Spooky Season Reads

Name: The Canteen
Brand: Eric Groce
SKU: 9781467197076
Price: 8.5 USD
Availability: InStock

Get in the spirit of spooky season with these stories of the unknown!

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The Canteen

$16.99 $8.50 Save 50%

Christmas in New England, Second Edition

$19.95 $9.98 Save 50%

Lincoln

$23.99 $12.00 Save 50%

Joslyn Castle

$23.99 $12.00 Save 50%

Nebraska Ordnance Plant, The

$24.99 $12.50 Save 50%

Around Bennington

$24.99 $12.50 Save 50%

Sarpy County

$21.99 $11.00 Save 50%

Boys Town

$24.99 $12.50 Save 50%

Nebraska Sweet Beets

$21.99 $11.00 Save 50%

Hastings

$24.99 $12.50 Save 50%

Nebraska's Carl Milton Aldrich and the Arbor Day Song

$23.99 $12.00 Save 50%

The Canteen

9781467197076

$16.99 $8.50 Save 50%

With historical photos and impeccable storytelling, this extraordinary book chronicles an astonishing moment in American history.

Starting Christmas Day, 1941, when transport trains on the Union Pacific Railroad stopped in North Platte to refill their water tanks, the local families of North Platte, Nebraska, came together to provide love, support, food, and morale to young soldiers involved in World War II—black and white—who briefly passed through their town. Troops poured into the North Platte Depot, The Canteen, to find homecooked meals, birthday cakes, hot coffee, cold milk, magazines, postcards, and the warmth of a grateful and loving community. The stops lasted only ten minutes, but the people of North Platte made sure that everyone in their midst was taken care of. This remarkable story will inspire readers of all ages, as The Canteen nourishes all who have the privilege to visit.

Christmas in New England, Second Edition

9781641941167

$19.95 $9.98 Save 50%

This history of the holiday is an endless delight, with stories about all your favorite Christmas traditions, from Mystic to Maine, the Berkshires to Boston.Here are some of the more than fifty New England holiday traditions traced and described in this enchanting treasury: Charles Follen and the Christmas Tree ChurchFlying Santa, Silent Santa, and Secret SantaRudolph, the Most Famous ReindeerA Magical Ride on the Polar ExpressLouis Prang, Father of the American Christmas CardCandlelight Strolls at Old Sturbridge Village and Strawbery BankeA Norman Rockwell ChristmasCapt. James Magee's Holiday Party

Lincoln

9781467108188

$23.99 $12.00 Save 50%

The village of Lancaster became the state of Nebraska's first capital city in 1867, renamed Lincoln. Not everyone predicted its success. One early observer noted: "There are no roads leading to it now. It has no commerce and there is scarcely a wagon load of produce raised annually within ten, perhaps twenty miles of it." These postcards from the authors' collections tell a different story in 200-plus images of a city that not only survived but thrived. Most of these images are from postcards' heyday in the first quarter of the 20th century. Many show buildings and places still recognizable a century later, while some depict less familiar scenes now lost.

Joslyn Castle

9781467107976

$23.99 $12.00 Save 50%

In the spring of 1893, media titans George and Sarah Joslyn bought a farm in Omaha, Nebraska, that would prove to be one of the city's most noteworthy real estate transfers. On this land, the Joslyns would construct a transformational home that would become an Omaha landmark known as Joslyn Castle, a Scottish baronial-style home built of limestone from neighboring Kansas. They chose their good friend, Canadian-born architect John McDonald, to design the residence, and he did so in grand style. Over the years, the Joslyn Castle has survived a devastating tornado, served as a home base for the administrative staff of the Omaha Public Schools, and charmed thousands of visitors who have come to tour the grounds. It stands today as a reminder of a bygone era and the dream of the Joslyns, who shared their home--and their wealth--with the city they loved so much.

Nebraska Ordnance Plant, The

9781467161497

$24.99 $12.50 Save 50%

The entrance of the United States into World War II in 1941 completely transformed the nation. During this time, the small Nebraska towns of Mead and Wahoo in Saunders County were chosen to be the site of the Nebraska Ordnance Plant, one of three such plants in the state. The plant operated for 20 years—from 1942 to 1962. It served as an ordnance plant during World War II and the Korean War, then as an Atlas missile site from 1960 to 1962. Since then, the land has been sold to various interests, including the University of Nebraska and the Nebraska National Guard. The Nebraska Ordnance Plant uses over 150 photographs and their accompanying captions to tell the story of the profound effect the plant had on the social, economic, and environmental life of the county.

