The History Press

The cocktail fluctuated in popularity following Prohibition but had firmly taken root in the culinary landscape by the 1990s— the Bay Area played a significant role in reviving it.

An American invention, the cocktail has gone on to be enjoyed by people all over the world, but few places make a drink quite like the Bay Area. From the distillers who pioneered craft spirits and Alice Waters' revolutionary take on simple, fresh food at Chez Panisse to the bartenders who cared enough to grow a dedicated cocktail community, this is the story of how the Bay Area shaped the art of elevated drinking in America. Through oral history interviews and recipes, author Shanna Farrell chronicles the narrative history of the modern cocktail renaissance. Enjoy this collection of classic Bay Area cocktails recipe cards including Mai Tai Floats, Pisco Sours, Classic and Nero Manhattans, Gin Martinis, and more.

When the police caught up with Johann Hoch, he’d already proposed to what they believed would have been wife number fifty-five.

For a decade, he traveled the country, marrying and deserting desperate women—and five of his wives were lying in their graves. He married Marie Walcker in Chicago in 1904, and when Marie died five weeks later, he proposed to her sister while the corpse lay on the bed. The sister agreed, only to be swindled out of her savings. Adam Selzer trails jovial, big-talking Hoch through a twisting tale of Chicago journalism, Chicago justice and the coming together of some of most daring and corrupt characters the city had to offer.

From colorful characters like Cato Alexander, New York’s first celebrity bartender, to sad and disturbing stories about Jack Daniel’s heirs, Makers & Shakers has a little bit of everything for everyone. 

Join Washington, D.C.–based author and producer of ardent spirits Troy Hughes on a historical romp through booze-infused tales about Black Americans. Discover the stories of pioneering Montana moonshiner Bertie Brown and the ill-fated partnership of Diddy and Diageo. Find out about Ripple, the national drink of Watts, and learn how cognac became the unofficial drink of Black America.

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.

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.

Come along for a haunted treck through New Orleans, where evil ghosts horrify, and good ghosts inspire. New Orleans thrums with ghosts, some so strong they terrify holy Voodoo priests. This guide, for the truly intrepid, leads you to ancient ghosts who patrol the French Quarter. Reveals the spirits who dine at Antoine’s and Commander’s Palace. Introduces you to the eternal residents of the Hotel Monteleone. Lures you under the shade of giant oaks to the undead duelling nearby. Teases you with mirages of vampires climbing from flooded caskets in Lafayette Cemetery. Fuels you with the power of Voodoo to call on your departed ancestors. Warns you to sneak past ruptured tombs and wicked mansions like Madame LaLaurie’s, where tortured spirits wail. 

Discover the South's Most Notorious Murders, Mysteries, and Criminal Masterminds

Journey from Texas to Virginia in this gripping collection of haunting criminal cases. Follow a relentless serial killer as he leaves a bloody trail across Louisiana and beyond, witness a cunning lonely-hearts swindler terrorize Texas, and uncover Arkansas's bizarre wave of strychnine poisonings that baffled investigators. Experience the supernatural when a West Virginia murder is revealed through dreams and meet a one-armed conjure-man whose murder-for-hire schemes shocked North Carolina.

Watch forensic science evolve as crimefighters expand their arsenal of detection tools in this compelling tour of the South's most notorious crimes, where fact proves stranger than fiction.

Crime writer Cathy Pickens brings a novelist’s eye to the sinister South and its defining—and quirky—crime stories.

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?

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.

Delve into ghost stories pulled from century-old headlines and reported anew with author and investigative historian William G. Krejci. There was a time when ink-stained scribes would head into the community to report on ghostly visitations—many of their stories have been forgotten until now. At a Lorain County farmhouse, spectral women were said to manifest in the darkness of night. A haunted mansion was replete with the unexplained in Akron’s North Hill neighborhood. Rumors of a haunting at Cleveland’s Grays Armory have long circulated. New evidence reveals the site to have been the scene of two mysterious deaths and possibly a haunted house. Does a peddler who went missing two centuries ago drag chains across the attic floor at a Portage Lakes tavern?

Once a twenty-seven-thousand-acre parcel named for the hills it features, Rancho Los Cerritos is a place where the past meets the present and provides a fascinating glimpse into California’s history.

Home of the Gabrielino-Tongva for more than five thousand years, the land was claimed and colonized by Spain and then Mexico before it became part of the United States. New Englander John Temple, together with his wife, Rafaela Cota, bought the land in the early 1800s. Through a workforce of Indigenous laborers, he built a unique two-story adobe to be the headquarters of a large-scale cattle ranch, propelling Temple and Rancho Los Cerritos to the forefront of Southern California’s prosperity.

