Wicked

The Wicked American history book series introduces the wicked, notorious history of our towns, states, and local communities. Meet the Red Light women of Death Valley, discover the bloody mining disputes of Coeur D’Alene, and gamble your way through Kentucky’s Sin City. From scandalous Newport, Rhode Island to the misdeeds in Jurupa Valley, this wicked history series covers the most salacious and sordid in stories, coast to coast! [View all Wicked Series books]
14 products
Wicked Bozeman
Wicked Bozeman
Red Light Women of Death Valley
Red Light Women of Death Valley
Notorious Telluride:
Notorious Telluride:
Wicked Virginia City
Wicked Virginia City
Wicked Cripple Creek District
Wicked Cripple Creek District
Wicked Coeur d'Alene
Wicked Coeur d'Alene
Wicked Sacramento
Wicked Sacramento
Wicked Boise
Wicked Boise
Wicked Western Slope
Wicked Western Slope
Wicked Jurupa Valley:
Wicked Jurupa Valley:
Wicked Crescenta Valley
Wicked Crescenta Valley
Wicked Denver
Wicked Denver
Wicked Lewiston:
Wicked Lewiston:
Notorious San Juans:
Notorious San Juans:

Wicked Bozeman

9781467149150

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Wicked Bozeman delves into a dangerous and dark past

The Gallatin History Museum, housed in the old Gallatin County Jail, holds many secrets. From the house of ill repute on Mendenhall Street to the earliest jail break in 1873, the historic crimes are replete with con artists, forgers, robbers and the insane each leaving a trail of deceit and mystery. There is laughter, shock and the hard reality of a life lost to time behind bars.

Using the original jail ledgers as a jumping off point, Museum Curator Kelly Suzanne Hartman takes the reader along on an investigative journey through Bozeman's seedier past.

Wicked Bozeman

Red Light Women of Death Valley

9781467117517

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From the 1870s to the turn of the century, while countless men gambled their fortunes in Death Valley's mines, many bold women capitalized on the boom-and-bust lifestyle and established saloons and brothels. These lively ladies were clever entrepreneurs and fearless adventurers but also mothers, wives and respected members of their communities. Madam Lola Travis was one of the wealthiest single women in Inyo County in the 1870s. Known as "Diamond Tooth Lil," Evelyn Hildegard was a poor immigrant girl who became a western legend. Local author and historian Robin Flinchum chronicles the lives of these women and many others who were unafraid to live outside the bounds of polite society and risk everything for a better future in the forbidding Death Valley desert.
Red Light Women of Death Valley

Notorious Telluride:

9781609490867

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While today's Telluride might bring to mind a hot tourist spot and upscale ski resort, the earliest days of the town and surrounding San Miguel County were marked by an abundance of gamblers, con men and murderers. From Bob Meldrum, a deputized killer who prowled the streets during times of labor unrest, to the author's own ancestor, Charlie Turner, a brash young man killed in a shooting in Ophir, Carol Turner's Notorious Telluride offers a glimpse at some of the sordid, shocking and sad pioneer tales of the area.
Notorious Telluride:

Wicked Virginia City

9781467144308

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Perched on the side of a mountain in the Nevada desert, Virginia City existed for one reason only: to make money. The mining frenzy of the mid-nineteenth century uncovered veins of precious metals that would be expressed in billions today, attracting the enterprising madam Cad Thompson, the charismatic highwayman Nickanora and a plethora of swindlers. Miners, flush with their wages, supported a healthy economy of gambling, drinking and prostitution and even launched a few political careers. Sam Clemens, who became Mark Twain while reporting for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, called it "the livest town that America had ever produced.'? Join author Peter B. Mires as he explores the seamy side of this quintessential mining boomtown.
Wicked Virginia City

Wicked Cripple Creek District

9781467157933

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Malice in a Mining Mecca

Pernicious activity tends to follow prosperity, and the heyday of the Cripple Creek mining district was no exception. Cripple Creek’s first murder spilled out from a saloon in 1892. The 1894 heist at the Victor Hotel took place mere months after opening. Railroad superintendent Richard Newell was gunned down over a construction right of way dispute—a contentious, nationwide issue to this day. By 1893, the area was home to dancehall girls and prostitutes, including the harlot who burned down Cripple Creek in 1896 and the vixen who torched Victor in 1899. From body snatcher “Pretty Jack” McEachern to conman-turned-Roosevelt confidante Ben Daniels, the district played host to a cast of capricious characters. Join author Jan MacKell Collins as she recounts the colorful camps and raucous ruffians that defined the oft-described Wild West. 

Wicked Cripple Creek District

Wicked Coeur d'Alene

9781467149129

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Wicked Coeur d'Alene recounts the violent conflict and lascivious mischief in the town's early years. Newspapers echo accounts of desperate gamblers, prostitutes and prospectors who did everything they could to secure their own future--at all costs. Town druggist Mr. Salis Smith concocted medicine composed of 50 percent alcohol mixed with cocaine or opium for the despondent. Characters like Bootleg Mary or murderous Fatty Carroll, notorious for employing shallow graves, populate dark tales of hushed murders, illegal gambling and corrupt politics. From bloody mining disputes to outlaw train robberies, author Deborah Cuyle recounts the sordid, salacious and sinful sides of Lake City's past.
Wicked Coeur d'Alene

Wicked Sacramento

9781467140591

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In the early 1900s, Sacramento became a battleground in a statewide struggle. On one side were Progressive political reformers and suffragettes. Opposing them were bars, dance halls, brothels and powerful business interests. Caught in the middle was the city's West End, a place where Grant "Skewball" Cross hosted jazz dances that often attracted police attention and Charmion performed her infamous trapeze striptease act before becoming a movie star. It was home to the "Queen of the Sacramento Tenderloin," Cherry de Saint Maurice, who met her untimely end at the peak of her success, and Ancil Hoffman, who ingeniously got around the city's dancing laws by renting riverboats for his soirées. Historian William Burg shares the long-hidden stories of criminals and crusaders from Sacramento's past.

