Within thirty years of the Great Chicago Fire, the revitalized city was boasting some of America's grandest department stores. The retail corridor on State Street was a crowded canyon of innovation and inventory where you could buy anything from a paper clip to an airplane. Revisit a time when a trip downtown meant dressing up for lunch at Marshall Field's Walnut Room, strolling the aisles of Sears for Craftsman tools or redeeming S&H Green Stamps at Wieboldt's. Whether your family favored The Fair, Carson Pirie Scott, Montgomery Ward or Goldblatt's, you were guaranteed stunning architectural design, attentive customer service and eye-popping holiday window displays. Lavishly illustrated with photographs, advertisements, catalogue images and postcards, Leslie Goddard's narrative brings to life the Windy City's fabulous retail past.
Salem's Witch House
9781596295193
Regular price
$21.99
Sale price
$15.39
Save 30%
Though located on Massachusetts's scenic North Shore, Salem is often remembered for its less than picturesque history. The "Witch City," as it is internationally known, is home to numerous landmarks dedicated to the notorious trials of 1692. Of these, the Witch House is perhaps most significant; this former residence of Judge Jonathan Corwin, whose court ordered the execution of twenty men and women, is the town's only true historic tie to the trials. It was here that Corwin examined the unfortunate accused. There is, however, more to this ancient building than its most famous occupant. From wars and death to prosperity and progress, local author John Goff searches beneath its beams and studs to find stories of those who called this place home.
Roosevelt Homes of the Hudson Valley
9781467145275
Regular price
$21.99
Sale price
$15.39
Save 30%
Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his family may be most remembered for their time at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, but it was the Hudson Valley they called home. In Manhattan, the president's mother built a townhome on East Sixty-Fifth Street, and Eleanor was born on East Thirty-Seventh. On the banks of the Hudson River, Hyde Park was Franklin's birthplace and where he entertained some of the most important leaders of the twentieth century. Up the Albany Post Road, several homes of family and friends played important moments in history. Laura Delano's Tudor-style house was where FDR met with Churchill, and the beautiful Wilderstein was home to Daisy Suckley, a devoted confidante. In Albany as governor, FDR installed a therapy pool in a converted outdoor greenhouse to assist his physical challenges in the Executive Mansion. Historian Shannon Butler traces the historic homes that shaped the Roosevelt family in the Hudson Valley.
Inside the Texas Chicken Ranch
9781467153935
Regular price
$23.99
Sale price
$16.79
Save 30%
Thanks to the classic Dolly Parton film The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and ZZ Top's ode "La Grange," many people think they know the story of the infamous Chicken Ranch. The reality is more complex, lying somewhere between heartbreaking and absurd. For more than a century, dirt farmers and big-cigar politicians alike rubbed shoulders at the Chicken Ranch, operated openly under the sheriff's watchful eye. Madam Edna Milton and her girls ran a tight, discreet ship that the God-fearing people of La Grange tolerated if not outright embraced. That is, until a secret conspiracy enlisted an opportunistic reporter to bring it all crashing down on primetime television. Drawn from exclusive interviews and expanded with newly uncovered information, Jayme Lynn Blaschke's revelatory exposition of the Ranch illuminates the truth and lies surrounding this iconic brothel.
Bootleg Homes of Frank Lloyd Wright, The
9781467154062
Regular price
$23.99
Sale price
$16.79
Save 30%
Uncover the secret Chicago laboratory of Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie Style. Before Frank Lloyd Wright officially launched America's most famous architectural career, he was designing the building blocks of his legendary prairie style on the side. In violation of his contract with his employers, Adler and Sullivan, Wright moonlighted as an independent architect from his Oak Park studio. From 1892 through the spring of 1893, he experimented with the elements that would become his signature in houses in Chicago, La Grange and Oak Park. The full roster of these "bootleg homes" has remained a matter of mystery and debate. Robert Hartnett seeks to provide the first definitive account of the hidden artifacts of Wright's storied legacy.
