America in the Twentieth Century

“A roving, shiftless fellow…”

That’s how the newspapers described Jesse C. Walker, who in 1908 was served with an arrest warrant by Brunswick County sheriff Jackson Stanland, with tragic results. Little did Walker know that he was about to set off on twenty-five years of headline-grabbing exploits. Two murders, two wives, three prison escapes, and thousands of miles of travel across eight states are only the surface of the adventures of this North Carolina desperado.

Local author Mark W. Koenig relates the untold saga of a man who rocketed to notoriety in the first years of the twentieth century and found atonement decades later.

A gripping description of New England's storm of the century.

This detailed history of a beloved Queen City institution is sure to offer something new on Findlay Market for the even the most hardcore local history buff.

Located in Over-the-Rhine in the heart of Cincinnati, Findlay Market is Ohio's oldest continually operating market. It opened in 1855 to serve a growing population and quickly became a central neighborhood hub for goods and services. Despite its success, the market experienced dwindling customers and storefront vacancies in the mid- and late twentieth century, reflective of the struggles and decline confronting many cities in those years. Over the last twenty years, market revitalization efforts signal ongoing reinvestment in the city center--a trend transforming many American cities.

Gathering personal stories of the merchants of Findlay Market, historian Alyssa McClanahan shines a light on the past to reveal the market's place in local and American urban history.

The untold story of the Bolsa Chica Gun Club, one of Southern California’s most important power centers.Before the rise of Huntington Beach, the Bolsa Chica Gun Club stood as a captivating testament to power and ambition. Influential figures like Jared Sidney Torrance and Henry Huntington were members of this exclusive haven where businessmen, politicians, and even stars of early Hollywood gathered to relax and socialize. Once rapid development and the discovery of oil began encroaching on the club lands, it slowly faded into memory, but its influence remains.Join author Chris Epting as he explores the remarkable and sometimes controversial events that unfolded on the club’s hallowed grounds.

Settle in for a juicy bushel of Peach State bafflement.

Turn a metaphorical shovel of red Georgia clay to find a world teeming with inexplicable, head-scratching mystery. The legends here predate the state’s founding by hundreds of years, when Native people settled in and began grappling with the land. Now treasure hunters ply Civil War sites for the Confederacy’s lost treasure, with spectral soldiers galloping nearby. Hairy beasts lope through dark woods, while the night sky above bustles with disconcerting activity, like the UFO once spotted by Jimmy Carter. In this Georgia, psychics help convict murderers. The super-strict and thoroughly deceased former owner of Savannah’s Telfair Museum punishes rule breakers, and a ten-foot ’squatch emits a pungent stench at Minnehaha Falls. Join folklorist Alan Brown on a jaunt through the most confounding elements of Georgia’s long history.

Nineteenth-century Chinese pioneers voyaged across the vast oceans to reach the last steamboat stop in the 旄舝 Gold Mountain, bringing centuries of wisdom from China’s ancient civilization.

Tehama County played a crucial role in shaping California’s early statehood. Its fertile terrain presented ample opportunities to succeed. Despite harsh discriminatory laws and racially driven tunnel folklore to perpetuate a negative narrative, five original families— Foey (Wong), 謯 Chew (Yuen), 鄺 Fong, 衒 On (Liu), and 蠊 Chin—made Red Bluff their permanent home, thriving as merchants and productive citizens. Individuals like Dr. Chew Yuen and Bo Do Hong operated traditional Chinese medicine practices throughout America with Red Bluff as their headquarters. Tehama County blended cultures, with its most distinguishable townsmen attending an annual Chinese and American banquet in Red Bluff’s Chinatown, merging the two cultures together. The deep bonds formed would culminate into a powerful petition by 20 influential leaders in support of the Chew family, who were detained at Angel Island in 1916, proving that Tehama County valued the Chinese community. This single act of kindness set the stage for a 20th-century Chinese American pioneer to be born, Dr. Kenneth Kendall Chew, and his research in aquaculture would change the world.

The Helen and Joe Chew Foundation has selected rare images from its collection and invited Chinese American descendants to narrate their origin stories, preserving the legacy of these pioneering families for future generations.

Ducks across the Big Sky

To hunt ducks in Montana—where the land breathes history—is to experience extremes in geography, weather and wildlife. The breadth of mountains and prairie is unlike anywhere else in the Lower 48. Both the Central and Pacific flyways span the state’s iconic wetlands, rivers and lakes. Hunting opportunities abound thanks to the state’s wildlife conservation legacy on public and private lands. Hunters walk in the footsteps of plains Indians, Lewis and Clark and mountain men while looking for a spot to pitch decoys. Embark on an epic and distinct Big Sky journey with author and hunter Matt Wemple, where a moose or grizzly bear could stroll through the decoys at any time. 

