The History Press [New Releases]

Northeast Philadelphia chronicles this area's history of transformation, from scattered communities to an urban center.

Before the Consolidation Act of 1854 more than tripled the former capital's population, Northeast Philadelphia was a scattered group of pastoral communities just beyond the city limits. Holmesburg, Somerton and other small villages initially struggled but ultimately triumphed in their transition from rural townships to a bustling urban center. Dr. Harry C. Silcox has collaborated with Frank W. Hollingsworth to chart this fascinating evolution, from the demise of the family farm to neighbors uniting on the homefront during World War II. With such lively characters as Mary Disston, the founding mother of Tacony, and tales of the local effort for suffrage, Silcox and Hollingsworth create a brilliant and affectionate portrait of Northeast Philadelphia.

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.

Join author Joseph Buga on an exploration of this working-class and indefatigable city. Passaic has a history that stretches the imagination. Back when the place was called Acquackanonk, it played a crucial role in the American Revolution. Later, its hospitable attitude toward immigrants established Passaic as a beacon of both stability and innovation. By the late 1800s, the city was becoming a national leader in all things textile and rubber—Edison used Passaic wire to electrify Lower Manhattan. Allen B. Dumont established WABD in Passaic, the fourth national TV network alongside ABC, CBS and NBC. The Passaic High School “Wonder Team” boasted the longest high school winning streak in any sport, and a Passaic athlete became the “world’s fastest man.” Passaic pop legends the Shirelles and Joey Dee and the Starlighters made it big and influenced an upstart British group, the Beatles.

Guardian Dams. Today, most people remember Johnstown for a cataclysmic flood, but the city was also once known for steel.

From the early 1900s through much of the 1970s, millions of gallons of water per day were necessary to keep the city’s main industry alive. This is the story of the dams that didn’t fail, safely keeping the people of Johnstown and its steel industry prosperous for decades. It is also the story of transformation, for the dams built by an extinct steel company still stand and now safeguard areas of great natural resources and ecological importance in the highlands of Northern Appalachia. Surveying more than a century of wars, labor strife and economic catastrophe, author Joshua Penrod interweaves the story of these dams with the history of Johnstown itself.

They Didn’t Need to be There

It was a calm, moonless night in late April 1865. Robert E. Lee had surrendered. Abraham Lincoln was dead. Assassin John Wilkes Booth and accomplice David Herold, previously hiding in the swamps of Southern Maryland, had crossed the Potomac River to safety. The barge Black Diamond was anchored with the Potomac Flotilla near Blackistone Lighthouse, hoping to prevent that crossing and catch the perpetrators. All onboard were unaware that they were too late. The steamer Massachusetts was running downriver carrying U.S. soldiers back to their regiments. By dawn, the Black Diamond was on the bottom of the river, the Massachusetts was crippled and eighty-seven men were dead. Author Karen E. Stone reveals the story of a heroic pursuit turned tragic.

Author Jim Cullen shares tales of the ruddy trailblazers who grappled and persevered during nation-shaping moments in the Garden State. New Jersey sits at the intersection of the most important developments in American history, from the fight for freedom to the rise of the United States as a global power. At each critical moment, key figures came forward. These profiles of important Americans—some natives of the Garden State, some not—focus on key episodes that took place here but echoed broadly. From George Washington to Thomas Edison and Whitney Houston, these men and women crisscross politics, business, religion, social activism, science and entertainment, and their critical encounters took place in cities and towns across the state.

True Blue for Union

In the middle of the nineteenth century, Cape May County was an isolated and lightly populated peninsula at the southernmost tip of New Jersey. Nevertheless, its citizens answered the call for the Union effort during the Civil War. The 7th U.S. Infantry regiment recruited substantially from the region, and the entire community came out to usher the gallant troops to war, departing from Cape Island. On the homefront, supporting rallies were staged, food drives enacted and medical supplies shipped to the front. Railroad tycoons eyeing the underdeveloped beaches of Cape May began developing the county’s resorts beyond Cape Island even before troops returned home. Author Ray Rebmann presents the valiant efforts and changing times of Cape May County in the Civil War era.