Over the next two centuries, the Rancho adobe was home to gold rush miners, Mexican vaqueros, Chinese cooks, and more. These intrepid individuals persisted through feasts and famine, floods, droughts, and even war. Today, the adobe houses a historic museum and connects visitors to those who left an indelible mark on the region.

Join Dr. Leslie Reese as she shares the stories of the people who called Rancho Los Cerritos home.

In this revised and expanded edition, a harrowing new arrest in the cold case, intense trial and key developments are presented alongside the original narrative.

Friday, August 15, 1975, began as a typical summer day in the suburbs. Young children played with their friends; adults prepared for work or planned for their vacation at the Jersey Shore...

That all changed in the hours before noon, when Gretchen Harrington, the eight-year-old daughter of a Presbyterian minister and his wife, was kidnapped while walking to a Vacation Bible School less than a quarter mile from her house. Her body was found by a jogger in a state park nearly two months later. The crime forever changed the lives of the children who were about Gretchen’s age and their parents, many of whom chose to live in Marple Township because they considered it a safe refuge from the crime-ridden streets of Philadelphia.

Journalists Mike Mathis and Joanna Falcone Sullivan examine the kidnapping, murder, nearly five-decade-long investigation.

History You Didn’t Learn in School

Discover powerful stories left out of most history books. Author Jeffrey Bennett reveals the hidden legacy of Black Virginians. From 1865 to 1877, over 80 Black politicians served across the state. Learn about a brave Black woman who spied on Confederate President Jefferson Davis while disguised as an enslaved worker.

See the history of more than seventy Black communities lost in Virginia. Read the story of a 135-year-old church and the meaning behind land passed down through generations. These stories show the strength and impact of Black families before and after slavery. Perfect for history lovers and older readers, this collection brings forgotten voices back to life.

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?

A work stoppage on the rails led to a fascinating moment in Ohio history.

As the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 made its way into Ohio, the state already had its share of problems. Tramps, men who’d taken to the road looking for work because of the economic depression of the 1870s, seemed to be overrunning the state. Railroads, one of Ohio’s biggest employers, cut jobs. Those not fired suffered from repeated cuts in wages and hours, making their already unsafe work conditions worse.

Strikes in neighboring states, instigated by another 10 percent wage cut on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, became violent and destructive. When they broke out in Ohio, something remarkable happened. Strikers remained mostly peaceful, avoiding the killing, looting, and vandalism seen elsewhere. Much of the credit for the path taken by Ohio must go to its level-headed governor, Thomas L. Young, who used the Ohio National Guard to great effect. 

Preserving Appalachian Heritage Through Traditional Crafts

Explore the heart of Southern Appalachia through its master artisans. The Artistic Preservation of Tradition highlights a tight-knit community of craftspeople, ages 32 to 92, who keep centuries-old techniques alive. From woodworking and pottery to music and storytelling, their work honors Appalachian history and culture. Meet legends like Willard Watson and Stanley Hicks, and discover modern innovators like Cory Plott and William Ritter. Author and artist Bob Plott brings these powerful stories to life in a heartfelt tribute to tradition and creativity. Perfect for readers who love local history, folk art, and handmade heritage, this book is a must-read for anyone drawn to the spirit of the mountains.

A work stoppage on the rails led to a fascinating moment in Ohio history.

As the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 made its way into Ohio, the state already had its share of problems. Tramps, men who’d taken to the road looking for work because of the economic depression of the 1870s, seemed to be overrunning the state. Railroads, one of Ohio’s biggest employers, cut jobs. Those not fired suffered from repeated cuts in wages and hours, making their already unsafe work conditions worse.

Strikes in neighboring states, instigated by another 10 percent wage cut on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, became violent and destructive. When they broke out in Ohio, something remarkable happened. Strikers remained mostly peaceful, avoiding the killing, looting, and vandalism seen elsewhere. Much of the credit for the path taken by Ohio must go to its level-headed governor, Thomas L. Young, who used the Ohio National Guard to great effect. 

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.

Once a twenty-seven-thousand-acre parcel named for the hills it features, Rancho Los Cerritos is a place where the past meets the present and provides a fascinating glimpse into California’s history.

Home of the Gabrielino-Tongva for more than five thousand years, the land was claimed and colonized by Spain and then Mexico before it became part of the United States. New Englander John Temple, together with his wife, Rafaela Cota, bought the land in the early 1800s. Through a workforce of Indigenous laborers, he built a unique two-story adobe to be the headquarters of a large-scale cattle ranch, propelling Temple and Rancho Los Cerritos to the forefront of Southern California’s prosperity.

Over the next two centuries, the Rancho adobe was home to gold rush miners, Mexican vaqueros, Chinese cooks, and more. These intrepid individuals persisted through feasts and famine, floods, droughts, and even war. Today, the adobe houses a historic museum and connects visitors to those who left an indelible mark on the region.