Wicked Sacramento

Wicked Boise

9781467152228

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Corruption, scandal, and injustice take center stage inWicked Boise< p>

Known today for its beauty, safety and livability, Idaho's capital city does harbor a few skeletons in its closet. Vigilantes lynched Ada County's first sheriff. A wealthy brothel owner was viciously murdered and found secretly living in squalor. The sensational Prohibition-era trial of a moonshine ring that included the sheriff, police chief and a prominent doctor extended a morality crusade by law enforcement. Mike Kirby was arrested and condemned to three years hard labor for sending a "most disgustingly worded letter'?, while others were sentenced for violating the state's infamous "crime against nature" law.

Author Janelle M. Scheffelmaier explores motive, morality, and the uncomfortable gray space between right and wrong as she unearths some of Boise's darkest moments.

Wicked Boise

Wicked Western Slope

9781609495701

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Early promoters of Colorado's Western Slope would have had settlers believe the area was one of proper behavior and upstanding morality. But this was not the case. Hot tempers led to quick trigger fingers and Main Street shootouts. Drinking, gambling and thieving were popular pursuits, and law breaking of all kinds thrived in this wild land. From Charles Graham, whose jealous rampage in Grand Junction is still talked about today, and the mysterious Friday the thirteenth murder of Jeanette Morris to Abe C. Ong, the mischievous pioneer bootlegger of De Beque, and Riverside's Mrs. Barnes and her foul crime, "History Sleuth" D.A. Brockett reveals some of the most outrageous and remarkable crimes in Western Slope history.
Wicked Western Slope

Wicked Jurupa Valley:

9781609495206

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The Wineville Chicken Coop Murders a horrible 1928 national news story that inspired the 2008 movie The Changeling from director Clint Eastwood are only the most infamous despicable deeds that have bloodstained the rural countryside between Riverside City and the San Bernardino County line. Jurupa Valley has been a region of dark doings and scandalous misdeeds for generations. The city of Jurupa Valley was formed in 2011 from the area's smaller communities, including Wineville (renamed Mira Loma to escape the shame), Pedley and Rubidoux. Buried in its landscape are salacious sagas of unchecked bootlegging, payday orgies and gruesome murders. Author Kim Jarrell Johnson digs deep to disinter the unsavory stories that have traditionally marked her home city as a resting place of enduring infamy.
Wicked Jurupa Valley:

Wicked Crescenta Valley

9781626193062

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From illegal gambling and prostitution to claims of alien abduction, Crescenta Valley has seen it all. Once home to thriving moonshine operations and shocking Nazi rallies, the valley's past is riddled with scandalous tales that many would prefer to forget. Yet not all of Crescenta Valley's tawdry history could remain forgotten or hidden in its day. The infamous C.C. Julian oil scandal made national headlines. Even today, recent information reveals a local internment camp for Japanese and Germans that opened the day after Pearl Harbor was bombed. Join Gary Keyes and Mike Lawler, authors of Murder & Mayhem in the Crescenta Valley," as they reveal the seamy underbelly that belies the valley's beautifully pleasant exterior."
Wicked Crescenta Valley

Wicked Denver

9781609491536

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The Mile-High City was never above fatal bar brawls, poison plots or any of the other transgressions history would like to ignore. From the moment it sprang from the frontier, Denver was a hotbed of violent money disputes, acts of criminal insanity and every manner of wickedness associated with street and saloon life. Men posed as women while committing crimes, and murderous madams left trails of scarred girls and ruined lives. Some sordid tales are common Mile-High lore, like the case of the Denver Strangler, while others, like the Capitol Hill Slugger, who plagued the well-to-do neighborhood at the turn of the century, have disappeared from note...until now. Follow Sheila O'Hare and Alphild Dick through the tantalizing and wicked tales that undeniably sculpted the city.
Wicked Denver

Wicked Lewiston:

9781467117951

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Lewiston boasts a tawdry, scandalous history. In 1872, prostitutes Carlotta Felis and Anna Ream appeared in a survey of Nez Perce County's wealthiest residents. To their horror, unsuspecting passersby discovered the bodies of two infants hidden under the old board sidewalk on South Snake River Avenue in April 1913. Headlines of 1924 publicized the conviction of Darrel Thurston for the murder of Lewiston police officer Gordon Harris. Jewell Freng murdered a man over just a few dollars before committing suicide in prison. Historian Steven Branting uncovers the proof of Lewiston's lurid legacy.
Wicked Lewiston:

Notorious San Juans:

9781609492601

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From the shooting of a Secret Service agent in the wilds near Hesperus to the grave misfortune"? of Kid Adams, a not-so-successful highwayman, these tales from the lofty heights of the San Juans are packed with mystery, pathos and fascinating historical details. Mined from the frontier newspapers of Ouray, San Juan and La Plata Counties, these stories tell of range wars, desperadoes and cattle rustlers, lynchings, ill-tempered ranchers with trigger fingers and women fed up with their husbands. There are famous and infamous newsmen, wild stagecoach rides, scapegoats and stolen lands. Carol Turner's Notorious San Juansoffers a rowdy ride through the region's not-so-quiet history."
Notorious San Juans: