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In just over a decade, a tiny, do-it-yourself stand-up scene on the North Side of Chicago produced some of the most successful and influential stand-up comedians of their generation. Hannibal Buress, T.J. Miller, Kyle Kinane, Cameron Esposito, Pete Holmes, Beth Stelling, Matt Braunger and Kumail Nanjiani make up a partial list of names of comics who emerged from a scene that had very little industry attention—or even a home club.

It was also a scene that took a backseat to the city’s vaunted improv institution, and if we’re being completely honest, it was a scene where comics mostly performed to drunks in the backs of dingy bars on their off nights. None of it was glamorous. None of it should have worked at all. But somehow, some way, the comedians from this scene have managed to etch their own names into the Chicago comedy pantheon. The Perfect Amount of Wrong is the story of that scene, as told by its veterans.

From the author of Lost Milwaukee comes an exploration of the criminal side of the Cream City.

Milwaukee saw its share of violence as it transformed from frontier village to modern metropolis. The city was barely established when an argument over a bridge linking east and west was nearly settled with cannon fire. A local developer killed his estranged wife, severed her head, and burned it in the furnace of the apartment building he built. A wronged woman murdered her lover on a busy downtown street and was found innocent by a sympathetic jury. Another woman lethally poisoned her family and laughed about it in the press.

From a robbery in which the bandits got away by stealing a streetcar to the attempted assassination of President Theodore Roosevelt, local historian Carl Swanson uncovers dramatic true stories of villainy and murder from Milwaukee's long-forgotten past.

Join author Michael W. R. Davis as he retraces the history of what went on behind the scenes of testing automotive tracks in Detroit, Michigan.

The catastrophic failure of a new but unproven copper-cooled Chevrolet in 1923 led the General Motors Corporation to buy back the 100 cars it had sold to the public and recall another 400 in company and dealer hands. As a result, in 1924 General Motors started building the industry's first scientific proving ground to test new vehicle designs before they were released for production and sale. Before this, all automakers tested new cars haphazardly on public roads and within limited engineering laboratories. Better known by the public as test tracks, the proving grounds became a source of curiosity for decades about the secrets they might hold. Detroit Area Test Tracks goes behind the test track walls to show how the facilities evolved and what typically takes place inside.

Through the medium of historic photographs, Cudahy, Wisconsin: Generations of Pride captures Cudahy's evolution from the late 1800s to the present day. Featuring over 200 historic images from both the Cudahy Historical Society and Public Library as well as photographs from private resident collections, this book tells the stories of the people who settled there: where they worked and worshiped, how they lived, and how they celebrated. Today, Cudahy is in the midst of downtown redevelopment, and community pride continues to grow with each generation.

This ghostly guide provides an accessible walk through the history of the Civil War. Quantrill and the Younger gang, the mysterious Baxter Springs Buffalo Soldier, the spooky secrets of Indian Territory, and the Spook Light in Hornet, Missouri, are among some of the haunted highlights included.

Lake Erie is known for its beauty and tranquility, but a dark, deadly undercurrent lurks beneath its surface.

Bordering four states and two countries, the inland ocean offers the perfect getaway for criminals of all kinds. The bandits who held up the Ashtabula National Marine Bank as well as Ontario’s most elusive conman used the lake to avoid capture. Pirate Joseph Kerwin relied on his knowledge of the shipping industry to evade the law. Narene Mozee’s murderer quietly slipped away after completing his heinous deed on a luxury cruise ship, and when a lighthouse keeper found a corpse floating in the shallows near his post, all signs pointed to the killer fleeing by boat.

Local author Wendy Koile wades into the depths of this great, but deadly lake.

Discover the Motor City before the motor: a muddy port town full of grog shops, horse races, haphazard cemeteries and enterprising bootstrappers from all over the world.

Meet the argumentative French fugitive who founded the city, the tobacco magnate who haunts his shuttered factory, the gambler prankster millionaire who built a monument to himself, the governor who brought his scholarly library with him on canoe expeditions and the historians who helped create the story of Detroit as we know it: one of the oldest, rowdiest and most enigmatic cities in the Midwest.

Cleveland’s gothic mansion plays host to murder and mayhem in a book that “couples that delightful sense of mystery with plenty of ghost stories” (Cleveland Scene).

