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With unexpected twists and compelling characters, Don’t Feed the Lion explores how young people grapple with antisemitism, prejudice, allyship, and the courage to speak up.

"This book . . . gives kids the tools to recognize and stand up to hate.” —Jake Tapper, CNN Anchor and New York Times Best-Selling Author

Annie and Theo Kaplan have a family ritual: every Friday night they celebrate Shabbat with their energetic, immigrant grandparents. But this Shabbat, which happens to fall on Annie’s eleventh birthday, isn’t like the others. Thirteen-year-old Theo’s soccer hero—Wes Mitchell—has posted an antisemitic message that quickly goes viral, leaving his parents disgusted, his sister enraged, and Theo himself clobbered by a torrent of confusion, anger, sadness, and a deep desire to just ignore it. 

Antisemitism quickly affects the entire Kaplan family in various ways. Theo’s teammates think Mitchell’s comments were no big deal, and Theo notices an uptick in anti-Jewish commentary around school. A rare act of rebellion draws Annie into the fray, and a new classmate shows that ignoring pain is no way to get through it.

Don’t Feed the Lion asks readers of all backgrounds: What will you do when it’s your turn to choose?

Author Joshua Womack tells the story of those who lived, breathed and sweated in one of Cleveland’s most iconic landmarks. In Cleveland, there’s a place where sweat, steak and friendship collide. Tucked away on a dead-end road in the once-bustling area of Kinsman, the Schvitz is where men have come for decades to let it all hang out. Wrapped in towels and mystery, this nondescript, utilitarian building has captured the hearts and pores of many. There’s a lot of questions around the Schvitz. Is it just a Jewish thing? Why is it where it is? Why do men (and now, more recently, women) love this place?

Screw Capital of the World. Forest City. Home of the Rockford Peaches of A League of Their Own fame. Rockford, Illinois, has many identities, most oriented toward the past. These days, the fastener industry has mostly rusted away, the trees are less plentiful than they once were, and professional women’s baseball is no more. What defines Rockford today?

According to The Rockford Anthology, it’s the people. Those who grew up here, who came by choice or by circumstance, or who decided to leave. People who lost someone or found a voice or built community here.

In this installment of Belt’s City Anthology series, the people of Rockford represent themselves in essays, poetry, and photographs. Here, you’ll meet someone who found the space to start a business after leaving the crowd in Chicago. Academy Award–nominee Bing Liu takes you on a personal tour of his childhood houses and the ghosts that lurk there. A local attorney and activist shares how the city pushed back when ICE wanted to bring a detention center to Rockford. And you’ll learn why New York Times bestselling author Kimberla Lawson Roby, stand-up comedian Ashley Ray-Harris, and an introverted expat living in Taiwan always say they’re from Rockford . . . not Chicago. Whether through stories of growing up or chronicles of fights to make the city better, a sense of Rockford’s present—and future—starts to come into focus.

In the summer of 2014, a strange thing happened to one of the largest freshwater bodies on the planet: Lake Erie’s western shore turned bright green with toxic algae that could have killed 400,000 Ohioans. Stranger still, it was kind of Patrick Wensink’s fault. Okay, partially his fault, but also to blame was industrial corn farming, greenhouse gasses, the Worst Road In America, his attraction to toxic relationships, Richard Nixon, Charles Dickens, cyanobacteria, high school bullies, and, most importantly, the untold history of the Great Black Swamp: a large swatch of what is now Ohio and Indiana that was once a dangerous, malaria-ridden wetland.

Toxic green algae has become a global problem. While the scientific community scrambles to find a solution, Wensink discovers that the answer might be hiding in his former home, a million acres of table-flat farmland so desolate that even other Ohioans look down upon it.

Great Black Swamp: Toxic Algae, Toxic Relationships, and the Most Interesting Place in America that Nobody’s Ever Heard Of mixes ecological reporting, Midwestern history, and memoir. As Wensink travels through Northwest Ohio, he tells us about his childhood there, his failing marriage, American history, Lake Erie, and the hopeful ecological interventions scientists are performing in the former Great Black Swamp. 