Discover the history of the development of Long Island and its intimate relationship with New York City. /

Beginning in the Roaring Twenties, Wall Street money looked eastward to Nassau and Suffolk counties looking generate wealth from a land boom. After the Great Depression and World War II, Long Island was the site of the creation of the quintessential postwar American suburb, Levittown. Levittown and its spinoff suburban communities served as a primary symbol of the American dream through affordable home ownership for the predominately White middle class and established a core attribute of the national mythology. Starting in the 1960s, the dream began to dissolve, as the postwar economic engine ran out of steam and Long Island became as much urban as suburban. Author Lawrence R. Samuel charts how the island evolved over the decades and largely detached itself from New York City to become a self-sustaining entity with its own challenges, exclusions and triumphs.

Discover the Black pioneers who shaped St. Lawrence County through grit and determination.

From its origins as part of New France through the Civil War and eventual industrialization of the region, St. Lawrence County has been shapped by all too often overlooked Black families and individuals. Author Bryan S. Thompson reveals the history of the African American community in New York's North Country.

Beyond the world famous artists, singers, actors and more from Pittsburgh are the city's celebrities known locally for their quirky style, unique mannerisms, and outlandish behavior.

From Joe Barker, the violent "street preacher" who was elected mayor in 1850--while in prison!--to Curt Wootton, the comedian whose celebrity status comes from being "Pittsburgh Dad," on Youtube, the Steel City has had a number of colorful characters throughout its history that defy category.

Chronicling the incomparable life of boxing and Saratoga Race Course legend John Morrissey.

John Old Smoke Morrissey was one of the most dynamic characters of his time. He went from a career as an undefeated bare-knuckle boxer, founded the Saratoga Race Course and eventually won elections to Congress and the New York State Senate. A poor, uneducated Irish immigrant, Morrissey became a leader in the Dead Rabbits street gang. He won fame as a fighter and fortune as the operator of a string of successful gambling houses.

Morrissey then took Saratoga Springs by storm, improbably resurrecting thoroughbred racing during the Civil War and opening his famous Club House, which was the most glamorous casino the country had ever seen. Author and National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame director of communications Brien Bouyea takes you on this fascinating journey and shows just how Morrissey did it all.

New Jersey's institutional research accolades are renowned—medical inventions at Johnson & Johnson, the genius of Edison Labs and fourteen Nobel Prizes to Bell Labs scientists.

But beyond those behemoths of innovation lie many more breakthroughs and firsts. In 1869, Rutgers and Princeton played the first college football game. Famed inventor Abram Spanel developed the Apollo space suit at his home, Drumthwacket, now the official residence of governors. The American Can Company and Krueger Brewing Company teamed up to create the first beer can. Author Linda J. Barth reveals these and many more stories of the state's diverse tradition of original ideas and trailblazing personas.

New York's Harlem Valley, with the last stops on the Metro-North train line from Manhattan, has an incredibly eclectic history for a predominantly agricultural region .

A Victorian utopian community claiming to see fairies settled in Wassaic, attracting Japanese samurai and remaking the townscape of Amenia. An early version of the “Borscht Belt” began on the shores of Lake Amenia, where a once-thriving resort community vanished along with the lake itself. Amidst a crisis of dwindling membership, the NAACP was brought together at major conferences held at Amenia’s Troutbeck estate, owned by Joel Spingarn, the organization’s first Jewish president. Young graduates from the Rhode Island School of design and other art schools launched the Wassaic Project, a festival and art residency using a converted agricultural grain elevator as their venue. 

Author Tonia Shoumatoff presents these and other fascinating stories from Life at the End of the Line in the Harlem Valley.

New York runs on coffee. Read of coffee's past in the city and how it wove its way into the everyday.

The coffee industry was made for New York: complex, diverse, fascinating and with plenty of attitude. Since arriving in the 1600s, coffee held patriotic significance during wartime, fueled industrial revolution and transformed the city's foodways. The New York Coffee Exchange opened tumultuously in the 1880s. Alice Foote MacDougall founded a 1920s coffeehouse empire. In the same decade, Brooklyn teenager William Black started Chock Full o'Nuts with $250 and a dream. Third wavers Ninth Street Espresso and Joe made the latest latte craze mainstream. Through stories, interviews and photographs, coffee professional and Tristate native Erin Meister shares Gotham's caffeinated past and explores the coffee-related reasons why the city never sleeps.

This book charts the story of Navy football and steers readers through the reemergence of an iconic program representing our nation's finest.