The discovery of a rich coal vein in northeast Livingston County, Illinois, in 1899 turned an open prairie into the large coal mining town of Cardiff within months. An explosion in the mine in 1903 that killed nine men looked like it might be the end of the mine and the town, but another mine shaft was sunk, and the town grew bigger than ever. However, the quality of the coal ran out in 1912. This time it was the end. The mine closed, and the buildings were transported elsewhere. The only thing left of Cardiff was its ghost town reputation. The town lasted only 13 years, but they were exciting years. This book brings the town and its people to life once again.

From Wilderness to Industry and Back Again   

For thousands of years, the Little Tennessee River and the foot trail alongside it were a vital route through the Southern Appalachians—used first by the Cherokee and then by early traders and drovers moving deerskins and livestock to Charleston, South Carolina, then colonial America’s richest port. This mountainous land drew only the hardiest settlers until around 1900, when railroads, timbermen, miners, and dam builders rapidly transformed it into a center of industry. In 1920, conservationists began returning much of it to wilderness as quickly as it was modernized.

In this richly researched local history, author and historian Lance Holland brings to life the people, places, and powerful changes that shaped this storied region—perfect for readers who love Appalachian history, Cherokee heritage, and forgotten American trails.

Immigration in the Equality State

Long before Heart Mountain Internment Camp brought Japanese prisoners to Wyoming, an immigrant work force put down lasting roots. Beginning in 1892, Japanese came to toil on Union Pacific’s railroad and coal mines. But they weren’t warmly welcomed. Newspapers charged every Japanese section worker was secret Japanese Army. Allegedly, 600 Japs in Utah, [and] about 400 in Wyoming and probably 100 in Colorado, were ready to serve Japan during the Japanese Russo War. George Wakimoto said the number was closer to six. Such misinformation about Japanese laborers spawned violence against Asians. The citizens of Evanston tried to blow them up. Rawlins ran the Japanese out of town. And in Laramie, young boys threw stones and dragged a Japanese man through the street. Author Dan Lyon chronicles Japanese perseverance, before and after both world wars, in their adopted state.

Rhode Island's contribution to World War II vastly exceeded its small size.

Narragansett Bay was an armed camp dotted by army forts and navy facilities. They included the country's most important torpedo production and testing facilities at Newport and the Northeast's largest naval air station at Quonset Point. Three special, top-secret German POW camps were based in Narragansett and Jamestown. Meanwhile, Rhode Island workers from all over the state - including, for the first time, many women - manufactured military equipment and built warships, most notably the Liberty ships at Providence Shipyard. Authors from the Rhode Island history blog smallstatebighistory.com trace Rhode Island's outsized wartime role, from the scare of an enemy air raid after Pearl Harbor to the war's final German U-boat sunk off Point Judith.

The fight against the Axis required sacrifice and dedication, and Nebraskans proudly answered the call with grit, determination and duty.

Three ordnance plants and two naval munitions depots brought employment and economic opportunities but also housing shortages and racial disturbances. The U.S. Army Air Corps established eleven air bases here, leading to community engagement through USOs and war bond drives. In central Nebraska, the North Platte Canteen welcomed thousands of service members en route to war on troop trains. Henry Doorly’s successful scrap campaign became a model for a nationwide operation. Local farmers fed the nation, K-9 war dogs trained at Fort Robinson and native sons Ben Kuroki and Andrew Higgins affected the war in very different ways.

Through detailed archival research, author Melissa Amateis tells the remarkable story of the Cornhusker State’s homefront.

It has been four centuries since the first Roosevelt arrived in New Amsterdam as a humble farmer.

The Roosevelts became one of America’s most distinguished families—one with ties to many sites in New York City. A brownstone on East 20th Street where Theodore Roosevelt was born and developed his love of nature. A twin brownstone next door where his uncle Robert instilled in the future president an interest in conservation, while having multiple affairs and even starting a second secret family with a mistress. And the double townhouse on East 65th Street built by Sara Delano Roosevelt so the growing family of her son, Franklin, would have a suitable place to live while she meddled in their lives. Historian Bill Bleyer details the unique places in the city where family members lived and worked and unveils the private interactions behind this famous American family.

The Life of a Trailblazer

Matilda Arabella Evans was born four years after the abolition of slavery and raised on a family farm in eastern Aiken County. She was the first African American woman in South Carolina to obtain a medical license and fervently championed better healthcare for African Americans, with a particular focus on children. Her early life experiences, academic accomplishments, strong religious beliefs and innovative medical approaches made her a crucial figure in enhancing healthcare accessibility for families in South Carolina, especially during the difficult era of racial segregation, when she also served as a civic advocate to uplift her local community. Authors Dr. Walter B. Curry, Beverly Aiken Muhammad and Anusha Ghosh reveal the inspirational story of Dr. Evans and her remarkable journey throughout her career.