There are as many versions of Greater Cincinnati as there are residents of the region. That’s roughly two million different perceptions of the city.

In Cincinnati in 50 Maps, editor Nick Swartsell and cartographer Andy Woodruff present over fifty ways of looking at the Queen City, from its early roadways and Indigenous earthworks to its shifting neighborhood borders. A visualization of relative population density can tell one story, and one showing where jobs are clustered tells another. New maps with up-to-date data sit beside historical maps that show things like exactly how communities were razed to make room for highways. Broken up into five sections—Mapping the Past, the Shape of Cincinnati, Communities and Culture, Getting Around, and Health and Environment—these visual representations show both the commonalities and the contradictions of an ever-changing American city.

These maps present reported statistics in new ways, and they represent the things that make Cincinnati the unique place that residents know and love: Find every place you can get Cincinnati chili, the location of every public stairway, and where the infamous Cincy traffic is worst.

Anyone who calls or ever called Cincinnati home will find something familiar, something surprising, and something revealing in this glossy, full-color volume.

On April 30, 1962, voters in the port city of New London, Connecticut, approved by a large margin a bulldozer approach to urban renewal in an area along Main Street stretching from downtown State Street to Hodges Square by Interstate 95, roughly one mile to the north. The plan required the relocation of more than two thousand people and the demolition of nearly five hundred structures, some dating back to the 1750s. Among the losses were the Neptune Building, the Victory Theater along the Parade, sea captains’ homes on and off Main Street, settlement houses, family-run businesses, the colonial homes of slave traders and the newer homes of freed slaves. New London native and old house enthusiast Bill Morse shares the images and stories from these events that changed a community forever.

Diana Bahnson Overbey, executive director of Historic Bethabara Park, uses archival maps, drawings, portraits, and photographs to tell Bethabara’s story, from 18th-century backcountry settlement to 21st-century historic site.

In 1753, the Moravian Church purchased 98,985 acres of land in the Piedmont of North Carolina and established the town of Bethabara. It grew into a bustling trades town by the 1760s but transitioned into a small farming community in the 19th century, with fields of crops planted next to the 1788 church. Ministers remarked on the muddy, rutted roads and the wayward behaviors of their congregation. Bethabara’s significance as the first Moravian town in North Carolina was not forgotten, however, and in 1903, thousands turned out for the 150th anniversary celebration. That celebratory spirit was kindled again in the 1950s when Edwin Stockton decided Bethabara needed to be preserved for future generations. Acreage containing the original settlement was purchased, and archaeologist Stanley South conducted a groundbreaking archaeological dig during the 1960s to uncover the foundations of the original structures, which had been left undisturbed beneath farmland for over a century. Historic Bethabara Park opened to the public in 1966. Today, the site covers 183 acres and includes four restored historic buildings as well as a reconstructed village and gardens.

Proudly printed in America, this definitive 1812 edition of Thomas Jefferson's landmark work continues to inform the rules and procedures of the United States House and Senate today.

As vice president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson presided over the Senate. To improve its procedures, he wrote A Manual of Parliamentary Practice. First published in 1801, Jefferson’s Manual has been the basis for the rules of Congress ever since. In 1812, a second edition of the Manual was published with Jefferson’s input, marking his final word on the book.  Now, for the first time, Jefferson’s Manual of 1812 is printed with all of Jefferson's additions, along with an introduction detailing the history of the text and tracing the discovery of Jefferson’s revisions. This new edition includes Jefferson’s additions that serve as the basis for changes to the “House Rules and Manual,” published by the U.S. House of Representatives in 2025.  Author Brian Alexander presents groundbreaking research using Jefferson’s own writings in this historic Manual of Parliamentary Practice, now in its definitive edition.