Join Dr. Leslie Reese as she shares the stories of the people who called Rancho Los Cerritos home.

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?

Tarheel Quakers and the Fight Against Slavery

Quakers settled the Carolina Colony in the 1650s, bringing their slaves and servants with them. Industrious coastal Quakers soon rose to prominence on the backs of their enslaved men and women, and Piedmont Quaker lives were enriched by the people they enslaved as well. Sparked by the observations of John Woolman, Carolina Quakers took up the battle against slavery in the 1700s, beginning with themselves. Legal conflicts, the Free Negro program, colonization, the North Carolina Manumission Society and the Underground Railroad were the results. Combining North Carolina slave narratives, runaway slave ads, digital archives, local histories and internet blogs, Tim Allen re-creates the inspiring story of Tarheel Quakers who fought each other and the state to abolish enslavement in antebellum North Carolina.

History You Didn’t Learn in School

Discover powerful stories left out of most history books. Author Jeffrey Bennett reveals the hidden legacy of Black Virginians. From 1865 to 1877, over 80 Black politicians served across the state. Learn about a brave Black woman who spied on Confederate President Jefferson Davis while disguised as an enslaved worker.

See the history of more than seventy Black communities lost in Virginia. Read the story of a 135-year-old church and the meaning behind land passed down through generations. These stories show the strength and impact of Black families before and after slavery. Perfect for history lovers and older readers, this collection brings forgotten voices back to life.

See the Real Central Florida   

Central Florida is more than theme parks and condos. Beneath the surface lies a rich and surprising past. River pirates once ruled its inland waterways. Spanish forts and Confederate hideouts marked its wild frontier.Tarpon Springs became home to the largest Greek-American community in the U.S. French pirates sailed through Pinellas County’s bays and barrier islands. During Prohibition, the Harris Chain of Lakes tied the region to Caribbean rum-runners and Gatsby-style parties.Along the Treasure Coast, lighthouse keepers risked their lives to guide sailors past deadly shoals.

Native Floridian Jennifer Husmann brings these forgotten stories to life with vivid detail and deep research. Perfect for readers who love Florida history, hidden places, and real stories from the past. Take a journey through Central Florida like you’ve never seen it before—authentic, adventurous, and full of untold tales.

Set in the middle of a lush California valley, Danville, in the last century, has grown from an agrarian hamlet to a bustling town.

On land that once belonged to Native peoples whose lives were upended by Spanish conquest, pioneers came for the Gold Rush and stayed for the fertile land. Farms and ranches took root, and a community arose. The Danville Grange No. 85, Patrons of Husbandry, promoted better farming practices and spurred on the founding of the town’s first library. Nobel Prize–winning playwright Eugene O’Neill called Danville home when he wrote his final, great plays, including Long Day’s Journey into Night, twenty years before a brand-new freeway led the charge into the modern era.

Join local author Beverly Lane as she shares gems from Danville’s past.

How the U.S. law targeting Chinese laborers impacted families for generations.

Near the end of the nineteenth century, after the railroads were completed and the gold mines exhausted, an economic downturn stirred up anti-Chinese sentiment in the United States. Capitalizing on this prejudice, the government passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 to limit immigration and naturalization for people of Chinese descent. By 1892, Chinese were required to obtain certificates of residency or identity and carry them at all times. Those who did not could be deported or imprisoned. As the law became stricter, interrogations, affidavits, and Caucasian witnesses were required to prove Chinese people’s right to remain in America. The act wouldn’t be repealed until 1943.

From the National Archives at Seattle, certified genealogist emeritus Trish Hackett Nicola brings to life the case files of Chinese immigrants.

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.

Author Ryan Starrett examines nine lives who played critical roles at the Battle of New Orleans. Andrew Jackson. Edward Pakenham. Jean Laffite. Reuben Kemper. George Robert Gleig. Edward Nicolls. Arsène Lacarrière-Latour. Daniel Todd Patterson. Peter Ellis Bean. Nine men from nine different worlds traveled nine roads, all of which ended at Chalmette Battlefield, seven miles outside New Orleans. The fate of nine lives—and of a nation—would be settled over a sixteen-day period. The intricately interwoven tapestry of their stories relates the principal events of their time, from the American and Mexican Revolutions to Napoleon to the battle for the Gulf Coast, culminating in the epochal Battle of New Orleans.

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.

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.

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.

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 Special Florida Paradise    

“The Gables” is not merely a highly desirable bedroom community or a sprawling city with features of the City Beautiful movement scattered here and there. The brainchild of George Merrick, a visionary congregational minister’s son with a poetic bent, Coral Gables is a planned city, home to of some of the nation’s most valuable real estate, a world-renowned hotel in the Biltmore, headquarters to 120 multinational firms, a major research university and a top-ten botanical garden. The story of how Merrick’s intricate design took shape—while most developments born during the so-called Florida Boom crashed and burned—and the rise of the preservationist movement that maintains it is a testament to the power of a vision. Author Les Standiford details the amazing rise of an iconic place.

