part natural history, part archeological essay, and part a contemporary call to arms to reclaim and rewild Cleveland’s future, this unforgettable trek into the heart of “the Land” will change the way you see the city forever.

Praise for An Alternative History of Cleveland: 

"A stunning accomplishment." —Dr. John Grabowski, editor, Encyclopedia of Cleveland History

"Wlasiuk is a dazzling storyteller, weaving the threads that connect ancient swamps to the Agora, or giant sloths to Public Square, all in the service of illuminating the inextricable tether we have to the plants, animals, and waterways around us." —Raechel Anne Jolie, author of Rust Belt Femme

"I read Jon Wlasiuk’s marvelous deep-time history of Cleveland with a sense of awe. A story of place that’s this well-done, this accessible to the public, and with this sort of fascinating arc through time is going to rearrange the furniture in every reader’s head." —Dan Flores, New York Times best-selling author of Wild New World and Coyote America  

or more than 150 years, Marshall Field's reigned as Chicago's leading department store, celebrated for its exceptional service, spectacular window displays, and fashionable merchandise.

Few shoppers recalled its origins as a small dry goods business opened in 1852 by a New York Quaker named Potter Palmer. That store, eventually renamed Marshall Field and Company, weathered economic downturns, spectacular fires, and fierce competition to become a world-class retailer and merchandise powerhouse. Marshall Field sent buyers to Europe for the latest fashions, insisted on courteous service, and immortalized the phrase "give the lady what she wants." The store prided itself on its dazzling Tiffany mosaic dome, Walnut Room restaurant, bronze clocks, and a string of firsts including the first bridal registry and first book signing.

A Cubs dynasty founded on fastballs and fisticuffs.  Unlike today's Chicago Cubs, the Cubs of 1906-1910 were not at all lovable, and certainly did not always display traits customarily linked with a winning team. Their manager would brawl with his own players, and the players brawled with each other. Their second baseman and shortstop hated each other and didn't speak for years. Their best pitcher pitched with a mutilated hand. Their star catcher got into a spat with management and left the team for a year to play professional billiards. Their manager over time grew to despise the team owner. Yet, this group of brawlers, bickerers, and battlers dominated the National League and established a baseball dynasty, winning four National League pennants and two world championships in 5 years. Author Gary D. Santella follows the story of a team whose toughness and tenacity was a fitting reflection of early twentieth-century Chicago.

Newton Falls was founded in 1806 and named after Newtown, Connecticut, a homage to the Connecticut Land Company, and the waterfalls on the East and West Branches of the Mahoning River. The small community was a transportation town with access to the Mahoning River, eventually the Pennsylvania & Ohio Canal, and a myriad of railroads that crisscrossed throughout Newton Falls. As the industrial revolution took hold of Newton Falls, factories came and provided locals with jobs. Eventually, the Ravenna Ordnance Plant, often referred to as the Ravenna Arsenal, opened in 1942 and provided many jobs for those in Newton Falls during World War II and on. Today, Newton Falls is known for its infamous zip code, 44444; the F5 tornado that hit the city in 1985; and one of the oldest covered bridges to remain in the state of Ohio. 

An inside look at the music born, bred, and perfected in Chicago.

 Chicago house music originated in the city’s Black, gay underground in the late seventies and became one of the most popular musical genres in the world by the end of the century. In Chicago House Music: Culture and Community, Marguerite Harrold tells the story of the genre’s rise and the prolific creators who have sustained it for decades. You’ll learn about house music’s early innovators, like Ron Hardy and Frankie Knuckles, who transformed the social and political turmoil around them into a revolution in dance music. You’ll also hear remembrances from contemporary figures in the house community, like DJ Lady D, Avery R. Young, Czboogie and Edgar “Artek” Sinio, who have forged new paths as the genre has evolved. It’s a story about much more than music—it’s about a community struggling for acceptance, love, liberation, and freedom, and about the creative pioneers whose resilience helped turn house music into a worldwide phenomenon.

Full of interviews and first-hand accounts from the people who stood behind the turntables, carried crates of records, or danced until dawn, Chicago House Music is the history of an art form that continues to be a force for social interaction, spiritual liberation, and community today. 

Most know Detroit as the hometown of Motown legends like Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. And they’re all here! But beyond the well-known list of famous Detroiters awaits a veritable who’s who of pop culture, sports, TV, movies and more.

Christie Brinkley, Robin Williams, Sonny Bono, Lucille Ball, Charles Lindbergh, Robert Wagner, Lizzo, Tom Selleck, Ty Cobb, the creator of Gumby, the guy who portrayed Jaws in the James Bond films, and many more.

Compiling over 100 names and places, author Steve Platto leads a celebrity tour of the Motor City that readers can take with them on their own travels or explore from the comfort of home.

What really happened on the circus train in 1918? Read the story of this tragedy for the entertainment industry of the time.

In the cool, pre-dawn hours on a June night in 1918, a train engineer closed his cab window as he chugged toward Hammond, Indiana. He drifted to sleep, and his train bore down on the idle Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus Train. Soon after, the sleeping engineer's locomotive plowed into the circus train. In the subsequent wreckage and blaze, more than two hundred circus performers were injured and eighty-six were killed, most of whom were interred in a mass grave in the Showmen's Rest section of Chicago's Woodlawn Cemetery. Join local historian Richard Lytle as he recounts, in the fullest retelling to date, the details of this tragedy and its role in the overall evolution and demise of a unique entertainment industry.

An urban atlas that is about so much more than directions, Cleveland in 50 Maps offers new perspectives on one of America's most misunderstood cities.

The best maps let you feel what a place is really like, and Cleveland in 50 Maps deconstructs the Forest City in a way that's never been done before. With colorful maps and insightful commentary, follow the changing locations of breweries, music venues, and commuter rail lines. Track the Cleveland Clinic's growing east side footprint, year-by-year attendance at the Jake, and the addition of communities to the Cultural Gardens. Find out which local high schools produce the most NFL players and which locations major presidential candidates visited in 2016. Discover the massive salt mine under Lake Erie and the barricades on the border of Shaker Heights. In each one of these artful gems, you'll gain a deeper understanding of how people actually experience the city of Cleveland and how its diverse communities actually take shape there.

A beautiful insider's look that's perfect for native Clevelanders or urban explorers who are looking to get to know their city even better.

From historical richness to unparalleled natural beauty, Michigan's Mackinac Island is the crown jewel of the Great Lakes, unique in America. Forts were established and battles fought between American and British soldiers.

Native American visitors preceded French explorers and missionaries of the 17th century. Commerce, including fur trading and fishing, later surpassed military importance, in turn yielding to the tourism industry that has dominated the past 150 years. Accessible by water, ice bridge, or air, Mackinac Island encompasses a state park, harbor, city, and Victorian hotels and homes. A permanent automobile ban helps preserve the island's historic character, leaving land movement to foot, bicycle, and horse-drawn carriage. This book uses historical photographs to depict Mackinac Island heritage and culture. Rare images capture bygone days and lifestyles on this island where 19th century charm surprises and intrigues even today.

Located within the Des Plaines River valley in Illinois, Lemont became a village in 1873. The Illinois and Michigan Canal opened transportation opportunities and led to the discovery of dolomite limestone (known locally as Athens marble). Quarrying limestone became Lemont’s leading industry, and it was used for buildings throughout the region, including Chicago’s famous Water Tower. Canal workers made Lemont a capital of vice in the 1890s with bars and brothels located in the area known as Smokey Row. Downtown Lemont boasts well-preserved commercial buildings from this period. Historic homes and church steeples are nestled into the valley bluff, reflecting the community’s devotion to faith, civic pride, and traditions such as the Keepataw Parade. Today, the area’s industrial past is being rediscovered and repurposed for recreational uses in its quarries and along miles of trails that connect Lemont to the rest of the region.

Author Janis Thornton reveals the stories of a day in Indiana like no other.

Palm Sunday 1965 started as the nicest day of the year, the kind of weather that encouraged Hoosiers to get out in the sun, fire up the grill, hit the golf course, or roll down their car windows and take a leisurely drive. That evening, however, throughout northern and central Indiana, the sky turned an ominous black, and storms moved in, quickly manifesting as Indiana's worst tornado outbreak. Within three hours, twisters, some a half-mile wide, ripped through seventeen counties, devastating communities and leaving death and destruction in their wake. When the tornadoes were finished with Indiana, 137 people were dead, hundreds were injured, and thousands more were forever changed.

American Know How in the Heart of It All

Ohio was and remains tailor made for commerce, transportation, invention, and manufacturing. Located between Lake Erie and the Ohio River, it was perfect for canals, railways, and, ultimately, highways, which allowed coal, iron ore, and oil into industrial centers such as Cleveland, Dayton, Akron, Youngstown, and Cincinnati. These powerhouses fostered the ingenuity and practical inventiveness that made Ohio a mecca for manufacturing. Beyond heavy industry, the state also nurtured the growth of All-American goods and brands like Quaker Oats and Smucker’s jellies and jams, Diamond matches and Sherwin Williams paints, the Etch-A-Sketch and Play-Doh, and many, many more.

Author Conrade C. Hinds places a spotlight on dreamers and builders in the Buckeye State.

A history of the iconic department store and a city’s life over a century and a half.

Anyone who has waited in a Christmas line for the Walnut Room’s Great Tree can attest that Chicago’s loyalty to Marshall Field’s is fierce. Dayton-Hudson even had to take out advertising around town to apologize for changing the Field's hallowed green bags. And with good reason—the store and those who ran it shaped the city's streets, subsidized its culture, and heralded its progress.

The resulting commercial empire dictated wholesale trade terms in Calcutta and sponsored towns in North Carolina, but its essence was always Chicago. So when the Marshall Field name was retired in 2006 after the stores were purchased by Macy’s, protest slogans like “Field’s is Chicago” and “Field’s: as Chicago as it gets” weren't just emotional hype. Many still hope that name will be resurrected like the city it helped support during the Great Fire and the Great Depression. Until then, fans of Marshall Field’s can celebrate its history with this warm look back at the beloved institution.

Meet one of Richland County’s most colorful citizens .

There are those who thought Phebe Wise was a witch. More thought that the cranky old lady was “tetched,” meaning crazy. And she was crazy—like a fox. An eccentric who outwitted violent robbers, a mad stalker, and a society that expected her to marry and raise children, Phebe alternated between dressing up in men’s clothes and strutting to town in an antique ball gown, the trail dragging behind her in the dirt. If anyone had the gall to stare, she’d cuss them out. She was in touch with a different world, and she used it to help launch the career of a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, Louis Bromfield.

Local author and historian Mark Sebastian Jordan unravels the myth and history of Phebe Wise.

A Portal to Rock ‘N’ Roll History

During the 1970s, Chicagoland venues hosted an eclectic mix of legendary rock ‘n’ roll acts that thrilled audiences. Fans flocked to historic venues like the Auditorium Theater, International Amphitheatre, Arie Crown Theatre, Kinetic Playground and B’Ginnings to forge relationships and hear music that shaped their youth and endured a lifetime. Acts like Led Zeppelin, the Who, Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath, Wings, Genesis and so many others took the stage here during rock’s most prolific and memorable era.  Jim Summaria and Mark Plotnick bring those mind-blowing performances back to life with exclusive concert photos, histories, trivia and more.  

In 1948-49, Nebraska experienced a winter like never before. Brutal cold, unbearable winds and record snowfall made roads impassable and life difficult for locals. Farmers and ranchers struggled with hunger due to a dwindling supply of coal and food. The governor requested federal aid, and the U.S. Air Force dropped bales of hay into pastures for animals. Many locals perished in the weather, and icy roads forced the state to redesign and rebuild highways. Author Barry Seegebarth details the tragedy and courage of the Nebraska winter of 1948.

Steubenville Ohio, a mecca of murder was nicknamed Little Chicago with gambling, prostitution, and bootlegging running rampant for over one hundred years.

Steubenville's Water Street red-light district drew men from hundreds of miles away, as well as underage runaways. The white slave trade was rampant, and along with all the vice crimes, murders became a weekly occurrence. Law enforcement seemed to turn a blind eye, and cries of political corruption were heard in the state capital. This scenario replayed itself over and over again during the past century as mobsters and madams ruled and murders plagued the city and county at an alarming rate.

During World War II, Michigan became a temporary home to six thousand German and Italian POWs.

At a time of homefront labor shortages, they picked fruit in Berrien County, harvested sugar beets in the Thumb, cut pulpwood in the Upper Peninsula and maintained parks and other public spaces in Detroit. The work programs were not flawless and not all of the prisoners were cooperative, but many of the men established enduring friendships with their captors. Author Gregory Sumner tells the story of these detainees and the ordinary Americans who embodied our highest ideals, even amid a global war.

Author Joshua Womack tells the story of those who lived, breathed and sweated in one of Cleveland’s most iconic landmarks. In Cleveland, there’s a place where sweat, steak and friendship collide. Tucked away on a dead-end road in the once-bustling area of Kinsman, the Schvitz is where men have come for decades to let it all hang out. Wrapped in towels and mystery, this nondescript, utilitarian building has captured the hearts and pores of many. There’s a lot of questions around the Schvitz. Is it just a Jewish thing? Why is it where it is? Why do men (and now, more recently, women) love this place?

A pictoral history of Willow Run - a relative unknown location that became the world's most famous bomber factory during World War II.

In May 1940, Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt called for the production of 50,000 military airplanes. He then drafted the president of General Motors, William Knudsen, to mobilize industry in the United States. The automotive companies were called upon to produce a massive fleet of bombers, as well as tanks, trucks, guns, and engines. By the Willow Run, a sleepy little creek near Ypsilanti, Michigan, Ford Motor Company built the world's most famous bomber factory, which was the ultimate manifestation of the automotive industry's role in building armaments during World War II. By the spring of 1944, Willow Run was producing a four-engine B-24 bomber each hour on an assembly line.

Relive the history of Hudson's department store, a fixture in downtown Detroit , when retailing was an event and the department store ruled the shopping scene and was a Detroit icon.

The J. L. Hudson Company redefined the way Detroiters shopped and enjoyed leisure time. Many Detroiters share memories of times spent shopping and enjoying spectacular events sponsored by Hudson's. A solid and lofty icon built by businesspeople who believed in their passion, Hudson's defined Detroit's downtown, creating trends and traditions in consumer culture that still resonate with us today. Now and in the future, as Hudson's boxes, shopping bags, and artifacts are discovered in closets, attics, basements, and flea markets, many will remember that it was once as solid a civic fixture as the City-County Building or the Detroit Public Library.

Inspired by Florida's famed Mai-Kai restaurant, Bill Sapp and Lee Henry opened the Kahiki Supper Club in 1961. Patrons lined up for hours to see the celebrities who dined there--everyone from Betty White to Raymond Burr.

Sapp and Henry set out simply to build a nice Polynesian restaurant and ended up establishing the most magnificent one of them all. Outside, two giant Easter Island heads with flames spouting from their topknots stood guard while customers dined in a faux tribal village with thatched huts, palm trees and a towering fireplace moai. One wall featured aquariums of exotic fish and another had windows overlooking a tropical rainforest with periodic thunderstorms. For nearly forty years, the Kahiki was the undisputed center of tiki culture.

Explore the city of yesteryear

East Chicago, Indiana, was a melting pot. The Indiana Harbor neighborhood drew comparisons to Ellis Island as immigrants flocked from all over the world to work at its steel mills. Once home to more than a hundred nationalities, the “Workshop of America” made metal and many other products. Despite issues like pollution and political corruption, it earned the nickname “City of Champions,” winning state titles, sustaining a historic high school rivalry, and producing greats like Gregg Popovich and Junior Bridgeman.

Award-winning Region journalist and Lost Hammond author Joseph S. Pete explores bygone landmarks like Washington and Roosevelt High Schools, Inland Steel Christmas parties, the zoo, Taco Joe’s, the Mademoiselle Shoppe, movies palaces, the gym where Michael Jordan played his first Bulls game, and more.

A Michigan icon, Mackinac Island's Grand Hotel is in its third century as “America’s summer place.”

The ambiance of Mackinac Island combines with the hotel’s ultimate level of hospitality, premier dining, and five-star guest experience for an unforgettable stop on any visitor’s itinerary. The setting itself has been captured by Hollywood on film, relied upon by politicians and the business community for conferences, and explored by those seeking relaxation and top-notch amenities for everything from weddings to family vacations. Three generations of one family have cared for Grand Hotel for more than 85 years, inspecting each room before opening, planning constant off-season improvements, and greeting everyday guests with the same welcoming smiles and handshakes that presidents receive. Grand Hotel has been named a national historic landmark and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Chicago Heights was long the seat of one of the major street crews of the Chicago Outfit, but its importance has often been overlooked and misunderstood.

The crew's origins predate Prohibition, when Chicago Heights was a developing manufacturing center with a large Italian immigrant population. Its earliest bosses struggled for control until a violent gang war left the crew solidified under the auspices of Al Capone. For the remainder of the twentieth century, the boys from Chicago Heights generated large streams of revenue for the Outfit through its vast gambling enterprises, union infiltration and stolen auto rackets. For the first time, the history of the Chicago Heights street crew is traced from its inception through its last known boss.

Little known tales and lore from Michigan's Upper Peninsula uncover mysteries, curses, and strange beasts in this collection of offbeat and fascinating stories.

That's the best I've ever seen you look," the barber said to the corpse. What kind of filthy decedent could inspire such derision? Learn the answer and read myriad other little-known tales from Michigan's northernmost region in Forgotten Tales of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Find out what happened after an aggrieved husband aimed a gun at his wife's lover and then asked the crowd, "Shall I shoot him?" Meet the sleeping man who rode the rails without a train. Discover the truth behind the rumors that one mining town was cursed with the ten plagues of Egypt, and learn why hugs terrified an entire city. And what were those hairy, bipedal beasts haunting the woods? Join Yooper Lisa A. Shiel as she brings to the fore these wonderfully offbeat and all-but-forgotten tales from the UP's history.

Chicago’s Uptown arose in the early 20th century due to advances in public transportation. In less than 20 years, what had been a hamlet transformed into a bustling district. Thanks to the array of elevated rail and streetcar lines, commuters could travel between downtown Chicago and Uptown, encouraging growth in the latter. Boosterism helped entice developers and business owners to put down roots, spearheaded by former Marshall Field’s executive Loren Miller. Within a few years, the blocks surrounding the Lawrence elevated train station were alive with some of the city’s largest entertainment venues such as the Uptown Theater and Aragon Ballroom. In addition to shops and restaurants, Uptown eventually usurped the Loop as the city’s preeminent entertainment district. Eventually, Uptown grew into its own community area, comprised of Buena Park, Sheridan Park, Margate Park, Uptown Square, and Asia on Argyle.

Jacob Lewis-Hall moved to Chicago in 2010, but it was years before he visited Uptown. After relocating to Uptown, he became obsessed with the district’s architecture and character and began the journey to learn about its history. He decided to put together this book in conjunction with the Chicago History Museum and Northside History Collection at the Sulzer Regional Library. Additional thanks goes to the Commission of Chicago Landmarks, whose comprehensive study of the Uptown Square district proved invaluable in this venture. 

Centuries ago, Europeans desperate for gold and a route to the East found a lush, green paradise populated by native tribes in the New World.

Subsequent violence and disease all but wiped out the native population. The land nurtured Charlton Heston and Ernest Hemingway in their youths and spawned the assassin of President William McKinley. Northern Michigan also bore witness to the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, one of the worst shipwrecks in Great Lakes history, and to the bizarre kidnapping of Gayle Cook, an ill-fated attempt to save the Perry Hotel in Petoskey from bankruptcy. Author and storyteller Dave Rogers recounts these and other historical tales from Up North.

As the roaring twenties came to an end and a new decade dawned, the United States found itself locked in the grips of the Great Depression.

The City of Detroit was no exception as industry laid off workers and bread lines formed across the city. Detroit Mayor Frank Murphy led the country in supporting state and federal welfare programs to help people through the economic crisis. By the middle of the 1930s, Detroit began picking itself up out of the economic mud and was soon flexing its industrial muscle as manufacturing, led by the auto industry, put the Motor City back into shape. As the decade ended and war approached, the city was ready to take its place on the world stage. The country reeled from the shock of the attack on Pearl Harbor and had to shift its industrial might from civilian use to the war effort. Nowhere was that more evident than in Detroit. Its huge manufacturing capabilities, when turned to the making of the implements of war, earned the city a new nickname. The Motor City became to the Arsenal of Democracy and began to evolve once more. The influx of workers from the Deep South to the war industry added yet another facet to the city's society and culture. As the Second World War came to a close and production re-tooled for the return to civilian life, an economic boom swept through Detroit. The city celebrated its 25oth birthday in 1951, prompting an outpouring of funds to build with. Major additions were made to the Art Institute, the Detroit Historical Museum, and the riverfront.

The story of Santa Fe Speedway harkens back to the mid-1800s, when the first German settlers, with a true entrepreneurial spirit, created Tiedtville and Santa Fe Park. These establishments were the accomplishment of one of the first founding families and their long-lasting legacy. Driving through Willow Springs today, south down Wolf Road from Eighty-Seventh Street, will reveal modest homes tucked away among the wooded landscape. At Ninety-First Street, a new townhouse subdivision has taken the place of what was once Tiedtville and Santa Fe Speedway. All that remains is a commemorative boulder bearing witness to what came before and the lasting mark it made on the history of the southwest suburbs of Chicago. 

The Flagg Creek Heritage Society has selected its best archival images, with contributions by family members and lifelong residents, to tell this story. Christina Andino is a lifelong Countryside resident and a local realtor. She is a board member of the Flagg Creek Heritage Society and volunteers with the LaGrange and Willow Springs Historical Societies. 

Indiana Authors Awards (Nonfiction) 2024

More than two centuries removed from its founding, Indianapolis has seen its share of landmarks and landscapes pass into memory. Some have totally vanished, such as the National Road covered bridge over the White River, the Marion County Courthouse, the 1835 Indiana Statehouse and the previous headquarters for the long-standing Flanner House organization. Others still exist, but not in their original location or form, like Pogue’s Run, the Central Canal through downtown and the remnants of structures at Riverside Park. Indianapolis historian Edward Fujawa explores the history of lost sites, how they appear today and how some are still used or repurposed.

Route 66 goes through the heart of Illinois: between the great cities of Chicago and St. Louis, there are 300 miles of adventure, history, culinary delights, and quirky attractions.

This is the Land of Lincoln and roadside giants. There are cozy motels, cozy diners, and Cozy Dogs. Interstate 55 will speed travelers to their destination, but Route 66 offers something more. It goes through the hearts of the towns, wandering onto old brick pavement far from the roar of the interstate. Historic restaurants like Lou Mitchell's in Chicago, the Palms Grill in Atlanta, and the Ariston Cafe in Litchfield still keep their coffee pots warm. Waitresses, pump jockeys, gangsters, cops, and politicians all gave the Main Street of America its distinctive personality, and their stories are within these pages. So slow down, take the next exit, and head toward the beckoning neon in the distance. Come explore Route 66 in Illinois - where the road began.

Ferguson, Missouri, became the epicenter of America’s racial tensions after the 2014 murder of Michael Brown and the protests that followed in its wake.

Though this suburb just outside St. Louis might have seemed like an average midwestern town, the activism that exploded there after Brown’s killing laid bare how longstanding municipal planning policies had led to racial segregation, fragmentation, poverty, and police targeting.

In over one hundred maps, Patty Heyda charts the systemic forces that have defined Ferguson, and the first-ring suburb in America more broadly. Through an in-depth look at the contradictions undergirding city planning and design, it illuminates how tax incentives, housing codes, urban design, policing, philanthropy, and even landscaping often work against the betterment of residents’ lives. At its heart lies a key question: Just who are our cities being built for?

A profound rethinking of what maps can be, Radical Atlas of Ferguson USA will challenge city planners, designers, and everyday citizens to change their perspective of public space.

Foreword by Teddy Cruz and Fonna Forman.

An Iowa Tradition Like No Other

In the 1970s, there were around 450 local meat lockers throughout the state of Iowa. Today, there are little more than 100 left. History is finally back on their side with a wave of consumers wanting to support small businesses, shop small and buy local. Consumers now also have an increased urge to take more day trips and explore regions they don’t see much in the headlines and bring these meats home for their own culinary creations. This is the story of heritage from the old country being passed down by generations of Iowans, and the future of an industry that has endured through decades of decline. Jay Goodvin details the history of Iowa Meat Lockers and their future. 

What disturbing secrets surround the cold, deep waters of Lake Michigan?

Sudden violent storms and rocky shoals have claimed the lives of countless mortals foolish enough to brave the treacherous surf of Lake Michigan. But is there another, unnatural force at work? A force that spirited away a ship’s captain from a locked cabin without a trace? A force that caused a perfectly airworthy jet to fly into the waves, taking all its passengers to a watery death? Perhaps these tragedies are linked to numerous UFO sightings over the lake. Or perhaps a clue might be found in the prehistoric Stonehenge-like structures discovered deep beneath the crystalline blue surface.

Historian and storyteller Gayle Soucek will explore the mysteries behind the area known as the Lake Michigan Triangle.

Founded in 1903, Ford Motor Company has enormously impacted the history and development of America, and the world, in the 20th century.

What began as a small operation in a converted Detroit wagon factory has become the second largest industrial manufacturing corporation in the world, with active operations on six continents. Unlike other automotive corporations, the Ford company has remained under the control and active management of its founding family for 100 years. Like the Kennedys, Vanderbilts, and Roosevelts, the Ford family has made an irreversible impact on American history and society. Through a collection of over 200 images, Ford Dynasty tells the story of one extraordinary American family, their company, and its accomplishments over the course of a century.

The best personal essays from a contested region, from Belt Publishing’s ten years as a press.

Many have an opinion on what the Rust Belt is. It’s the "blue wall," "Trump country," the "flyover states," or the “real America.” Or maybe, as our own president has said, it's a place that no longer exists called by a name that has long outlived its usefulness. But undeniably, there’s something that connects the region. Maybe the question isn’t what defines that connection, but who.

Over the past ten years, Belt Publishing has been putting out books that prioritize the voices of the many people who live here. We’ve collected our favorite writing from our dozens of anthologies, from Pittsburgh to Gary, Chicago to St. Louis, Milwaukee to Cleveland, and more, documenting growing up in segregated St. Louis and elucidating the coded Islamophobia of southern Michigan. Featuring LaToya Ruby Frazier, Connie Schultz, Brian Broome, Megan Stielstra, Vivian Gibson, Aaron Foley, Kathleen Rooney, Sarah Kendzior, Phil Christman, and more. 

Explore long-lost and never-before-seen images of downtown, Mayfair Mall’s Ice Chalet, Brady Street, the Mitchell Park Domes, Milwaukee County Stadium, and much, much more.

Introduced by Kodak in 1935, Kodachrome quickly became popular with professional and amateur photographers in the years after World War II. Countless Kodachrome slides now lie neglected and discarded in attics and basements like tiny time capsules just waiting to be rediscovered.

Sharing more than 140 full-color photos from his own collection, Adam Levin, curator of the popular Old Milwaukee Facebook group, leads a stroll down memory lane into the Milwaukee of yesteryear.

Through an extensive collection of never-before published images, author Dolores Haugh chronicles the tale of this impressive chapter of Chicago history.

Every summer from 1904 to 1967, for 63 years, Riverview - the world's largest amusement park - opened its gates to millions of people from all walks of life. For three generations, the Schmidt's family park offered rides, shows, food, and music to men, women, and especially children. Riverview survived depressions, two World Wars, labor disputes, Prohibition, and a World's Fair that threatened to take a great deal of its business. Riverview Amusement Park tells the story of Riverview's growth from 22 acres and three rides to 140 acres and more than 100 attractions. Through an extensive collection of never-before published images, author Dolores Haugh chronicles the tale of this impressive chapter of Chicago history. Known as the "Roller Coaster Capital of America," Riverview remained a Chicago landmark until it was unexpectedly closed in 1967.

In the summer of 2014, a strange thing happened to one of the largest freshwater bodies on the planet: Lake Erie’s western shore turned bright green with toxic algae that could have killed 400,000 Ohioans. Stranger still, it was kind of Patrick Wensink’s fault. Okay, partially his fault, but also to blame was industrial corn farming, greenhouse gasses, the Worst Road In America, his attraction to toxic relationships, Richard Nixon, Charles Dickens, cyanobacteria, high school bullies, and, most importantly, the untold history of the Great Black Swamp: a large swatch of what is now Ohio and Indiana that was once a dangerous, malaria-ridden wetland.

Toxic green algae has become a global problem. While the scientific community scrambles to find a solution, Wensink discovers that the answer might be hiding in his former home, a million acres of table-flat farmland so desolate that even other Ohioans look down upon it.

Great Black Swamp: Toxic Algae, Toxic Relationships, and the Most Interesting Place in America that Nobody’s Ever Heard Of mixes ecological reporting, Midwestern history, and memoir. As Wensink travels through Northwest Ohio, he tells us about his childhood there, his failing marriage, American history, Lake Erie, and the hopeful ecological interventions scientists are performing in the former Great Black Swamp. 

Haunting cold cases from the Heart of It All/

Northern Ohio is best known for its stunning lake views and bustling cities, but even a region as gorgeous and prosperous as this has seen its measure of tragedy. Judy Martins was a beautiful Kent State University coed who disappeared after a dorm party. Frank Noch was a mathematical genius and valuable employee at the General Motors plant in Cleveland. Someone broke into his home and killed him. Hinckley Police Chief Mel Wiley had a secret. Maybe that is why he disappeared. DNA helped Sandusky Police identify a Jane Doe forty-three years to the day she washed up on the shores of Lake Erie. Now, detectives are hoping to find out who put Patricia Greenwood in the water and why.

Award-winning author Jane Ann Turzillo unfolds these unsolved cases and eight more from the north of the Buckey State.

From the Wabash and Erie Canal to the Faultless Caster Factory, Evansville has seen much of its history disappear. /

In the early twentieth century, vestiges of old Evansville like the B’nai Israel temple and Coal Mine Hill gave way to a modern city. Numerous changes in the thirty years following World War II altered the physical appearance of the city, including the removal of the old Central High School, Assumption Cathedral, Gear Town, and more. Less physical but nevertheless vital history like the struggle over Civil Rights in Evansville has been overlooked and, until now, lost.

Weaving together a captivating fast-paced account illustrated with over eighty images, award-winning Evansville historian Dr James MacLeod tells the fascinating story of what was lost, what came in its place, and what was preserved against the odds.