Author Joshua Ginsberg guides intrepid readers on a journey into Orlando’s haunted history. More than 70 million people visit Orlando annually. Some travel for pleasure, others come for business, but once the glow of the nightly fireworks over the Magic Kingdom fades, the City Beautiful plays host to a different set of guests…from beyond the grave. Do those who played roles in bringing the city to life continue to inhabit it well after their deaths? Encounter July Perry and the ghosts of Wall Street Square, the apparition known as the Lady of Lucerne, the unquiet victims of Sunland Hospital, restless residents of Greenwood Cemetery, and a great many others. 

Join a trio of Florida historians on this exploration of Florida by air. 

Few states can claim an aeronautical heritage as rich as Florida’s. From early flights in tiny cloth-covered planes to the latest rocket ships, and from the first passenger flights to journeys that span the globe, Florida skies have seen the most primitive forms of aviation evolve into the most technologically advanced. In 1910, Lincoln Beachey won $1500 at the Orange County Fair for staying in the air for five minutes, just three years before Domingo Rosillo made the 90-mile flight across the Florida Strait in two hours and eight minutes, setting world records for both distance flown over water and altitude attained. A couple decades later, Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan left Miami on the first leg of their around-the-world flight that ended in disaster.

The islands of southern Lake Winnipesaukee have a rich and diverse history.

The first summer home on Sleepers Island was Hale’s castle, a replica of a medieval castle constructed by the same stone masons who built Castle in the Clouds in Moultonborough. An indigenous archeological site and other relics have been uncovered on Rattlesnake Island. Treasure Island and Cub Island were originally developed as a boy’s summer camp. Diamond Island was a stop for the steamboat Lady of the Lake, and the Diamond Island House was cut in half and moved across the lake to become the Hotel Weirs. In later years, the U.S. Navy established a research station on the island.

Local author and islander Stephanie Erickson shares the history of the islands and how they have shaped the culture of the islanders today. 

Author Rick Vaughn uncovers the stories that keep Tampa’s passion for the National Pastime burning.  Since 1913, Tampa has provided the background for some of the Major League Baseball’s most iconic spring moments led, of course, by the longest home run of Babe Ruth’s career. Tampa was the scene of the Grapefruit League’s first no-hitter and the only spring time All-star Game. It was the first gathering place of the Big Red Machine and the Core Four. Well over 125 Hall of Famers honed their craft among the city’s three major league ballparks: Plant Field, Al Lopez Field and Steinbrenner Field. All of it resulted from a diverse city’s love of the game that began with baseball-crazed cigar factory workers before the turn of the 20th century.

How the gladiatorial games of ancient Rome appeared on the Texas frontier.  From 1895 to 1913, promoters on the Texas-Mexico border imported a variety of large mammals from around the world to pit them against one another in interspecies combat. Lions fought bears, an elephant took on a bull, and one promoter released a tiger, a bull, and a bear into the same cage at the same time. Human combatants occasionally entered the fray, from a rodeo pioneer who squared off against an elk to a bullfighter who took on a buffalo. Vaudeville showmen supplied livestock, sensationalistic newspapers drove ticket sales, and Progressive Era animal rights groups lobbied to shut down the spectacle. Bradley Folsom gives an account of the epic border battles, both in and out of the cage, which tell the story of a time when Texas was a rising economic power and Mexico verged on revolution.

A Hidden Gem in Kentucky.

Eighteen miles outside Louisville lies the picturesque town of Pewee Valley. The town was originally founded on a land grant around 1800 and later named after the Eastern Wood Pewee, which, according to an elaborate legend, exuberantly proclaimed the creation of an Eden east of Louisville. Residents of and visitors to this fairy-tale suburb have included tycoons, politicians, painters, photographers, poets and novelists. Among them was Annie Fellows Johnston, who used Pewee Valley as the setting for her famed “Little Colonel” books, which Shirley Temple brought to the big screen in 1935. A preserve of rural manors and picturesque cottages, Pewee survived Civil War, the Depression and developers’ bulldozers. David Russell reveals this storied history.

Over a century of history, pride and tradition.

Armijo High School opened its doors for the first time in 1891. What began in the upstairs classrooms of Crystal Elementary School in Suisun City grew to the sprawling campus on Washington Street in order to serve the rising population of Fairfield, California. Armijo alumni have made indelible marks in numerous fields, including medicine, law, civil and military service, athletics, and the arts. Notable graduates include Noriyuki “Pat” Morita who earned an Academy Award nomination for playing Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid movies, New York Giants Super Bowl champion George Martin and Johnny Colla, multi-platinum recording artist with Huey Lewis and the News.

