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A fascinating history of Floyd County, Georgia, from its beginnings in Spanish exploration to its modern day success.

Floyd County, Georgia, located in the picturesque northwest Georgia mountains, has a long and fascinating written history that stretches back to 1540 and the Spanish explorers of that era. The Mississippian, Creek, and Cherokee Nations preceded the arrival of Europeans to the area. Soon after, industry and commercial agriculture began to flourish, and in 1845, riverboats began carrying products down the Coosa River from Floyd County to Mobile, Alabama.

During the American Revolution, New Jersey took center stage as a vital battleground with over 600 engagements and skirmishes.

Strategically located between New York City and Philadelphia, it endured constant conflict and divided loyalties, hosting crucial Continental army encampments, like Morristown, and witnessing pivotal victories such as Washington’s crossing of the Delaware and the surprise attacks at Trenton and Princeton. With over 150 historic sites within the state connected to the American cause for independence, New Jersey can make the claim it was the “Crossroads of the American Revolution.” The pages within this book illustrate a portion of these historic sites with a mixture of vintage images gathered from state, county, and local historical organizations and images from the photographic collection of photographer Alexander J. Pochek.

How Food Became a Point of Pride

For more than a century, hickory smoke has shaped the identity of Lexington, North Carolina. Long before food television and festivals, pit fires burned behind canvas tents and small-town joints, giving rise to what the world now knows as Lexington-style barbecue—slow-cooked pork, kissed by wood smoke, served with tomato-based dip and red slaw, passed down through generations of hardworking families.

Author Caleb Sink takes readers inside the true heart of North Carolina barbecue history, tracing the evolution of Lexington-style barbecue from its earliest pioneers to the legendary restaurants and pitmasters who carried the tradition forward. Learn the human story behind the pits—of families like the Monks, Conrads, and Stameys, and of countless unnamed workers whose labor built a culinary legacy.

Get a place at the table for a cultural history of barbecue in Lexington NC, exploring how a simple sandwich became a point of civic pride, a tourist destination, and a symbol of resilience. Along the way, readers encounter friendly rivalries, vanishing icons, presidential visits, and the annual Lexington Barbecue Festival that draws over 100,000 visitors each year.

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. 

World War II enthusiasts and Colorado history buffs alike will delight in this insightful photographic narrative of Colorado's contribution during the momentous global conflict. Beginning in 1940 as an inland state safe against enemy attack, Colorado became crucially important in supporting the worldwide struggle against Nazi Germany, fascism in Italy, Imperial Japan, and their allies. The Centennial State housed some of the largest ammunition factories, medical facilities, and training camps for both land and air forces in the nation. The unique 10th Mountain Division trained for winter warfare in the Colorado mountains. After the United States entered World War II, massive numbers of prisoners of war were interned or worked in Colorado fields and forests. Japanese Americans were unjustly held in the Camp Amache internment camp. The huge influx of war workers fueled the expansion of Colorado’s population, sparking the baby boom and creating today’s urban and suburban Colorado.

John Steinle, a native of Hamilton, Ohio, served as director at several Ohio museums before moving to Colorado in 1992. In 1994, Steinle became the administrator of the Hiwan Homestead Museum in Evergreen, Colorado, working for Jefferson County Open Space. He was later promoted to history education supervisor and region supervisor for the Bear Creek Region. He retired in 2016. 

Explore a true crime mystery from the Tube City.

Local socialite La Roux Soles’s hometown of McKeesport, Pennsylvania, spoke her name in whispers. She and her husband, Bob, a charming war hero and successful businessman, lived it up with boozy Prohibition-era parties in their mansion perched high above the National Tube Works, the industrial heart of the gritty town. Behind the facade, Bob harbored secrets that shattered them both, drove her mad, and pushed her to commit the ultimate act of desperation—or was it murder? Like grime from the steel mill cloaking their mansion's windows, the real story of that warm June night in 1933 was obscured. The mysterious events left a scar on McKeesport that never quite healed and soon captured the nation’s attention.

Local author and historian Lisa Speranza exhumes the heart of the scandal, unraveling an almost century-old story that time nearly forgot.

Hot springs, notorious criminals, and Presidential visits. 

For over a century, Glenwood Springs has attracted visitors from all walks of life with its sweeping vistas, hot springs, and luxury accommodations. 

Nestled in the Rocky Mountains where the Roaring Fork River meets the Grand River, it initially drew in prospectors and their families who decided to stay. Walter Devereis was the first to recognize the commercial potential of the mineral waters the Ute Indians considered sacred, building the world's largest health resort and spa alongside the Hotel Colorado. The wealthy and notorious followed close behind. 

Theodore Roosevelt hunted mountain lions and bears in the rough country and stayed in the hotel so often it was nicknamed “the little White House of the West,” while Doc Holliday came in the hopes that the hot springs would improve his health. The speakeasy boom during Prohibition attracted high-profile gangsters like Al Capone and Diamond Jack Altieri, who swaggered around town in a flashy cowboy outfit and $30,000 in diamonds. 

Join author Nancy K. Williams as she recounts stories of the famous—and infamous—people who left their mark on Glenwood Springs. 

Explore the story of a city under martial law during the Civil War

The day after Virginia’s secession in May 1861, Union troops marched from Washington to occupy its neighbor Alexandria. A former powerhouse in the slave trade, Alexandria was the first Confederate city in Virginia to be occupied during the Civil War, and it was governed under strict martial law. Overnight, this bustling urban town on the Potomac River transformed into a center of disease, death, and debauchery. Viewing all residents as potential threats regardless of allegiance, the military government resorted to heavy-handed actions to control its transient soldier population, counteract civilian opposition, combat waves of gunshot wounds and illness, and imprison those deemed disloyal to the Union cause.

Drawing upon true accounts of civilian and soldier experiences, historian Madeline Feierstein explores whether Union authorities kept order within the city or watched it fall into chaos. 

New Jersey is American music.

Between 1980 and 2010, Garden State music transformed from the soul-infused “Jersey Sound” into a worldwide powerhouse for stadium rock, indie rock, thrash metal, and hardcore. From the bars of the Shore to the basements of New Brunswick, thousands of bands emerged. And this book tries to list them all! Global icons like Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Blues Traveler, and My Chemical Romance and underground legends like Overkill, Adrenalin O.D., the Wrens, and everything in between—it’s all here. No act is too small, and no scene is left behind.

Supported by a curated collective of guest writers, Michael Gilligan navigates this chaotic journey with humor and insider perspective and offers the ultimate tribute to great state of New Jersey.

One Deadly Time in the Old Dominion

Violence and lawlessness plagued late nineteenth-and early twentieth-century Virginia, and with no bureau of investigation or state police force, the Old Dominion relied on the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency to solve a multitude of crimes.

Formed by William G. Baldwin and Thomas L. Felts, the agency, headquartered in Roanoke, was charged with investigating some of the state’s most sensational murder cases. Among these were the brutal killing of Fannie McCue, wife of the former mayor of Charlottesville; the slaughter of a mountain family in Buchanan County; the shotgunning of Louise Beattie, the young wife of a wealthy Richmond playboy; and the unprecedented shootout in the Carroll County courthouse that left five dead.

Author and historian Phillip Andrew Gibbs recounts how the Agency’s detectives who worked these cases succeeded in bringing some of the state’s most heinous criminals to justice.