In 1913, the Michigan Central Station opened its majestic entrances to the people of Detroit.

Designed by Warren & Wetmore and Reed & Stern, the firms also noted as the architects of the Grand Central Station in New York City, the depot was a marvel of grandeur and comfort for the traveler lucky enough to utilize its facilities. Soldiers went to war, families both separated and rejoined, and folks looking for an honest living in the Motor City all walked the Michigan Central's elegant corridors. Since the last train pulled away from the station in 1988, the structure has fallen prey to rapidly paced deterioration. Detroit's Michigan Central Station captures the glory of the Michigan Central and its environs. Using photographs from the Burton Historical Collection, as well as private collections, the book illustrates the use of the Michigan Central Station by a city whose story dramatically parallels that of this magnificent structure. The book also includes imagined futures of the station from some of the many people who have been inspired by the magic this grand building continues to exude.

Whether prehistoric and glacially slow or swift and modern, countless changes to Mackinac Island have driven much of its history out of sight and memory.

Eons ago, waves washed away soft rock to leave behind limestone formations like Arch Rock, which have survived virtually unchanged for thousands of years. Other natural curiosities were regrettably destroyed in the twentieth century. To this day, the Grand Hotel welcomes guests from around the world but lost are smaller hotels such as the New Mackinac and the Lasley House, where a large—and live—bear stood chained to the front door. Steamships and schooners that brought celebrities like Mark Twain and members of the Barnum & Bailey Circus to the island long ago sank in the Straits.

Author and historian Kelly Pucci explores the lost history of Mackinac Island.

But Speedway is more than a town that surrounds the most famous automobile racing track in the world. The city is proud of its quality schools, and residents have prospered from the businesses in the area. Civic pride runs strong through this community where generations of families have remained in the same neighborhoods, and sometimes in the same house.

Join author Tim Raab as he presents the champions, contenders, heartbreaks and heroics of this thrilling era of Ohio pigskin history.

Few things seem as important to Americans as sports, particularly football. By the middle of the twentieth century, Ohio high school football ranked among the mightiest in the nation. Dynastic programs Massillon and Canton McKinley dominated the 1950s. Not to be outdone, Barberton, Portsmouth, Cleveland Cathedral Latin and Jackson staked their claims to greatness, and championship squads from Benedictine to Marion Harding and Alliance fought their way to the top of the rankings though ever-steady Massillon continued their winning ways in the ’60s. Along the way, determined newcomers like Niles McKinley, Toledo Central Catholic, Wyoming, Sandusky, Bishop Watterson and Marion Catholic snatched their share of gridiron glory. At the decade’s close, the fierce Golden Bears of Upper Arlington forged their own dynasty. These are the stories of hundreds of young men who pushed themselves to their limits, and the coaches who pushed them to victory.

Idora Park opened on May 30, 1899, as Terminal Park, a picnic area at the final trolley stop on the south side of Youngstown, Ohio. The name was changed to Idora Park on November 25, 1899.

Initial features and attractions included a Dentzel carousel with stationary animals, a casino stage, a bandstand, swings, picnic tables, drinking fountains, and toilet facilities. People flocked to the new park, jamming streetcars to capacity. On August 27, 1899, twenty thousand people crowded into the park. The trolley tracks had to be doubled in number, and many more streetcars were added. On Independence Day, 1901, thirty thousand people came to see the fireworks display. Idora Park needed to expand in order to accommodate these huge crowds. And expand it did. By 1915, the park had doubled in size. On April 26, 1984, it all came crashing down. Fire destroyed the two premier rides and half of one midway. Idora Park did not recover, and 1984 was its final year.

All you need is love and cookies.

Everyone loves cookies, but the people of the Steel Valley take this love to another level. Nowhere else in America will you behold hundreds—or even thousands—of cookies piled high for events of all kinds. This is the regionally famous cookie table. But how did this tradition start? Why do residents of the Pittsburgh and Youngstown areas always create them not just for weddings but for birthdays, graduations, fundraisers, community events, and so much more? How did this once quaint local custom become a social media phenomenon? How are the cookies made, and how is a cookie table organized?

Join author and cookie table enthusiast Alice Crosetto on a delectable journey through this beloved Steel Valley tradition.

Ohio was at the heart of it all.

During a dark time in United States history, thousands of freedom seekers traveled the Underground Railroad through Ohio. The Buckeye State hosted about half of all fugitive slave traffic of the antebellum era. A mix of Northern and Southern settlers in the state added drama to a struggle that led to major benefits for the state and the country. Unfortunately, this epic past was obscured by silence and secrecy and then distorted with misinformation and folklore—until now.

Author and native Ohioan Kathy Schulz accurately details the development and workings of Ohio’s Underground Railroad with true stories of Addison White, John Parker and others.

This collection of twenty-four legendary murders spans 160 years of Upper Michigan's history and dispels the notion that murder in the Upper Peninsula is an anomaly.

Residents of the idyllic villages scattered throughout the Upper Peninsula's richly forested paradise live in quiet comfort for the most part, believing that murder rarely happens in their secluded sanctuary3/4but it does, and more often than they realize. From the bank robber who killed the warden and deputy warden of the Marquette Branch Prison to the unknown assailant who gunned down James Schoolcraft in Sault Ste. Marie, Sonny Longtine explores the tragic events that turned peaceful communities into fear-ridden crime scenes.