Join Tony Wade as he delves into the generations of students, parents and faculty that embody Armijo pride.

Coffee is an elixir many live by, but few of us know the history of what's in our mug. Follow author Deborah Reinhardt as details the rich history of coffee in the Gateway City.

Trace a legend’s route from an orphan train to the College Football Hall of Fame.

Joe Aillet is a Louisiana Tech football icon, with a stadium named in his honor. During a tenure that stretched north of a quarter century, his teams won 151 games and twelve championships. He mentored greats including Leo Sanford, Tom Hinton, Jimmy Johnson, Phil Robertson and Terry Bradshaw along the way. Yet he remains an underappreciated figure whose off-field biography rivals his sideline career. He was an uncommon coach, a reserved scholar who quoted Shakespeare during practice and kept in touch with players overseas during World War II. Author Christopher A. Kennedy illuminates the full picture of this Louisiana Tech legend, from his against-the-odds childhood to the eleven championships he won as a golf coach.

Local historian Paul J. Zuros weaves a rich narrative of the region, reliving these tales as only a local can.

The Upper Ohio River runs along the border between West Virginia and Ohio, where the cities of Weirton and Steubenville face each other across the flowing water. The history of these two municipalities has been intertwined from their earliest days. Discover stories of the early pioneers on both sides of the river and what they learned about their Native American predecessors. Tales of bygone celebrations will entertain, and rumors of local haunts will chill readers to the bone. The stories of these industrial centers as well as their preindustrial past will intrigue and delight young and old.

Founded in March 1912, DC branch of the NAACP quickly became the leading organization advocating for the city's Black community.

President Woodrow Wilson's institution of Jim Crow segregation in the federal government in the spring of 1913 galvanized the African American community of DC and the NAACP launched a formidable crusade against Wilson's racist policies. As the preeminent civil rights organization of the nation's capital, it also developed a dual role as a watchdog body to prevent the passage of legislation in Congress that negatively affected African Americans.

Archivist and historian Derek Gray chronicles and analyzes the work of the DC NAACP through the civil rights era to the achievement of Home Rule in the District.

Nearly two decades after the fact, tragedy meets justice.

One day in 1987, Fred Wilkerson up and vanished in Troup County, Georgia. It was a mystery beset with suspicious circumstances, but the evidence never led anywhere, and the case went cold, Wilkerson’s whereabouts unknown. That is, until a remarkable set of circumstances allowed author and investigator Clay Bryant to breathe life back into the case nearly two decades later. Diving into what had previously been overlooked, Bryant was able to locate and recover Wilkerson’s remains and successfully prosecute the killer, who’d crafted a calculating plot to take everything the victim had and murder him in order to keep it. The story concludes with the Wilkerson Family finally getting closure and the killer getting sentenced to life in prison. Join Byrant as he unravels this West Georgia cold case.

Prohibition Glenview made many people rich, some angry, some sad, and some dead.

Today, Glenview is one of the safest places to live in Illinois, but during Prohibition, speakeasies, saloons, and “ice cream parlors” hijacked the small farming town. Good men and women, trying make a few bucks, opened scores of taprooms and lounges along Waukegan Road. Beloved institutions like Hackney’s restaurants, Meier’s Tavern, and Grandpa’s Place were originally supplied by a bootlegging operation that was both local and friendly. Then the Chicago Outfit moved in. Author Jill Crane traces the path the resilient citizens of Glenview took in carving a thriving community out of the tumult of Prohibition.

In 1822, the White Church, designed by Isaac Damon, was constructed to house the Congregationalist worshippers in Blandford.

Blandford, Massachusetts, was initially referred to as Glasgow Lands due to the European colonists of Scots descent who arrived in 1735. These Scots founded a Presbyterian church; indeed, the reason for their remove from Hopkinton, Massachusetts, was that Hopkinton sought to adopt a Congregational form of worship. The White Church remained active long into the 20th century before its physical decline and eventual purchase by the Blandford Historical Society in 2006. While the congregants have another church nearby to call home, the White Church, listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1985 and affixed as part of the town seal, has long been cemented in the minds of residents of the area, regardless of religious affiliation.

Working in conjunction with the Blandford Historical Society, historian Nicholas J. Aieta of Westfield State University has pulled images from the Library of Congress and the society’s archives. The writings of Blandford residents, past and present, have helped develop the story of the church’s birth, physical decline, and eventual resurrection as a community center.

Piece together the story of Albuquerque's 1950 Broken Arrow disaster from the wreckage of a Superfortress Bomber crash.

On April 11, 1950, at 9:38 p.m., a B-29 aircraft departed Kirtland Air Force Base. Approximately three minutes later, it crashed into the Manzano Foothills, killing everyone aboard.

The Roswell-based aircraft and its thirteen-member crew were ferrying a Mark IV atomic weapon from Kirtland AFB to a Strategic Air Command base in Texas. The incident marked the second nuclear weapons–related accident in the U.S. military, the first accident in the continental United States, and the first of two such accidents near Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Author and military historian Joseph T. Page II recalls the lives lost in this tragic crash.

The name Beartooth suggests strength, rawness, and force. Indeed, the Beartooth Mountains are a power and are unsurpassed in splendor and beauty.

The voluminous masses are said to compromise one of the largest contiguous areas in North America. Early natives came in search of game in both the high country and rich valleys, especially the Crows, who used the area frequently. Later, miners appeared in search of precious metals and developed gold, chrome, and platinum mines. Geographers came and scaled mountain peaks, defining, naming, and mapping. Cattle and sheepmen were also lured to the lush mountain pastures. Eventually, trails became roads, and the Beartooth Plateau was easily accessible upon the completion of the Beartooth Highway. With the creation of the US Forest Service, forestlands were surveyed and protected by wilderness status. Soon, dudes were upon the landscape, and an industry was created amongst the peaks and prairies of the Beartooths.

Wit and Wisdom from an Icon of of the American Twentieth Century

This elegantly stamped gift edition hardcover contains nearly one hundred quotations on hope, humanitarianism, and more from First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

“People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built.”

⁃Eleanor Roosevelt, My Day, Eastport, Maine, August 1, 1941

Readers interested in World War II will enjoy this in-depth depiction of Arkansas beginning in 1941. When the United States entered World War II in the winter of 1941, Arkansas was still in the grips of the Great Depression as farmers struggled with crop failures and being able to support their families. When the United States declared war on the Axis powers, Arkansans demonstrated their patriotism as they enlisted in droves in the military. The people of the state served with honor on the battlefield and on the home front, and families rationed food and resources, bought war bonds, and served the war effort in other ways. Women, traditionally tied to working at home, volunteered to work in factories to support the war effort. The war had a darker side as hundreds of Japanese Americans suspected of disloyalty to the United States were herded into the state’s two relocation centers. Some of Arkansas’s World War II heroes, those who sacrificed on the battlefield and the home front to win the epic struggle and save the world from tyranny, are featured through archival photographs in this book.

Brian David Irby is a longtime student of history, completing his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from the University of Central Arkansas. He has been on staff at the Arkansas State Archives since 2008, where he has been immersed in Arkansas’s history. 

Food has been and continues to be an essential part of any movement for progressive change.

From home cooks and professional chefs to local eateries and bakeries, food has helped activists continue marching for change for generations. Paschal's restaurant in Atlanta provided safety and comfort food for civil rights leaders. Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam operated their own farms, dairies and bakeries in the 1960s. The Sandwich Brigade organized efforts to feed the thousands at the March on Washington. Author Fred Opie details the ways southern food nourished the fight for freedom, along with cherished recipes associated with the era.

Camp Forrest and Its Legacy is a pictorial history of the individuals and organizations that made this installation Tennessee’s fifth-largest city in World War II.

As an induction, training, and enemy combatant detention facility in Tullahoma, Camp Forrest trained over 70,000 soldiers, employed more than 12,000 civilians, and detained 800 civilian internees and 65,000 German and Italian prisoners of war. At the end of the war, the base was decommissioned and dismantled. Where only foundations and chimneys now stand guard, its legacy perseveres. The over 150,000 people who passed through its gates left an impression still felt.

Dr. Elizabeth Taylor continues to research Camp Forrest’s past and present global impact. She founded the Camp Forrest Foundation, which strives to preserve military history. She welcomes individuals to contact her with stories, comments, photographs, and artifacts. The images included in this title were obtained from the National Archives and Records Administration and numerous private collections.

Stories of the Greatest Generation come alive in the hands of longtime local journalist Adrian O’Connor

What made the D-Day attack on Omaha Beach so remarkable was that it was carried out largely out by National Guardsman – men of the 29th Infantry Division who had never before seen combat. One of the companies that was part of this historic day hailed from the environs of Winchester, Virginia. Winchester’s martial gallantry was hardly restricted to the beaches of Normandy, though. A future city councilor came ashore at Anzio, Italy. A future school principal fought in what may have been the Pacific’s toughest battle, Iwo Jima. Local men held the line at the climactic Battle of the Bulge, flew over Europe and the oil fields of Ploesti and even escaped a German prisoner-of-war camp.