For eighty-five years, Porteous, Mitchell & Braun stood guard in the heart of Portland, Maine’s Congress Street commercial district.

Founded in 1873, the firm spent its first three decades in Norwich, Connecticut, before it took over a failing department store in Maine’s largest city and became a beloved shopping tradition. Porteous was home to Portland’s Santa Claus, and its elaborate Christmas displays were a holiday destination for northern New Englanders. By the late 1970s, Porteous had expanded and opened branch locations throughout Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. As the retail industry experienced mergers and consolidations, the family-run Porteous bucked the trend and remained in operation longer than many of its former competitors. Although its Portland store closed in 1991, its iconic building has been creatively transformed into the Maine College of Art & Design.

Through interviews with residents, dignitaries, and former employees, and dozens of rarely seen photographs, department store historian Michael J. Lisicky recalls the time when the community knew "You’ll Enjoy Shopping at Porteous."

Hidden in an urban oasis, the house museum now known as Historic Rosedale is one of the oldest and finest examples of Federal-style architecture in the Southeast. Constructed in 1815 by Charlotte tax collector and postmaster Archibald Frew, the house served as a private home for 173 years to five generations of intertwined families—the Frews, Caldwells, and Davidsons.

These families, along with several generations of Black families, both enslaved and free, were essential to the survival of this extraordinary property. Through the initiative of the home’s final occupants, the house and the immediately surrounding grounds were preserved. Today, Historic Rosedale, located three miles from uptown Charlotte, North Carolina, and adjoining the notable NoDa neighborhood, is open for guided tours of the furnished house and nine acres of gardens. Here, visitors will be intrigued by the beauty of the site and the stories of the many people, Black and White, who lived here. For over 200 years, Rosedale has served as tribute to the history and inhabitants of Mecklenburg County and the North Carolina Piedmont.

Author Cheralyn Lambeth is lead interpreter at Historic Rosedale and serves as the museum’s events coordinator and collections associate. Elizabeth Medearis Myers served as Rosedale’s former site manager and head gardener, and Ronald L. Schumann III is an associate professor specializing in hazards and cultural geography at the University of North Texas. They credit the staff, the board of directors, Rosedale’s African American Legacy Committee, and Atkins Library at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte for the success of this book.

On a cold February morning in 1990, a commuter driving Georgia Highway 190 near Pine Mountain made a discovery that would haunt Harris and Meriwether Counties for years: a young man, barely alive, abandoned on the roadside with brutal injuries that didn’t match any “accident.” What first looked like a hit-and-run quickly unraveled into something darker—an organized act of violence tied to the cocaine trade, barroom power, and a crew that believed fear was currency. Follow the death of Paul McKeen Jr. from the first 911 call through the long, grinding years of false stories, intimidation, and silence. As investigators dug past staged explanations, witnesses began to crack: ex-girlfriends, ex-wives, frightened associates, and reluctant insiders finally admitted what they heard, what they saw, and what the men involved bragged about afterward. The case became a test of whether justice can survive when physical evidence is thin—but human truth keeps surfacing. Author Clay Bryant traces the path from roadside mystery to indictments, pretrial strategy, and a high-stakes trial built on testimony, pattern, and motive.

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.

Wander the history-filled streets of Savannah. Saunter through Savannah's varied streets and squares with this invaluable guide. Tour the city's oldest buildings and majestic homes, such as the Mercer House and the De Soto Hotel, and savor the histories and traditions of the relics of the romantic past. Accompanied by charming photos, this work provides insight into life in the 1800s, Savannah's Historic Plan, industry in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and local art, all of which are revived in these pages.

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. 

Murder, Myth, and Memory in Cascadia.

Before the states of Oregon and Washington, the Pacific Northwest already had a reputation as a place with a dark and sometimes mysterious history. 

Whispers of strange noises, oddities, and sightings of the unnatural become part of the area's folklore, hoping to find meaning for the suffering of those who came before. More than two thousand ships have been lost off the coast, along with an untold number of lives, and the suffering of those on the Oregon Trail has been well recounted. The Columbia River, meandering through the heart of the territory, has been the site of countless disappearances and deaths. 

From the decimation of Native tribes to racist settlement laws and anti-Chinese sentiment, the Pacific Northwest has long struggled to reconcile the present with the past. 

Join author and historian Ira Wesley Kitmacher as he explores the dark history of Oregon and Washington and the stories that reverberate through time.

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. 

The infamous 1892 murders of Andrew and Abby Borden have captivated New Englanders for more than one hundred years. But the story doesn’t end in Fall River. Far beyond the locked doors of the Borden household, there is a wider web of people, places, and histories connected to the case. From the investigators who shaped the trial and the reporters who sensationalized it to the key locations that marked Lizzie Borden’s life and lingering legacy, there is a multifaceted history behind one of America's most enduring true crime stories. There are the lives of other remarkable—and often overlooked—figures linked to the Borden bloodline. Among them are Innocent Borden, the recently discovered daughter of Thomas Cornell, a man who was executed in 1673 for the alleged murder of his mother in colonial Rhode Island. And then there’s Sarah Maria Cornell, a millworker and distant cousin of Lizzie, whose mysterious death sparked scandal when a prominent Methodist minister was accused of her murder. By weaving these parallel tales of crime, gender, and societal upheaval into the central narrative, local author Sam Baltrusis takes a deep dive into the ultimate whodunit—placing Lizzie’s story within a broader historical and cultural context of rumors, power, and the shifting expectations of women in American society.

Wandering shades, ghost towns, and a phantom train

The Land of Enchantment lives up to its name when it comes to Route 66—and stories of the paranormal. With not one but two paths to explore, the Mother Road winds through New Mexico's mountains and deserts, past ghost towns and thriving cities, and boasts more than its fair share of haunts.

Budville, once a thriving hub and stopover between Albuquerque and Grants, now lies deserted, except, perhaps, for the spirit of the last person to call it home. The whistle of a phantom train can sometimes be heard chugging alongside the highway in Tucumcari, and in Glenrio, an abandoned town that straddles the New Mexico–Texas border, the spirit of a murder victim is rumored to inhabit one of the last buildings standing.

Even the New Mexico Mining Museum plays host to the spirits of miners who once worked in the uranium capital of the world, and in Gallup, the Hotel El Rancho boasts not just Hollywood credentials but tales of otherworldly encounters.

Author Sundee Perkins explores the spooky twists and turns of New Mexico’s Route 66.

Step back in time to experience mountain Maryland in all its strange and vibrant glory.

From its fascinating caves, dangerous mines, and mysterious mountains to the hex magic practitioners and spooky tales that haunt its towns, folklore infuses every hill and hollow of Western Maryland. Prepare to meet the colorful characters who kept life exciting in Maryland’s westernmost counties, like the locals who never met a poisonous snake they didn’t love and a well-read twentieth-century cave dweller. Travel historic highways and byways straight into frontier Maryland’s darkest history, where an axe murderer cleaved the peaceful mountain night in 1830 and a little-known monster lurks in a place ominously called Spook Hollow.

Join local historian Susan Fair on a tour through obscure and spooky places in the beautiful mountain regions of the Old Line State. 

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.

Learn the history of one of the oldest Black churches in the United States.

The First Baptist Church of Williamsburg, Virginia, stands as a living monument to the enduring power and resilience of its congregation. Beginning in the hush harbors on plantations owned by Virginia’s most powerful leadership, First Baptist emerged as a powerful force, inextricably linking religious salvation and education as tools of liberation and agency for Africans in America. The church was involved in the American Revolution and the Civil War, thus sealing its place as a key player in Williamsburg. Through the antebellum period, Reconstruction, and modern times, First Baptist and its congregation also resisted the growth of slavery, the dissipation of the rights of free Black people, and the removal of Black-owned homes and businesses.

A powerful icon for freedom, resilience, and hope, the church reflects the larger story of Black voices in Virginia and America.

Utilizing images from Jewish archives and collections in Israel and America, Samuel Heed brings to light hundreds of rarely seen Exodus 1947 photographs for the first time.

Launched in 1928 in Wilmington, Delaware, the legendary Exodus 1947 was originally built as the flagship for the Baltimore Steam Packet Company—better known as the Chesapeake’s Old Bay Line—and named President Warfield in honor of the company’s recently deceased president. During World War II, the USS President Warfield would serve as a troopship for the British Army in England and see action as a headquarters ship for the US Navy at the Normandy beachhead. But the venerated cruise liner, with an all-American volunteer crew, would become world famous in the summer of 1947 as the Exodus 1947, an illegal immigrant ship for the Jewish underground that carried 4,500 refugee Holocaust survivors from Europe to Palestine. The heroism of the Exodus 1947’s passengers and crew would astonish the world and give rise to the founding of the State of Israel in 1948.

Samuel W. Heed is an award-winning maritime historian, author, educator, exhibit designer, and documentary film producer, and he serves as the immediate past president of the Council of American Maritime Museums. His research as the longtime senior historian for the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation in Wilmington, Delaware, led to groundbreaking work about the Exodus 1947, which was built barely half a mile from his former office on the Christina River. 

Discover the landscapes, culture, and communities that shaped one of the South’s most beloved literary voices through an immersive journey across South Carolina’s storied Lowcountry. From the tidal marshes and historic streets of Charleston to the quiet charm of Beaufort, readers are invited to explore the places that inspired a lifetime of storytelling by Pat Conroy. This engaging history and travel narrative highlights the region’s rich heritage, coastal beauty, and vibrant culture while tracing the author’s deep personal connection to the communities he called home.

Follow the path through beloved Lowcountry destinations including Fripp Island, St. Helena Island, and Daufuskie Island—locations that appear frequently in Conroy’s novels and memoirs. The journey also explores formative chapters of his life, from his time as a cadet at The Citadel to his years teaching in Beaufort County schools and on remote coastal islands.

Blending literary history, regional storytelling, and practical travel inspiration, this richly detailed guide offers readers a unique perspective on the South Carolina Lowcountry. Along the way, it highlights historic landmarks, Gullah Geechee heritage, scenic waterways, renowned coastal cuisine, and authentic local experiences that continue to define this extraordinary region.

Author Lynn Seldon details this unforgettable literary and historical journey through the places, people, and traditions that shaped Conroy’s enduring connection to the Lowcountry.

Flung down a well. Buried alive in the backwoods. Gunned down in broad daylight.

Not what you’d expect from a place flocked to by influencers for its cozy aesthetic and iconic fall foliage. 

Whether the crimes were intricately plotted or born of passion, Vermont’s history is filled with lawlessness, depravity, and murder. 

Some culprits struck just once, some went on a spree, while others using opportunism and cunning menaced entire regions for years. 

From the place Vermont calls “The Kingdom” to its “Marble City,” Thea Lewis, author of True Crime Stories of Burlington, Vermont, offers up more than a century of mayhem, with double lives, serial killers, and a plot to slay a beloved pop star with a global fan base. 

Join her as she peels back the region’s reputation for wholesomeness and rural charm to show you the darker side of the Green Mountain State.  

Veteran guide and creator of the popular Sinners and Scandals of Laurel Hill Cemetery tour, Thomas H. Keels tells the spellbinding stories of thirteen unforgettable characters and unfolds Laurel Hill’s special place in Quaker City history.

Upon its founding in 1836, Laurel Hill Cemetery became the place to spend eternity for many of Philadelphia’s great and good, but alongside the luminaries interred in this Victorian necropolis lie shadier figures.

Philadelphia girl Mabel Tinley became one of the biggest grifters in Gay Nineties New York. Civil War general Henry Morris Naglee was denounced in the press as “a slayer of innocence and a robber of chastity.” The grisly death of Martha Drinnan, spinster daughter of the cemetery superintendent, remains an enduring mystery.

Veteran guide and creator of the popular Sinners and Scandals of Laurel Hill Cemetery tour Thomas H. Keels tells the spellbinding stories of thirteen unforgettable characters and reveals Laurel Hill's special place in Quaker City history.

Meet the unusual creatures of the Pacific Northweird.

The Pacific Northwest is a land of secrets, legends, and some might even say monsters. Stories of cryptids—hidden animals—are whispered throughout the region’s history, told in everything from bashful confidences to bold headlines.

Unusual creatures like the Cadborosaurus have been sighted in the Salish Sea, and the Pend Oreille Paddler is rumored to live inland, lurking deep in still waters. It’s said that one can sometimes catch a glimpse of a hulking bat-humanoid winging its way across gray skies, and the rugged Pacific coast could be hiding more scaled, tailed, finned, and furred sea cryptids in remote harbors. The foggy forests, thick with evergreens, are said to hide everything from an arboreal octopus to the king of cryptids, Sasquatch.

Through historic and contemporary newspaper articles, expert interviews by cryptozoologists and cryptid enthusiasts, and retellings of local legends, author and professional weirdo Devon Kelley uncovers the hidden creatures of Cascadia.   

Rye, New Hampshire is a small coastal town whose identity is closely tied to the land and sea. Originally inhabited by Indigenous peoples, it developed from a 1600s colonial fishing outpost into a modest, tight-knit community shaped by maritime trades and farming in the 18th and 19th centuries. With improved transportation and the rise of seaside tourism in the late 1800s, Rye began attracting visitors drawn to its beaches and ocean views, gradually shifting its character. In the 20th century, residential growth increased as people sought quieter coastal living. Prominent families included Parsons, Caswell, Philbrick, and Foss. Photography has played a vital role in preserving Rye’s history by capturing everyday life— fishermen at work, family gatherings, schoolchildren, and farmers in the fields. Coastal scenes, lifesaving stations, and Rye Harbor activity emphasize the town’s enduring relationship with the sea, while images of Jenness Beach, Wallis Sands, and summer “cottages” reflect the rise of tourism.

Lew Karabatsos, chair of the Rye, NH Historical Society’s Collections Committee, has selected images from 1880 to 1985 that document a century of people and places, preserving Rye’s character and offering a strong sense of place for residents and visitors alike.

America's FIRST National Cookbook

This landmark cookbook was published for America’s Centennial Exposition held in Philadelphia in 1876. The Women's Centennial Executive Committee, chaired by Benjamin Franklin's great granddaughter, sent an invitation to women throughout the United States to contribute recipes as they compiled almost a thousand dishes from across the country. From regional historic foods such as New Orleans gumbo and buckwheat cakes to nineteenth century staples such as venison and corn, readers will discover a trove of fun past recipes. Including Native American and immigrant cookery, this volume reveals the historic diversity of foodways that define the American cuisine. Featuring an introduction from noted culinary historian Andrew F. Smith, the National Cookery Book is a must have for any kitchen.

Readers interested in the beginnings and development of Mexican and Mexican American culture and education in Texas will delight in this pictorial history. The Blackwell School, established in 1909 in Marfa, Texas, served as a segregated school for Marfa’s Mexican and Mexican American students. Operating until 1965, eleven years after the ruling of Brown v. Board of Education, the Blackwell School shaped the lives of its students while reflecting the struggles of Hispanic segregation in the West Texas community. Despite the challenges, the Blackwell School fostered a sense of community through sports, extracurricular activities, and community-oriented pageants. Today, the Blackwell School stands as a national historic site under the management of the National Park Service, reflecting Marfa’s legacy of resilience and commitment to preserving its history.

Cristobal Lopez has a master of arts in history from the University of Texas at San Antonio. As a field representative for the National Parks Conservation Association, he helped establish the Blackwell School as a unit of the National Park Service. Dr. Kirsten Gardner is a Distinguished Teaching Professor in the University of Texas San Antonio Department of History. Dr. Gardner teaches courses on US history, women and gender studies, history of medicine, modern US history, and public history. The images for this book were selected from the Blackwell School Alliance Virtual Museum, Marfa Public Library, the Presidio County Museum, and the Library of Congress.

November 13, 1925, marked the third miserably cold and dreary day on the campus of Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. Early that morning the girls at Park House made a horrible discovery. A senior girl, Jeanne Robeson, lay dead on the floor of her kitchenette, the apparent victim of gas asphyxiation.

Later that afternoon, a second tragedy loomed as the girls at Clark House became aware that one of their housemates was missing. Alice Corbett of Utica, New York, walked away from Clark House and simply vanished. Her disappearance was front-page news in every paper in the northeast. 

With the death of one girl on campus and the disappearance of another, the press at first speculated that the two cases were somehow connected. The police, on the other hand, had other theories to investigate: was the Alice Corbett case a suicide, a runaway or an elopement? Did she suffer a nervous breakdown due to academic difficulties, or was her personal life dealt a staggering blow by a onetime boyfriend? 

Join author James M. Greiner as he unravels the details behind this cold case. 

Evil on the Edge of the Edwards Plateau

Darkness lurks in the shadows of the seemingly unspoiled country around Devils River. A sadistic murder of a Mexican American teenager in 1953 and the demented slaughter of a Mexican American family in 1968 have remained unsolved for decades. Both vicious slayings were linked by geography, prejudice, and perversity. Both atrocities were committed at the intersection of race, class, and entitlement. The community and key law enforcement personnel avoided accountability and looked the other way. As a result, the victims’ memories and the identities of the depraved perpetrators were confined to whispers.

A reckoning is long overdue, and award-winning author E.R. Bills's investigative efforts deliver the impetus. The devils were simply in the details.

A hilarious behind-the-scenes book from “the best warmup guy in the business” who kept live studio audiences engaged and laughing on TV sets (Jay Leno).

A comedy show where no one is laughing is anything but funny, so from the late 1970s to the early 2000s, stand-up comedian Robert Perlow made it his mission to keep the energy flowing on television sets. Perlow perfected his routine as a warmup guy on the sets of some of television’s most popular shows, including Friends, Will & Grace, Growing Pains, Cheers, Full House, and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. From an improv class with Robin Williams to a heated encounter with Tim Allen, Perlow saw it all. He uses his trademark humor to reveal personal recollections from both behind and in front of the camera in this hilarious tell-all book.

“You’re going to like Bob Perlow. It is impossible not to like him. He tells a great tale, spins a great joke, and will get under your skin before you know he’s there.” —Jason Alexander

“One of the best.” —Garry Marshall

“A must read for anyone wanting an insider’s look at comedy, TV, and celebrities.” —Fred Willard

“An inherently fascinating and consistently compelling read from beginning to end, The Warmup Guy is impressively well written, organized and presented, giving the appreciative reader true insights in the creation of television programming.” —Midwest Book Review

Some Ohioans are destined for greatness--some are destined for notoriety.

Akron's Edward Wayne Edwards got an early start, snatching cash and cigarettes from his grandmother's purse. He eventually graduated to murder, offing as many as five people, and he ended up on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list along the way. Lester Eubanks killed a fourteen-year-old in Mansfield. After his death sentence was commuted to life, he was mistakenly allowed to go Christmas shopping and disappeared from a Columbus mall in 1973. U.S. Marshals are still looking for him. Cleveland bank robber "Fast Eddie" Watkins held off fifty lawmen for eight hours while sitting in his car in front of a house near Lodi. John Dillinger was born a Hoosier, but he took from Ohio banks as though he had a birthright to the funds.

From counterfeiters to killers, author Jane Ann Turzillo explores the sordid lives of some of the most awful characters in Buckeye history.

Ghoulish Legends from The City of Lakes

Haunted government buildings, theaters, museums, restaurants, parks, and, of course, cemeteries—Minneapolis has it all. Local folklore comes to life at the Turnblad Mansion, where the piano plays on its own, and at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, where the subjects of portraits move about. Spirits of victims in the disastrous 1878 mill explosion haunt Mill Ruins Park. The Foshay Tower’s elevator seemingly goes haywire for no reason, and inmates and guards in the Hennepin County Jail report sightings of an underdressed spectral figure.

Local author Ron de Beaulieu investigates the roots of the Mill City’s ghost stories, ranging from the tragic to the horrific as well as heartwarming and perplexing. 

Some Illinois travelers are so taken by their destination, they hunker down for eternity.

There’s something about old hotels and locales that tourists flock to. The places are experiences unto themselves, but they also thrum, sometimes quite literally, with the lingering presence of those who previously paid them a visit. At the Mineral Springs Hotel in Alton, traces of floral perfume from a woman who took her life more than a century ago greet visitors in room 220. Spirits abound at the DeSoto House Hotel in Galena, one bearing an unsettling likeness to Abraham Lincoln. At the Congress Plaza Hotel in Chicago, children from the past still laugh after dark. From the polite spirit at the Inn at 835 Boutique Hotel in Springfield, who encourages guests to “turn the page,” to the specter of the jilted chambermaid at St. Charles’s Hotel Baker, author Maria Salvo Benson guides intrepid readers through hotels and getaways where previous guests never truly checked out.

Author Maria Salvo-Benson guides the intrepid through the most haunted hotels and getaways throughout the Prairie State.

Read about the crime The Post-Tribune of Northwest Indiana called "the most reckless holdup and murder ever committed within the boundaries of Lake County.”

It all started with a haphazard robbery in a popular roadhouse halfway between Cedar Lake and Crown Point. Close to midnight, a hardened crew of bootleggers from the South Side of Chicago stalked into the crowded barroom. Fifteen terrifying minutes later, bullet holes cratered the walls, patrons were left bloody and dazed, and a prominent Lake County attorney lay dying. The mayhem would spark a furious and desperate police response, an unprecedented trial, and even more brutal murder.

Author James Haniford takes readers back to Prohibition-era Indiana for a front-row seat to the unbelievable true story of big-city crime in a small resort town.