Join author and comedian Mike Bridenstine for a show business story unlike any other. In 2001, an aspiring comedian in Kansas City named Kyle Parris performed what can be described as the most infamous open mic set of all time. And it took place at one of the most infamous clubs in the history of stand-up—Stanford & Sons—which was owned by one of the most notorious and colorful families in comedy history. This book tells the story of that set, as well as the story of the Kansas City comedy scene, from the boom times of the ’80s, when comics like Sinbad and Eddie Griffin got their starts, to the 2000s, when Nikki Glaser got hers. There are a lot of twists, turns and wild characters along the way, including some recent headlines in the Hollywood trades.

After the 1776 Battle of White Plains, Westchester County became known as the “Neutral Ground.” But there would be no peace here. Occupied by neither side, it was a place where no one could remain neutral amid clashes by detachments of the contending armies, as well as violence by groups of bandits, vigilantes and partisans. Families were driven from their homes, and violence flared between once peaceable neighbors. Espionage played a major role as well, culminating in the Arnold-André conspiracy, which nearly ended the war in a British victory. Local historian Stephen Paul DeVillo details the colorful personalities and diverse military units that shaped the course of the conflict.

Colorado’s First Tourist

In the mid-1800s, Anglo-Irish aristocrat Sir St. George Gore embarked on an ambitious expedition through the Rocky Mountains. His extravagant hunting party slaughtered thousands of animals during their tour through the beautiful Colorado Territory and left multiple landmarks bearing his name behind them. Gore Creek, Gore Lake and the Gore Range are just a few of the scenic vistas surrounding Vail, Colorado, that testify to a visit from a man who was, in essence, just a tourist passing through. Today, the legitimacy of his legacy is often questioned, although the man himself remains largely a mystery.

Join investigative journalist John LaConte as he uncovers the real story of Sir St. George Gore, who left his name scattered across the Colorado landscape.

Remembering two palaces of retail

For generations, Scranton’s two big department stores, The Globe Store and Oppenheim’s Scranton Dry Goods Company, affectionately known as “the Dry,” dominated retail in the Electric City. Facing each other on Wyoming Avenue, they created special memories for those who walked their sales floors with attractive displays, special events, community service and elaborate Christmas decorations. Many fondly recall the steamship round of beef carved to order at The Globe’s Charl-Mont Restaurant or waving to customers passing by on the escalator from the Dry’s mezzanine Tea Room. Together, the two stores brought the best the world had to offer to Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Join Scranton-area native Daniel J. Packer Jr. and step through the iconic revolving doors into a bygone era of shopping in grand style.

Every history of the Appalachian Trail tells the story from the top down, focusing on who proposed the trail, who built it, who maintain it, and on a few of the most famous hikers. A Hiker’s History of Appalachian Trail tells the trail’s history from the ground up, or more accurately, from the boots up.

Several million hikers each year set foot on the trail for a few hours, a few days, or perhaps a few weeks. The trail was created for them, yet their role in its history is largely ignored. Working with trail shelter logbooks, hiker accounts submitted to trail clubs, newspaper and magazine stories about the experiences of casual hikers, Mills Kelly reveals what it was like to hike the trail from the late 1920s until the 2020s.

What did those hikers eat? What kind of gear did they carry? Why did they go hiking in the first place? What was their relationship to the natural world they found along the trail? What was it like to hike as a woman, as a person of color, as someone with a disability? And how did all those things change over the 100 years of the trail’s history?

Witness the Darker Side of the Hawkeye State

The farmlands and rural areas of Iowa are no stranger to the weird, dark and mysterious. Learn about a terrestrial sighting from 1903, a creepy cryptid that terrorized the town of Van Meter. Find out about Bigfoot sightings in Calhoun County. Peer under the waters of Lake Okoboji to find a huge lake monster. Read the history of a frightening sculpture based on a story by Franz Kafka and hear a premonition that predicted a devastating fire. Five-time Bram Stoker Finalist author Michael McCarty and Professor Emeritus Bruce Walters forge a twisted path through shadowy, Gothic Iowa. Do you dare follow?

