Wicked

Name: Wicked Hartford
Brand: Steve R. Thornton
SKU: 9781467137348
Price: 15.39 USD
Availability: InStock

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]

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Wicked Western Kentucky

$12.99

Wicked Victorian Boston

$16.99

Wild Women of Washington, D.C.

Wicked Ridgefield, Connecticut

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%

Wicked Myrtle Beach and the Grand Strand

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%

Wicked Vermont

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%

Wicked Muncie

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%

Wicked Wilmington, Delaware

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%

Wicked Columbus, Ohio

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%

Wicked Spokane

$23.99 $16.79 Save 30%

Wicked Albuquerque

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%

Wicked Columbus, Indiana

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%

Wicked Northern Illinois

$23.99 $16.79 Save 30%

Wicked Coeur d'Alene

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%

Wicked Sacramento

$21.99 $17.49 Save 20%

Wicked North Alabama

$23.99 $16.79 Save 30%

Wicked Western Kentucky

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%

Wicked Prescott

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%

Wicked Cleveland

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%

Wicked Kansas

$23.99 $16.79 Save 30%

Wicked Ridgefield, Connecticut

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%

Wicked Boise

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%

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Wicked Hartford

9781467137348

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%

One of the oldest cities in America, Hartford holds plenty of sinful stories. Famed inventor and industrialist Samuel Colt sold arms to both the North and South in the buildup to the Civil War. The notorious Seyms Street jail was the subject of national criticism and scandal for its deplorable conditions. Local journalist Daniel Birdsall fought to expose corruption in the powerful insurance industry and local government at the expense of his own printing presses. Tension between unions and "robber barons" such as Jay Gould spilled into the streets during the Gilded Age. Author Steve Thornton takes readers on an exciting journey through the seedy underbelly of Hartford's past.

Wicked Myrtle Beach and the Grand Strand

9781626198050

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%

The Grand Strand has a long tradition of hardworking independence and the enthusiastic pursuit of leisure activities. Myrtle Beach is known as a hotbed of hearty partiers, and its chronicles include bordellos, bootleggers, rumrunners, gamblers and a variety of indulgent practices. From Civil War deserters to the excesses of the disco era, the area has a wicked streak running parallel to its beaches. Join author and historian Becky Billingsley as she uncovers the naughty side of the Grand Strand.

Wicked Vermont

9781467138741

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%

Author Thea Lewis takes a revealing ride through the unique and colorful history of the Green Mountain State.

Vermont is a picturesque landscape, but the idyllic setting hides a sometimes dark and desperate past. H.H. Holmes, America's first serial killer, may have been the University of Vermont's deadliest student. A Burlington resident made an empire partly by carrying contraband goods to and from Canada. The first United States president subject to a birther movement wasn't 44, but a much lower number. A Burlington schoolboy ran away with the circus and became an international sensation under the big top.

Wicked Muncie

9781467136655

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%

Explore the notorious and unusual side of Muncie's history.

Muncie is the classic small American city. But for much of the past two centuries, the city fell victim to murder, corruption and the bizarre. Mayor Rollin Bunch went to prison for mail fraud, while his police commissioner faced a murder rap. Viola "Babe" Swartz ran a brothel out of a truck stop that was raided by police at least a dozen times but ran for sheriff in the 1974 primary election. June Holland, of the locally famous Holland triplets, killed her neighbor for refusing to sell her house.

Wicked Wilmington, Delaware

9781467148566

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%

Take a journey through crime and vice in twentieth-century Wilmington, from a Tatnall Street bawdy house to the corporate boardrooms of the DuPont Company. Visit the old New Castle County Workhouse, scene of a break-in by a lynch mob and the daring escape of a notorious murderer. A police chief trying to keep his corrupt practices under wraps, agents raiding political headquarters and a detective murdered on the street were all part of city life in the early twentieth century. In later years, stories of a professional killer pleading self-defense, hiding his connections to a mobbed-up Teamsters boss, and runaway lovers caught up in an international extortion scheme show the city's darker side. Local historian Kevin McGonegal chronicles tales of Wilmington's infamous past.

