In 1980, a record-breaking thunderstorm unleashed a disastrous amount of water on the tiny town of Brady’s Bend.

In a mere forty minutes, the community was annihilated by a catastrophic flash flood. Residents ran for their lives, and nine people drowned. Although rescue and recovery soon followed, the harrowing experience left a mark on the survivors that remains decades later.

Author and Brady’s Bend native Lisa Olszak Zumstein tells this community’s story in full and reveals how this devastating storm mirrors numerous others in the Appalachian corridor.

Winner of the 2026 Bachelder‑Coddington Distinguished Book Award of the Civil War Roundtable of Gettysburg

As the nation’s future hung in the balance, the Weather Gods delivered a wrath of fury on Union and Confederate forces throughout the Gettysburg Campaign. First, record-breaking heat and humidity wore down the warring armies during ungodly forced marches. Next, relentless storms plagued the soldiers with resultant muddy slogs on nearly impassable roads. As the armies met in mortal combat, soul-crushing heat turned the bucolic fields of Gettysburg into a sanguinary and barren expanse. Finally, torrential rains haunted the Confederate retreat and narrow escape across a swollen Potomac River. Authors Jeffrey J. Harding and Jon M. Nese present firsthand accounts, harrowing narratives and groundbreaking meteorological research that reshapes how we view the Civil War’s Gettysburg Campaign.

July 24, 1915 was supposed to be Chicago's social event of a lifetime, but turned into a tragedy unlike any other.

More than 7,000 people living in the Chicago area and Michigan City, Indiana, eagerly anticipated Saturday morning, July 24, 1915. This particular Saturday was going to be anything but a routine summer day. Plans had been carefully made for it to be the social and entertainment event of the year, and for some, a lifetime. The fifth annual midsummer excursion and picnic had been organized by the employees of the Western Electric Company's Hawthorne Works. Thousands of carefree merrymakers would enjoy a festive day including a lovely cruise across Lake Michigan to an awaiting parade and day-long picnic. The day would conclude with an evening cruise back to Chicago. For thousands of hard-working immigrant laborers and their families and friends, it was going to be a day to remember.

Instead, the day's scheduled event turned into a tragedy never before seen. The SS Eastland, while still tied to the wharf, rolled into the Chicago River with more than 2,500 passengers on board. Nearly 850 people lost their lives, including 22 entire families. The ensuing struggle for survival, and the resulting death, heroism, cowardice, greed, and scandal gripped the city of Chicago.

The first-ever field guide to American birds, Florence A. Merriam’s classic Birds Through an Opera-Glass remains a highly influential book for modern birdwatching more than 130 years since its initial release. 

Birds Through an Opera-Glass is Florence A. Merriam’s pioneering field guide to American birds. The first-ever of its kind, originally published in 1889, it laid the foundation for modern birdwatching. Before Birds Through an Opera-Glass, it was commonplace to shoot birds and study their lifeless bodies. Merriam instead advocated studying birds in the wild—through an opera glass rather than a riflescope—to ensure their preservation. With line drawings and detailed descriptions of seventy common species, Birds Through an Opera-Glass remains a favorite of birders, nature lovers, and conservationists to this day. 

As the first female member of the American Ornithologists’ Union, Merriam was a trailblazer in the emerging field of birding in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Today she is regarded as an essential early voice for bird conservation, and Birds Through an Opera-Glass shows her important principles put into practice. More than a century later, Birds Through an Opera-Glass continues to guide birders and outdoor enthusiasts who are seeking to enjoy nature without harming it.