Author Margaret Shiels Konitzky reveals the stories of local heroes and the relentless spirit of midcoast Maine.

While World War II raged overseas, the people of midcoast Maine responded with remarkable achievements on the homefront. The shipyard at Bath Iron Works launched a new destroyer every seventeen days. Bowdoin College had more military than civilian students and held three commencements per year. Boothbay Harbor, Bailey Island and Damariscotta all had military bases, and anyone who owned or sailed a boat was recruited for coastal defense. Women worked at machine shops, registered their neighbors for rationing and volunteered for the Civil Defense and Red Cross. Author Margaret Shiels Konitzky reveals the stories of local heroes and the relentless spirit of midcoast Maine.

Following the success of World War II Rhode Island, author Christian McBurney returns, with new coauthors Norman Desmarais and Varoujan Karentz, to present extraordinary personal stories of local contributions to the war effort.

From John F. Kennedy’s training as a PT boat commander at Melville to George H.W. Bush’s training as a pilot at Charlestown, the smallest state played an oversized role preparing navy officers and sailors. Important innovations are credited here too. Radar used on night-flying aircraft was developed at Jamestown’s Spraycliff Observatory and tested at Charlestown, and at Davisville, Seabees developed a pontoon aircraft landing field tested on Narragansett Bay. Scituate was home to the nation’s most successful spy listening station. After these and more captivating stories are revealed, the final chapter details existing World War II sites across the state readers can visit.

According to the Bureau of Governmental Research, “Few people alive today have had as great an impact on New Orleans’s physical environment as Bob Becker.”

In Going South, Becker recounts a lifetime of personal experiences with humor, self-deprecation, and appreciation for lessons learned. Turning back the clock to the 1950s and beginning with his early days as a newspaper boy in Buffalo, New York., Bob reveals the early interactions and experiences that helped to form his journey from the windswept snow of his hometown to the Big Easy, with adventures in the remote island of New Guinea and the plains of Africa.

The many additional stories come from Bob’s fascinating career, which has included being New Orleans city planning director, zoo manager, college educator, consultant, author, and chief executive of one of the nation’s largest urban parks. His many adventures and challenges include planning the 1984 World’s Fair, navigating the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, and confronting venomous snakes. Going South celebrates the legacy of an everyman from a working-class family who rose to prominence as a “mover and shaker” in New Orleans.

The murders that shocked Michigan

In the early morning of Tuesday, August 11, 1931, a Washtenaw County farmer found the smoldering remains of a car. Inside were the bodies of four teens, burned almost beyond recognition. Police immediately began an investigation, even tapping Harry Bennett, head of the Ford Motor Company Service Department, for assistance. Three killers stood trial two days later as a mob gathered outside the Ann Arbor Courthouse clamoring for a lynching. With the mob held back by the Michigan National Guard, Bennett delivered the killers to Jackson Prison by midnight Thursday. At the time, the so-called Torch Murders were deemed the most gruesome act of homicide in Michigan’s history—and perhaps the nation’s.

Peeling away myth from truth, author James Mann tells the story in full for the first time ever.

 A Town and its People

Bennington was the first town chartered in Vermont and has played a vital role in both the American Revolution and the founding of the state of Vermont. The town was also home to some very unique individuals who shaped the Green Mountain State.

Ethan Allen, Robert Frost, Grandma Moses, Norman Rockwell, Shirley Jackson and William Lloyd Garrison have all called this area home at one time or another. The economic base of the town is rooted in the mills that once lined the banks of its rivers. Bennington pottery became one of the most popular styles of early American ceramics and is revered by antiquarians to this day. The Kiddie Car was invented and built in Bennington, and a large percentage of the stereoscopes used in every home a century ago came from factories in the area. A car beautiful enough to be driven by Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford was designed and built in town. Even one of the victims of the tragic Titanic disaster was a local man.

No wonder that writers like Bernard Malamud and Dorothy Canfield Fisher were proud to spend their lives creating wonderful books here. Authors Bill Morgan and Tom Fels reveal the stories behind the names.

A history of betting on the East Side. Making it as a professional gambler in the first part of the twentieth century was a long shot, but wagering on the wide open scene of East St. Louis could help even the odds. Folks who were feeling lucky enough might grab a copy of Louis Cella’s racing form, or get the inside scoop from turf men like Barney Schreiber. Students of the art of bookmaking had plentiful mentors in local legends like Adam “Mulepole” Fritz. But even then, a hot streak could attract the attention of a representative of the Chicago Outfit such as Frank “Buster” Wortman. The nephew of Vic and Jim Doyle, who built the Ringside Casino into the Midwest's largest casino, author James Doyle connects the dice rolls of bygone St. Louis Kingpins to high stakes players in New York and New Orleans.