For more than half a century, the Franklin Castle’s dark façade has lured curiosity seekers from around the world. Behind its iron gates, this Victorian-era structure harbors rumors of everything from insanity to mass murder. Disembodied voices echo from empty rooms, doors open and close of their own accord and cold spots drift about the manse. Witnesses swear to sightings of a woman in black and a young girl in white, believed to be the ghostly apparitions of the wife and daughter of the original owner, Hannes Tiedemann.

Using previously unpublished photographs, interviews, family accounts, floor plans, and nearly forty years of research, authors William G. Krejci and John W. Myers finally reveal the true and definitive history of Cleveland’s notorious Franklin Castle.

“There are so many tales to tell—things like hidden rooms, outrageous parties and colorful occupants.” —Cleveland19

Explore the fascinating history of Willoughby, Ohio with more than 200 vintage photographs and anecdotes from the locals who experienced it.

Located in northeast Ohio, Willoughby began as a community of mills and cabins clustered along the banks of the Chagrin River. The first settlers arrived before 1800 and were hardy New Englanders who brought their religious beliefs, their love of country, their respect for education, and their architecture to the wilderness.

By 1853, when the village was incorporated, they had established churches, homes, businesses, and schools, including a medical college. Before the century was over, the arrival of two rail lines and an electric streetcar company transformed the quiet little town into a bustling center of commerce and enterprise. Since then, Willoughby, known as the Courtesy City, has continued to grow and prosper while retaining the look and feel of an earlier era.

Historic homes still line its residential streets, while several blocks of the commercial district are listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

In addition to its well-known associations with doctors and diagnoses, the city of Rochester offers a string of curiosities to those willing to look closely .

How did a secret bomber mission to Moscow during World War II lead to thousands of fighter planes flying through Rochester and the subsequent construction of a giant IBM manufacturing plant here? What was Rochester's contribution to the 1980 Olympic Hockey Miracle on Ice? Who was dubbed the “Greatest Doctor in the World”, and why? Who were the regular folks without whom the great Mayo Clinic might never have become a medical mecca?

Rochester Stories: A Med City History Paul Scanlon answers these and other questions in this enlightening and sometimes humorous study of Rochester's past.

The year was 1844, and scores of pioneers from the eastern and southern areas of the United States were migrating to the nearly impenetrable virgin forests of Indiana's newly established Tipton County, named for two-term Indiana senator and revered warrior Gen. John Tipton.

Displacing all but a fraction of the Miamis who once dominated the bountiful Indiana Territory, the white settlers cleared the land, built homes, and farmed the rich soil. Soon, the expanding railroads arrived, ushering in a cultural and economic boon with jobs, innovation, and an end to the settlers' isolated lifestyle. Despite the change, Tipton Countians remained loyal to their pioneer values, and future generations included war heroes, outstanding scholars, prominent athletes, and a president of the United States. Today, the spirit of the early pioneers endures throughout Tipton County, home to some 16,000 Americans who, like their ancestors, proudly hail their Hoosier heritage

Take a fascinating journey through the history of Brownsburg, Indiana with more than 200 vintage photographs and anecdotes from the locals who experienced it.

In 1835, William Harris sectioned off his land—the area now known as Mainand Green Streetsin Brownsburg—for the purpose of establishing a town.

Harris used beech trees, elm trees, and hickory stumps to define the town's boundaries; he called it Harrisburg. The name Harrisburg was already in use elsewhere in Indiana, so Brownsburg, which paid homage to early settler James B. Brown, was selected as an alternative. Brownsburg's railroad station, located between Indianapolis and Crawfordsville, positioned the farming community for dramatic growth. As new settlers arrived, new businesses, mills, and factories also began to open. Today, Brownsburg continues to grow, and the community is known for its engineering and racing industries and its first-rate schools.

Join author Linda Lichte Cook, a longtime resident of Brownsburg maintains the digital archives of images and historic documents known as the Brownsburg Then and Now/Indiana Memory Project as she showcases her town’s rich history.

Join local food writer Teri Horsley as she explores the history of Butler County’s most beloved eateries and the stories behind them.

