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Author Gil Klein reveals the fascinating role of Lafayette Square in the nation's history.

Lafayette Square near the White House is surrounded by landmarks and steeped in a fascinating history of rebellion. A congressman shot and killed the son of Francis Scott Key in broad daylight on the square and got away with it. On the night Lincoln was assassinated, a co-conspirator forced his way into Secretary of State William Seward's house and nearly killed him. The women's suffrage movement created the White House protest that goes on to this day. Puerto Rican nationalists tried to force their way into the Blair House to assassinate President Truman, who was living there.

Stories from the beheading of an Englishman to the buried ships of Robinson Landing.

The streets of Alexandria have born witness to singular individuals and stirring events in their long history. In 1623, just across the Potomac River, an English adventurer walked into an Indian village and literally lost his head. In 1654, a notorious woman became the first European to own land in what would become Alexandria. A hundred years later, George Washington and General Braddock marched from Alexandria to a massacre and in 1814 the British looted the city. Read the true history of Robinson Landing, the seedy story of Del Ray and the tale of Major George Patton and the 1930s cavalry at Fort Myer.

Author Ted Pulliam follows his popular Historic Alexandria with a deeper look into the fascinating past of the city on the Potomac.

Tybee Island has fought hard to survive wars, earthquakes, hurricanes, the Great Depression, and even Prohibition, and while Tybee fights hard, Tybee plays hard. Tybee has a unique story as one of the top tourist destinations of the early 20th century. From the early days, when people could only reach Tybee by train, to the upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s, souvenir postcards tell the story of Tybee's unique and diverse history.

America's Main Street, US Highway 1, Baltimore Avenue, Washington Boulevard--there are many names for the link between Baltimore City and Washington, DC. Connecting residential communities and commercial crossroads clustered along both sides of this historically important artery of transportation, this road has spanned three centuries of transportation, communication, and community development. From the earliest ships in Elkridge and Bladensburg to modern communities supporting the Washington/Baltimore region, Route 1 has been a vital part of this history.

Raise a glass to Virginia, birthplace of American spirits, and its long history of distilling and imbibing.

Colonist George Thorpe first crafted “corn beere,” an ancestor to bourbon, in 1620 at Berkeley Plantation, and George Washington once operated one of the nation’s largest distilleries. Icy mint juleps were first served in Virginia until the state was one of the first to enact Prohibition. That dark period gave rise to bootlegging, moonshining, and even NASCAR.

Through well documented research, interviews with key stakeholders, and plenty of cocktail recipes for the reader to shake and stir at home, author Patrick Evans-Hylton showcases the rich history of 400 years of drinking in the Commonwealth.

Pres. Franklin Roosevelt's establishment of the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933 had lasting conservation impacts across the nation. Virginia joined this effort when Will Carson of the Virginia Conservation Commission convinced Roosevelt to use the Civilian Conservation Corps to build a state park system. Virginia is distinguished as the only state in the nation to open a system of state parks on one day. On June 15, 1936, the first six state parks--Douthat, Seashore (present day First Landing), Hungry Mother, Fairy Stone, Westmoreland, and Staunton River State Parks--were opened. From these humble beginnings, the commonwealth has developed over 35 diverse, award-winning state parks. From seashore to mountains, take a journey across Virginia through a vast array of landscapes and unrivaled natural and cultural resources.

Washington Crossing is one of America’s most revered historic landmarks.

The crossing site is marked by the creation of two historic parks: Washington Crossing State Park, New Jersey, created in 1912, and Washington Crossing Historic Park, Pennsylvania, created in 1917. Washington Crossing illustrates how these two parks commemorate George Washington’s courage to lead his army across the ice-choked Delaware River on Christmas night 1776 to attack an isolated garrison of Hessians located at Trenton, which would turn the tide of the American Revolution. Filled with images from the collections of historian Peter Osborne, the Washington Crossing Foundation, the Bucks County Historical Society, the Trenton Free Public Library, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the book includes an exposé of Emanuel Leutze’s famous painting Washington Crossing the Delaware—a world-renowned symbol of freedom.

Robert W. Sands Jr. holds a master of arts in museum professions from Seton Hall University. He is the author of three previous Images of America books: Glassboro, Woodbury, and Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. Patricia E. Millen holds a degree in American studies. An author of two books and numerous articles, she began her career at Washington Crossing State Park and is a founding board member of the Washington Crossing Park Association.

