Voices of America

The Fagan Sisters speaks of life in a county village in upstate New York. Sally and Agnes Fagan were born in the village of Copake Falls and lived there through almost all of the 20th century. Their experiences, however, were not confined to that village, located about 50 miles south of Albany near the Massachusetts and Connecticut borders. Even in their childhood, they frequently traveled by horse and buggy or train to visit relatives in neighboring states. The sisters talk about their people who left Ireland during the famine of the mid-1800s, arrived in the rural area, and found work in the mines and later on the railroads. They reminisce about their own school days, their wide circle of friends, and their simple and more elegant pleasures. They recall their first years as teachers in the classroom, where they experienced the prejudice that existed against Irish Catholics at that time.

From its humble beginnings in 1884 as a one-story frame building with one bay to house Hose Company 4 and its team of horses, Engine Company 78 has been the firefighting sentinel at the end of Waveland Avenue, sitting in the shadow of Wrigley Field. Using vintage photographs and moving stories from firefighters themselves, Karen Kruse captures the spirit and heroism of this historic Chicago landmark. Captain Robert F. Kruse served the Chicago Fire Department for 30 years, half of those at Wrigleyville's Engine 78. Growing up within the tight-knit firefighting community, Ms. Kruse records the dramatic and touching stories from her father's and his peers' experiences, and combines them in this volume exploring the unique history of Lakeview's firehouse, including a foreword by Mike Ditka and preface by Fire Commissioner James Joyce. With details about little known historic districts and a brief guide to Chicago's cemeteries and their relations to firefighters, A Chicago Firehouse: Stories of Wrigleyville's Engine 78 relays in first-hand accounts some of Chicago's most fiery tragedies, the brave men who battled them, and the diversity of the neighborhood that housed them.

In Eastern North Carolina lies a rural, agrarian community known as Edgecombe County. Here, the Tar River winds slowly through the land and provides beauty, nourishment, and recreation for its residents. The soil in Edgecombe is rich, and many of the friendly souls who live here-and whose families are rooted here-own unique memories of the county's yesteryears.

Edgecombe Remembers is a window into Southern life over the past 80 years. In this volume, community locals offer readers a variety of journeys-from a 1930s tobacco farm to the activities of homemakers from the 1970s. Early 20th-century Christmases were celebrated with different customs, while education was a privilege not available to everyone. World War II, an especially difficult time for Americans, is an event that those who remember speak of with the joys of patriotism and the tenderness of heartache. The people whom these voices represent may not have been rich in material wealth, but they lived rich, full lives with what was available.

It is probably impossible to measure the far-reaching effect Italian-American women have had on community and culture. Italian women of yesterday have enriched modern life in Italy and America through their expertise in academics, arts, and humanitarian work. Today, their influence continues in an ever-increasing array of fields.

Within the pages of Italian-American Women of Chicagoland, the lives of Italian-American women, past and present, come to life. Their stories have laid a foundation for generations to come. The story of Maria Agnesi is one of a child genius who changed the course of mathematics. Italian-born Frances Xavier Cabrini came to America and built health care facilities in Chicago and across the nation. She was later sainted by the Catholic Church for her work. The first woman in Italy to attend the University of Rome and receive a medical degree, Maria Montessori was prominent in finding a new way to educate children. Internationally, Montessori schools flourish to this day.

Nicknamed "The Duchess" by a tongue-tied editor early in her career, Virginia Marmaduke is the First Lady of Chicago print journalism. She was the first woman to: cover both crime and sports for Windy City newspapers; be named (by Mayor Daley Sr.) to the Chicago Board of Health; be named Press Veteran of the Year by the Chicago Press Veterans Association; and to be inducted into Chicago's Journalism Hall of Fame.

First with the Chicago Sun, then the Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune, the Duchess's newspaper career ran parallel to the 20th Century. She covered, as she called it, "blood, guts and sex," as well as presidents, natural disasters, women's issues, and-notably-humanitarian causes.

This volume, the first on the life and career of Virginia Marmaduke, reprints many of the famous articles from her Chicago heyday. Additionally, it documents her childhood in Carbondale, Illinois, her first newspaper job, and her return to Southern Illinois where she became a community booster, humanitarian, and beloved "all-Illinoisian."

Since the beginning of the 20th century, St. Louis' Greek-American community has been a vibrant part of the city's fabric. Through a series of vivid personal accounts of growing up in two worlds during the post-WWII era, Growing Up Greek in St. Louis explores the challenges faced by Greek-Americans as they sought to preserve a rich cultural heritage while assimilating to American ways.

From a detailed account of her Grandmothers' struggles during the occupation of Greece during WWII and the Asia Minor Holocaust to the first hand experiences faced by Greek-American children in Greek school, the celebration of name days, and the ever-present "evil eye," the book captures the sense of tradition, history, hospitality (philotimo), and community so vital to the Greek experience.