Butler County has concocted fine food and finer memories for generations. Isgro’s dished out succulent Italian to locals and celebrities alike, including Frank Sinatra and numerous Cincinnati Reds players. Starting off as a Prohibition speakeasy, Nitchtings later evolved into a high-end supper club where many prominent politicians debated the issues of the day. Hickory Hut made its name serving delicious American casual food to fiercely loyal regulars, some of whom ate there three times a day. For decades, fans of Milillo's and Chester’s have argued which is the best pizza in town, a debate that continues today.

Winchester has always been the county seat, and the county's other incorporated towns owe their continued existence to the coming of the railroads between 1852 and 1882. In its earliest years, Randolph County became known for its abolitionism and work for temperance. In the years after the Civil War, the county's power grew economically and politically. The early 20th century witnessed a burgeoning manufacturing sector, and transportation was made easier through widespread use of steam railroads, electric interurban cars, and the automobile.

Many things go bump in the night in Licking County, and not all of them are rowdy undergraduates. Some are the restless spirits of the dead.

With specters plaguing the chapel, the library, and a dorm room, Granville's Denison University is one of the most haunted campuses in the country. Nearby at the historic Buxton Inn, previous owners look after the property in death as they did in life. The grave of a Johnstown witch is said to emit an eerie green mist every Halloween night. A young boy's ghost floats on the water of Hell Lake, and a mysterious woman in white haunts the bridge on Swamp Road.

Author and paranormal investigator with the Tri-C Ghost Hunters Nova Stiles leads a bone-chilling tour through the haunted history of Licking County.

Author Tobin T. Buhk recounts the thrilling tales of Detroit's most violent, clever and misunderstood female criminals.

Queen of the Underworld Sophie Lyons faced off with detective Teresa Lewis in court three times, and twice in the street, rendering both women battered and bloodied. Nellie Pope goaded her lover to axe her husband in what the press called one of the most atrocious, cold-blooded, and deliberately-planned murders in city history. Mother Elinor L. Mason, High Priestess of the Flying Roller Colony, was no holy roller but a criminal chameleon who changed personas as easily as some people change clothes. And a feud between Delray madams Julia Toth and Annie Smith exposed widespread graft in the thriving red-light industry and led to one of the worst police scandals in Motor City history. These stories and more await in this deliciously entertaining collection.

The photographs in Cleveland Czechs give readers a glimpse of those neighborhoods and their importance to Cleveland's history.

Cleveland's Czech community is one of the area's oldest European ethnic groups, with a presence in the area even before the Civil War. It is almost a geographical accident that Czechs arrived in Cleveland, where they would have stopped on the way to Czech or Bohemian communities in Nebraska, Iowa, and Wisconsin. From 1850 to 1870, the Czech community grew from 3 families to 696, according to The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. Many found work making barrels for John D. Rockefeller's fledgling Standard Oil Company, while others found their way in professional life, including the arts. Their neighborhoods show their migration from Cleveland's central city to its outlying areas and suburbs including neighboring Geauga County. Today they continue to support three Czech halls and participate in the Czech gymnastic movement-Sokol.

Authors Beth A. Richards and Chuck L. Gove of Haunted Cleveland Ghost Tours share the chilling tales of the city's spectral past.

Many of Cleveland's dearly departed haunt the Forest City to this day. A spirit lingers in the ballroom, and a little girl cries on the third floor of Franklin Castle, the most haunted site in the city. The man in the green hat will not leave the stage at the Palace Theater. Chief Joc-O-Sot still wanders Erie Cemetery centuries after his death, unable to rest in his grave, while a phantom in full Civil War uniform paces inside the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument.

Amidst the chaos and uncertainty of World War II, one soldier found solace and strength in letters from home.

An Army Air Corps serviceman from a prominent Madison family, Bob Gay paints a vivid picture of a young man's journey through a tumultuous era, revealing the profound love he held for his family. As Gay fulfills his duty on the frontlines, his mother's unwavering support shines through her involvement with the Red Cross, while his father's dedication as a ration board member and air raid warden mirrors a nation's collective sacrifice.

World War II Dispatches to Madison is a tribute to a humble and kind soul who never sought the spotlight. In honor of her ancestor Robert Gay, Dannelle’s book will benefit the Wounded Warrior Project.

From scenes of the historic business district to the banks of Island Park, the vintage postcards of Geneva reveal a community rich in history and charm.