The beautiful mountains of south-central West Virginia can be simultaneously challenging and rewarding to travelers. Pre-Columbian First Nations people traversed the Allegheny Mountain Range for thousands of years before European settlers arrived. The natural mountain barrier stood as a formidable challenge to the newcomers. Union and Confederate forces traversed West Virginia, but artillery trails and oxen paths were ill-suited for trucks and automobiles. During World War II, Allied forces witnessed the significance of Germany's autobahn in terms of troop movement. Still, planning for a US interstate highway system evolved slowly. In 1947, leaders in the West Virginia State Legislature approved funds to build a turnpike from Wheeling to Princeton. Cost concerns prompted legislative leaders to modify the plan and select a route from Charleston to Princeton. The southern part of the two-lane version of the turnpike opened to nationwide acclaim in 1955. The unrivaled beauty of the 88-mile superhighway; the incredible travel time savings and attractions, including Tamarack--a marketplace for West Virginia artists and artisans; and a conference center have transformed the West Virginia Turnpike into an attractive destination excellent for visiting travelers as well as West Virginians.

From a booming crossroads to a quiet town, follow author Seán Duffy and photographer Paul Rinkes as they tour Wheeling, WV through the ages.

The convergence of the Ohio River, the National Road, a remarkable bridge, and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad transformed Wheeling into a transportation hub. Fed by an influx of immigrant labor, the city prospered, adding industrial muscle. But global economic changes brought the machine to a sudden halt. In Then & Now: Wheeling author Seán Duffy and photographer Paul Rinkes explore a city still recovering from that trauma, a city with a proud past and an uncertain but hopeful future.

Atlanta is the only American city to have been destroyed by fire as an act of war, and it has its share of salacious stories. Wealthy felons hosted elaborate parties inside the federal penitentiary.

Billionaire bootleggers and murderous rich boys practiced corruption that reached all the way to the White House. Fast and fearless drivers, complete with glamorous reputations and criminal careers, gave rise to auto racing. Join author Laurel-Ann Dooley as she navigates the underworld of Atlanta's past filled with kidnapping, bribery, wives hiring hit men and all sorts of criminal debauchery.

Detailing the salacious history of Baltimore and its denizens from the city's earliest history up to and through Prohibition.

With nicknames such as ""Mob Town"" and ""Syphilis City,"" no one would deny that Baltimore has its dark side. Before shows such as ""The Wire"" and ""Homicide: Life on the Streets"" brought the city's crime rate to national attention, locals entertained themselves with rumors surrounding the mysterious death of writer Edgar Allan Poe and stories about Zelda Fitzgerald, wife of author F. Scott Fitzgerald, who spent time in a Baltimore area sanitarium in the 1930s.

Tourists make the Inner Harbor one of the most traveled areas in the country, but if they would venture a few streets north to The Block on Baltimore Street they would see an area once famous for its burlesque shows. It is only the locals who would know to continue north on St. Paul to the Owl Bar, a former speakeasy that still proudly displays some of its Prohibition era paraphernalia.

Bootleggers, swindlers, gold miners and serial killers--Charlotte has courted them all. The Queen City is renowned for its skyline, sports teams and dizzying growth, but just below its smooth, polished exterior lies a dark past full of crime and myriad misdeeds. This second history of Charlotte has been concealed and denied by those who retell the city's story, and by those who have lived it. Until now.

In Wicked Charlotte, discover the tale of the Chicago gangsters who invaded the city looking to pull a heist to fund sinister maneuverings in their boss's criminal trial. Learn how a golden nugget found in a nearby creek changed Charlotte from a trading crossroads into a rough and tumble town full of fortune seekers bent on finding a quick dollar and instant riches. And read about the details of the death of one of Charlotte's most gifted writers, who met his end in a seedy hotel room in Mexico.

This raucous book sheds light on these incidents and many more, revealing a side of Charlotte's history that few will recognize. The sordid events described here took place on familiar streets and in well known neighborhoods, but rarely have the stories passed beyond the circles of those who lived them. Charlotte has played host to a multitude of villainous characters, and has seen scores of unsavory deeds played out on its shadowy streets. Wicked Charlotte brings it all to the forefront, as never before.

The central Piedmont North Carolina town of Kernersville is known today for its quiet neighborhoods and lovely historic district homes. Few of its citizens would suspect that in earlier times the town had its fair share of unsavory characters. Wicked Kernersville lifts the veil from this little-known facet of the town's past and introduces the reader to incidents that prompted one early resident to lament that it was unsafe to walk the streets. Using material gleaned from old newspapers and other sources, longtime residents Michael Marshall and Jerry Taylor bring these stories to life, giving the reader a glimpse of the town's history unavailable from other sources.

Nestled within the heart of North Carolina's Piedmont lies Lexington, a town with a history so iniquitous that few dare to tell the tales. Discover how a veritably unknown young singer named Elvis Presley wiggled and gyrated his way through town, and how the Jolly Black Widow claimed her third husband (and victim) in a string of doomed love affairs. It was here in Lexington that an obscene mail menace sent hundreds of depraved letters to wholesome families, and on a sleepy summer day, police seized nine barrels of illicit liquor only to be stolen back and imbibed by the original owners that night. Travel with local author Alice Sink down the streets of old-time Lexington to view a city riddled with all manner of unsavory deeds.