Wicked Columbus, Ohio

9781626199224

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%

Ohio's capital city once teemed with crime bosses, rampant corruption and unpunished perversion. The Bad Lands of Columbus was a nationally recognized slum controlled by "Smoky" Hobbs. Columbus native Dr. Samuel B. Hartman, the world's most successful snake oil salesman, was almost single-handedly responsible for the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act. Local gambler "Pat" Murnan had an unlikely love affair with Grace Backenstoe, the madam of the most popular brothel in town. The two were a symbol of the area's salaciousness. Authors David Meyers and Elise Meyers Walker explore the heyday of Columbus's most notorious fiends, corrupt politicians and con men.

Wicked Spokane

9781467151818

$23.99 $16.79 Save 30%

Spokane's early years were marked by an unchecked underworld of greed and sinister dealings.
Houses of ill-repute and homebrewed whiskey abounded, and hidden tunnels beneath the streets helped to stoke the lawlessness. Famous cowgirl Calamity Jane loved to deal faro when visiting the city and it's rumored that outlaw Butch Cassidy¬¬, after a bit of plastic surgery, chose the city to live out the rest of his life in relative peace. A corrupt police department did little to curb the influence of the wealthy and those seeking to make their fortune through bootlegging, prostitution or gambling.
Join author Deborah Cuyle as she uncovers the colorful past of the Lilac City.

Wicked Albuquerque

9781467137980

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%

Albuquerque's early lawless reputation rivaled that of Dodge City and Tombstone. Its red-light district was known as Hell's Half Acre. Brothel owner Lizzy McGrath once had a local church demolished to build her new bordello. Milt Yarberry, the town's first marshal, was hanged for murder. And the controversial Elfego Baca, who had the gall to face Pancho Villa, survived a thirty-six-hour gunfight unscathed. Author Cody Polston presents the tales of those who slipped through the cracks of morality.

Wicked Columbus, Indiana

9781625858719

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%

Every city has its secrets and Columbus, Indiana is no exception. Sit back and enjoy the murder and mayhem!

Dubbed the Athens of the Prairie for its array of stunning modern architecture and abundance of public art, Columbus still endured its share of unsavory citizens, crime-ridden neighborhoods and tales of woe. Many residents avoided the infamous slums of Smoky Row and Death Valley, while others gave in to the allure of Lillian ""Todie"" Tull's famed house of ill repute on North Jackson Street. Two different father-and-son hoodlum partnerships, the McKinneys and the Bells, terrorized the area in the 1800s. And a brutal fistfight between a newspaper editor and the mayor sparked a scandal in 1877.

Join author, journalist, and historian Paul J. Hoffman as he takes you on a wild ride through the salacious side of Columbus. A must-read for fans of true crime and Indiana history.

Wicked Northern Illinois

9781596292789

$23.99 $16.79 Save 30%

From the secrets of Joliet Penitentiary to the ferocious gunfights between the Ku Klux Klan and the Shelton Gang, Troy Taylor takes the measure of the dishonest sweat and innocent blood poured into the prairies of Northern Illinois. Meet the "fallen angels" of Decatur's red-light district, the Springfield counterfeiters who bungled stealing Lincoln's bones and the Aurora man who propped up his porch with the heads of his wife and brother-in-law. And if you dare, eavesdrop on the chilling confession of a man who left a dancer's corpse to the mercy of the railroad tracks: "So, I pat them on the cheek, call them sweet names, and kill them."

Wicked Coeur d'Alene

9781467149129

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%

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 Sacramento

9781467140591

$21.99 $17.49 Save 20%

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 North Alabama

9781596297531

$23.99 $16.79 Save 30%

Even in paradise, evil sometimes creeps in.

Thoughts of Alabama invite images of Confederate jasmine and fertile cotton fields, sweet iced tea and Southern hospitality, but there's a darker side to the state's history. Some of the stories captured within the pages of this book are well known to the good folks of North Alabama; others are less familiar. The scandals of Lincoln's brother-in-law, the reign of terror created by Huntsville's Southwest Molester, the Decatur man who buried his wife's dismembered body under the fish pond and the beautiful Black Widow of Hazel Green--all of these stories are well researched and masterfully written by Huntsville author Jacquelyn Procter Reeves. True-crime fans will appreciate this treasury of stories spanning nearly two hundred years of North Alabama history.