The College of Staten Island’s history is rooted in service to the borough of Staten Island. The only tax-funded college in this New York City borough, the school serves over 10,000 students annually. 

The college is one of 26 City University of New York campuses and one of the university’s 11 upper-division colleges. A 1932 petition campaign for public higher education on Staten Island was followed by decades of activism before Staten Island Community College opened to offer associate degrees in 1956. Later, demand for bachelor degree programs led to the 1967 opening of upper-division Richmond College. In 1976, during a fiscal crisis, the schools consolidated into the College of Staten Island. In 1993, the college moved to a historic campus, the former site of Halloran General Hospital and Willowbrook State School. The college has a distinctive tradition of serving first-generation college students with diverse ethnic, racial, socioeconomic, and immigration identities as well as nontraditional students and people with developmental, learning, and physical disabilities.

James A. Kaser has been the archivist at the College of Staten Island since 2002 and a full professor since 2009. This is his sixth book. Dr. Kaser is a bibliographer and cultural historian with a doctorate in American culture studies. He has selected images from archival collections documenting the College of Staten Island and its predecessor institutions to illustrate this book, which traces the history of public higher education on Staten Island. 

Dark history lives beneath Georgia’s southern charm. In this gripping work of Georgia true crime history, veteran journalist Neely Young investigates the Peach State’s most chilling stories of crime, corruption, racial violence, and injustice. Blending narrative journalism with deep historical research, this book reveals the hidden side of Georgia history—where power, prejudice, and profit often collided with law and conscience.

Travel to July 11, 1964, when U.S. Army reservist Colonel Lemuel Penn became the victim of a shocking Ku Klux Klan murder on the Broad River Bridge, an act of civil rights era racial terror that helped galvanize national outrage. Step back to 1873 and the violent world of Reconstruction-era Georgia, where a young Doc Holliday was linked to deadly clashes long before becoming the legendary gunfighter of Tombstone fame. Through stories of mob vigilantism, political corruption, backroom deals, lawmen, outlaws, and unsolved crimes, Young uncovers the events that shaped the state’s darker legacy.

Perfect for fans of Southern true crime, American crime history, and historical crime nonfiction, this book offers a compelling look at real crimes that influenced culture, justice, and memory. Readers interested in civil rights history, historical murders, and true crime books about the American South will find a powerful blend of investigative storytelling and historical insight.

From hidden archives to notorious crime scenes, these unforgettable accounts show how the echoes of Georgia’s violent past still resonate today.

An in-depth look at the doomed U.S. Army Air Force attack on Romanian oil fields vital to Hitler's success.

In 1943, the Allied powers were grasping for anything to undercut Hitler's power and relieve his relentless pressure on the Red Army, which had already suffered a staggering 11 million casualties. The U.S. Army Air Force planned Operation Tidal Wave, which would take off from Benghazi, Libya, fly low and maintain complete radio silence to escape Axis observation, and bomb Hitler's vital oil fields in Ploesti, Romania. On August 1, 177 B-24 bombers prepared to take off. Fourteen hours later, only 88 B-24s returned.

Operation Tidal Wave was a massive strategic defeat. However, it proved the mettle of the USAAF and provided a rallying point for the public. Author William R. Bradle offers the definitive account of this doomed operation: the strengths, weaknesses, heroism, and failings and takes readers into the thick of the action with thrilling accounts from many of the crews.

Praise for The Daring World War II Raid on Ploesti

"This account of the Ploesti mission does an admirable job of laying out the planning, personalities, and attendant conflicts among many participants, the mistakes made and losses inflicted by the Germans and Romanians. An eminently readable story that further emphasizes and demonstrates the mettle of the Greatest Generation." —New York Journal of Books

Facts, Fiction & Tales of the Town Too Tough to Die

The desert oasis of Tombstone has reinvented itself many times over the course of the last century. From the boomtown heyday in the 1880s to its decline and reinvention as an icon of the Wild West, its reputation was built on colorful characters and even more colorful stories.

At its height, Tombstone was a town full of swinging saloons, bawdy brothels, and miners hanging their futures on extracting silver from the unforgiving landscape. Following close behind them were cold-blooded outlaws like the Cowboy gang and the legendary lawman Wyatt Earp, whose exploits live on in both myth and memory.

Doc Holliday’s outsized reputation was forged in part by Tombstone and the iconic gunfight in which he took part, and beneath Big Nose Kate’s Saloon, the ghost of the Swamper, who secretly dug into the mine shafts to steal the silver for himself, still roams.

Even the naming of Tombstone is linked to the larger-than-life story of prospector Ed Schieffelin. A soldier once mocked him with the words "all you'll find out there is your tombstone,” but in 1877, when Ed struck it lucky in the Arizona desert, a legend was born.

Join author Richard Estep as he untangles the truth from fiction in Tombstone.

From the author of Murder in Victorian Western Michigan and Victorian Southwest Michigan True Crime comes more thrilling stories from the Wolverine State's past.

As the Michigan Central Railroad company became a juggernaut, the nineteenth-century rail line also devolved into a bastion for crime as morality was often set aside for profit. In 1850, a grand jury indicted fifty men in Jackson County for conspiracy to commit arson after a freight depot in Detroit was set ablaze. When two Grand Trunk locomotives collided in Battle Creek in 1893 killing twenty-seven people, a conductor and an engineer each accused the other, avoiding conviction. A Mineral Ridge train robbery of $70,000 in payroll money destined for miners on the Keweenaw Peninsula was exposed by a former railroad worker involved in the heist, allowing him to escape prosecution and sending four others to prison.

Author Michael Delaware unfolds dark stories of corruption and crime from Michigan’s Victorian age.

Savor the unexpected and altogether delectable history of Chinese food in the Queen City

While a smattering of chop suey houses were sprinkled around Cincinnati around the turn of the twentieth century, Wong Yie was the first to present the cuisine to non-Chinese Cincinnatians as a new, exotic, and upscale dining experience with his Gold Dragon in 1911. Despite challenges from the Chinese Exclusion Act, which exacerbated the already massive difficulties faced by Chinese immigrants, Yie’s restaurant spawned more than eighty Chinese restaurants in the city, famed spots such as the Canton, the Wah Mee, and the Fortune Kookie. Proprietors like Mike Wong of Oriental Wok and Johnny Chu of KungFood Chu’s AmerAsia keep our local Chinese food culture alive and evolving.

Author and food etymologist Dann Woellert delves into the fascinating and mouthwatering history of Chinese food in Cincinnati. 

Celebrate fifty defining moments in Pennsylvania sports history.

Few states in the nation can boast as vibrant and fascinating a sports heritage as Pennsylvania. With the Immaculate Reception, Franco Harris transformed a struggling Steelers franchise into a legendary one. On the other side of the state, the Philadelphia Flyers once struck a symbolic blow during the Cold War by overwhelming CSKA Moscow. The origins of pro football possibly lie in Greensburg, and an NFL title was “stolen” in Pottsville. The greatest college football team no one’s ever heard of hails from Carlisle, and college football’s oldest rivalry still rages between Lafayette and Lehigh. The most dominant performance ever in professional basketball took place in Hershey, where the great Wilt Chamberlain poured in one hundred points in a single game.

Historians David Finoli and Tom Rooney bring these stories—and many more—to life in this thrilling ride through all things sports in the Keystone State. 