Geneva was an ideal location for settlement, with rich farming soil, a river to power the mills, and a plentiful supply of trees for lumber; it didn't take long to attract and support a thriving community. Incorporated in 1858, Geneva remains an idyllic village, home to fine architecture from the mid- to late-19th century, scenic parks along the banks of the Fox River, and a sense of community spirit and pride. Geneva in Vintage Postcards opens a window into the past, allowing us to experience what this community most wanted to present to others and what visitors most wanted to share with their families and friends.

Sift through nearly forgotten and altogether fascinating elements from two hundred years of Hoosier history.

A lost river flows in—and under—Southern Indiana. The ghostly remains of a defunct ordnance plant in LaPorte County bely the industriousness of the six thousand men and women who worked there at its height to support the home front effort during World War II. Balloonists delighted Hoosier crowds in the days before the airplane, and Studebakers roared along on the Studebaker proving grounds just west of South Bend.

From the long history of Indiana’s coal industry to the construction of the state’s first railroad, author Edward J. Fujawa offers a fresh angle on the well-known while unearthing remarkable and obscure tales from two centuries of Indiana history.

Jerseyville, located across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri, is the largest community in Jersey County as well as the county seat. The county is comprised of four villages, Brighton, Elsah, Fidelity, and Fieldon, along with 17 unincorporated communities and the towns of Otterville and Grafton. In 1827, James Faulkner of Pennsylvania built his family a home in the area and named it the Little Red House. By 1834, Hickory Grove, the small settlement that grew around Faulkner’s house, was formed. Later, the land was surveyed and plotted by two emigrants from New Jersey, and the name “Jerseyville” was chosen for the settlement. Jersey County is notable for its agricultural heritage and small-town atmosphere. Residents and guests also frequent Marquette State Park in Grafton for activities such as hiking and boating. Today, many workers travel outside the county to work in industrial plants in Alton, Wood River, and Roxana. The former Little Red House is now the site of the Jersey County Historical Society.

Michael Barr Mossman is a graduate of Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville and has taught in the Jerseyville School District for over 20 years. The images for this book have been provided by the Jersey County Historical Society and Stan Sinclair, a longtime local businessman. 

Explore the true story of a famous crime that inspired Anatomy of a Murder

Just after midnight on July 31, 1952, U.S. Army Lieutenant Coleman A. Peterson walked into the Lumberjack Tavern in Big Bay, Michigan, and shot Mike Chenoweth in retaliation for an assault on his wife. This revenge killing rocked the small lumber town in the Upper Peninsula, and the trial that followed inspired a best-selling novel and an Academy Award–nominated motion picture, Anatomy of a Murder.

Using the testimony taken from trial transcripts, the police investigator, and the killer, author Patrick J. Baker shares the real story of a sensational murder trial that captivated the Midwest and the aftermath that drew the eyes of the nation.

An enduring feedback loop where belief masquerades as evidence and credibility becomes collateral damage.

In April 1966, police officers in rural Ohio and Western Pennsylvania chased a glowing object across eighty miles of back roads. The object—silent, blinding, and seemingly intelligent—became one of the most famous UFO cases in American history and helped inspire the opening scenes of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. But the mystery didn’t end when the lights vanished. Drawing on primary sources, official records, and personal experience, this book traces how a single night’s events were transformed into lasting folklore—shaped not just by witnesses and the media, but by the U.S. military’s own investigative machinery. Rather than merely asking what the police chased, a more unsettling question is asked here: how did government involvement, belief, and mistrust combine to create a self-perpetuating legend that still echoes today?

Author Michael Kishbucher, a career U.S. Air Force and Defense Intelligence Agency officer, revisits this strange Appalachian legend from an uncommon perspective: from within the intelligence community itself.

A complicated friendship blooms during a fated meeting in northern Michigan between two nineteenth-century women writers.

In the mid-1830s, the author Anna Brownell Jameson was called from Britain to Canada to see her husband. Before she returned back home, she embarked on a trip around the Great Lakes to gather material for a book on the “plight of the Indian woman.”

In a remarkable interaction on Mackinac Island, where the current-day lower peninsula of Michigan meets the upper peninsula, she met Jane Johnston Schoolcraft—an Ojibwe American poet and translator married to the geologist Henry Schoolcraft, who was working as an Indian agent for the United States government. The two women talked extensively, bonding over their interests and plights, and sharing private demons.