Wicked Western Kentucky

9781467150521

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%

Western Kentucky has always had a dark side, despite being the "Birthplace of Bluegrass Music." Mary James Trotter, an arrested moonshine-selling grandma, remarked to a judge that she "simply had to sell a little liquor now and then to take care of my four grandchildren." Rod Ferrell led a bloodsucking vampire cult in Murray, Kentucky, and traumatized parents of the 1990s. In the early morning of July 13, 1928, at the "Castle on the Cumberland," seven men were put to death in Kentucky's deadliest night of state-sponsored executions. Join award-winning author Richard Parker as he takes you on a journey through fifteen of Western Kentucky's most nefarious people, places and events.

Wicked Prescott

9781467119528

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%

Swindlers, confidence men and outlaws--the mountain shadows and Ponderosa pines surrounding Prescott conceal their grim histories and crooked ways. The small hamlet turned mining town became Arizona's first capital in 1864, and with wealth and power came every type of vice and crime. One block west of the famed Whiskey Row, the roaring red-light district attracted ladies of easy virtue, who often became victims of crimes of passion and coldblooded murder. Legendary crook Fleming "Jim" Parker escaped from Yavapai County Jail on the back of the sheriff's stolen horse. Cattle rustlers terrorized nearby ranches, while tavern brawls and liquor-fueled shootouts dominated newspaper headlines. More than ten legal hangings brought criminals to justice. Local author Parker Anderson recounts these and more wicked misdeeds from Prescott's wild early days.

Wicked Cleveland

9781467150248

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%

Award-winning true crime author Jane Turzillo brings together the strippers, gangsters, robbers, shady politicians, and more from Cleveland's rough and rowdy past.

From world-class museums and popular sports teams to peaceful parks and charming neighborhoods, Cleveland has a lot to offer. But it has a wilder, darker side. Along the one-block passageway called Short Vincent, tourists and celebrities mixed with bookies and mobsters for drinks and dinner, underworld gossip, and all kinds of "entertainment.'? In 1969, Ted Conrad disappeared with $215,000 in stolen cash. An obituary more than fifty years later finally told authorities where he went. In the wee hours of March 24, 1970, someone slipped up to the front of the Cleveland Museum of Art and planted a bomb on the marble pedestal that supported Rodin's The Thinker. Who and why remain unknown.

Wicked Kansas

9781467143882

$23.99 $16.79 Save 30%

Kansans like to think of their state as a land of industrious, law-abiding and friendly people, and for the most part they are correct. But its history has many tales of murders, cons, extrajudicial killings and other crimes. Its restive frontier attracted menacing characters, such as a cowboy who murdered a man for snoring, the serial-killing Bender family and the train-robbing James-Younger Gang. Although the area was eventually settled, the scandals did not cease. Learn about how a quack doctor nearly won the governorship, a decommissioned nuclear missile silo housed the largest LSD manufacturing operation in American history and more. Author Adrian Zink explores the salacious side of Kansas history in these wild and degenerate stories.

Wicked Ridgefield, Connecticut

9781467136822

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%

Ridgefield is no stranger to life's shadier characters. The history of this idyllic community includes cunning crooks, suburban embezzlers, bungling burglars and wandering scallywags. In 1894, a group of bank robbers literally blew it in a heist at the Saving Bank--the explosion attracted witnesses to see the gang miss out on a grand haul of fifty dollars. Half a decade later, in 1940, a skeleton whose origins still befuddle experts was unearthed in a tree nursery. This look at the darker side of Ridgefield's past includes sad and tragic moments as well, such as newlyweds imprisoned in the Tombs, the Satanists of the '70s and a hermit murdered for love. Local editor Jack Sanders tells fascinating tales of two centuries of Ridgefield criminals, n'er-do-wells and even wayward do-gooders in this entertaining--and occasionally humorous--glimpse into some of the town's wickedest moments.

Wicked Boise

9781467152228

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%

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.