Explore the spooky side of Havre de Grace, one of Maryland's most historic towns.

Since its founding in 1785, the historic town of Havre de Grace has weathered its share of tragedy. Over the centuries, loss, hardship, and untold sorrow have left this eighteenth‑century gem alive with restless spirits and unexplained supernatural phenomena. Among the town’s most haunting legends is that of a mysterious woman of the night said to drift silently across the third floor of the American Legion building. Unable to let go after a violent death, a young lady’s spirit roams the State Theater. On foggy nights, strange figures are seen drifting along the waterfront. Lights flicker in buildings untouched by time. And the river—always moving, always murmuring—seems to carry voices from the past.

Step into the shadows with Lisa Unruh-Lopez to explore the chilling stories of Havre de Grace.

Discover the historic homes and storybook architecture of Carmel-by-the-Sea

Historic Homes and Inns of Carmel-by-the-Sea showcases the creativity, talent, and originality of the town's residents, designers, and builders over a span of 80 years, from the pioneering days of the 1880s through the more contemporary ones of the 1960s. One-of-a-kind creations by top-name architects Frank Lloyd Wright, Julia Morgan, Charles Greene, Albert Farr, Gardner Dailey, Henry Hill, and Mark Mills are featured.

The designs by the three most influential people who shaped Carmel-by-the-Sea architecturally in its first half-century are well-represented: M.J. Murphy, who literally built the town, with hundreds of homes and buildings to his credit; Hugh Comstock, who defined it with his storybook cottages that gave the village its fairy-tale charm; and Jon Konigshofer, who modernized it through his trademarked, postwar Hillside House. Throughout its history, Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, has attracted unique, spirited, and sometimes eclectic individuals, and this is reflected in its architecture. In combination with the breathtaking beauty, remarkable scenery, and coastal setting, these historic homes and inns give the village its distinct look and make it unlike any place else.

Revisit your favorite stores and memories of innovative Northland Mall in Michigan, once heralded as the future of shopping.

When the Northland Mall opened in Michigan on March 22, 1954, it was the world's largest shopping center. Its innovative design was the vision of architect Victor Gruen and the Webbers, nephews of Joseph Lowthian Hudson and executives of the J.L. Hudson Company. Northland featured Hudson's flagship suburban store surrounded by other businesses selling a variety of merchandise and services. More than just a shopping destination, Northland Mall was a total experience of activity and relaxation, with colorful courtyards displaying sculptures such as the famous The Boy and Bear.

Sports fans will find the historic photos and stories included in Sports on the Jersey Shore both enlightening and as entertaining as their favorite games. The Jersey Shore region encompasses communities in Monmouth, Ocean, Atlantic, and Cape May Counties. It is a region rich in athletics, and since the late 19th century, several athletes from the region have had significant impacts on sports like baseball, swimming, and football, among many others. The Jersey Shore communities have been connected to notable sports figures, including Doc Cramer, Gertrude Ederle, and Vince Lombardi. Over the years, the region has also been a favorite destination for star professional athletes in search of training camps and facilities along New Jersey’s scenic seashore. Athletes, especially boxers and baseball players, have flocked to the Jersey Shore to hone their skills and prepare for some of the biggest events in sports history. 

Matthew H. Ward is a historian and journalist who specializes in sports, the Jersey Shore, and Philadelphia history. He is the coauthor of Boxing in Atlantic City with John DiSanto and The Raritan Bayshore with John Allan Savolaine.

Chilling tales of the supernatural

Ghostly legends are usually associated with the turreted fortifications found throughout Europe and the English countryside. However, New England is also home to several haunted castles filled with paranormal activity, each boasting its own unique legends and lore.

The medieval-style Hammond Castle in Gloucester, Massachusetts, is said to be haunted by the ghost of its former owner, John Hays Hammond Jr. Meanwhile, Castle Craig, which overlooks the Hanging Hills in Meriden, Connecticut, is rumored to be guarded by a legendary black dog, believed to be a harbinger of death.

From New Hampshire’s Searles Castle to Belcourt of Newport, author Sam Baltrusis uses careful research and firsthand accounts to explore the history and mystery surrounding some of New England’s most haunted castles.

In 1944, as the Allied forces advanced across the vast Pacific Ocean toward Japan, the US Army could not relocate the large aircraft repair depots fast enough to keep up with the front line. Thus, Operation Ivory Soap was the Army’s secret project to deploy ships capable of repairing and maintaining bombers and fighters at sea. 

A specialized group of approximately 3,000 Air Corps soldiers underwent unique training for their new, nautical lifestyle. They jokingly referred to themselves as “sailjers.” The capabilities they brought to the Pacific proved vital to Allied success in World War II. These men served in Guam, Tinian, Saipan, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa, but their journey began at the Grand Hotel in Point Clear, Alabama. This is their story.

Thomas Key grew up in Point Clear, Alabama, just one mile south of the Grand Hotel. He spent his summers running barefoot around the property and hearing the stories of the hotel’s secret operation during World War II. In 2013, after 10 years in the Marine Corps, Key moved back to Point Clear. He earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Vanderbilt University and a doctorate in history from Liberty University. Thomas and his wife, Elizabeth, are raising their four children in Point Clear.

Jacksonville and Northeast Florida may be famous for pristine beaches, championship golf, and the nation’s oldest city, St. Augustine, but beneath the surface lies a rich and often overlooked history waiting to be rediscovered. Florida author Ron Whittington uncovers the forgotten stories, lost landmarks, and colorful characters who shaped the region from the Civil War to modern times. Dive beneath the St. Johns River to explore the wreckage of a sunken Union steamship. Discover how the mineral-rich waters of Doctors Lake once attracted the nation’s wealthy elite seeking health and luxury. Meet the visionary developer who transformed the sandy marshes of Ponte Vedra into the world-famous Sawgrass resort and golf destination. And uncover Jacksonville’s surprising role as a military and industrial powerhouse during World War II. Whittington brings to life the people and events that made Jacksonville a cultural crossroads and economic engine for the Southeast. From Gilded Age travelers to wartime heroes, this book reveals how Northeast Florida’s past continues to shape its identity today. Whether you’re a lifelong resident, newcomer, or history lover exploring the Sunshine State, this is an unforgettable journey through the stories time almost forgot.

Explore the haunted history of Oklahoma’s saloons, bars, brothels, and speakeasies.

Saloons and brothels were often the first businesses to spring into existence when the boomtowns of Oklahoma were formed overnight in the state’s early history. During Prohibition, they entertained in the shadows, and their stories have often been left untold. But those stories, and the forgotten women who were often at the center of them, still shaped an indelible legacy. Sometimes their echoes linger in the present, from a saloon patron who continues to tip a McAlester bar from the great beyond to the phantom of a Tulsa brothel worker that appears with enough energy to flip over a pizza pan. Brooke Montoya embarks on a journey through the haunted history of Oklahoma’s saloons, bars, brothels and speakeasies.

100 years of cruising from Chicago to Santa Monica.

Opened in 1926, Route 66 was one of America's original highways. In modern times, the Mother Road is an icon of nostalgia and kitsch, but behind each pit stop is a uniquely human story. From Alberta Ellis, who created safe havens for African American travelers in the first half of the twentieth century to Bob Waldmire and Angel Delgadillo, who worked to preserve the history of the route after the interstates came through, the people behind these places are what truly make them special. 