Explore southwest Virginia’s local links to maritime history.

Until the growing popularity of air travel post-World War II, Americans going abroad traveled by ship. Though Southwest Virginia is not a coastal region, its residents traveled far and wide. Some were involved in the most infamous shipwrecks of the age of steamships, many of whom lost their lives. The foundering of the legendary Titanic on her maiden voyage, the horrific fire aboard Morro Castle and the smoke-engulfed decks of U.S.S. Arizona at Pearl Harbor were all witnessed by Southwest Virginians.

Local author Brandon Whited grants them their long-overdue place in the history books.

The 50-year Cold War began following World War II and was a struggle between ideologies, militaries, economies, athletes, and each nation’s ability to reach space. Alabama played a key role in that conflict.

Huntsville led the efforts in ballistic missile as well as rocket propulsion development. From Enterprise to Montgomery to Anniston, the military prepared for and served in battles abroad. While the United States promoted democracy globally, the civil rights movement fought for a “more perfect union” at home. Not everyone supported the US involvement in proxy wars; groups of college students in Alabama protested the Vietnam War. All these aspects of the Cold War are captured from across Alabama through pictures and words.

Beyond the world famous artists, singers, actors and more from Pittsburgh are the city's celebrities known locally for their quirky style, unique mannerisms, and outlandish behavior. From Joe Barker, the violent street preacher who was elected mayor in 1850--while in prison!--to Curt Wootton, the comedian whose celebrity status comes from being Pittsburgh Dad, on Youtube, the Steel City has had a number of colorful characters throughout its history that defy category.

From the beginning of World War II, Delaware’s movie theaters played a starring role in the state’s war effort. Delaware and every town in it – from Claymont to Delmar – did its part to support the war. From base theaters to opera houses to movie palaces, Delaware’s theaters sold hundreds of millions of dollars in war bonds. They served as WAAC recruiting stations. They were collection points for resource drives. They screened countless newsreels and documentaries about every aspect of the war. And they hosted the likes of Fay Wray, Gene Lockhart, Gail Patrick, Paulette Goddard, and other Hollywood stars who came to the state to keep morale high, support strong, and dollars flowing. /Author Michael J. Nazarewycz recounts how the First State, the Greatest Generation, and the Dream Factory joined forces when America’s forces needed them most.

#YeahThatGreenville is the official slogan of a city with a Southern Charm and congenial reputation. But the beauty of the Reedy River Falls cannot cover up its secret past. Theodosia Burr Alston regularly summered in Greenville prior to being “lost at sea” in 1812. Rival newspaper editors Benjamin Perry and Turner Bynum, faced off in a fatal duel in 1832.Hugh Bramlett murdered his mother-in-law in 1919, before it was revealed that insanity populated his family tree. Genealogical researcher, Jennifer Stoy presents uncovered tales of mayhem, insanity, and a side of Greenville you didn’t know existed.

Enjoy local stories celebrating family, faith and democratic values.

The history of Medina County brims with tales revealing the colorful and admirable character of its communities and people. For a while, locals observed living in two time zones simultaneously while also ignoring a federal law mandating Daylight Saving Time. The world-famous Giant of Seville, Captain Martin Van Buren Bates, had a brief but violent vigilante episode in Civil War-era Kentucky before finding peace and Christianity--and a home--in Ohio. The county's most prominent political family, the Batchelders, had ties to a pig farm in Brunswick that drew national attention and statewide reform.

Author Stephen D. Hambley shares insightful and entertaining stories, many never heard before, from Medina County's past.

Assemble a composite portrait of the Texas plains through these historic tales.

Many thousands of years ago, Clovis Man hunted huge mammoths here. More recently, Waylon Jennings drew his musical inspiration here. In the intervening time, the Texas prairie has been the backdrop for the wildest of Wild West shootouts, landmark legal battles and epic achievements in sports, music and medicine. Familiar icons like Roy Orbison and Dan Blocker, as well as forgotten characters like Charlie “Squirrel-Eye” Emory and John “the Catfish Kid” Gough all helped shape the colorful history of the Texas Plains. Who shot the sheriff? Who was the earliest American? Who invented the slam dunk? Author Chuck Lanehart answers these questions and many more in a wide-ranging collection of stories.

The Roaring Twenties were filled with a range of events, experiences, fears, laws and advances that impacted Martha’s Vineyard.

Island residents were involved in rumrunning. Dozens died of the Spanish Flu. Women voted on Island.  Dorothy West joined the Harlem Renaissance.  Immigration from the Azores slowed, and airplanes landed in Katama. Tourism blossomed and business boomed.