After their meeting, Anna continued to gain recognition for her writing and become a larger part of the literary scene in Britain and the Continent, entangling herself in the affairs of the likes of Elizabeth Barrett-Browning, Ottilie von Goethe, Lady Byron, and Ada Lovelace. Jane became sicker and less able to work.

In Andrew Wittkop’s sensitive, subtle retelling, complete with Anna's sketches and other historical images, the nuances of the relationship between the two women reveal much about the complicated nature of connection and disconnection and Anna’s blindnesses and missed opportunities. This inventive debut opens a window on two under-remembered writers. 

Today, Ely and Winton are known as the end of the road in northeastern Minnesota. Originally settled by the Obijwe and mapped by the voyageurs, these two towns sat among some of the best timber and iron ore in America. 

Incorporated in 1888, the mines along the north end of Ely required hundreds of workers to extract the iron ore that the country needed for steel. At the same time, three miles away, the town of Winton grew around the shore of Fall Lake. By the end of the 19th century, the area was booming and neighborhoods were built around the mines and sawmills. Located in Ely and Winton’s backyard are the Boundary Waters, over 1,000 lakes on the border of Canada. Visitors soon discovered the appeal of a place in the woods on a lake or a canoe trip in the wilderness. Industry and recreation existed side by side, attracting different people from all over—outdoorsmen, nature lovers, businessmen, and students. 

Reed Petersen is a history instructor at Minnesota North College–Vermilion and gives tours at Soudan Underground Mine State Park. Born and raised in Ely, he lives there with his family and is active in the Ely-Winton Historical Society. The Ely-Winton Historical Society was officially formed in 1961 to preserve the legacy of the history of the area, centering on the area and its people. 

Gone and not forgotten—strange ways Ohioans have met their maker.

Ohio has given us sports legends, world-changing inventors, icons of industry, a wealth of famous artists of all stripes, and eight presidents. It’s also given us ghosts, ghouls, grave robbers, the prematurely buried, historic murders, colorful demises (including death by defective outhouse), those who predicted their own deaths with uncanny accuracy, the violent Wayne County poltergeist, petrified bodies, the Seneca County exploding corpse, obsessive-compulsive Jonathan Ward’s murder-dismemberment of Mrs. Ward, and the faces of way too many dead people appearing in windows.

Light a candle, wrap yourself in a shawl, and join author Keven McQueen and illustrator Addy Atchity on a macabre tour of Ohioans who took a memorable exit. 

Lover's of Ohio history and presidential history will love this exploration of William H. Taft, one of Cincinnati’s favorite sons.

Most Americans know that William Howard Taft was president of the United States and chief justice of the Supreme Court. But his life and legacy contain much beyond that, especially in his hometown.

He fought to put crooks away in court, and he fought for ethics and integrity. He made judgements that made him unpopular. Beyond the law, he and his wife, Nellie, were influential in the city’s arts and culture, including the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. For all of this and more, he is remembered today as one of the Queen City’s greatest citizens.

After years studying Taft’s career in Cincinnati, Brian Planitz brings to life Taft’s time in his birthplace and how it shaped his later career in Washington, D.C., and around the world.

Ghostly reverberations pulse for eternity in the most haunted crime scenes in Chicago.

The rat-a-tat of machine guns echoes at the site of Al Capone's St. Valentine's Day Massacre. The ghost of Louisa Luetgert makes the occasional appearance on the grounds of the old Luetgert Sausage and Packing Company—her husband, the “Sausage King,” cooked her down in a vat of meat tenderizer in 1897. Ghostly screams ring out and dogs get their hackles up at the site of serial killer H.H. Holmes's “Murder Castle” on West 63rd Street. Hundreds died at the Iroquois Theatre fire in 1903—inspectors had overlooked violations that made the venue on West Randolph Street a veritable tinderbox. Today, passersby are greeted by cold spots and pleas for help from the long-dead and perpetually tortured. The City with Broad Shoulders is burdened by souls whose lives were stolen and are seemingly in pursuit of justice and comfort—or perhaps vengeance. Author Eva Pilch guides readers on a citywide tour of the most haunted crime scenes in Chicago.