Just off the well-traveled path are places like the Santa Fe Internment Camp, where many Japanese Americans were forcibly relocated during World War II, and the Apache Death Cave near Two Guns, Arizona, said to be the site where many Native Americans lost their lives. Visit the Amboy Crater, a dormant volcano in the Mojave Desert of California that hints at the distant geological past, and the town of Baxter Springs, which was once a major part of America's Main Street. 

Author Brain Clune brings to life the tales that left a legacy along Route 66. 

Long and Benson’s 1896 landmark guide to cheese making is an early American handbook to the art. The authors pay particular attention to gourmet cheese varieties that were more usually produced in Europe, including gorgonzola, camembert, and brie. The collection of historic recipes also include traditional English cheeses such as Cheddar, Stilton, Cheshire, and Wensleydale. Discover the methods and principles that shaped turn of the century cheese making in this delectable volume. 

Preserving Pride through Art

Cheyenne’s downtown demonstrates an ongoing appreciation for public art. Melding art and history, bronze statues decorate the streets of Wyoming’s capital city. Following the completion of thirty-five sculptures on Capitol Avenue, the project exploded with the addition of more than fifty bronzes. The citywide installation immortalizes symbols of the American West. The Cheyenne Children’s Museum includes several statues celebrating paleontology. Others pay tribute to remarkable women like Lakota Sioux Princess Blue Waters and Louisa Swain, the first woman to vote in Wyoming Territory. Near Cheyenne Regional Hospital, the Healers of the West monument honors a notable doctor and nurse. And of particular pride is the statue of champion cowboy Verne Elliott riding a wild buffalo, commemorating the visit of President Teddy Roosevelt at the 1910 Frontier Days celebration.

Authors Starley Talbott and Michael E. Kassel return to complete the story behind the city’s inspired and ambitious display of the Cowboys State’s unique culture and heritage.

In today's Florida of strip malls and mega attractions, there is little perception of the state as part of the American frontier, but the hardy folks who settled Gulfport were truly pioneers. Moving away from lives disturbed or destroyed by the Civil War and its aftermath, these early families made homes on an isolated bluff surrounded by tidal flats and bayous, filled with virgin pine and palmetto scrub. From these modest beginnings, a small but thriving fishing village emerged.

As the years passed and the Florida boom took hold, Gulfport began to know a new kind of prosperity: tourism. Fancy hotels, shops, and restaurants were built and entertained a steady flow of visitors. A popular winter destination for wealthy Northerners following the Depression era, Gulfport became an interesting study in contrasts. Vacationing gentlemen fished on piers alongside the rugged local seamen; well-dressed tourists played bridge on manicured lawns across the street from rowdy taverns. The middle of the century saw rapid residential expansion as returning servicemen needed homes for their young families and retirees flocked to the area for its mild climate and economical living.

Pondera County, located in north central Montana, was Blackfeet territory prior to the arrival of fur traders beginning in 1848.

The Blackfeet Indian Reservation was established in 1851 and forms the westernmost portion of present-day Pondera County. The Montana Territory was established in 1864, with the area originally being included in the vast Choteau County with Fort Benton as its county seat. The 1880s brought cattlemen and sheepherders, with Montana becoming a state in 1889. The Carey Land Act of 1894, subsequent amendments to the act in 1909 and 1912, and newly built railroads brought homesteaders and businesses to what would become Pondera County in 1919. Pondera County has a rich history of Blackfeet Indians, fur traders, trading posts, the Whoop-Up Trail and Riplinger Trail to Alberta, stagecoaches, mule trains, cattlemen, sheepherders, homesteaders, the Great Falls–Canada Railroad, and the Great Northern Railroad. Communities and towns established in Pondera County have included Fort Conrad, Robare, Willow Rounds, Pondera, Dupuyer, Conrad, Valier, Heart Butte, Williams, Manson, Fowler, Sollid, Brady, Ledger, Lytle, and Lucille. Most communities are still in existence.

A curated collection of newsletter articles reveals some fascinating local history.

Packet boats were a critical lifeline for those who lived along the North River in Norwell, Massachusetts. At a time when roads were rough and unreliable, the river offered the surest passage for goods, mail, and travelers.

Like those packet boats of old, the Norwell Historical Society’s newsletter, North River Packet, makes important connections, linking us with our past. This curated collection of newsletter articles, oral histories, cemetery tour scripts, and even a play, reveals some fascinating local history.

Discover the sensational 1878 Otis Safe Robbery when Herbert Otis and a band of Boston rogues carted off a 600-pound safe from Pleasant Street, only to bungle their fortune. Walk alongside Juliette Hammond, the first woman to vote in Norwell. Read about everyday townspeople who recall tales of dairy farms on Cross Street and trips to the general store on “the Hill.” 

Creating an Island Community

Vineyard men and women, Islanders, off-islanders and immigrants contributed their energy and enthusiasm to create the Martha’s Vineyard community.  Generations of businessmen and women catered to locals and tourists, welcoming newcomers to this Island paradise.

Native Americans of the Wampanoag tribe have lived on the Island for thousands of years. Their leaders helped bring the Indians together with the white men, led by Thomas Mayhew, to a peaceful relationship. The founders of Oak Bluffs created a town for both Methodist gingerbread cottages and vacation homes. Whaling captains built the county seat of Edgartown. It was sea captains and shipyard workers who developed the commercial harbor of Vineyard Haven, for centuries a refuge for sailors. 

Presidents Clinton and Obama visited the Vineyard, granting the Island national prominence. The Vineyard is a mix of old businesses and new, of Blacks and whites, of immigrants and Natives, working for a tranquil resort community.

Historian David McCulloch called the Vineyard home. Local John Alley was a leader of the secession movement and Craig Kingsbury’s head made a startling cameo in Jaws.  

Thomas Dresser describes how dozens of Islanders have contributed to the unique atmosphere of Martha’s Vineyard.

Indiana State Prison showcases the innerworkings of an institution that housed a variety of individuals for various reasons over centuries, much of which has been unknown to the public until now. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, officials at the Indiana State Prison worked as hard to keep prisoners locked in as they did to keep the public locked out. Consequently, for the average citizen, the prison was a mystery. This book chronicles what prison officials did and, more importantly, why they did it throughout the history of the prison. Three distinct penological theories informed everything done at the prison at different periods in its 165-year history. Changes at the prison over the years did not occur in a vacuum; they were deliberate and based on popular theories about why people committed crimes. This book on the history of the Indiana State Prison could be the last one written while the prison is still in use. The Indiana Department of Correction announced in 2024 that it would close the prison in 2027. Nearly all of the pictures in this book appear in print for the first time in history.

William G. Hinkle, PhD, worked for five years as a counselor and case manager at the Indiana State Prison and taught there for Ball State University for 12 years. Susan S. Garvey, PhD, is a community advocate involved with the prevention of child abuse/neglect and human trafficking. Patrick J. Hinkle, JD, lives in Mishawaka, Indiana. 