Navy football holds a unique place in college athletics as one of the oldest and most prestigious programs the game has ever known. During the 1950s and 1960s, the Midshipmen were nationally recognized by the major bowl games they played and Heisman Trophy–winning players Joe Bellino and Roger Staubach. Although the program struggled mightily to maintain relevance in subsequent years, Athletic Director Chet Gladchuk kick-started the renaissance of Navy football by hiring Coach Paul Johnson in 2001. The team's current coach, Ken Niumatalolo, once fired by the academy in the dining room of a McDonald's in 1998, returned to become the winningest coach in school history. Cameron charts the story of Navy football and steers readers through the reemergence of an iconic program representing our nation's finest.

The rolling hills, picturesque farms and lush highlands of northwestern New Jersey exemplify the often-overlooked natural beauty of the Garden State. But among its historic towns and scenic vistas lurk haunting mysteries and unexplained apparitions...

A recluse who practiced witchcraft generations ago is said to be still spinning misdeeds as the Sussex Sorcerer on Sunrise Mountain. The ghost of Reverend O’Malley walks the woods around Mount Allamuchy as the Purple Bishop, seeking vengeance against those who betrayed him. The sinisterly named Shades of Death Road along the sod farms and meadows of the Pequest River Valley has a bloody reputation of bandit killings and supernatural encounters.  

Author Robert Oakes leads readers on a spirited journey through the historic ghost lore of Northwestern New Jersey.

The Joseph Horne Company, popularly known as Horne’s, was a beloved and integral part of Pittsburghers' lives for generations.

It was the first department store in the Steel City, staking its ground at the landmark flagship store on Penn Avenue and Stanwix Street. Starting as a small dry goods store, the company expanded into a regional retail powerhouse with a reputation for selling high-quality goods in elegant spaces. Horne’s succumbed to the fate of other department stores amid changing consumer habits, and a short-lived stint as a Lazarus store was the final chapter in more than 140 years of history. The community still enjoys the tree on the corner of the former Horne's building, now Highmark, that is lit each year to usher in Pittsburgh's holiday season. Author Letitia Stuart Savage shares the history and memories of Horne’s department store.

Built as a gated, all-white community, in the 20th century LeDroit Park became the premier neighborhood of Washington, DC's Black elite.

LeDroit Park's famed arch offers entry into a tree-lined neighborhood with unique architecture and a captivating history. Developed in 1873 by a Howard University trustee who refused to sell lots to Black Washingtonians, the neighborhood was designed to be both town and country, one of DC's earliest suburbs. Not long after the fences of this gated community were torn down, the demographics changed as members of the Black elite of Washington moved there. During the 20th century it was home to educators and activists, military men and artists, doctors and scientists - both white and Black, men and women.

Local historian and guide Canden Schwantes leads you through this neighborhood, small in size but large in history, to discover the stories of the people who called LeDroit Park home.

Chesapeake oysters are part of the legacy of the area, history on the half-shell. Read of their beginning (foot-long bivalves!) through cultivation today.

The eastern oyster, the humble bivalve and delicous treat, are the living bones of the Chesapeake, as well as the ecological and historical lifeblood of the region. When colonists first sailed these impossibly abundant shores, they described massive shoals of foot-long oysters but the bottomless appetite of the Gilded Age and great fleets of skipjacks took their toll. Disease, environmental pressures and overconsumption decimated the population by the end of the twentieth century. While Virginia turned to bottom-leasing, passionate debate continues in Maryland among scientists and oystermen whether aquaculture or wild harvesting is the better way forward. Today, boutique oyster farming in the Bay is sustainably meeting the culinary demand of a new generation of connoisseurs. With careful research and interviews with experts, author Kate Livie presents this dynamic story and a glimpse of what the future may hold.

Founded in March 1912, DC branch of the NAACP quickly became the leading organization advocating for the city's Black community.

President Woodrow Wilson's institution of Jim Crow segregation in the federal government in the spring of 1913 galvanized the African American community of DC and the NAACP launched a formidable crusade against Wilson's racist policies. As the preeminent civil rights organization of the nation's capital, it also developed a dual role as a watchdog body to prevent the passage of legislation in Congress that negatively affected African Americans.

Archivist and historian Derek Gray chronicles and analyzes the work of the DC NAACP through the civil rights era to the achievement of Home Rule in the District.

Many Americans are familiar with Thomas Edison's invention factory in Menlo Park, where he patented the phonograph, the light bulb and more than one thousand other items. Yet many other ideas have grown in the Garden State, too.