Crippling winter storms are locked in the memories of millions of New Jerseyans.

On December 26, 1947, an unpredicted storm buried Newark in twenty-six inches of snow. A record-setting nor’easter on January 22, 2016, unleashed sixty-mile-per-hour wind gusts, six-foot drifts and snowfall depths of thirty inches in Bernards Township and Long Valley. But no storm was more infamous than the so-called Great White Hurricane. Coming when the science of meteorology was in its infancy, the blizzard of 1888 left tens of millions at the mercy of a vicious three-day nightmare with tragic loss of life and property that no one saw coming.

Author Don Colgan tells the stories of winter’s fury and of those who lived through the most extraordinary winter storms in New Jersey history.

Tulsa has always been vital to Route 66. In 1920, as the automobile was altering American life, good roads were nonexistent. Tulsa businessman and civic leader Cyrus Avery led the charge to transform the patchwork of dirt and mud trails that linked cities into a national system of paved highways, culminating in the creation of Route 66 in 1926. 

For this, Avery is known as the “Father of Route 66.” Through the Great Depression, World War II, and the country’s postwar prosperity, the “Main Street of America” permeated culture through song, literature, movies, and even a television show. All the while, Tulsa—the “Magic City” with a petroleum pedigree—hosted travelers with big-city services and shopping in an Art Deco setting. And then, the road was gone. It was replaced by the faster, straighter interstate highway system in 1985. The signs came down and the double sixes disappeared until another Tulsan, Michael Wallis, brought them back. In 2024, Tulsa officially became the “Capital of Route 66.” Travelers from around the globe get their kicks at exciting attractions from Buck Atom Space Cowboy to Meadow Gold Mack and Mother Road Market to Cyrus Avery Centennial Plaza. Again, neon dances in the Capital of Route 66.

Steve Clem is a Route 66 “roadie” (aficionado) and a trustee at Sand Springs Cultural and Historical Museum. Becky Hatchett is president of the Southwest Tulsa Historical Society and volunteers at the Route 66 Historical Village. Rhys Martin serves on Tulsa’s Route 66 Commission and is president of the Oklahoma Route 66 Association.

This full-color book of maps, one of Belt Publishing’s 50 Maps Series, presents the capital and biggest city in Ohio like you’ve never seen it before. 

Columbus is a place perpetually in search of an identity. Once called a “cow town,” it is now a sprawling metropolitan area and home to the behemoth Ohio State University. How can one best represent the city, in all its complications and contradictions? 

One way is through maps, as editor Brent Warren and cartographer Vicky Johnson-Dahl explore here. These fifty-plus maps show things that are inherently Columbus, from ComFest to the present and former locations of the city’s iconic arches. But you will also find maps that offer surprising ways of looking at the city, whether charting immigrant populations, LGBTQ+ landmarks, or mass transit that was never actually built. Divided into four sections—Situating the City, Getting to Know the City, Getting Around, and People and Places—Columbus in 50 Maps will excite current, former, and future Columbusites as well as people with an interest in the region or creative urban cartography.

A Tale of Two Foes

After the Battle of Monmouth Court House, in June 1778, the Revolutionary War in Monmouth County devolved into skirmishes between local militias and British Loyalists. Chief among these warring factions were revered rebel hero Captain Joshua Huddy and his fierce rival, a runaway enslaved Black man called Colonel Tye, who fought for the British. Attempting to bring the captured Huddy to prison, Tye was killed in battle, and when Loyalists murdered Huddy without benefit of trial two years later, the resulting international outrage jeopardized Benjamin Franklin’s Paris peace treaty negotiations. Only when Marie Antoinette pleaded with George Washington to stop the retaliatory hanging of a young British lieutenant did the peace talks resume.

Author Rick Geffken reveals the stories of these two obscure enemies who died and rose to fame for their beliefs in independence.