Local author Thomas Dresser shares the back story and the import of this remarkable decade and how it has shaped Vineyarders.

Dreamers, Risk Takers, Innovators…

The chain of barrier islands that skirt the coast of North Carolina from the Virginia border to Cape Lookout were once remote. Today the Outer Banks is one of America’s most popular vacation destinations, welcoming millions of visitors each year. Like Walt Disney World or Las Vegas, the initial ideas around what is today a glittering vacation capital were, at one point, nothing more than a shared vision of what was possible. A series of dreamers fired the engines of the popular attraction to this scattering of sandy islands that resonates across much of the Eastern United States today.

Author and Outer Banks native Clark Twiddy chronicles the region’s journey from isolation to popularity through the stories of these innovators and risk-takers.

Discover the lively and lesser-known history of the Green Mountain State.

Vermont's history is marked by fierce independence, generosity of spirit and the saga of human life along its steep slopes and fertile valleys.

Meet the widow who outwitted Tories and may have spied for the Green Mountain Boys. Encounter the family who gained a national following by summoning spirits. Discover why one governor opposed women's suffrage and how that may have involved spirits of another sort. Visit an island retreat where Harpo Marx cheated at croquet and satirist Dorothy Parker wore nothing but a garden hat.

Historian Mark Bushnell offers a glimpse of the Green Mountain State rarely seen.

Originally published in 1849, Thoreau’s classic essay on resistance to the laws and acts of government through non-violent means was largely ignored until the twentieth century when Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and anti-Vietnam War activists applied Thoreau's groundbreaking ideas.

This elegant hardcover gift edition features an introduction detailing the importance of Thoreau’s ideas in the fight for civil rights across the world. Discover an iconic essay in the history of American philosophy and human rights.

As chair of the United Nations committee tasked with its writing, Eleanor Roosevelt helped enshrine human rights forever in the American consciousness in this 1948 declaration that remains the foundational text for international human rights. Including thirty articles declaring the basic rights and freedoms of all peoples, this document was a landmark in the history of civil rights and directly informs international law today. This hardback gift edition is an artfully designed tribute to the iconic document.

Fishermen, Farmers and Gangsters on the Cape Risk Everything to Bring in the Rum.

During Prohibition, rumrunning was big business on Cape Cod.

Fishermen and farmers, such as Provincetown’s Manny Zora and Eastham’s Bud Cummings, headed offshore to “Rum Row” under cover of darkness, bringing the criminal yet coveted alcohol home. They risked heavy fines, jail time, and even their lives in encounters with law enforcement, hijackers, and gangsters. Sandwich’s Eugene Haines, a staunch supporter of Prohibition, mysteriously disappeared, believed to have been murdered by rumrunners. Legend has it that Boston Mayor James Curley escaped out a window during a police raid at Yarmouth’s Casa Madrid.

Local author Don Wilding uncovers the stories, ranging from horrifying to humorous, from this unforgettable age of contraband and controversy on Cape Cod.

This photographic history documents Cleveland's substantial contributions to the war effort at home and abroad during World War I.

Cleveland's contribution to the war front began on May 25, 1917, with the Lakeside Hospital Unit becoming the first American detachment to land in Europe. On the home front, the war accelerated the growth of Cleveland, which became the fifth-largest city in the nation by the end of the decade. When war broke out, Cleveland's growing industries could no longer depend on the labor emigrating from Europe. At the same time, 40,000 Clevelanders would eventually leave the workforce and serve in the military. Women replaced them in jobs that were not available in the past. Scores of African Americans left the South, and this Great Migration led to significant economic, social, and political developments in the coming years. Cleveland's ethnic neighborhoods included many who had come from the nations and regions of the Central Powers. Americanization programs taught immigrants English and patriotism.

A vivid narrative of the heroic struggle of Alice Paul and the National Woman's Party as they worked to earn the vote, framed by the demonstration known as The Great Suffrage Parade.

The Great Suffrage Parade was the first civil rights march to use the nation's capital as a backdrop. Despite sixty years of relentless campaigning by suffrage organizations, by 1913 only six states allowed women to vote. Then Alice Paul came to Washington, D.C. She planned a grand spectacle on Pennsylvania Avenue on the day before Woodrow Wilson's inauguration - marking the beginning of a more aggressive strategy on the part of the women's suffrage movement. Groups of women protested and picketed outside the White House, and some were thrown into jail. Newspapers across the nation covered their activities. These tactics finally led to the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. Author Rebecca Boggs Roberts narrates the heroic struggle of Alice Paul and the National Woman's Party as they worked to earn the vote.