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.

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. 

In this revised and expanded edition, a harrowing new arrest in the cold case, intense trial and key developments are presented alongside the original narrative.

Friday, August 15, 1975, began as a typical summer day in the suburbs. Young children played with their friends; adults prepared for work or planned for their vacation at the Jersey Shore...

That all changed in the hours before noon, when Gretchen Harrington, the eight-year-old daughter of a Presbyterian minister and his wife, was kidnapped while walking to a Vacation Bible School less than a quarter mile from her house. Her body was found by a jogger in a state park nearly two months later. The crime forever changed the lives of the children who were about Gretchen’s age and their parents, many of whom chose to live in Marple Township because they considered it a safe refuge from the crime-ridden streets of Philadelphia.

Journalists Mike Mathis and Joanna Falcone Sullivan examine the kidnapping, murder, nearly five-decade-long investigation.

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.

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.

Join author Alison Fortier for a walk through our United States Capital and its iconic locations. 

This tour of the nation’s capital goes beyond the traditional guidebook to offer a historical journey through the federal district. Visit the White House, the only executive home in the world regularly open to the public. Travel to President Lincoln’s Cottage and see where he wrote the Emancipation Proclamation. Look around lesser-known sites, such as the grave of Pierre L’Enfant, the city’s Botanical Gardens, the Old Post Office and a host of historical homes throughout the capital. From George Washington’s Mount Vernon to the Kennedy Center, trek through each era of Washington, D.C., for a tour of America’s most beloved sites. Join author and Washington insider Alison Fortier as she curates a revised and updated expedition to our shining city on a hill.

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.

A Presidential Love Story   

When a young officer newly graduated from West Point met the eldest daughter of a gruff Missouri slaveowner, farmer and land speculator, it was love at first sight. Ulysses Grant and Julia Dent courted at her family farm, White Haven, until he was called away to the Mexican-American War. Secretly engaged, Ulysses wrote tender letters to Julia between daring exploits in battle. Upon his return, they were married. Ulysses’s military career stagnated, and after a miserable period of separation while he was stationed on the West Coast, Ulysses resigned to join Julia at White Haven before his second stint during the Civil War. Authors Vicki and Jim Erwin relate the Grants’ early life, their courtship, their life in Missouri and how that life shaped their future.

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.

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?

Lincoln Park has seen many things come and go.

Originally home to the Wyandot and Potawatomi tribes, the area also served Odawa Chief Pontiac for a historic Native American council meeting. European ribbon farms once stretched from Fort Pontchartrain. By the early twentieth century, rapid growth had transformed Lincoln Park into the “Crossroads of Downriver.” Many of the early building blocks and, indeed, the way the land itself was used by the earliest inhabitants have been lost to time. LeBlanc’s Saloon & Store, the Atlantic & Pacific Grocery Store and Lincoln Park Pharmacy are gone. So are Mother’s and Clemente’s, the Sears Shopping Center and many churches, schools and local attractions.

Utilizing resources from the Lincoln Park Historical Museum and Society, author Craig Hutchison strives to tell and preserve these stories.

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?

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.

Phantoms and Local Lore

Southwest of Tulsa on Historic Route 66 sits Sapulpa, where Lower Creek Native American James Sapulpa established a trading post around 1850. With the railroad arriving in 1866, enterprise brought ill-fated characters, oil booms, bootlegging and bordellos. And like most Western towns, mystery, murder and turmoil followed. And so too did the ghosts—born of vigilante justice, racial strife, natural disasters and one of America’s deadliest train wrecks. Authors Tanya McCoy and Stacey Price hunt the paranormal in the historic haunts and catastrophic calamities throughout Sapulpa’s history.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

Come along for a haunted treck through New Orleans, where evil ghosts horrify, and good ghosts inspire. New Orleans thrums with ghosts, some so strong they terrify holy Voodoo priests. This guide, for the truly intrepid, leads you to ancient ghosts who patrol the French Quarter. Reveals the spirits who dine at Antoine’s and Commander’s Palace. Introduces you to the eternal residents of the Hotel Monteleone. Lures you under the shade of giant oaks to the undead duelling nearby. Teases you with mirages of vampires climbing from flooded caskets in Lafayette Cemetery. Fuels you with the power of Voodoo to call on your departed ancestors. Warns you to sneak past ruptured tombs and wicked mansions like Madame LaLaurie’s, where tortured spirits wail. 

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.

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.

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.

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.