The Historic Marysville City Cemetery contains the ghosts of the city founders, politicians, Western heroes and bandits, and murder victims and murderers. Among the 10,000 individuals buried in this cemetery is a survivor of the ill-fated Donner Party; the brother of the founder of Macy’s department store; the minister to Japan, appointed by Pres. Ulysses S. Grant; and the founders and co-owners of one of the oldest continuously operated businesses in California, the Union Lumber Company, established in 1852. This cemetery is one of the oldest city-owned cemeteries in the area, with burials dating from 1850. The cemetery became inactive in 1939, allowing burials only in existing family plots and later only ashes. The most recent interment was in 2016.

Phyllis E. Smith and Victoria M. Tudor are board members of the Friends for the Preservation of Yuba County History (FPYCH). The group’s monthly newsletter, the Yuba Legacy, is written by Tudor and edited by Smith. They both help plan the organization’s fundraising activities, providing tours of the cemetery. Tudor spends considerable time working in the cemetery and coordinates headstone repairs with a local monument company. Smith digitized the handwritten book of burials, from 1870 to 1930, a four-year effort.

The Story Behind the City    

Settlers in Kinsley, Kansas, predicted that their home would be the next “great metropolis.” Booms and busts came and went, and Kinsley never realized this dream. Instead, this town, once described as “Wild and Woolly,” much like its neighbor, the infamous Dodge City, fostered the cultural activity of a city many times its size. Its poets and artists intermingled with vagabond entertainers, snake oil swindlers, hypnotists, multilingual automatons, elocutionists and Shakespeareans. By the 1910s, there was a published poet on every street and an aspiring actor around every corner. Local stars even went on to Hollywood and New York. Historians Joan Weaver and William Wolfgang explore how this remote community earned its recently rediscovered title, the “Drama Capital of the West.”

Possessed with a spirit of optimism and an innate gift for retailing savvy, entrepreneur William T. Grant revolutionized the nation’s retailing industry with the 1906 debut of his W.T. Grant Company department store in Lynn, Massachusetts. Taking aim at the lucrative yet untapped middle ground between the discount five-and-dime variety stores and traditional department stores of the era, he built a well-deserved reputation as the store “Known for Values.” Grants quickly became one of the nation’s fastest-growing and most beloved department store chains, encompassing 1,238 stores in forty-six states at its height in 1972. While the Grants stores are now just a fond memory, the legacy of William T. Grant continues to be remembered today, along with the vibrant philanthropic nonprofit William T. Grant Foundation, which he started in 1936.

Before there was a Los Angeles or a San Francisco, there was Spain’s first colony in upper California, El Presidio de San Diego.

Founded in 1769, this small fortress and mission was the seedling for the twenty-one missions and four presidios that followed. It was here that Franciscan priest Junípero Serra planted the first Catholic cross in what became Alta California. The nearby harbor provided a safe port for sailing ships from all over the world, ensuring a steady stream of goods and supplies. Over its many decades, the San Diego Presidio was home to Spaniards, Mexicans, Native people and, toward the end, Anglo-Americans. Its cemetery became the final resting place for many of them.

Author and historian Richard Carrico provides insights into San Diego’s beginnings.

Hoboken holds a unique place in American history that no city its size can match.

Originally an outpost of the Dutch empire, it grew into a hub of the Industrial Revolution, becoming synonymous with steam-powered ships and trains, the zipper and even Tootsie Rolls. Over the years, the city was home to some of the nation’s wealthiest and most notable people, including John Jacob Astor and Frank Sinatra, as well as to waterfront shacks and tenements filled with destitute immigrants. When hard times hit, industry and innovation vanished, leaving Hoboken a dilapidated factory town. But it recovered to become a bohemian enclave and a leader in urban renewal.

Join author and journalist Joseph Lauro as he traces the city’s remarkable past.