New Jerseyans brought sound and music to movies and built the very first drive-in theater. In addition to the first cultivated blueberry, tasty treats like ice cream cones and M&Ms are also Jersey natives. Iconic aspects of American life, like the batting cage, catcher's mask and even professional baseball itself, started in New Jersey. Life would be a lot harder without the vacuum cleaner, plastic and Band-Aids, and many important advances in medicine and surgery were also developed here. Join author Linda Barth as she explores groundbreaking, useful, fun and even silly inventions and their New Jersey roots.

Award-winning author and historian Kerriann Flanagan Brosky uncovers some of the most ghastly and fascinating historical crimes committed on Long Island.

Beyond the idyllic countryside and suburban communities of Long Island lies a murky history of murder and mayhem. A Victorian romance went awry in Huntington when wealthy farmer Charles Kelsey was tarred, feathered and murdered in 1872. Thirty-five years before the famous witch trials of Salem, East Hampton had its own Puritan hysteria among charges of witchcraft. The 1937 kidnapping of wealthy heiress Alice Parsons shook the quiet town of Stony Brook and remains a mystery to this day.

The uplifting story of the valiant Tuskegee men and women whose impact on Philadelphia during World War II will surprise even the most avid armchair historian.

At the outbreak of World War II, Philadelphians heeded the call, including the valiant airmen and women of Tuskegee. Although trained in Alabama, the prestigious unit comprised dozens of Philadelphia-area natives, second only to Chicago in the country. They served as fighter pilots, bombers, nurses and mechanics, as well as in many other support roles. The African American service members had to overcome racism and sexism on the homefront in order to serve with great distinction. Their battle for equality didn't end at the war's conclusion. Tuskegee alumni continued to serve their nation by working to secure civil rights and serve their community back home in Philadelphia. Author Robert Kodosky presents the trials and triumphs of Philadelphia's Tuskegee airmen and women.

Sit back and buckle up for a fast-paced thrill ride into Delaware's rich racing history!

The earliest Delaware drivers raced on dusty tracks carved into a farmer’s field. Characters like Johnny Martin and Paul Walker helped establish racing in the state shortly after World War II. The latest generation races at the famed Georgetown Speedway and Delaware International Speedway, and drivers, owners and promoters like Ricky Elliott, Curt Michael and Brett Deyo make racing the thriving sport it is today. Through interviews and extensive research, author, Delaware native and racing historian Chad Wayne Culver has captured the stories of some of the state's best-known racing legends.

Less than an hour by train from New York City...

Croton Point Park encapsulates the history, beauty and promise of the Hudson Valley. The Westchester County Park encompasses miles of Hudson River shoreline with astonishing views and remnants of the region’s past. Incredible shell mounds shed light on the Native peoples who inhabited the area generations prior to European colonization. The remains of the first commercial vineyards in the Northeast are just steps away from historic brickyards that helped build Manhattan. The Point served as a dumping ground for years until local efforts restored the park into a model of environmental conservation. Today, bald eagles have returned to nest alongside visitors exploring remarkable landmarks, sailing the waters of the Hudson or enjoying a scenic picnic.

Authors Scott Craven and Caroline Ranald Curvan present Westchester’s crown jewel, Croton Point Park.

Discover Maryland's legacy of daring women who made their mark on history as spies, would-be queens and fiery suffragettes.

Maryland's history is punctuated by women who refused to be forgotten.  Sarah Wilson escaped indentured servitude in Frederick by impersonating the queen's sister. In Cumberland, Sallie Pollock smuggled letters for top Confederate officials. Baltimore journalist Marguerite Harrison snuck into Russia to report conditions there after World War I. From famous figures like Harriet Tubman to unsung heroines like Lady Law Violet Hill Whyte, author Lauren R. Silberman introduces Maryland's most tenacious and adventurous women.

Explore the fasciniating history of Prohibition in one of the places where it was most defied-- Baltimore, Maryland.

There was perhaps no region more opposed to Prohibition than Baltimore and Maryland. The Free State was defiant in its protest from thoroughly wet Governor Albert Ritchie to esteemed Catholic Cardinal James Gibbons. Maryland was the only state to not pass a baby Volstead enforcement act. Speakeasies emerged at Frostburg's Gunter Hotel and at Baltimore's famed Belvedere Hotel, whose famous owls' blinking eyes would notify its patrons if it was safe to indulge in bootleg liquor. Rumrunners were frequent on the Chesapeake Bay as bootleggers populated the city streets. Journalist H.L. Mencken, known as the Sage of Baltimore, drew national attention criticizing the new law. Author Michael T. Walsh presents this colorful history.