Anyone interested in the founding of libraries across the country will delight in delving into Prescott Public Library, which showcases the pivotal role the establishment played in the Arizona city's history. The Prescott Public Library was created in 1917 when the City of Prescott took over management of the formerly private library. Prescott was established in the middle of the Civil War when Union sympathizers found gold in the Bradshaw Mountains. Even in those Wild West days, territorial secretary Richard McCormick brought with him a wagon full of 300 books, establishing a library that would become the lifeblood of the territorial capital. The Prescott Library Association was founded in 1870, and it was at the helm of the Monday Club (established 1890) that a library building was constructed. This became the Carnegie Library in 1903, the first approved in the state of Arizona. This library opened with 1,300 books in its collection. In the last century, the Prescott Public Library has grown with Prescott. Now located on Goodwin Street, the library contains over 113,000 items in its collection and serves its patrons in new and exciting ways. With more to share in the future, Prescott Public Library welcomes everyone into “Prescott’s Living Room.” 

Kristen Kauffman is a librarian in Prescott and a guest writer with Sharlot Hall Museum’s Days Past articles. Several of the photographs that did not come from the Prescott Public Library’s photograph archives are used with generous permission from the Sharlot Hall Museum. 

Charleston, 1775–1783: where loyalty was as dangerous as rebellion.

Revisit the Revolutionary War through the eyes of Charleston’s most misunderstood figures, the Loyalists. Often erased from more traditional narratives, these men and women lived in the deadliest gray space of the war, where allegiance shifted by necessity, survival outweighed ideology, and every decision carried life-and-death consequences.

Featuring more than eighty rare and striking historic images, this book reconstructs Charleston as a high-stakes garrison town: a city of spies, secret networks, and double agents—one operating directly under General Nathanael Greene himself. Drawn from newly examined primary sources and firsthand accounts, the story exposes the covert war beneath the battlefield, where Patriots and Loyalists often moved indistinguishably through the same streets, salons, and homes.

Beyond the fighting, the narrative follows the war’s long shadow into post-Revolutionary South Carolina, where confiscation, exile, and political vengeance threatened to tear the region apart. Why did iconic Patriot leaders like Henry Laurens, Francis Marion, and Nathanael Greene intervene to restore seized Loyalist estates? And how did those decisions quietly shape the foundation of reconciliation in the new republic?

At the heart of the story are the women of Loyalist Charleston, forced out of the domestic sphere and into the raw machinery of power. Their petitions before the state legislature were pleas for property, protection, and survival.

Authors Kathy Roe Coker and Jason Wetzel detail the these stories and more in a riveting account of loyalty and struggle.

Essays written by critics and sources ranging from Jean-Paul Sartre to Jelly Roll Morton detailing the anatomy of jazz�s musical elements to the forefathers of its style.

There’s Spirits in them Hills

The wild and ferocious history of the Black Hills has been well documented in cinema and literature—their paranormal past and present less so. From Sturgis and Deadwood to Rapid City and Spearfish, ghastly tales litter the rugged landscape where notorious characters like Wild Bill Hickok, Potato Creek Johnny, and Jack McCall left their mark. Unsolved mysteries like Lame Johnny’s lost treasure and the legend of the Spearfish Sasquatch are shared with each generation. The spectral remnants of menace and murder linger from eerie episodes involving Big Foot Meyers, Poker Alice, and a slain Sturgis mayor.

Author Deborah Cuyle takes readers on a tantalizing tour through the spooky and supernatural side of this infamous western outpost. 

Explore Florida's Everglades, its history, the native tribes that called it home, and the fight to preserve the grassy wetlands documented through a collection of images.

The Everglades once blanketed a quarter of Florida. Stretching from Lake Okeechobee to Florida Bay, its saw grass prairies, mangrove swamps, and hammocks were home to a profusion of animals, plants, and prehistoric Native Americans, as well as Seminoles, Miccosukees, and Gladesmen of historic times. In 1904, Napoleon Bonaparte Broward ran for Florida governor with the political platform of creating farmland by dredging the Everglades and spilling its water into the ocean. By 1914, this spectacular natural feature was on the verge of destruction, and environmentalist May Mann Jennings led a grassroots movement to preserve Royal Palm Hammock. In the 1930s, Ernest Coe and Marjory Stoneman Douglas fought to preserve a larger area, culminating in the creation of Everglades National Park in 1947. Enjoy the rich history of Florida’s Everglades in this collection of 15 historic black-and-white postcards.

A practical handbook that has served pastors time and time again.

Extensively updated to aid in meeting the increased demands and challenges of twenty-first-century ministry, this edition includes expanded indexes and reading lists. Covering everything from technology to organizational management, each invaluable chapter serves as a vital resource for ministers facing new challenges of pastoral work today.

Across the high plains and rugged mountain passes of the Oregon Trail came thousands of settlers seeking a new life, and for many, the burgeoning city of Eugene became their new home.

The newcomers were fur traders and farmers, physicians and soldiers, teachers and hoteliers—each of them adding a new facet to the region’s character and identity. Among them were Norton E. Winnard, a frontier doctor and a founder of the Eugene Hospital, and Judge J.J. Walton, who helped establish the University of Oregon.

Many of them found their final resting place at the Eugene Pioneer Cemetery, a Civil War–era burial ground that stands as a testament to the time they lived in, and the lingering influence of those first arrivals. Set against the backdrop of the nineteenth century’s great upheavals, this collection brings to life the intertwined destinies of pioneers, immigrants and Native people in the Pacific Northwest.

Drawing from archival photographs, letters, and public records, author C.J. Lake illuminates the human stories behind Oregon’s extraordinary everyday pioneers.

A buffalo ranch, banana stand wars, and the world’s largest surfboard. 

Since its founding in 1889, Orange County has captured the world's attention with its iconic attractions, stunning beaches, and vibrant communities. Dig a little deeper, and you’ll find a treasure-trove of hidden gems. From lion safaris and an alligator farm to roaming buffalo, the theme parks of Orange County once offered a wide variety of thrills before fading into obscurity. The county is also the site of one of the most infamous UFO sightings in history, documented by Rex Heflin’s Polaroid camera in 1965. A plethora of famous rock stars, athletes, and actors have left their mark, although many of their local haunts have long since disappeared. Social justice movements and dramatic showdowns are woven into the tapestry of the county’s history alongside tales of aviation, agriculture, and the innovative businesses that took root here.

Join author and historian Chris Epting as he shines a light on offbeat and exotic tales of the O.C.

In 1867, “The Little Village in the Grove” began as the Round Lake Camp Meeting Association. Forty acres of land adjacent to a beautiful lake were purchased by the Troy Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church to hold revivals. Round Lake Village emerged from a camp meeting site, attracting as many as 20,000 revivalists on summer weekends to become a center for education and culture.

In 1884, camp meeting trustees planned and constructed a 2,000-seat indoor meeting space called Round Lake Auditorium, which has remained the village’s social center. Full streets of Victorian-style homes were built. Hotels, a science museum, and centers for education along with resident halls were constructed, which sadly have not survived. Today, the village’s long, narrow streets of beautiful historic homes with distinctive porches remain from the early days of the village.

Ron Kase is a sociologist residing in New Jersey. He is a retired professor of social science and senior academic administrator. He discovered Round Lake while visiting the area and understood the untold story of a magical place should be shared with everyone. Scott Rigney is Round Lake’s village historian. Rigney and his extended family have been residents of the village since 1966. He is president of the Association to Preserve/Protect/Plan Round Lake and is actively involved with every endeavor related to the village’s future.