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

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

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

The Sherman family does not have very much, but they take good care of one another and are generous to others, making gingerbread cookies as holiday gifts and carefully decorating them to look like friends and neighbors. Then, one Christmas Eve, after the family returns home from delivering their gifts, and everyone falls fast asleep, something magical stirs, born in a star of snow, that will change their holiday, and their lives, forever. Inspired by a real rural tradition from the foothills of the Green Mountains, Enchanted Night Before Christmas is a timeless fantasy that reminds us the most powerful gifts are the ones we give away. (Includes a scrumptious gingerbread spice cookie recipe from King Arthur Baking Company.)

Hunted by vampires and haunted by lovers, Jake Campbell must survive New Orleans’ darkest secrets—or be buried with them

The supernatural world of the French Quarter quickly sucked Jake Campbell in and just as quickly spit him out. Now running from vampires and former lovers, Jake finds himself in Texas, where he discovers he’s not just a magnet for mayhem—he’s also a beacon for vampires, no matter what state he’s in. Jake teams up with two unusual vampire hunters against his better judgment, and the three head back to New Orleans to put an end to the Casket Girls, who Jake believes are still held captive in the convent attic. While it may seem like Jake has things under control, he soon finds out he should never underestimate vampires and scorned women...

Meriden, Connecticut was once known as the “Silver Capital of the World” for its prominent silver manufacturing. By 1867, the city was part of a manufacturing boom that produced everything from ivory combs, buttons, tinware, and cutlery to coffee grinders and organs. In 1944, the business of manufacturing in the city would find the War Manpower Commission naming Meriden “The Nation’s Ideal War Community,” for its industrial and patriotic contributions during World War II. While many of those traditional manufacturers have closed, the city still plays host to several world-recognized establishments, especially in the fields of culinary arts and medicine. From baseball legend Connie Mack to the invention of the steamed cheeseburger, local author Justin Piccirillo reveals some of the lesser known but fascinating history of this vibrant community. 

Author Jennifer Boresz Engelking explores the intriguing history of Lake Erie. What lies below the surface of Lake Erie? Gold coins from long-ago shipwrecks, like the tragic sinking of the G.P. Griffith. The menacing, mysterious Lake Erie Monster. How about a whiskey ship that vanished more than a century ago in the western basin? The lake is filled with little-known tales, including legends like Joe Root in Erie and legendary places like the Belle Isle Boathouse in Detroit. Tragedies, like the Ashtabula bridge disaster, and triumphs, like the day Niagara Falls was turned off, changed the way we live today.

Avon, Connecticut, has had a long history of people who challenged conventions and persevered through tragedy. There was the clock peddler’s encounter with Abraham Lincoln, a suffragist’s political showdown with her cousin Eleanor Roosevelt and a man who betrayed his brother-in-law, Thomas Edison. Before the Heublein Tower, art patron Daniel Wadsworth built the first of three viewing towers on Avon Mountain. Following the courage of local abolitionist David Bartlett, Black Civil War soldier Leverett Holden fought for emancipation. Shocking events included one of the first murder cases in America to test the insanity defense, homicides at a house doomed for bloodshed and the horrific factory fire that shattered the lives of immigrant families. Scott Lewis reveals the stories of the visionaries and victims who shaped the town of Avon’s future.

During the War of Independence, New England’s soldiers faced the possibility of death in battle on the field, from an errant cannon blast or, more commonly, from a skirmish in the woodlands. More feared, perhaps, were the dangers that came off the field of battle in the form of illness, hunger and exposure to the elements. Those who served “’til the war’s end” faced the tides of sickness and hunger that swept through their encampments and prisons during the region’s frigid and unforgiving winters. Historian Robert A. Geake explores these challenges through collected diaries, documents and letters. They reveal a largely untold story of the conflict, while providing a true testament to the grit and determination of the Continental army, including patriots of color, during the most demanding of times.