The towns of Northeast Philadelphia boast a rich and vibrant history, but many of their engrossing stories have been pushed into the background over time.

In this collection of historical columns, first published in the Northeast Times, Dr. Harry C. Silcox brings their narratives back into the spotlight. From the beginning, all major roads in the region went to Frankford, the site of the nation's first psychiatric hospital and the popular Unity Street open-air market. The town of Holmesburg offered shelter to the veterans of the stage in Edwin Forrest's Home for Aged Actors. Years before the civil rights movement, Greenbelt Knoll became Philadelphia's first planned racially integrated housing development. Even the nation's first solar energy-powered machine was developed in Northeast Philly. From tales of alligator wrestling to groundbreaking feats of aviation, Silcox weaves a fascinating tapestry of everyday American life.

Saratoga Springs, New York examines the history of a town whose livelihood was threatened by drought and the outlawing of gambling.

People from all walks of life came to Saratoga Springs to enjoy horse racing, gambling and other popular vices. But when the springs dried up and gambling was outlawed, the town's future was in peril. Timothy Holmes presents the history of Saratoga and examines how the town managed to avoid the slow death that threatened to overtake it.

Join author C.L. Marshall as he weaves humorous and harrowing tales of the sporting life on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake.

Fish and fowl make their way to the Chesapeake Bay with the changing seasons, and sportsmen yearn for the hunt. Whether on the wing or water, stories of the chase are integral to life on the Eastern Shore. Thousands of fishermen turn out for the annual White Marlin Open, but not every boat comes close to winning the tournament's big money. Dedicated hunters brave the Bay on a cold January day to hunt waterfowl on the Pocomoke Sound. Only the most committed fishermen launch a brand-new boat from Saxis Island in the teeth of a summer storm.

Few resorts could have boasted the kind of history that the Huletts Hotel had.

Built in Huletts Landing, NY, on Lake George, the first hotel burned in 1915, and this arson was the subject of a sensational Upstate New York trial. Capitalizing on the notoriety that this trial created, the Eichler family rebuilt, only to again lose the hotel, this time it in a scandalous tax dispute in 1958. This book is about the burning of the first hotel, ensuing arson trials, rebuilding, the glory days of Huletts (when people like Amelia Earhart and Kennedy family members were frequent visitors), and the untimely closing of the second hotel. A second mystery surrounds 20 photographs of the original hotel taken in 1916, which were recently uncovered taped to the back of a painting of Abraham Lincoln. Kapusinski will use that story to unravel the other mysteries surrounding this lost hotel.

Join author Garrett Peck as he traces the unlikely story of the Smithsonian Castle and the Seneca Quarry.

British scientist James Smithson left a fortune to the country he so admired but had never visited. His gift founded the Smithsonian Institution and built the Smithsonian Castle. Today, the castle's distinct Romanesque facade glows warmly against the cool marble that dominates the National Mall. Yet the story of the stones is just as remarkable as that of the building that they grace. It was a boom-bust ride for the Seneca Quarry—the source of the red sandstone. The quarry saw its first developer die, filed for bankruptcy twice, suffered through floods and contributed to a national scandal that embarrassed the Grant presidency and helped bring down the Freedman's Bank. This is the untold history of the quarry owners and emancipated slaves who toiled there and the many people who work to this day to save Seneca. Join author Garrett Peck as he traces the unlikely story of the Smithsonian Castle and the Seneca Quarry.

Join Author and guide Mindie Burgoyne as she takes a chilling journey through the haunted history and lore of Ocean City and Berlin.

A ghostly sea captain, an ill-fated lover and jazz musicians who go on playing long after their last songs--these are the spirits that make their presence known from Ocean City's Boardwalk to the picturesque town square of Berlin. The phantom scent of a woman's perfume floats from Trimper's carousel while the Ocean City Life-Saving Station is haunted by the ghost of a drowned sailor. In Berlin, some guests never check out of the Atlantic Hotel, and strange happenings have been reported at the Rackliffe House, where legend has it that a cruel plantation owner was murdered by his slaves.