Jennifer Garza is the assistant at the Saunders County Historical Society and a lecturer in the history department at the University of Nebraska. Erin Hauser is the curator at the Saunders County Historical Society.

Around Bennington

9781467106245

$24.99 $12.50 Save 50%

The area around Bennington played an important role in the westward expansion of the United States. The Missouri and Platte Rivers were important travel corridors for indigenous peoples, early explorers, trappers, and pioneers. Railroads revolutionized travel and led to the creation of hundreds of small villages along the rail lines; Bennington, founded in 1887, was one of these villages. The arrival of the automobile and better roads decreased the dependency on rail service. By 1975, the rail line that created Bennington had been abandoned. Bennington benefitted from upgraded roads and highways and from suburban sprawl. In the meantime, the Washington community declined, eventually closing its school and church.

Sarpy County

9781467146562

$21.99 $11.00 Save 50%

The smallest of Nebraska's ninety-three counties, Sarpy County's history looms large. The area was home to Native Americans--including the Otoe, Omaha and Pawnee tribes. Hundreds of thousands of settlers moved through the area during westward migration, and they had to cross rivers on ferries like the one operated by the county's namesake, Peter Sarpy. The addition of Offutt Air Force Base and the Martin Bomber Plant made the county an important hub during World War II and beyond. Author, historian and museum director Ben Justman offers the rich history of Sarpy County.

Boys Town

9780738508276

$24.99 $12.50 Save 50%

Boys Town: The Constant Spirit maps the remarkable journey of a tiny youth refuge, Father Flanagan's Boys' Home, from its humble beginnings in December 1917 to its role as a leading national force in youth care by the end of the century. Compiling over 200 photographs from the Boys Town archives, author James R. Ivey recreates the history of the ideas, successes, and triumphs of Father Flanagan and his boys.

In 1917, Father Edward J. Flanagan, a Roman Catholic priest and Irish immigrant, borrowed $90 from a friend to open a home for wayward boys in downtown Omaha. The first five boys he took off the streets moved in just after Thanksgiving of that year, and a legacy was born. Featured here in vintage photographs are the first house at 25th and Dodge Streets, the move to the spacious Overlook Farm, the road to Hollywood, and Father Flanagan's rarely noted assistance to Japanese Americans during World War II.

Nebraska Sweet Beets

9781467144278

$21.99 $11.00 Save 50%

Sugar beets are as tenaciously rooted in Nebraska's history as they are in its soil, especially in a seventy-mile stretch of the North Platte Valley that extended into eastern Wyoming. The state's first processing facility opened in Grand Island in 1890, boasting the largest mill in the world. The height of the beet boom occurred in the early part of the twentieth century as Wyobraskan towns courted factory locations as feverishly as rival sugar companies competed for territory, and an irrigation network turned the region into America's Valley of the Nile. Some rail lines have disappeared from the map, while catastrophes like the Scottsbluff and Bayard sugar bin explosions and the Gering Molasses spill will never be forgotten. From neglected beet dumps and abandoned rail spurs to silos ready for future harvests, explore Sugar Valley's heritage with Lawrence Gibbs.

Hastings

9780738561219

$24.99 $12.50 Save 50%

Hastings was founded in 1872 on the open prairie at the intersection of two railroads. It grew to become the "Queen City of the Plains," cigar-making capital of Nebraska, birthplace of Kool-Aid, and the site of the largest inland naval ammunition depot in America during World War II.

Nebraska's Carl Milton Aldrich and the Arbor Day Song

9781467152990

$23.99 $12.00 Save 50%

Since 1910, the Arbor Day song has been a cherished part of Nebraska's tree-planting holiday tradition. Its author, Carl Milton Aldrich, belonged to an exceptionally talented family that included his mother, a Woman's Christian Temperance Union co-founder, and retail magnate Harry Selfridge. Born to pioneering associates of J. Sterling Morton, the Otoe County native became a leading meatpacking expert and prominent political activist who worked with some of the most powerful men in Gilded Age America. For thirty years, he expertly managed Nebraska City's largest business, the Morton-Gregson Company, and was one of Arbor Day's most influential promoters. Rachel Brupbacher, his great-great-granddaughter, recounts the inspiring story of how he guided his hometown through both its golden years and darkest hours, selflessly working for the sake of its future.