In the years before the Revolutionary War, Norwich, Connecticut was a hotbed of radicalism. As a trade and transportation center, its merchants took a leading role in objecting to British taxes and laws that threatened their livelihood. Meet the Norwich men who risked everything in the cause of Liberty: Colonel John Durkee, the warrior; and Samuel Huntington, the statesman and signer of the Declaration of Independence. Other notable figures include Major General Jedidiah Huntington, merchant turned soldier; and Benedict Arnold, brilliant soldier turned traitor; Col. John Durkee, a commander at the Battle of Monmouth; and Dr. Philip Turner, who became staff surgeon for the Continental Army.  Local author and historian Patricia F. Staley tells the story of America’s War for Independence through the stories of those from Norwich who fought to create a new nation.

From its early beginning in the 1860s, the city of La Habra has grown from a steadfast commitment to community, service, and forward progress while honoring the town’s bountiful past.

The quiet agricultural community of La Habra emerged with modest beginnings. The cultivation of produce such as avocados, walnuts, and citrus put La Habra on the map, while the expansion of the railroad and oil industries helped connect the city to a greater Southern California region that was experiencing a wider development boom. This led to the incorporation of the city on January 20, 1925. Yet the city’s greatest resource has always been its friendly and passionate residents, whose dedication can be seen through the endurance of beloved community events such as the renowned annual Corn Festival and Tamale Festival; iconic local, family-owned and -operated businesses; service and social clubs; churches; and so many more fruitful contributions that make La Habra a caring community.

To honor the centennial celebration of the incorporation of La Habra, Lauren Blazey, Kimberly Albarian, and the La Habra Centennial Celebration Committee diligently gathered a collection of captivating photographs that chronicle its abundant past. By embarking on this visual journey through time, we have the privilege to witness the transformation of our city and get a rare glimpse into the lives of those who built it.

When a rule change threatens the big truffle contest, a pig and a pup must dig deep—because true friendship always finds a way!

Peri (a pig) and Tubs (a dog) are best friends who live at an orchard where magnificent truffles grow. They spend their days sniffing and (very gently!) digging in the rich soil. When Tubs' entry in the annual Truffle Dog Championship is threatened by a last-minute rule change, can the friends overcome the odds and win the day? On their own, they're at a disadvantage, but together nothing can stop these truffle snuffling friends!

Fires were a scourge in nineteenth-century New York, destroying personal property, prominent buildings and, in many cases, a sense of community. In Madison County, fires changed the community, included the mysterious burning of the Madison County Courthouse, the complete loss of business districts in both Canastota and Hamilton and the arsonist who terrorized Cazenovia for nearly five years. Fires destroyed the historic Gerrit Smith Mansion in Peterboro, the Munnsville Plow Company and Duffy-Mott in Bouckville, drastically affecting the future of the county. Madison County historian Matthew Urtz examines the fires, their causes and the economic and psychological impact they had on this peaceful community.

A Lifeline from Darkness

More than a year before America entered World War II, a ship from Europe became one of the nation’s first and closest experiences with the wickedness of the Holocaust. As war raged across their homeland, dozens of Jews boarded the SS Quanza in the summer of 1940, desperate to escape Nazi evil. Tragically, the United States barred their entry. When Mexico denied them as well, it seemed that they would become the next victims of the Holocaust. But a lucky stop in Norfolk, Virginia, saved their lives. Sallie and Jacob Morewitz, lawyers who had fought for the Jewish community for years, rushed into court on their behalf, and Jewish and pro-refugee groups rallied to their cause. Even Eleanor Roosevelt stepped in. After many defeats, America welcomed them to a new, safe life.

Award-winning journalist Jason Norman unfolds this remarkable story of deliverance.

Santa’s running late! Luckily, a scruffy white pup knows New Orleans by heart, and he’s ready to save Christmas.

Scrim the dog is based on a true story of a scraggly, little white terrier named Scrim that captured the hearts of New Orleanians when he was on the run in the city for many months; he even jumped out of a second story window after he was apprehended! A portion of all book sales will be donated by the author to local animal rescues and animal welfare organizations.