Hula girls, palm trees and Tiki gods beckoned Ohioans of the 1950s and ’60s as tropical hot spots sprang up in suburban neighborhoods and concrete jungles alike.

The Kon Tiki restaurants of Cleveland and Cincinnati slung rum cocktails to patrons eager for escape to a South Seas paradise. Visitors to the famed Kahiki Supper Club of Columbus, the Tropics in Dayton and Toledo’s Aku-Aku could spot celebrities swaying to the exotic sounds of steel guitars and native percussion. Venturing a step beyond restaurants and bars, others decked out theaters, bowling alleys and even a McDonald’s in sultry island décor. Join author and Tiki veteran Jeff Chenault on an excursion into a bygone era when the South Pacific came to Ohio.

While many institutions of higher education made great sacrifices during the Civil War, few can boast of the dedication and effort made by the University of Notre Dame.

For four years, Notre Dame gave freely of its faculty and students as soldiers, sent its Holy Cross priests to the camps and battlefields as chaplains and dispatched its sisters to the hospitals as nurses. Though far from the battlefields, the war was ever-present on campus, as Notre Dame witnessed fisticuffs among the student body, provided a home to the children of a famous general, responded to political harassment and tried to keep at least some of its community from the fray. At war's end, a proud Notre Dame welcomed back several bona fide war heroes and became home to a unique veterans' organization.

Trace the monumental story of a transatlantic flight to the Century of Progress Exposition. In an era when transatlantic travel was still dangerous, Italy caused a sensation by announcing its participation in the upcoming Century of Progress World’s Fair would be highlighted by an unprecedented formation flight from Rome to Chicago. Led by renowned aviator Italo Balbo, the squadron of two dozen seaplanes accomplished a daring navigational feat that was commemorated by a number of civic monuments that stand in Chicago to this day. Since the United States fought Italy in World War II, the monuments have weathered decades of intermittent controversy. Don Fiore provides a fascinating account of the complex legacy of Balbo’s flight.

Lake Erie has seen its share of disasters, claiming more ships per square mile than any other body of freshwater. Read the mysteries of its most mysterious and notorious wrecks and disappearances.

The great lakes have seen many ships meet their end, but none so much as Lake Erie. As the shallowest of the Great Lakes, Lake Erie is prone to sudden waves and wildly shifting sandbars. The steamer Atlantic succumbed to these conditions when, in 1852, a late night collision brought 68 of its weary immigrant passengers to watery graves. The 1916 Black Friday Storm sank four ships -- including the unsinkable James B. Colgate -- in the course of its 20-hour tantrum over the lake. In 1954, a difficult fishing season sent the Richard R into troubled waters in the hopes of catching a few more fish. One of the lake's sudden storms drowned the boat and three man crew. At just 50 miles wide and 200 miles long, Lake Erie has claimed more ships per square mile than any other body of freshwater. Author David Frew dives deep to discover the mysteries of some of Lake Erie's most notorious wrecks.

Through stories of people, music, and dreams, King Records of Cincinnati tells the history of a recording company which launched countless musical careers.

Starting with a few songs and a dream in 1943, King Records--a leading American independent--launched musical careers from a shabby brick factory on Brewster Avenue in Cincinnati's Evanston neighborhood. Founder Sydney Nathan recorded country singers Cowboy Copas, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Wayne Raney, and others and later added black acts such as James Brown and the Famous Flames, Bull Moose Jackson, Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, Lonnie Johnson, and Freddy King. Meanwhile, King also explored polka, jazz, bluegrass, comedy, gospel, pop, and instrumental music--anything that Nathan could sell. Although King's Cincinnati factory closed in 1971, the company's diverse catalog of roots music had already become a phenomenon. Its legacy lives on in hundreds of classic recordings that are prized by collectors and musicians.

A traveler’s guide through the history and historic sites of the Motor City. 

The auto heritage of Detroit, Michigan, is known worldwide, but this fascinating city’s history runs much deeper. Step inside the tiny recording studio where Berry Gordy, a young entrepreneur who faced tremendous prejudice, created a music empire that broke down racial barriers.

Tour Art Deco masterpieces so spectacular they're called “cathedrals” to commerce and finance. Walk in the footsteps of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to Cobo Hall, where he first delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech.

Join Karin Risko for an intimate tour of the city that put the world on wheels and discover an amazing history of innovation, philanthropy, social justice and culture.

South Dakota’s Mathis Family Murders brought death and deception to the heartland.

It was perhaps the most infamous murder case in state history. Ladonna Mathis was shot twice in the head at point-blank range inside the family’s metal shed serving as their makeshift home. Two of her three children, ages 2 and 4, were also shot in the head. The brutality of the killings shocked the state and set off a frenzy of law enforcement activity. Despite its intensity, the investigation never found the murderer or the murder weapon. Though charged with the crime, the husband was acquitted, leaving the door open for endless speculation about what really occurred on that late summer morning of Sept. 8, 1981.

With renewed insight from those involved, veteran South Dakota journalist Noel Hamiel explores this cold case of murder and mystery that still haunts the Mount Rushmore state.