The murders that shocked Michigan

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

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

Santa’s running late! Luckily, a scruffy white pup knows New Orleans by heart, and he’s ready to save Christmas.

This miniature book of Scrim on the Run: Christmas Fun! to hang on your tree tells the true story of a scraggly little white terrier named Scrim that captured the hearts of New Orleanians when he was on the run in the city for many months; he even jumped out of a second story window after he was apprehended! A portion of all book sales will be donated by the author to local animal rescues and animal welfare organizations.

Those Who Fought for Liberty On Both Sides

In 1775, the people of Charleston were on the verge of eight years of revolution and war. They were bitterly divided. For Charlestonians, the War for Independence was a civil war, as some favored independence and some were Loyalists. Many on both sides contributed greatly to the war effort. They were famous and obscure, rich and poor, women and men, Black and white. Contrary to popular opinion, people on both sides appealed to patriotism and fought for liberty. For the enslaved majority, the war represented an opportunity to gain their freedom—by siding with the British. In telling the stories of a spectrum of participants, Peter McCandless recovers a history at odds with public memory, encrusted with layers of forgetfulness and myths.

Unsung heroes of the Old Dominion

Historians have spilled plenty of ink on the leaders of the Continental Army and French forces at the 1781 Siege of Yorktown. But less is known about the top leadership of the Virginia militia forces who were also at that decisive engagement. Several—including Brigadier General George Weedon, Colonel James Innes and Lieutenant Colonel William Darke—were former Continental Army officers with extensive battlefield experience. Others—such as Colonel Sampson Mathews, Colonel John Page and Colonel Sir John Peyton—were prominent civic leaders who took to the field to defend their native state.

Using a wide array of sources and compelling images, Sean M. Heuvel explores the lives and service of the regimental and brigade-level Virginia militia commanders who served at Yorktown.

Smashing the Glass Ceiling

Women in Alabama have made an outsized contribution to both the state and the nation. Before Rosa Parks, fifteen-year old Claudette Colvin challenged segregation laws on a bus in Montgomery. Georgia Gilmore used her cooking skills to empower and support protestors during the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955. Singer “Big Mama” Thornton became the bridge between rock ‘n roll and the blues. After being crowned Miss America in 1951, the “Basque Spitfire” Yolande Betbeze took a defiant stand for women, forcing changes in the pageant industry. Author Joe Cuhaj profiles the unique journeys, challenges and triumphs of these and many more women who have helped shape the cultural and social landscape of not only Alabama but the world as well.

Fascinating tales from the territories of Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico.

From its earliest days to the dawn of the twentieth century, the Southwest was known as a place for dreamers, heroes, and lonesome drifters. People were drawn to places like Tombstone, where notorious events left a lingering legacy, and Taos Pueblo, with centuries of history contained within its adobe walls. Across the territories, the blending of cultures and conflicts that arose turned common people into legends. Names like Geronimo, Billy the Kid, Doña Tules, and Olive Oatman survive in story, along with other, wilder tales, like those of the Lost Dutchman mine and the Mogollon Monster.

Join author and illustrator Jessica Laughlin as she takes you on a journey through the wild frontier of the Southwest.

Authors Cary O’Dell and Richard L. Sprehe lead a literary investigation of a brutal cold-case murder. 

In May 1975, in the small Southern Illinois town of Centralia, the body of one of its best-known residents, John Shakespeare, was found nearly nude, bound, and shot, execution-style, in the basement of his home. Shakespeare, sixty-nine, was a wealthy bachelor, an eccentric, an heir to the Shakespeare fishing fortune, a world-renowned collector of vintage cars, and, maybe, a possessor of a few secrets.

Despite the victim being well liked in the community, state and local police, and eventually even the FBI and Interpol, found a plethora of suspects while investigating the crime. Could it have been his longtime business associate? Or the mysterious hitchhiker seen in town just days before his body was found? Or a long-ago name from his past?